Welcome to another writer/blogger interview. I’m so pleased to share with you an interview with Lynn Love the talented and published writer, author, and blogger. Her Blog is called: World Shamble: Exploring Fictional Worlds in a Blast.
1. Please Tell Us About Yourself Lynn:
Lynn Love, I live in Bristol in the South West of the U.K. If you want to conjure the accent, imagine a pirate speaking and you won’t be far off. I’ve lived in all four corners of England, though, so my accent is truly mongrel. I blog at Word Shamble: Exploring Fictional Worlds in a Blast.
I’ve also worked as a florist for most of my adult life, so if you need a bridal bouquet — I’m your woman. I’ve been married for twenty-five years this year – which gives you an idea of how old I am! And, also I have one cheeky, funny teenage son. Last summer we moved into a 1930’s terraced house. There is a primary school in the street behind us and a family of six live next door, so I can always hear children laughing – or crying!
2. Can You Tell Us More About Your Writing Experiences and How You Began Blogging?
I’ve won writing competitions and had my short stories published in magazines, but my ultimate goal is to leave floristry and write. I’d love to be a full-time novelist but realistically, there is only a tiny percentage of authors who accomplish that hallowed goal. I’m also taking a copywriting course at the moment, as a way to achieve a more reliable income stream.
For years I kept reading how writers needed an online presence but it was something I never got around to doing. I didn’t know what to write about, and how to pitch the tone of the site. I began one site that was soon abandoned for precisely those reasons.
Then in 2015, after I’d had some short stories published in a writing group anthology, I thought it was time to try blogging again. This time, my approach was to be less self-consciously ‘writerly,’ and more light-hearted. Perhaps, I’d developed my writing style by then.
I love blogging and have met wonderful people from all over the world online – people who love reading and writing as much as I do. But also I think blogging has helped me as a writer.
I’ve produced over 750 blog posts – that’s at least 225,000 words and a lot of writing practice. I’ve written in a range of styles, from book reviews and opinion pieces to flash fiction and a serialized novella. Word Shamble is my online home, my space.
“I love blogging and have met wonderful people from all over the world online – people who love reading and writing as much as I do. But also I think blogging has helped me as a writer.” – Lynn Love
3. What Motivates You to Write?
Motivation is easy – I love the process of writing. I love sitting at a keyboard, plucking an idea from the air and spinning a plot and characters from it. When I was a child, I disappeared into books and into my fantasy world for hours. Now, I create the worlds for myself.
Inspiration comes from everywhere – from dreams, from misheard song lyrics, from picture prompts online, from watching people on the bus, wondering what their story is, and how they’ve become who they are. Sometimes I begin with a setting, sometimes with a character, quirk or a plotline.
4. Where Do You Prefer to Write on Your Blog and as an Author?
I can write almost anywhere – cafes, public transport, at work on my lunch break – but my most productive times come at home in front of my laptop on my days off. I can write from very early morning until mid-evening if I get the chance. Sometimes in the evening as my brain shuts down as the sun sets!
Moreover, I love disappearing into a world, creating places and people so that they live in my head. A YA novel I wrote was largely set at my local museum and for a while each time I passed it, I wondered about my character — what she was doing (etc.). I just love how characters in books can become so real.
Also, I take part in a couple of writing prompts a week particularly Friday Fictioneers and What Pegman Saw. Both writing communities are talented and have taught me so much. We are all terrifically supportive of each other. Away from the blog, I’m rewriting my Urban Fantasy novel after feedback from my Alpha Readers. Right now my brain is filled with ghosts and demons and Hell mouths.
“Moreover, I love disappearing into a world, creating places and people so that they live in my head. A YA novel I wrote was largely set at my local museum and for a while each time I passed it, I wondered about my character — what she was doing (etc.). I just love how characters in books can become so real.” – Lynn Love
5. What kinds of Connections Have Helped You As a Writer and Blogger? What Inspires You to Write?
I was lucky enough to be involved in a very proactive writing group early on and we had an anthology of short stories and poetry published a few years ago. I’ve been published online many times, won and been shortlisted in magazine competitions and this year had my first serial publication in a British magazine called The People’s Friend, which was terrific. I hope to have more published through them and to have my novels published eventually. Writing is my passion and earning money through it just means I get the chance to do more.
Sometimes I’m inspired by a photograph, sometimes people-watching, and other times by filling in someone’s fictional backstory. Sometimes inspiration comes from a ‘what if’ – ‘What if that alleyway isn’t only filled with rubbish and bad smells, but opens to something wondrous?’ ‘What if I could use this Tudor sixpence to take me back in time?’ Then my imagination sparks off and I’m away, trying to hammer a plot, characters, and arcs (etc.).
