Ask the Author: M.C. Burnell
Answered Questions (5)
M.C. Burnell
In my opinion, there's no such thing: you're a writer or you aren't. If you believe you belong in the former category, take up your pen/ pencil/ word processor, and BECOME. Inspiration rarely strikes from out of the blue, and craft and voice develop thanks to practice. Expect going in that, in early attempts, your prose will be dull, your ideas derivative, your plot full of holes. Then you'll improve. Go forth, creative types, and create!
M.C. Burnell
My dad has been raving about Karen Maitland for years, so I'm determined to finally give her a try. I have a few Mievilles on the shelves I haven't touched. I also picked up a few books by Indie authors for Indie April, which I'd like to read.
M.C. Burnell
Well Darkbower was birthed by Richard Matheson's Other Kingdoms. Ancient and Medieval Europe are not my favored sources of inspiration, but I read this book and found myself interested in fairies. I'd never considered them before, but I fell down a wiki-hole on this one and was just fascinated by the mythology. In Matheson's story, the fay creatures are the good guys, the humans the scary ones, but I was struck by how spooky the legends were. I'm less drawn to traditions that depict nature as an enemy, but the vulnerability of humans in the face of these forces was intriguing. How the SOUI was born and this became a detective story, honestly, I haven't a clue. I wrote the first 60k in a period of weeks and then sat back like waking from a fugue, going: What just happened?
M.C. Burnell
I write. Often garbage. Spew enough dross and the pipes become unclogged. I often favor directionless shorts: invent a character in a totally-undefined world and set them into motion until they stumble across something interesting or I realize what I need to be doing in my actual work-in-progress.
I also tend to be working on multiple projects simultaneously, and I'll happily shuffle them like a deck of cards until I find a project with give in it.
I also tend to be working on multiple projects simultaneously, and I'll happily shuffle them like a deck of cards until I find a project with give in it.
M.C. Burnell
Pern, obviously.
I would get myself a dragon, obviously.
Maybe a fire lizard too.
I would get myself a dragon, obviously.
Maybe a fire lizard too.
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