Introductions (Part One) – About Me

Hi everyone, and welcome to the blog section of this author website. My plans for this section are to do the following:

1. Give you a clear idea of who I am. As an author, a researcher, a human… Me. I want to show my authentic self and hopefully this will also show how some of my ideas come together for both my creative works (in this case, the Shifting Sands project) and my research.
2. Show some more of the world around Shifting Sands. By nature, Shifting Sands only shows you so much. Everything is determined by which character is active and how they see the world. And, on top of that, I have a limited word count to play with because it is a piece of practice-based research for a PhD project. So, I might use this blog to post excerpts or alternate perspectives that don’t make it into the final book, or perhaps to talk about some of the inspirations and research that went into the story.
3. To talk about the research side of the project. In the About section of this author website, I talk a bit about this research project and its aims/objectives but here I hope to give more depth. And, given the fact I get excited by lots of little research rabbit holes that will never make it into the final dissertation, it also gives me a chance to talk about other things tangentially connected to my research. Because, as you might see from the fact that I’ve had to split my introduction into three parts, I get excited about many things and am a writer. I MUST WRITE THEM DOWN.

So, first things first, I do recommend that you read the About section first (and I will keep reminding you to do this – better to give in and read it), just so that you know what’s going on. Why have I mentioned practice-based research or a PhD? As a brief summary to support the About section you’ve now hopefully read, the book and author pages associated with this project (including the blog you’re currently reading!) are part of a practice-based research project that will (hopefully) help me reach the point where I can tell people to call me doctor if they annoy me. My research centres around authorship and online book culture, looking specifically at how these things are impacted by innovation. In this case, what happens when I, the author, create an unstable e-book that has chapters that become active and inactive? How does this change my relationship with the text, or with readers? Does the way I promote this unusual text differ from the current expectations placed on authors online? In short, how does innovation change authorship? As noted in the About section, please do contact me if you have any questions about any of this – I’ll be trying to expand on the different parts of the project across the three introductory posts, but I’m human and may miss something or you may have a question that I’ve not thought of. And, you know, I’d just generally love to hear from people.

The aim of this particular blog post is to introduce you to me. Who am I? Does that question fill me anxiety and self-reflective questioning? Somewhat, but I’ll try my best to put down the bits I think are important. Since I’m a great lover of structure (like, seriously, one of my jobs is teaching students how to properly structure essays), I thought I’d try to do this interview-style.

Where are you from?

I always laugh a little at this question because it’s a weird one for me to answer. I was born in the south-west of Scotland but raised in the north-east. I can’t call that home though, since my parents decided to move south after my sister and I left, but then I’ve not really lived in their new home so that’s not home either. I’ve spent the better part of the last eight years in Wales (though one of those years was in Australia). I guess I would vaguely call myself Scottish, despite the mutilated accent?

Why writing?

I’ve always liked making up stories. It’s like lying but fun and not mean. When I was eleven, I decided that I would write a novel because the books I was reading weren’t going the way I wanted them to. 100, 000 words and two years later, I had a book that was probably trash but had taught me a lot about who I was as a writer. Writing became an escape but, being realistic, I tried to move forward in other career options to keep writing as a hobby/dream. Unfortunately life likes to throw giant curveballs and so, around 2011, I decided that I wanted to go and teach English in Japan for a while before working out what I was really going to do, and the easiest way to do that was to get an undergrad degree and join one of the many programs available to do that. I’d always loved writing and it seemed like a fun way to just get a degree, so why not do that? (Note: for some people, this may be a terrible reason to go to university – definitely think out your reasons more than this!)

At uni, I learned a good amount about writing. I particularly liked screenwriting, as it took some of my favourite bits of writing and then challenged me to be concise, but mostly I loved being surrounded by people who were just as obsessed with my passion as I was. And, leading neatly into the Why research? question, I discovered that I really liked writing essays. I liked working out how X theory fit into Y situation, or judging A theorist as being outdated for B, C, and D reasons. It was fun. And, luckily for me, I seemed to be quite good at it. So, after a year away in a crappy job market and not going to teach in Japan, I came back for a masters. Then on to PhD.

What do you like to write/read/research?

Lumped these three things together because, unsurprisingly, the answers are very similar. As a writer, I’d put my writing into three broad categories. The first, as you’ll probably see when I do the Shifting Sands introduction <link>, is fantasy. I like creating worlds and trying to see how they work. If, for example, I have a world that’s mostly desert, what would be considered valuable enough that the ruling body would restrict it? I love to see how the elements of these worlds shape their inhabitants. My second category is probably a bit more vague but I’d call it character-focused. I’ll dive across other genres, dabble in different media, but I fix myself in a character’s head and run with it. Sometimes, as is the case with Shifting Sands, this will blend with the fantasy category, but quite often it’s because I like exploring something heart-wrenching or despicable. People are interesting and I, as a writer, want to know how they work. And then, finally, I guess there’s writing like this? I’m never going to be some great personal essayist, but I do like writing vaguely humorous self-reflective pieces that shout into the internet void. (Hey, if you’d like to see more of this but in a review format, I have another blog not related to this project)

Reading-wise, unsurprisingly, I rather like fantasy. I do, however, get bored very quickly by some of the more “typical” fantasy elements. There’s only so many times that you can read a badly disguised Tolkien spin-off set in medieval Europe that is solely inhabited by gruff white guys who need a good shake, am I right? The broad set-up of that kind of fantasy can hook me in if done right but that is usually hugely reliant on the author having done something interesting with the world (and/or magic) and being led by engaging characters. Yup, I’m a character-centred reader too. Funnily enough, that creates the other broad category of books I look to read as well. I’ll genre hop if the characters are engaging enough. Take my current favourite book, for example. Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer blends crime, family relationships, and comedy together. It’s not fantasy, but the voice of the protagonist is just phenomenally done, and I had to read it. As do you. Go read it now!

And, finally, research. My undergrad dissertation investigated the personality types of Cinderellas in Cinderella film adaptations and looked at what would happen if you flipped the usual type in writing a screenplay. So, folklore, adaptation, and practice-based research. My master’s thesis explored the differences between adapting a fantasy novel for film versus television. Fantasy, adaptation, and practice-based research. And my PhD is writing a fantasy novel with chapters that switch on and off to explore how that impacts authorship through writing, publication, and online engagement. More fantasy, book history, and practice-based research. I think the best way to sum up what I like in research is the evolution of story. How has it changed? How will it change? What affect does my changing things have? I am, at my core, a storyteller. And what better way is there to become better at your craft than learning where it has been, and where it could be going?

Other quick facts?

Erm… I like cats, but I’m also allergic to them and this makes me sad every day. I recently got to cuddle a duckling though, and discovered that their feet feel like giant cat toe-beans (see the picture). It was very exciting. I have a collection of different jobs I do at my university and, depending on the day/month/weather, I sometimes enjoy one of them more than I love my PhD. But then I get to do cool things, like create a fantasy world and write blogs/tweets, as part of my research and I remember that I love it again. And, since I like to do things in threes, I guess I could mention that I like watching sewing tutorials on Youtube and dream of being able to adapt my own clothes, but I’m also death to all sewing machines. It’s rather inconvenient.

So, over to you. Any questions you’d like to ask about me? Or do you have a particular thing you look for in a book that crosses over all genres? Have you ever held a duck? Let me know below!