Author Interview: Stuart Sharp
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The wait is over! 25 days ago, we announced the Critique Group Contest--a contest to help us find the next CritiqueThis members. 25 days later, after sorting through some wonderful writing samples and critiques, we've found our members. Say hello to the next CritiqueThis members-- Jill Callahan, Suzie Bethell-Thompson, and Tessa Conte. Want to know a bit more about them? Click the links at the top of the page, or come back on Wednesday for our "get to know them" post. It's like an interview, only better!
Today's Author Interview is with the inimitable Stuart Sharp. I'm very excited (and kind of nervous) because this is my first author interview for Critique This WIP. So far Courtney has had the honor of doing them all, but I begged and pleaded and she finally gave in/got tired of listening to me and said I could do an interview.
So let's find out a little bit about Stuart before I start bombarding him with questions, shall we?
Stuart Sharp is a writer and historian who alternates between urban fantasy and the sillier sort. He is also a ghost-writer, currently devoting his time to two YA series. He can be found at http://www.stu-stusplace.blogspot.com/
That was short and sweet! It seems like Stuart's the mysterious type. We're going to have to learn more about him by interrogating...err...asking him questions:
Margaret: So tell us, when did you start writing?
Stuart: I started writing seriously during my university postgrad courses. It’s amazing how much procrastination the thought of a day translating Medieval Latin can inspire you to do. I started with some non-fiction and the usual run of bad poetry, before coming up with my first short stories in 2006 or 2007. Mostly, it was a way of coping with the pressure of the course, when I realized just how difficult, solitary and awkward a PhD could be.
Margaret: What's your favorite genre to write, then?
Stuart: Comic fantasy. This is slightly awkward, given that my two published novels are both urban fantasy, but I vastly prefer those moments when things end up rather silly. Looking at the nuts and bolts of how these fantasy universes work, or at least crashing them relentlessly into reality, can be great fun. I have, as a result, written stories about HR companies working for traditional Evil Overlords, the people who build all those dungeons adventurers find, and reality TV contests to find a fourth horseperson of the apocalypse.
Margaret: And your favorite genre to read?
Stuart: I have a fondness for the funny, the witty, and the odd generally, whether it’s P.G. Wodehouse’s aristocratic idiots, Toby Frost’s silly sci-fi references, or Tom Holt’s realization that the job of magician is probably still just a job. Curiously, my absolutely favourite author is Neil Gaiman, who does whimsical and odd with the best of them, but generally doesn’t spill over into silly. His books for adults, particularly Neverwhere, American Gods and Anansi Boys, are ones I re-read regularly. Mostly in the hope that some tiny fragment of his talent will rub off.
Margaret: Let's talk a little about your writing process. How do you come up with your characters?
Stuart: When I’m putting things together, I tend to be one of those people who works from a core idea. As such, I get a rough sense of what characters I will need before I start, and then try to build them up. I love playing around with traditional archetypes, because there's almost certainly something funny in them if you look hard enough. I try to avoid creating the character separately from everything else. I find that you can end up with these extended histories that don’t really contribute anything to the world as a whole, and characters who don’t give you a new angle on the piece’s central concerns.
Margaret: So do you plot your stories meticulously or do you, as they say, fly by the seat of your pants?
Stuart: My normal approach for my longer work is best described as “get a vague idea, attempt to write it through, realise it isn’t working, plan it properly, don’t stick to that plan, add in bits to make it work at the end." For shorter stuff, I’ll either work from a plan properly, or write it in one go, depending on how inspired I feel.
One of the beauties of doing some ghostwriting is that I A: have to be a bit more organised when I’m the one planning, and B: have someone else giving me the general shape of things anyway, so I can’t wander off.
One of the beauties of doing some ghostwriting is that I A: have to be a bit more organised when I’m the one planning, and B: have someone else giving me the general shape of things anyway, so I can’t wander off.
Margaret: Do you work on more than one project at a time or do you need to finish one before starting another?
Stuart: I have tried multiple projects, and what generally happens is that everything gets to the halfway point before collapsing horribly. I once worked out that I had deleted something like three hundred thousand words of work at various points.
