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David Thorpe
http://www.davidthorpe.info/schoolvisits.htm
thorpedav@gmail.com
To download this profile page, click HERE
Q: What were you like at school?
I didn't like school, but I did my work.
Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?
Always wanted to be a writer. Except when I wanted to be an astronaut and a superhero.
Q: Which three words describe you best?
mind bogglingly imaginitive
Q: What is your favourite word?
Boggle
Q: What makes you cringe?
Gone-off milk
Q: What are you afraid of?
Losing my mind. The end of the world. Tigers becoming extinct.
Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?
Watching the film The Men Who Stare At Goats!
Q: What is your most treasured possession?
My mind.
Q: What do you do as a hobby?
Go kayaking in the sea nearby.
Q: What strange habits do you have?
I collect graphic novels. I like Marmite.
Q: What’s your favourite food?
Rhubarb crumble and custard!
Q: What do you day dream about?
My latest novel
Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?
Wow, I've done a few. I was working as a counsellor in an American Summer Camp where they woke you up every morning with a tannoy and a bugle and you had to go out and salute the American flag and sing the American national anthem. So on July 4, American Independence Day when they celebrate beating the British, I got up early and woke everybody up on the tannoy with Anarchy In the UK by the Sex Pistols!
Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
Being someone who restores coral reefs, because it wold mean swimming amongst them all day!
Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?
Oh, I'm still 17. Or 14 sometimes.
Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
The Yellow Emperor, as long as I had a translator who could speak Ancient Chinese.
Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?
Kindness.
Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?
Catalunya
Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Follow your obsession (to be a great writer - ie be true to yourself and the things that fascinate you)
Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?
i would like to relax more.
Q: What has life taught you?
Never give up. Be honest. Leave your ego behind. The more you give, the more you receive. Lose your fear. The universe is a wondrous place. People are ok.
Q: How long have you been a writer?
Since i was 10
Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?
When I was 10
Q: Where do you do your writing?
Anywhere I can.
Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?
The best is being able to create and live in imagined worlds and lose yourself in them... and then watching others do the same! The worst is the business side, for me, but the hardest is editing your own work.
Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?
I read a lot, I read widely, I also watch a lot of films, read the news - especially obscure stuff - go to art galleries, and listen to a lot of music, and I talk about this with friends and make notes. Then I dream, vividly, and out of all this an idea will eventually rise to the surface, but they are not always good ideas, so you have to be very critical and say 'is this really me? What is in it that can really inspire me and provoke me to explore? Is it rich and multilayered?' And then I may actually combine several of these in one piece to be really generous to the readers and create something that can be read again and again, or by different readers/ages, who will get different things from the work.
Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?
Johnny Online in Hybrids because he is a bit disabled like me, and is a freedom fighter and a computer whizzkid, and he is in love.
Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?
I don't believe in it. I think it usually means you haven't got to know your characters well enough, or planned your structure well enough.
Q: What was your favourite book as a child?
Marvel Comics - Thor, Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer.
Q: What book do you wish you had written?
His Dark Materials
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Write something every day, and read widely.
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Captain Britain By Alan Moore & Alan Davis Omnibus HC
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