Events

Dave Weaver is a prolific writer of stories short and long. Look out for his super new fantasy novel 'Jacey's Kingdom' which will burst onto the scene soon!

Interview with Dave:

What first got you interested in writing?

School essays, I enjoyed writing stories and usually did quite well with them. Then one day about twelve years ago I thought I’d try writing again. I don’t know why.

What kind of stories did you start writing and how have you developed?

What inspires you?

The first thing I wrote when I started writing again was a novel called ‘The Timekeepers’ which wasn’t very good but did three basic things; proved I could finish a project, showed me how to write a dramatic scheme and taught me how to structure an over-reaching arc of plot for a whole story. I’m not saying I did these things well but I managed to find out how to do them.

What were your favourite childhood books?

Enid Blyton’s Mallory Towers and St. Clares novels (for girls!) and the Thomas the Tank Engine stories (had the whole set in hardback). The first Science fiction novel I read was Robert A Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (nothing like the film). I got into the classic American Sci-fi writers in my early teens. ‘Day of the Triffids’ and other John Wyndham read at school were a big influence.

What do you think are the main differences in modern children's books? 

What do children expect now?

Children’s books now seem to be both more realistic and more fantastic; the reader is not spoken down to as maybe they were previously because either the writer is much younger or better able to be simpatico with a younger mind. Or simply have a more fluid and adaptable writer with a better realised imagination. The age range is greater; there is something for all ages and no longer an enforced dividing line between boys and girls in subject matter which works for the benefit of both sexes. There is more swearing/natural language in pressure situations, more realism in relationships and death and sex are usually both dealt with in a responsible un-patronising fashion.

Why do you think children still enjoy reading hard back books as well as e-books?

Children like collecting items and the physical touch of things. They also like to collect and trade which you can’t really do with e-books.   

If you could keep only one book, what would it be and why?

‘Lord of the Rings’ – I could re-read it at any time and be transported from any situation into sublime fantasy; my desert Island book.

Are any of your fictional characters based on real life people?

George in my first novel ‘Jacey’s Kingdom’ is the grumpy side of me with the same pathetic sense of middle-aged bloke humour.

Do you have a 'dream book' waiting to be written?

I could be trite and say the next one, but I’d love to write a really exciting trilogy once I get a great deal better at what I’m doing.

Anything else you would like to add?

My next novel out on Elsewhen Press is called ‘Japanese Daisy-chain’. It’s an interlinked-character collection of stories set all over modern day Japan where the end returns us to the beginning with a new understanding of events that have taken place. I hope readers will enjoy it and also enjoy reading my YA fantasy novel ‘Jacey’s Kingdom’.

Here’s a link to my blog with links to ‘Jacey’ and a couple of other e-books of my short stories:

http://daveweaver-unreal.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for the interview Wendy!

Thanks Dave!