Writing Room Revelations - Part Four

And continuing the Writing Room Revelations series… This week children’s and YA authors Nick Green, Gillian Philip, Jonathan Mayhew and Cindy Pon answer the questions:

Where do you write? And what does your writing space give you – i.e. why do you write there?

Where do you do your most creative thinking – and when? (e.g particular time of day, conscious space e.g. dreams)

Do you use/need anything particular in order to help you write? (e.g. music, chocolate, coffee, silence etc) In what way does this “support” help you?

JON MAYHEW
Award winning author of Mortlock and the recently released The Demon Collector

On Writing
I have a tiny room to write in but often break out and write all around the house. Anywhere warm and deamnd-free.

On Thinking
I have most of my good ideas when I'm meant to be doing something else and often while I'm running or walking. So a bit of stress and some mindless routine usually does the trick!

On Support
Music from my youth seems to trigger certain creative juices. I have to be warm and I must know that nobody is going to ask me for aomething, to do something, to be somewhere etc. A laptop helps too!

The book trailer of The Demon Collector

You can find out more about Jon Mayhew on his website or on his blog
You can become a fan on Facebook
You can read my interview with Jon Mayhew here.



NICK GREEN
Author of The Cat Kin

On Writing
I don’t have a particular place to write – I do it wherever and whenever I can fit it in around other things. I’ve got so used to working with distractions (mainly to do with having a full-time day job and a young family) that I find it harder to work with total peace, quiet and stability. And I think all the upheaval benefits my writing – it forces me to be as gripping as I can be, merely to hold my own attention!

On Thinking
When, for whatever reason, I can’t get to a computer to write. I have enforced breaks where chores must be done and children cared for, and so forth. These are the times when my brain starts bursting with ideas, so that I have to frantically scribble them down, often with hands still wet from doing some small person’s bath. I’ve taken to carrying my notebook and pen in a trouser pocket, whipping them out like a gunslinger.

On support
I like to associate the book I’m writing with a particular song or piece of music, or several. Like making a soundtrack for a film that doesn’t yet exist. It helps to get my head immediately back into the mood of that story, just by playing the song. Choices can be very eclectic and it’s all about mood, not subject matter. For instance the forthcoming Cat’s Paw was helped along by K T Tunstall’s gentle ballad ‘The Other Side Of The World’, while another book used a song by the prog-metal band Dream Theater.

You can find out more about Nick Green on his website.
You can read my interview with Nick Green here.



GILLIAN PHILIP
Award winning and Carnegie medal nominated author of Crossing the Line, Bad Faith, Firebrand and novels for Young Adults.

On writing
I write in my study, which I'm very lucky to have (my husband gets a cupboard under the stairs, a la Harry Potter) but which I'm incapable of keeping tidy. That's why I'm offering a close-up shot of my, erm, paperweight - I'm ashamed of the DVDs all over the floor and the 'relaxed' filing system. But it is a wonderful private space where I can close the door and be (mostly) undisturbed, and it has a fabulous view of the valley below our house.

On thinking
I do my most creative thinking while I'm out walking, which I don't do nearly as often as I'd like to. It's true what they say about walking shaking loose ideas and getting plots in order in your head. And I'm hopeless at thinking creatively before about eleven o'clock in the morning - the later it is, the straighter I can think. I'm quite often sitting in bed, last thing at night, scribbling
furiously.

On support
The only think I absolutely need is coffee, and lots of it. I need it to jump-start my work day. I try to be sociable and have lunch with my husband, but quite often I'd rather grab a snack and stay at my laptop - the ideas are only just starting to flow by lunchtime, and it's a little frustrating to break the spell.

You can find out more about Gillian Philip on her website
and you can become a fan on Facebook

You can read my interview with Gillian Philip here, and my interview with her gorgeous hero, Seth MacGregor, from Firebrand, here.



CINDY PON
Author of the Asian-inspired fantasy novels The Silver Phoenix and the recently released Fury of the Phoenix

On Writing
My official "office" is at our dining table. It's not very writerly, but it does offer open space and brightness, which I like. I write here because it's the only space that works for me in our little house. When I want to be "social", I will write at a coffee place or my preferred boba shop, where they serve good food and drinks!

On thinking
Long car drives, showers, and on the elliptical machine. These seem to help induce very good brainstorming!

On Support
Definitely my Macbook Pro, a dictionary and thesaurus, and a drink, preferably espresso or chai latte! I also enjoyed listening to Jay Chou ballads while writing Fury of the Phoenix as it was quite emo and I couldn't sing along entirely since the songs were in mandarin. I think they support me as they are my comforts and my routine, and I'm a stickler to those, they make me happy.

Book Trailer for The Fury of The Phoenix

You can find out more about Cindy Pon on her website or on her blog.
Or you can follow Cindy on Twitter
You can read my interview with Cindy Pon here.