The Author Hotline
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Daniel Blythe
http://www.danielblythe.comdanielblythe@blueyonder.co.uk
To download this profile page, click HERE
Q: What were you like at school?
Quite shy and geeky. Studious and not at all sporty. Even at a selective boys' grammar school, you could be teased for being "swotty" so I had to keep my head down. Hating rugby was a distinct disadvantage - organised games were hell on earth, freezing cold, muddy torture for two afternoons a week. I was happy to leave school. Never looked back, never been back!
Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?
A writer - always. From as early as I can recall.
Q: Which three words describe you best?
Creative, restless, trustworthy.
Q: What is your favourite word?
Mellifluous.
Q: What makes you cringe?
Bad TV, especially when you can see the cogs of the plot grinding or the dialogue is ear-crunchingly awful. People using Americanisms like "24/7".
Q: What are you afraid of?
Failure.
Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?
Probably at something one of my children said or did.
Q: What is your most treasured possession?
In practical terms it has to be my computer, or at least the stuff on it! But I keep special things the children have written or drawn and I have scrapbooks going back to 2000.
Q: What do you day dream about?
All sorts of things...
Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
Something musical. I'd need to learn an instrument first, though...
Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?
Oh, younger - much younger...
Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
I don't know, but I'd rather meet them alive, whoever it is. Meeting people dead can be socially embarrassing.
Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?
Tenacity and the ability to turn talent into success.
Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?
My head.
Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Writing is a combination of talent, luck and hard work, and the only one you control is the work.
Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?
I'd like to be better at what I do and even more successful.
Q: What has life taught you?
It's not over yet.
Q: How long have you been a writer?
For as long as I can remember - I was always scribbling on bits of paper, then in exercise books... then as a teenager, hammering stuff out on typewriters or drawing comics... But if you mean professionally, then since 1993 when my first "Doctor Who" book was published!
Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?
I can't pinpoint it. I've always known!
Q: Where do you do your writing?
In my attic office at home, at my cluttered desk.
Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?
Best: being your own boss, in control of your own creation and time. The beautiful freedom. Worst: the continual uncertainty and constant need to justify yourself, and being rubbished by people who think they know better but don't.
Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?
I have folders full of ideas. Some come out of my head fully-formed, while others are based on people or situations with details tweaked or changed. I'm always thinking "What would have happened if so-and-so had reacted differently?"
Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?
The narrator in "Losing Faith" is the nearest fictional "version" of me, but there are bits of me in all my main protagonists... even those who are not my own, like the Doctor!
Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?
I go back over the previous day's writing and diligently try to edit it... Who am I kidding? I listen to cheap pop music, drink coffee and play Scrabble on Facebook.
Q: What was your favourite book as a child?
"The Hobbit", and all the "Doctor Who" books, plus the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge and Just William books by Richmal Crompton.
Q: What book do you wish you had written?
Anything by Iain Banks. The man is an irritating genius, and even if he has the odd off day I can still appreciate his skill.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Read a lot and write a lot! Read things you might not choose to read - anything and everything. And keep trying, and keep getting better. Lots of people write very well but are not quite good enough to get published. You just have to keep on with it. Listen to the way people speak so that you write convincing dialogue. Look at the way published books start a story, and how they pull the reader in and introduce characters. Look at the way they tell different scenes from different characters' points of view and try to learn from that. Don't let anyone make you write in a boring or formulaic way just to pass an exam. What will make your writing special will be your unique 'voice'.
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Doctor Who: The Dimension Riders
ISBN
0426203976
Status
Out of Print -
Doctor Who: Infinite Requiem
ISBN
0426204379
Status
Out of Print -
The Cut
ISBN
0140267999
Status
Out of Print -
Losing Faith
ISBN
024114032
Status
Out of Print -
The Encyclopaedia of Classic 80s Pop
ISBN
0749005343
Published By
Allison & Busby
Status
In Print -
The Encyclopaedia of Classic 80s Pop: 2nd ed
ISBN
0749083115
Published By
Allison & Busby
Status
In Print -
I Hate Christmas
ISBN
074908216X
Published By
Allison & Busby
Status
In Print -
Dadlands
ISBN
1841126799
Published By
Capstone-Wiley
Status
In Print -
This is the Day (trade pbk)
ISBN
978-0749081645
Published By
Allison & Busby
Status
In Print -
This is the Day (pbk)
ISBN
978-07490-7920-8
Published By
Allison & Busby
Status
In Print -
Doctor Who: Autonomy
ISBN
978-1-846-07759-3
Published By
BBC Books
Status
In Print -
X Marks The box
ISBN
978-1848310513
Published By
Icon Books
Status
In Print -
Shadow Runners
Published By
Chicken House
Status
In Print -
Collecting Gadgets and Games from the 1950s-90s
ISBN
978-1844681051
Published By
Pen & Sword
Status
In Print
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