Which city or town did you grow up in?
I grew up in towns all over Queensland and spent some time in the Northern Territory. My father traveled for work and the family moved with him.
As a teenager, what were you obsessed with?
Horses, dragons and spaceships... I guess that shows, huh?
When did you first realize that being a writer is something you wanted to pursue?
Before primary school, when I was learning my letters and discovering the magic of books. I wanted to be a magician, too.
Do you remember the first book you read written by Douglas Hill?
Yes! It was Galactic Warlord of The Last Legionary series! With Keill Randor as the main character. I was still in high school and he was one of the first science fiction authors I ever read. I think the very first was Andre Norton and Cats Eye was the first novel of hers I read - and have recently re-read. Anne McCaffrey followed, as did John Wyndham and John Christopher, Harry Harrison and Nicholas Fisk.
Who is the most supportive person in your life when it comes to your writing?
My husband.
How deep into world building do you need to go when writing a book series?
If you mean do I design a world before writing in it, then the answer is I don't. I discover the world as I write and keep track of the details in a series 'bible'. Stories grow from the details I discover along the way.
How long did it take you to write your book, Trading By Shroomlight? Is there any particular scene that was very hard for you to write? Why? '
Trading by Shroomlight' took 4 months to write in 2019. During that time, I think I ghosted a couple of other novels, and dealt with a couple of rounds of flu. I don't remember any particular scene being hard to write...unless you count the one where Henri meets the pack leader of that cavern's wolves...or maybe the one where the children learn their relatives have been taken by raiders - and then reveal what sort of people they really were. Those were hard for different reasons. The first because I was laughing, and the second because of the emotions involved.
In what ways do you try to better understand the craft of writing?
To better understand the craft of writing, I take part in writing courses (yes, even after 30 years of writing), discuss writing with other authors and take careful note of anything my editors point out.
Who inspired the character of Marsh in Trading into Darkness?
There is no real life person who inspired Marsh. She arrived on the first page and grew from there. I don't base any of my characters on real life people. It's too restricting. I'm always curious to see who my characters will become in the path of their adventures...and to learn more of their pasts as the story reveals it.
If one of the characters from your books were to marry a character from another author's books, who would you pick and why?
Wow... That's a tricky question. I mean, Marsh & Roeglin are a pair, and Mack & Cutter have something going on, already. Tens has Abby...maybe...or maybe not, I don't think they've decided, yet. Rohan isn't thinking of settling down, and the two assassins are kinda not looking. Hmmm...Rohan might find someone from Elizabeth Moon's Vatta War series compatible...or maybe one of the minor characters in Mike Shepherd's Kris Longknife series given the leads in both those series are taken.
When writing, do you prefer to work after setting an outlined plot? Or just take an idea and then see where it gets you?
I do both, but the more stories I've written, the more comfortable I am with having a sketched outline before I start. It helps me hit the points I need to hit (if I know them), and ensures I can finish. Sometimes those outlines are a paragraph long. (I think the upcoming Chronicles of a Dark God dark fantasy series had a line for each book, but grew an outline as it went along - those are my earliest books - while the upcoming Strays of Lunar One series had a quarter page outline for each of the 8 books before writing began and then that paragraph grew to a 2-3 page outline for both of Books 1 and 2. I started out just writing stories 'into the dark', as in, writing the first sentence and following the story wherever it went, but outlines make it easier to keep the story on track and to complete on time.
Would you like to see Harry Harrison's The Technicolor Time Machine adapted as a movie?
I don't know. That's one of Harry Harrison's works I haven't read. My favorite books of his were the Death World trilogy - and I would like to see movie adaptations of those!
What time of the day do you feel most at peace and motivated to write?
I don't wait for peace or motivation. When I am ghost writing, I have a deadline to meet and a certain number of words that must be written each day to achieve that. The same goes for my own work. I have an idea of when I want to release them and that means I need to work to a deadline to achieve that. I start writing at the beginning of the day and write until that day's word count is met. Some days this is much harder to do than others...and some days I allow myself a break, if I am too troubled to write, but most days I sit down, put music on to help me focus (Sabaton, Wardruna, Antti Martikainen, Danheim, someone like that) and start writing. Outlines help a lot on days where you have low focus or motivation and help by giving you a direction to write in when you feel uninspired. Surprisingly, many of those 'uninspired' days produce some of the best words, although I can never tell at the time. Waiting for an ideal time to write would be a fatal mistake to getting anything finished.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on two projects - a work-for-hire piece, and the end of the second book in The Strays of Lunar One series. I'm also trying to put in a little time in on the finishing touches for A Collection of Dragons, but that's scarce at the moment.
How do you usually promote and market your books? Has AllAuthor been beneficial in this area and would you be willing to suggest it to your author friends?
I blog about my work and provide excerpts, read the first chapter on Youtube, have an author page on Facebook, and spend a little time on Twitter and Linked-In. I also have a Pinterest page, although that needs some updating, and am working on setting up a newsletter, but am finding that process a little slow. I am still assessing how beneficial everything is, but AllAuthor is definitely something I'd recommend people try in order to see if it fits their marketing plans.
