Comments on: Suffering For Your Art

By: Mark Robson

Mark Robson — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:55:10 +0000

I’m a traveller, too … but then I’m guessing you had worked that one out! It’s taken me eleven books to realise that I needed to write one set somewhere real and exotic so that I have a good excuse to go there. I always was a bit slow on the uptake …

By: MG

MG — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:00:48 +0000

I definitely had the sense that you were both travellers, Ali and Andy! (esp since Andy keeps tweeting from all over the world!)
But yeah – dodgy areas like Iraq and space don’t give us much option but to invent.
It’s like you say, Ali, it’s the human detail. Can’t beat it. Could probably invent if it super-talented like Stef Penney. But I’m quite lazy too .

By: Andy Briggs

Andy Briggs — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:55:32 +0000

What a difficult question! I always prefer visiting the location I’m writing about. I’ve been lucky enough to visit many of the countries featured in my HERO.COM and VILLAIN.NET series. It really adds to the overall ambience.

However, I have used some locations that I haven’t had the chance to visit, such as Antarctica, or are very difficult to get to: Iraq or the International Space Station (as much as I would love to go there!) – in which case I feel it’s the writer’s duty to research as much as possible (thank goodness for Google Earth, at least my action beast follow real geography!) – then let the imagination fly.

By: Ali Sparkes

Ali Sparkes — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:32:22 +0000

I always have to smell a place before I write about it. So Cornwall, Cumbria and Brittany all had to be visited for the Shapeshifter series (although Cornwall had already been done a few times!).

Also had to revisit Wookey Hole caves for Dark Summer (and was allowed into a secret cave and to have all the lights turned off!). Went to a water mill on the River Ouse (lovely day trip!) for Wishful Thinking and had to go to Harvey Nicholls for the first time last month for the current book I’m working on – and will have to do Southern Ireland before the year is out for another. What a brilliant excuse to faff about in an authory way in the destinations of your choice!

The only place I’ve written about with going to it is a North Sea oil rig – and I really did want to! Had to use my imagination and the smell of Southampton docks to do that bit.

You do get surprised by locations when you actually visit and I definitely think it can add to your writing, in the way that talking to people rather than just searching on line always brings fascinating human detail that you can’t get any other way. I LOVE the research.

Can’t wait to read Joshua Files, MG. Whenever I see one, though, it’s always the 2nd one! I must order No 1…

By: scott

scott — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:50:35 +0000

always research! it makes it so much better ^^