Margaret: Do you ever have trouble with writer's block?
Stuart: Generally, I don’t have a problem with being unable to write at all. Sometimes though, I can get too picky, and say that if it isn’t perfect, I’m not writing it. That is never going to happen. Even a great writer in my field like Douglas Adams didn’t produce perfect books, so how on Earth am I going to?
Margaret: Where have some of your best ideas come from?
Stuart: I get ideas a few different ways. I like writing down big lists of ideas, because usually, I’m able to come up with a few things that are intriguingly different. I also occasionally work from just a title or a single line.
Often, it’s what you do with an idea that counts. One thing that blogfests, competitions and so on have shown is that you can give a hundred writers the same starting point, and they will go in a hundred different directions. It’s not so much the inspiration as what you do with it when it abandons you after a couple of lines/half a character/a vague sense that you might like to see what would happen if Wodehouse rewrote Frankenstein.
Margaret: How do you get into the "writing zone"?
Stuart: What I've read tends to influence my tone a bit, but generally, getting in the zone isn’t an option for me on a daily basis. The ghost-writing means that I have to sit down and get on with it.
Margaret: Since Critique This WIP is a critique group, I have to ask this question: Do you use critique parterns, groups, or beta readers to help you with your story?
Stuart: I have persuaded people to critique my work occasionally, and particularly when I was first starting, I used to swap stories with my friend, and rather good sci-fi writer, Adam Wilson. It’s helpful, certainly, but it’s mostly a question of finding willing partners about whom you know enough for the process to be meaningful.
Margaret: How do you respond to criticism and/or feedback?
Stuart: The last two times I have had the line edits back from my publisher, I have, inevitably, spent several hours thinking “Nonsense! It’s perfect! How dare they?” before going back and looking more objectively. I generally accept every proposed change at that point.
Margaret: How about blogfests? Do you participate? (we love 'em here at CTW!) If so, do you write new scenes or use scenes from your WIPs?
Stuart: I have just started doing so, though so far, I’m afraid that I haven’t written more than one new piece (involving pubs, strange gods and the creation of universes. All my favourite things, really).
Margaret: Okay, I love this question because everyone has such different answers - What's your favorite part of being a writer?
Stuart: People actually want to read things that I have made up and written down. It still amazes me.
Margaret: Awesome answer, and I can so relate! What's your least favorite part of being a writer?
Stuart: Well, as a freelance writer, it isn’t all (or even very much, given that I’m a fair way from the top of the tree in the profession) about writing great fiction while being paid lots. Sometimes, you have to do quite boring, repetitive things, because those are what are needed.
Margaret: What are your favorite books? Authors? Movies? Songs?
Stuart: I have just realised that I have got through this without mentioning Terry Pratchett. I’m not sure how. I was reading Eric the other day, and it’s a wonderful take on the Faust story. I tend to listen to very few things with words, but if you have the remotest interest in the guitar and haven’t listened to Guthrie Govan’s Wonderful Slippery Thing yet, do so at once.
Margaret: How about you share a favorite line from one of your books?
Stuart: This is the start of Fishing for Worlds, the first short story I ever had published (in Semaphore Magazine).
Timothy sat by the shore of the burning sea, dangling his feet off the end of his grandfather’s dock. He didn’t dangle them in the water, because it was, after all, a burning sea, but he didn’t feel that it ruined the effect.
Margaret: Wow, that's great! Now I totally want to keep reading and see who Timothy is, what a burning sea is and where one would find it! One last question - is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?
Stuart: I suspect I have rambled rather more than I should have already.
Margaret: Never! These interviews are so much fun - there's never too much rambling.
Thanks so much, Stuart, for spending time with us here at Critique This WIP. We're happy to have had the chance to get to know you better!
Nice interview! I also love Douglas Adams. Though I haven't read much fantasy (or sci-fi/fantasy), I am now writing it, so I'm always looking for good recommendations to read more in the genre.
Great interview. Read a bit of his comic writing for a Bad Boy Blogfest. He had me laughing out loud.