Simon Lelic
Author Interview - Simon Lelic
Author I draw inspiration from: Stephen King. His sheer inventiveness and creativity is inspirational enough, but he is also a genius at creating characters – often in only a sentence or two, or a single piece of dialogue – that jump fully formed from the page. Whenever I am struggling with writing for whatever reason, I turn to a Stephen King novel to give me that motivational kick-start I need.
Author Interview - Simon Lelic
Favorite place to read a book: The beach, probably – but I’ll take anywhere there’s no internet connection or ringing phone to distract me.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Er . . . one of the hobbits from The Lord of the Rings? Purely for spatial reasons.
Author Interview - Simon Lelic
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I can’t remember not wanting to be an author. I wrote my first ‘book’ when I was about nine years old, a story about a teddy bear who escapes his owner and visits a funfair. It was entitled, imaginatively enough, ‘Ted Visits the Funfair’. It came complete with illustrations and a cover, and totalled, I imagine, something like 500 words. During a couple of months of illness, I in fact settled on turning the idea into a series. I wrote a prequel and had two ideas for sequels – but then got better and went back to school.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Hardbacks to treasure, paperbacks to travel, audiobooks for when there’s something else in your hands. The only format I don’t really do is ebooks. Although, to be fair, given how little shelf space there is left in our house, I might shortly be forced to re-evaluate.
The last book I read: A proof of the new Tana French novel, The Wych Elm. I have been a fan of French since In the Woods, and this, her first standalone, is easily as good as anything else she’s written. Which is saying a lot.
Author Interview - Simon Lelic
Pen & paper or computer: Both. A notepad and pencil to plan, a computer to write. And re-write. And re-write again.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Gandalf. It would be handy to have a wizard as a mate.
Author Interview - Simon Lelic
If I wasn’t an author, I’d be a: . . . journalist, I guess, which is what I was before. I grew weary of the style guide, as well as the word-count restrictions, not to mention the routine of having to write about the same subject every day, which is why I turned to writing novels. I’d be loath to go back, but on the other hand, I cannot imagine doing a job that didn’t involve working with words.
Favorite decade in fashion history: The current one, because whenever I look back at pictures of myself from previous decades, I tend to just look ridiculous.
Place I’d most like to travel: There are dozens of places I’d love to have the opportunity to visit, but as karate is such a big part of my life, Japan is probably number one on my list.
Author Interview - Simon Lelic
My signature drink: Coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
Favorite artist: My sister, Katja Lelic. And I’m not just saying that. She is incredibly talented, and is the artist whose work features most heavily on our walls at home. You can follow her and see what she does at www.instagram.com/inkykatstudio.
Number one on my bucket list: To finish the book I’m working on now.
Anything else you'd like to add: Only to say thanks for inviting me on. Blogs such as this one do a crucial job in helping us writers get in touch with our readers, who’s faith and support in turn allow people like me to continue doing the thing we love. So, again, thank you!
Find more from Simon Lelic: You can read more about my novels at www.simonlelic.com, and follow me on Twitter @Simon_Lelic. Thanks again!
