This interview with Tom Lloyd
was first published in January 2006. You can find out even more about the author
on our Tom Lloyd
page.
What
was it that first got you into writing and when did you start writing?
Tom
Lloyd: The very first thing that gave me the idea of writing a
book was a friend complaining how bad a certain fantasy book was, and
commenting that he could write one that was far better. Being somewhat
competitive (and perhaps a little childish) I decided that if he could write
one then I certainly could. A few months later and I had a long summer before
uni so I decided that instead of getting a real job I'd start writing a book.
Not a lot's change since then, come to think of it!
Where were you born and raised?
Tom Lloyd:
In a
village outside Reading, where my parents live to this day, but I went to
boarding school in Northants too.
Which writers have influenced
you the most?
Tom Lloyd:
That's
a toughie. M R James is one of my favourite writers; even though he only wrote short
stories I find it hard to finish one because I'm always reaching for my
notebook to write an idea down before I get to the end. Generally, I don't
think there's any particular one that stands out as having greatly influenced
me, although reading Tolkien and C S Lewis when I was young seems to have had a
certain effect!
Where
do you stand on the nature v. nurture debate? Were you born a writer, or were
there factors in your environment that enabled you to become a writer?
Tom
Lloyd: As with most things in life, a balance of the two. I grew
up in large, old houses in the country; fertile ground for the imagination but
I lived pretty much in my own little world anyway. I would say I was born a
daydreamer rather than a writer and where I grew up encouraged that, but it
wasn't an easy process to turn that into something other people could
understand.
There
are a lot of courses teaching creative writing nowadays, but do you think that
good writing can be taught?
Tom
Lloyd: Having worked in publishing, I've seen enough terrible
submissions to know that there is a technique to putting sentences together so
they are easy and enjoyable to read. It's simple, there's a right way and a
wrong way and claiming the need to protect your personal style isn't an excuse
for producing rubbish. Within the correct way is a huge amount of leeway and
brilliant writers of completely differing styles are encompassed by it. But
that's only the basics; good writing should come from observing human behaviour
and the ability to paint a mental picture of the world around you. How much of
that can be taught? Certainly some, in a similar way to how actors are trained
I suspect, but putting one's faith in the textbook isn't enough. I've not been
on a creative writing course so mine is an uninformed opinion and a few years
down the line, when I have the time and money to spare, I'd certainly consider
going on one. I don't think they can make a writer, but presumably they would
improve one.
Have you
entered writing competitions? If so, have you won any prizes?
Tom
Lloyd: No, the day I started writing I began what has now become
"The
Stormcaller". It was a silly approach to take but I didn't know any
better, and as a consequence I've not entered competitions or anything like
that really.
Do you
have any short stories or poems published online? (If so, please provide the
URLs):
Tom
Lloyd: A few, most of which are in need of revising as I've not
looked at them in a few years. Some kind person at Authortrek has already put
the URLs on my profile. I wrote them to be self-contained shorts that provided
a little background info on the world of The Twilight Reign. A few are referred
to in the book so I'm going to have to dust them down at some point but there
isn't a market for collections of fantasy stories in the UK so I guess the net
is where they'll stay.
What kind of things do you
write?
Tom Lloyd:
Fantasy;
big and bloody epic fantasy, although the short stories have shades of
Lovecraft and M R James thrown in.
What, for you, is the best
piece of prose that you have ever written?
Tom Lloyd:
“The
Stormcaller”
What are you working on now?
Tom Lloyd:
Book two
in The Twilight Reign, which will eventually be a five novel series. I'm
interchanging between "The Theatre of War" and "The Shadow
Crucible" as the working title for this one, but I'm not really happy with
either so that's going to change. My first priority is getting the book
finished; in my experience titles happen either first or last.
What is your writing day like?
Tom Lloyd:
Fragmented.
I work four days a week at a literary agency so my writing day is: the odd
lunch break, the occasional hour after office hours, one evening during the
week and whatever time I can grab during the weekends. I tend to write best
after dark.
Where would you like to be in
10 years time?
Tom Lloyd:
A
fifteen bedroom house overlooking Regents Park, but unfortunately only a tiny
percentage of writers ever make much money so it's not likely! My plan for the
next ten years is to finish The Twilight Reign, do a few stand-alone novels
based a semi-fantasy setting I've got bubbling away, called The Empire of a
Hundred Houses, and then see what life brings! I wouldn't want to rule anything
out and I don't want to plan too carefully. As long as I'm writing and still
paying the bills, I'll be happy enough.
What’s the most exciting thing
about writing for you?
Tom Lloyd:
Solving
problems. I actually insert problems into the plot for myself by adding little
comments or mentioning a piece of the character's personal history. It is
surprising how things fit together three hundred pages later, I've actually
been speechless when I've written myself into a corner and then realised that a
casual mention at the beginning of the book makes the whole lot make sense.
Considering the fact that there's a malevolent mind engineering events in the
plot, I sometimes wonder just how things have tied in quite so nicely... There
are several occasions where my notebook reads 'X happens, not sure why yet but
it does' and three months later I've added the reason why below. It doesn't
always work out but my editor is very sharp and pretty forgiving.
What’s the most frustrating
thing about writing for you?
Tom Lloyd:
The
word count, it's the bane of my life! Fantasy novels have to be big to get all
the detail in, 150,000 words is a modest number. I haven't got a specific
number to reach but the mechanics of typing that many words, then retyping them
during my initial edits, is pretty exhausting. I can do four or five thousand
words during a very good evening, but my back and shoulders will sieze up if I
do. It takes time to type, simple as that, and I think faster than I type.
What’s
the best piece of feedback that you’ve had from your audience?
Tom
Lloyd: “Stormcaller” isn't published yet so that's a hard one, but
a friend of mine in Australia complained that she couldn't sleep one night
after reading a short story of mine because it had scared her. That made me
laugh!
Do you
write for a particular audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your own
creativity?
Tom
Lloyd: To satisfy myself. I hope people read and enjoy it because it's
something I love and making a career from writing would mean I get to do it
more, but first of all I want to produce a story that I like and pin down onto
a page some of the strange things that go on in my head. Writing them down, to
a degree, stops them playing out behind my eyes when I'm trying to sleep.
How do you describe your
writing to new readers?
Tom Lloyd:
Well I
think a London bookseller described it in the trade magazine as 'fantasy in the
muscular, gritty vein of David Gemmell'. I'd say, it's an epic fantasy where
few motivations are as they seem in a land scarred by war and beset by
prophecies that have been twisted for personal gain.
Do you have a homepage? If so,
what’s the URL?
Tom Lloyd:
It's
still under construction, but one will be up at some point at www.tomlloyd.co.uk
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