‘If you’re a creative person you want an audience, and publishing can be the way to get one’. Gary J Flood expresses with this sentence the ambition – and necessity – of many writers. He’s very aware, though, that the literary genre he writes in – Slipstream – is not for everyone. But he confesses he’d be happy to just have five – devoted – readers.
Gary has a background in Philosophy and Rhetoric and currently makes a living as a journalist and content creator in business and technology. He was an early admirer of the Lancaster University Creative Writing MA, and finally decided to start it in 2013 because ‘your life it’s what you actually did… you’ve to do stuff‘.
He is also an avid and eclectic reader – Albert Camus, Peter Watts, William Golding… One of his literary obsessions is giving a voice to ‘the other’ in literature. That included, for example, writing a short story set in the The Lord of The Rings‘ world from the perspective of an Orc.
What can you find in this interview?
-Tips to stay motivated as a writer.
-Tips about how to use social media for your writing.
-Slipstream fiction and Bruce Sterling.
-Science-Fiction and Gothic.
-Mixed genres.
-‘The Other’ in literature.
–Gary recommends Peter Watts’ blog, Rifters.
Texts read:
Hard jobs that need to be done (flash-fiction).
Works mentioned
Clothes, clothes, clothes. Music, music, music. Boys, boys, boys, by Viv Albertine.
Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction, by Brian Wilson Aldiss.
Ice, by Anna Kavan.
The things, by Peter Watts.
Blindsight, by Peter Watts.
The Outsider, by Albert Camus.
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding.
Do you want to know more about Gary J Flood?
-Check out his blog.
-Check out his twitter.
Many thanks to our meticulous editor, Terry Garanhel, and the founder of the programme, Yvonne Battle-Felton. And, of course, to Gary J Flood, our dear classmate in the Creative Writing MA at Lancaster University who has recommended so many interesting literary works. We’re waiting to read your military Science-Fiction novel about samurais soon – and so is you’re audience!
Don’t forget to check our next interview on Sunday 25th at 6pm with the Fantasy writer and blogger Gabriella Campbell.
The Writing Life 