Ask the Author: Peter Grose
Answered Questions (6)
Peter Grose
It came from my friend Winton Higgins, a fellow of the University of Technology in Sydney, who lectures in genocide prevention, among other things. He read my two earlier books and suggested I should write the story of the rescue of Jews by the people of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the surrounding communes in France during World War 2. I'm glad he did.
Peter Grose
Inspired is a weird word. For me, writing is simply work. If I don't work, I don't get paid. So I'm more driven by fear than inspiration.
Peter Grose
At the moment I'm entirely pre-occupied with the UK and European launch of The Greatest Escape, published on 10 July. (This is A Good Place To Hide with a different title.) I have a couple of ideas for books, but I want a bit of a break before I get started on them.
Peter Grose
Write, don't market. When I was a literary agent, the most numbing question I faced from aspiring writers was: what's selling these days? The implication was that they would then trot off and write a Misery Memoir, or a Bodice Ripper, or a thriller set in Scandanavia, or whatever happened to be doing well at the time. This NEVER works. Write what you want to write and, if you're lucky, it will be published and will sell. If you're unlucky, it won't.
Peter Grose
As someone who spent over 40 years going in to an office every day, the best thing for me about writing is that you work from home. But old habits die pretty hard, and I tend to work office hours. If I'm honest, I like the attention when a book is published ... interviews, giving talks, signing books. It releases the inner megalomaniac.
Peter Grose
So far it hasn't been a problem. But I think the way to avoid it is by seeing writing as work ... I try to get to the computer by 9 in the morning, five days a week, and then make sure I write SOMETHING each working day. I write my books in the order you read them, so some days might be spent researching rather than writing. And there are occasional BAD DAYS when nothing much gets done beyond a string of defeats and dead ends playing Solitaire.
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