Questions and Answers
What are you currently working on?
Right now I'm working on a screenplay for The Golden Crusader as well as a sequel, along with a collection of poetry.
With which of your works are you most/least satisfied and why?
I'm most satisfied with The Golden Crusader because I was able to use many different genres such as timeslip, fantasy, suspense, historical, reflecting some of the intersts I have. I'm least satisfied with my poetry. I'm torn between being literal and being obscure. I'd like to think that people still care about poetry.
Who (Fact or Fiction) would you most like to meet, and what would you ask them?
I would most like to meet Claude Monet in his garden at Giverny. We would have a picnic by the lily pond, because food was so much a part of his life, and then I would ask him this: "If fame had eluded you, would you have continued to paint anyway?"
Is there a book or story you wish you had written?
I'd like to have recorded all the family ghost stories my Scottish grandmother told me when I was little. She swore they were all true, and as a staunch Presbyterian I guess she wasn't lying.
Is writing your full time occupation, if not what is?
I would love to be able to make writing my full time occupation but I don't think at this stage it would pay all the bills. I am a freelance editor, I also write for an American company, I look after my family, have contributed to four cookbooks, manage almost an acre of gardens and meadow, and assist my husband in whatever building and renovation projects he has going. So I guess I'm a multi-tasker. Fortunately I do a lot of writing in my head.
What was your first professional sale? How did it feel when you received the acceptance?
I sold an article about choosing a minor in college to an American company. It felt so good to realize that I could be paid for my word-crafting. Of course, nothing compared to the rush I felt when I signed the contract for The Golden Crusader.
Who is you favourite author?
P.D. James, for expanding the boundary of the mystery and making it literary.
If you could give one piece of advice to a would-be author, what would it be?
Never be satisfied with what you have written: there is always room for revision. And never stop writing!
When did you first decide that you wanted to be an author?
Probably when I wrote mysteries and ghost stories as a twelve-year old and read them aloud to a spellbound audience of like-minded twelve year olds around the fire at a Baptist Bible camp. It wasn't that grim: we played poker in the woods, slept through morning prayer and took hair-rising spins down the motorway in the vicar's MG (he was driving).
When did you first feel that you were an author?
When I signed the contract for The Golden Crusader and my family and friends said "Hey, you're an author!" , it suddenly hit me that I was indeed an author! After the first rush, I went out in the garden to finish digging up the potatoes.
Are you for or against e-books?
E-books are here to stay and have their place. Let us welcome them, for they will change the face of publishing as much as the Gutenberg press did in its time, bringing more books to more readers.
Are you a music fan? If so, what?
I love music: it fuels my life. I enjoy the Chieftains, Josh Groban, Bach (his music has a mathematical precision I find very soothing), Gregorian chants, just about anything with a Celtic beat to it, YoYo Mah on the cello, Jane Koop on the piano ( especially playing Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring). I play the piano and would love to take up the Irish Harp.
Do you have a favourite place to write?
At present I write on the family computer in the livingroom so at times there can be a lot of interruptions and distractions. I'd like to have a laptop and be able to retreat into the garden to write. However, I now have a small office in the basement but no computer down there as yet. At least it is a quiet place to go and have a little think.
Do you enjoy book signings/conventions?
I've never been to any yet but I love meeting people and hope I will have the opportunity in the near future.
Why do you like SF/F/H?
I enjoy these genres because they touch the atavistic core in each of us, the collective unconscious that makes us afraid of things that go bump in the night. By showing us different worlds they help us make sense of the real world and they demonstrate in a very real way that the imagination has no bounds.
Is there anything more that can be done with Wizards, Elves and Dragons?
They have a timeless appeal, so one must expect to view them as old friends rather than as something startlingly new. To be honest, I think I could do without Merlin for awhile. The whole Arthurian legend thing has been done to death, though I did feel a tingle up my spine when I stood beside the supposed burial place of King Arthur in Glastonbury Abbey.
As a reader do you prefer Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror?
Horror gives me nightmares so I prefer not to indulge. Whatever I see or read just before I go to bed is often visited in my dreams, except for articles in the Weekly Telegraph, which is perfectly safe! The best SF I ever read was The Blind Spot. Everything else seemed to pale beside it. I suppose I prefer SF to Fantasy, unless it's a decent ghost story along the lines of Henry James.
What influences the names of people and places in your work?
My travels and the places where I have lived definitely influence the settings in my work. I don't rely on the phonebook for creating names. Sometimes, for lesser characters, I'll use secret nicknames I've given people, like Borewood in The Golden Crusader. He was named after a rather boring, offensive person I once knew. His real name rhymed with Borewood so Borewood he became. I like to choose memorable names for the protagonists, nothing exotic but something strong and rather unique. Often the name of a character will be tied in with the history of the setting. Sometimes I will use the names of relatives, grandparents and such like.
Short story, single novel or novel series - which do you think is the best medium for Fantasy?
I would say that a novel series gives the greatest scope for Fantasy. One always wants to read more.
Do you use myths and ancient religions for inspiration?
I have been inspired by monastic history, especially Benedictine and Cistercian, as it unfolded in Britain during the Middle Ages until its demise under Henry VIII. Fountains Abbey is one of the settings in The Golden Crusader. I once found the stone effigy of a knight in a corner of the abbey ruins and that became the inspiration for my novel. On a subsequent visit, the effigy had disappeared and no one seemed to remember it. Now there's a mystery!
What book are you reading at the moment?
The Templars by Piers Paul Read, a history of the Knights Templar. I love reading about anything to do with medieaval history. Of course, the character after whom the title is named in my novel The Golden Crusader, is a Knight Templar and I did a fair bit of research in that area prior to writing the book.
How does your approach to the editing role differ from that of writing?
I have edited book manuscripts and articles for other writers and find that dispassion is a must when editing one's own and other's work. Is it clear, is it concise, does it fit, does it make the story flow? These are questions I ask when editing, and they are also points I bear in mind when writing, though I tend to hold nothing back in the writing stage. I leave the structural editing to the end.
Do You Always know a Story's Ending When You Begin Writing?
Absolutely not. I know I want to tie up some loose ends, create a surprise, suggest more to come, but the actually nitty-gritty details don't suggest themselves until near the conclusion. However it ends, I always want to make it satisfying to the readers. I feel I owe it to them.
Who or what has been a major influence on your writing and why?
I believe that Mary Stewart has had a singular influence on my writing. She creates the suspense of the unknown, where the heroine never knows whom she can trust, and in this shifting landscape she cranks up the tension to a fever pitch and leaves one unable to close the book until it is finished. I hope I have achieved this suspence in The Golden Crusader.
Have you won any awards for your writing?
Both The Golden Crusader and Dancing Dragons were semi-finalists in the Chapters/Robertson Davies Prize for a First Novel. From over a thousand entries, they made the final ten.
Is there something you are particularly proud of?
I'm proud of my family: my husband William and my three children, Jennifer, Erin and Sean. Each day they remind me of the importance of love in our lives.
Plug away - what do you have coming out?
The Golden Crusader has just come out in e-book form and will be available in a print version at the end of the summer in 2005 through Twilight Times Books.
Many Thanks, Linda!
Relevant LinksLinda Langwith Main Bibliography