Ask the Author: S.A.A. Calvert
Answered Questions (8)
S.A.A. Calvert
Williams the exorcist had finally cornered the Screaming Ghost, which looked like a terrified young man, in the old rectory's library. It was a few seconds before he realised that its look of terror wasn't directed at him, but over his shoulder, and so he slowly turned his head...
S.A.A. Calvert
My favourite would have to be my own creation Arwel and Alice Powell, because writing them allowed me to explore some seriously hidden depths as well as the difference in conventional male and female emotional narratives.
S.A.A. Calvert
I breathe in and I breathe out.. That sounds facile, but writing is my way of making sense of the world.
S.A.A. Calvert
Two novels. One is a development from a short story I wrote a while ago.
S.A.A. Calvert
I haven't yet had it.
S.A.A. Calvert
I get a chance to try and make real people without the messy and sweaty business usually required.
S.A.A. Calvert
First: keep reading and keep writing, but get someone else to look at what you produce and be ready to accept criticism constructively offered.
Second:, most writers have a Big Scene in mind, and it is tempting to shorten and compress plot and character development in order to get there as soon as possible. Be patient.
Third: good prose should either stun the reader with its grace and power or seamlessly draw the reader into the story. Anything that gets in the way of that is a Very Bad Thing. A certain fantasy novelist, for example, makes far too much use of words unfamiliar to most of his readers. Other factors that intrude are misuse of words or simple grammar and spelling failures. Learn the differences, for example, between its/it's, whose/who's, your/you're and there/their/they're, and PLEASE never use the nonsense phrase 'would of'.
Second:, most writers have a Big Scene in mind, and it is tempting to shorten and compress plot and character development in order to get there as soon as possible. Be patient.
Third: good prose should either stun the reader with its grace and power or seamlessly draw the reader into the story. Anything that gets in the way of that is a Very Bad Thing. A certain fantasy novelist, for example, makes far too much use of words unfamiliar to most of his readers. Other factors that intrude are misuse of words or simple grammar and spelling failures. Learn the differences, for example, between its/it's, whose/who's, your/you're and there/their/they're, and PLEASE never use the nonsense phrase 'would of'.
S.A.A. Calvert
At the moment I am working on two books. One is a rather obvious hole-filler, and is the reverse-angle view of Sarah's life ('Cold Feet') from her sister Elaine's point of view. There were issues left unresolved when I finished 'Cold Feet', and this is my way of dealing with them.
The other book is a different one for me, in that the protagonist is entirely male. It starts in Normandy in 1944 and took its seed from a short story I wrote a couple of years ago. The main character, when we meet him, is a tank gunner in a reconnaissance troop. It came to me as a mixture of the 69th anniversary of 'Overlord'', an article about Alan Turing and a comment passed about the short story
The other book is a different one for me, in that the protagonist is entirely male. It starts in Normandy in 1944 and took its seed from a short story I wrote a couple of years ago. The main character, when we meet him, is a tank gunner in a reconnaissance troop. It came to me as a mixture of the 69th anniversary of 'Overlord'', an article about Alan Turing and a comment passed about the short story
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more