William Meikle interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

When did your love of books begin?

I started back in the Sixties. Tarzan is the second novel I remember reading. (The first was Treasure Island, so I was already well on the way to the land of adventure even then.) I quickly read everything of Burroughs I could find. Then I devoured Tolkien, Wells, Dumas, Verne and Haggard. I moved on to Conan Doyle before I was twelve, and Professor Challenger’s adventures in spiritualism led me, almost directly, to Dennis Wheatley, Algernon Blackwood, and then on to Lovecraft. Then Stephen King came along.

There’s a separate but related thread of a deep love of detective novels running parallel to this, as Conan Doyle also gave me Holmes, then I moved on to Christie, Chandler, Hammett, Ross MacDonald and Ed McBain, reading everything by them I could find. 

Mix all that lot together, add a hefty slug of heroic fantasy from Howard, Leiber and Moorcock, a sprinkle of fast moving Scottish thrillers from John Buchan and Alistair MacLean, and a final pinch of piratical swashbuckling. Leave to marinate for fifty years and what do you get? 

A psyche with a deep love of the weird in its most basic forms, and the urge to beat up monsters.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

I didn't choose writing, it chose me. The urge to write is more of a need, a similar addiction to the one I used to have for cigarettes and still have for beer. It's always been there, in the background. I wrote short stories at school, and dabbled a couple of times over the years, but it wasn't until I was in my 30s that it really took hold. 

Back in the very early '90s I had an idea for a story... I hadn't written much of anything since the mid-'70s at school, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone. I had an image in my mind of an old man in a graveyard watching a young woman's ghost.

That image grew into a story, that story grew into other stories, and before I knew it I had an obsession in charge of my life.

So it all started with a little ghost story, "Dancers"; one that won me 100 pounds in the Writer's News ghost story competition, then ended up getting published in All Hallows, getting turned into a short movie, getting read on several radio stations, getting published in Greek, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew, and getting reprinted in The Weekly News in Scotland.

So, the first story came easy. It was only after that the rejections started to come in. But I'm nothing if not stubborn. I've been at this since 1991 and can't see myself stopping now.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

For me it's mainly inspiration. I wouldn't write at all if the ideas didn't present themselves in my head. I find I get a lot of ideas clamouring for attention all at once. I write them down in a notebook that never leaves my side, and sometimes one of them gathers a bit more depth, and I get a clearer image. At this stage I find myself thinking about it almost constantly, until a plot, or an ending, clarifies itself. 

Once I've written down where the story should be going it quietens down a bit. Then, if I find myself still thinking about it a couple of days later, I'll probably start writing the actual story. At any given time I have about 20 ideas waiting for clarity, two or three of which might end up as finished works.

That's the inspiration part. And that continues when I start putting the words on paper. I've tried writing outlines, both for short stories and novels, but I've never stuck to one yet. My fingers get a direct line to the muse and I continually find myself being surprised at the outcome. Thanks to South Park, I call them my "Oh shit, I've killed Kenny" moments, and when they happen, I know I'm doing the right thing.

There is also a certain amount of perspiration, especially in writing a novel. But I find if it feels too much like work, I'm heading in the wrong direction and it usually ends up in the recycle bin.

And, yes, there's a certain degree of desperation in that I want to get better, to make the big sale, to see my name in lights, all that happy stuff. But I try not to think about that too much. :)

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Park your bum in a chair and write. It's that simple, and that hard.

Tell us about your book/books:

I have over thirty novels and over twenty novellas published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. I have books available from a variety of publishers including Dark Regions Press and Severed Press, and my work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and magazines with recent sales to NATURE Futures and Galaxy's Edge among others. 

My current focus is on the very popular S-Squad series from Severed Press, which features a team of wee sweary Scottish squaddies fighting big beasties. There are fifteen books in print and ebook so far, number sixteen is my current WIP.

I write mainly at the pulpy end of the market. Bashing monsters is my speciality.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

It feels like family for the most part. We all hang out and talk bollocks, and we've got each other's backs.  

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Thank you for allowing me to live the dream. I've been full time now for 15 years, living in a house on the shore in Eastern Newfoundland. It certainly beats commuting into the likes of London, Glasgow and Edinburgh to work in IT which is what I did for the previous 25 years.

Where can people connect with you?

My home port is at williammeikle.com where I keep all the book details up to date.. 

If you fancy a blether, I mostly hang out on Twitter @williemeikle. Mostly. 

I’m also on Facebook as @williammeikle, but not as often.