Dissecting Writers                    DystopianMelody                    

The following questions are taken from a profile of Scottish author Ian Rankin for bookshop chain Waterstone's:
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/pages/content/1285/
Now all but two have been posed to our resident super hero DystopianMelody:
http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poets/DystopianMelody/

What was your favorite childhood book?

Harry Potter and the philosophers stone, still one of my favourites just for the nostalgia.


-Which book has made you laugh?

Almost every chapter about Mat in Robert Jordan's wheel of time series. Any character that's survived hanging, speaks dead languages, unwittingly creates a mercenary band and spends most of his time gambling and trying to sleep with every woman he meets is as close as I get to having a personal hero.


-Which book has made you cry?

Twilight, if a book that bad can get so much attention, the human race is fucked. I have cried while reading a book a few times but can't remember any apart from Harry Potter and the half blood prince.


-Which book would you never have on your bookshelf?

Twilight/50 shades of grey


-Which book are you reading at the moment?

Halfway through Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, really good so far.


-Which book would you give as a present to a friend?

The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I love his slightly rambling eloquent style of writing and the way he romanticizes the university and the relationship between the main male and female characters is one that I know very well
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-Which other writers do you admire?

It's a long list.
Bukowski, Plath, Poe, Rumi (he's a little too religious for my liking but he sure had a way with words) Wordsworth deserves a word or two, and Tiberius Scott Elliot. Ok I don't know what T.S stands for but I wish I could write something as utterly desolate as the hollow men.
Others would be terry brooks, Peter V Brett, David Eddings, George RR Martin, Joe Abercrombie, Paul Kearney, Glen Cook and Mark Lawrence. I probably missed out quite a few
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-Which classic have you always meant to read and never got round to it?

The prince, I've gotten through around three quarters of it a few times and then just trailed off. It's one of the only books I've liked that I've managed to put down before finishing.


-What are your top five books of all time, in order or otherwise?

Not in any particular order
The name of the wind - Patrick Rothfuss
The prince of thorns - Mark Lawrence
Shadows Linger - Glen Cook
The blade itself - Joe Abercrombie
Ilse Witch - Terry Brooks


-What is the worst book you have ever read?

Twilight


-Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

When I was in school I was forced to read Edgar Allan Poe and found that I loved his work. Reading the raven was a real eye opener, but I started writing years later.


-What is your favorite time of day to write?

Usually at around 3am or any time it's dark and I can't hear anything.


-And favorite place?

In bed, I can't write anywhere else. It's the most private place I know.


-Longhand or word processor?

Neither, I use notes on iPhone. My handwriting is so bad I wouldn't know what I've written and I type like a drunken caveman so it's really the only option.


-Which fictional character would you most like to have met?
Mat from the wheel of time series, me and him would get along like a petroleum tanker on fire.

-Who, in your opinion, is the greatest writer of all time?

I'm too indecisive to decide that, I can barely decide which sock goes on which foot in the morning. It's probably just as pointless as that too, since my favorites change about twice a week. But after saying all that, I'd probably say Bukowski.


Which book have you found yourself unable to finish reading?

The prince like I mentioned earlier and the overcoat by Nikolai Gogol as well.


What is your favorite word?

Awesome. Or stishmustation (from a red hot chilli peppers song)