Author Interview – Will Once

Question 1: Who are you and what have you written (Most recent book, no synopsis).

I am Iain Reeve, writing fiction as Will Once. It’s a Peter Parker/ Clark Kent sort of thing. I answer to pretty much anything – Iain, Will or “hey you in the bushes”. Heck, I’ll even try to smile when someone calls me “Ian”. Or as one person said when I told them it was I.A.I.N …. “are you sure?”

My most recent book is “Love, Death and Wyrds” – a sequel to “Love, Death and Tea.”

Question 2: If you had to paint a portrait of any author who would it be?

I can’t paint to save my life, so it would have to be a photograph instead. And if I could photograph any author, it would have to be William Shakespeare. Just think how much I could sell that photo for!

Wuestion 3: Why did you start writing?

When I was nobbut knee-high to a grasshopper. I was an avid reader and I would get frustrated when I got to the end of a book I enjoyed. I’d want to know what happened next. The only way to continue the story was to write it myself. And so I did.

Kwestion 4: Where do you write? Do you have a shed like Roald Dahl, or a special room away from the other people in your house. Maybe you write at work when you should be working like that Terry Pratchett did. You should be careful, if your boss catches you you’re done for. Personally I write in my pajamas.

We’ve converted our dining room into my office/ man cave. Books about history, chess, photography, writing. Models of Ferraris. Old cameras. A mini watch collection. A Louis Stettner photo of New York in 1954. A mahassive desk and monitor and a reasonably meaty hifi connected to the PC.

Question 5: Today a dog untied my shoe laces.

In my first book “Love, Death and Tea” I had a hero who was confused by shoelaces. We ought to introduce him to your dog.

Question 6: Do you think question 5 needs to be rephrased?

Nah. It’s art, innit? Once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s very hard to squeeze him back in. It takes a lot of vaseline.

Question 7: Forget the last two questions.

Dog – shoelaces – love – death – tea – genies – bottles – vaseline. That’s an image you’ll never be able to unsee.

Question 5 (again): What is the most interesting thing you have learned recently? (I just heard about an animal called the Tree Kangaroo that lives in trees regardless of it being utterly inept for that way of life and so often falls out of trees. And they are f**ing adorable).

I have just learned that there is a thing called a Tree Kangaroo. And now I can’t help wondering why. Is it trying to live up to its name?

Question 6: Have you experienced what psychologists call “The ultimate experience” ? Which is the frame of mind when you are writing and everything is flowing perfectly and the creative buzz is so great you lose track of time.

Yup. And sometimes I have experienced what psychologists ought to call “the ultimate experience morning-after experience”. That’s when you look back at what you wrote while you were in the zone and realise that you have to edit most of it away.

But seriously I do sometimes get into that zone and sometimes it works. I need three things to make it happen – 1. a pretty clear idea about where I want the writing to go (a long walk helps), 2. a quiet space to write and 3. (without wishing to be too immodest) a well-established writing style that I don’t have to think too much about.

Last question: Are you happy as a writer?

Ish. Sort of. Mostly. I enjoy the writing itself more than the marketing side of things. I’m trying to get better at selling my books, but I don’t like it when people are being pushy selling things to me. It feels a little hypocritical for me to do something similar to them.

***

Will Once’s Love, Death and Tea is available now on Amazon, as are many other books, including Global Domination for Beginners