What motivated you to become an indie author?
I became an indie author to follow the LAW: If you want something done well, do it yourself. And this only happened because nearly all of my experiences with online publishers have been bad ones: that is, I'm one of those writers who have truly struggled to be published. For me, the road to get my books, The Silurian series, out to readers has been a genuine battle. So, after being treated like dirt by the online publishers I signed contracts with, I said, No more! The Silurian is far too important to me to just hand over to others to manipulate for their own ends, then eventually, shafting me again. I knew all along that The Silurian was independent writing right from the beginning, and would never fit the requirements of publishers, whether traditional or online.
What are you working on next?
Well, I'm writing the final book of The Silurian series: Last Man to Avalon. Yet after I have finished Last Man to Avalon, I have no idea where to go next. If at all. I've been writing The Silurian now for ten years, and I'm exhausted by the effort, the passion and pain and dedication has worn me out, almost! Yet I get ideas for new books almost every day...
When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
Just general investigation...
How do you discover the ebooks you read?
I don't have time to read! Well, I do, but I find I can't read other people's books while I'm trying to write my own; it's a bit like white noise interference for me to read other books. I have to be single minded to the point of obsession when I'm writing, and I can only read when I'm not writing. I guess I discover my reading matter just going and having a look what's out there, download the samples, and then buy if I like what I read.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Yes, I sure do! It was a mad little tale about a couple of outlaw bikers (Two Riders?) who get into a serious life or death survival situation with a couple of 'truckies' - truckers to US readers. I still have it all in my head, along with an even better story about an English soccer player who kills a member of Parliament, and I never wrote it down, but is stored permanently inside my skull, where all good stories go for eternal rewards, the Valhalla of Lost Stories. My creative mind.
What is your writing process?
I lie awake all night long, being pestered by visual images of the prince and king of my personal myth, where they exist independently from me, that is, they tell me what's next, especially Arthur, who rules just about everything within my psyche; then, if I'm not in a terrible state of despondency, I write down what the Fox tells me to write, that is, his voice, seen through his eyes, his perceptions and his point of view. I do not write from the point of view of an author penning a standard novel, with grammar and sentence structure, etc; but I'm writing from a single idiosyncratic voice of a truly wild character. It's exhausting. I can only be a real writer when I'm editing.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
No, I don't remember the first story I ever read, but I do remember being mesmerized by Winnie the Pooh, even locking myself in the bathroom to read "House at Pooh Corner", in the bath, and upsetting the woman who was staying with my parents at the time, with her banging on the bathroom door for me to come out, so others could invade my fantasy. Isn't childhood wonderful?
What are your five favorite books, and why?
To tell the truth, my favorite books are my own! One of my favs of The Silurian series is book 5, Longhand, White-tooth, and the Fox, as this is the book where Bedwyr really stood up as a warrior of independent power in his own right, proving his worth as a champion of Arthur's. It's also the book where he found his kilt, and being in his body, actually being HIM when he was that strong, that beautiful, that powerful was the biggest joy of being his author.
My other favourites are Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, because this story is original and fierce; it's dark, brutal, and brilliant.
The Once and Future King, by T.H. White, that is delicious all the way through.
And some others that I can't think of now...
What do you read for pleasure?
Smut of course...ok, UM, I read a LOT of non-fiction; people's life stories and travel stories. Stories of the real world, by real people who have lived a life I never will.
Describe your desk
I have a wee little folding table (that's actually meant for picnics), upon which sits my laptop. I have a book with a piece of cardboard on top of it that I use as a mouse pad on the right, and nothing on left, but a drop off to the floor. I have to stick my USB wireless receiver on the left, otherwise it gets tangled in the mouse wire if it goes on the right. I have a million books on King Arthur, both fiction and non fiction, stacked here there and on the floor...with the cat, no, actually, the cat sits on my chest, purring in my face while I try to type and actually SEE the screen, while he crushes my arms so I can't reach the keyboard, and so...no wonder my final book never gets written.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in suburban western Sydney, Australia, and it didn't influence my writing at all. My writing is pure fiction, pure imagination, existing way beyond anything from the suburbs of Sydney. I only ever write about Australia in poems and short stories, never books. The first book I ever wrote, In Blood Covenant, a Gothic vampire number, is set in England, where I was born. (My parents were 'Ten Pound Poms' who emigrated to Australia when it well, cost ten pounds to do so). I am British by blood and birth, Australian by upbringing, but it is my birth-lands and its greatest legend, King Arthur, who influence me.
Copyright © L.A. Wilson 2013 Reproduced by permission of the author