6. Please Share with Us Your Experiences Publishing Your Serial in a Magazine?
For my recent serial publication, I entered a competition the magazine was running to discover new writers. I developed a plot, wrote the first part, and sent it off. I didn’t win and chalked the whole lost-effort up to experience.
Almost two years later, I was about to delete the story from my hard drive when I got an email from one of the fiction staff at the magazine asking if I would still be interested in writing the story for them. Usually, rejection means just that, but sometimes magazines and publishers can throw you an unexpected lifeline.
“Usually, rejection means just that, but sometimes magazines and publishers can throw you an unexpected lifeline.” – Lynn Love
7. Do You Have Preferred Reading/Writing Genre? What is the Best Advice You Can Give New Writers and Bloggers?
I read the same genres as the ones I read as a child including historical fiction and fantasy, though I’m more drawn to Urban than High Fantasy. These genres are also what I write. In fact, if I can read or write an amalgamation of the two, then I’m most happy, which probably explains my YA time-travel novel and the Urban Fantasy peopled with ghosts from all eras of history.
As for good advice, an old piece of advice but a good one I follow is to write, write, and keep writing. Only practice will get you where you want to be as a writer. Well, that and robust feedback from fellow writers who love your work and want you to succeed.
Oh, also don’t let rejection letters/emails send you scurrying back to your study, swearing never to venture out. Every single number one author has been rejected more times than you can count. It’s people who bounce back from multiple rejections who become writers.
Also, you just have to love writing or it will become a chore. Let it become part of who you are in a quiet way. You don’t need to tell people what you’re writing and how great it is. Just be quietly satisfied with what you do when you’re alone with a keyboard or your notebook and pen.
8. Who or on What Sites Are Your Favorite Bloggers and/or Prompt Sites Found?
There are far too many wonderful blogs to mention – can I do five? I’ve taken part in the Friday Fictioneers prompt most weeks for two-years and it feels like a home away from home. Also, the flash fiction prompt What Pegman Saw comes a close second for providing me with inspiration.
As well, I love Joy Pixley’s Tales from Eneana, a fantasy blog with a rich mythology and depth-of-story. Also, I recommend Jane Basil’s Making it Write for her wonderful poetry and blistering honesty. Lastly, Bill Pearse at Pinklightsabre is a sight I love because of Bill’s skillful life-like writing. As a whole, bloggers are the most inspirational and supportive group of people I know.
“Also, you just have to love writing or it will become a chore. Let it become part of who you are in a quiet way. You don’t need to tell people what you’re writing and how great it is. Just be quietly satisfied with what you do when you’re alone with a keyboard or your notebook and pen.” – Lynn Love
9. Lynn, Can You Share with Us A Most Loved Blog Post?
Friday Fictioneers: One Amber Night.
By Lynn Love
February 27, 2018.
*****
*****
There’d been a fresh dusting of snow in the night, coating the grimy icebergs of the last fall, the one before that.
Sid edged along the sidewalk, past the boarded-up liquor store and Cal’s Gym, ‘Waterloo’s Oldest Boxing Establishment’ until the receivers came in last October. He and Cal had sunk a bottle of Macallan that night, glass after amber glass till they were snoring on the folding bed, overcoats as blankets. Cal left for Kansas the next day to live in his sister’s garage apartment.
All his old friends were gone now. Just him and the cold left.
*****
Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Field’s Friday Fictioneers. As the great Russell Gayer said: ‘The key to building an audience is reading and commenting on others’ work’.
I write a lot of flash fiction. Some short pieces open themselves to a longer write, such as Gideon keeps a secret, The fate of the flower seller, The scarlet net, and A single man who can sew. One recent flash fiction I wrote is from the Three Lines Tales prompt, called The Midas Touch.
Although it felt onerous at times, last year I completed a Gothic Horror Serial: The Devil of Moravia. It includes devils, demons, and blood-soaked London streets, and drew quite a following. I hope to develop this serial into a novella in the near future.
Thank you to Lynn for filling out the writer/blogger interview questions and my apologies the interview took so long to post. Here’s the link to Lynn Love’s blog one more time: Word Shamble.
It’s been a busy year, but there are more interviews to come shortly. If you wish to be interviewed as a writer/blogger or because you blog for a cause, you can reach me on my Contact Page.
©Mandibelle16. (2018) All Rights Reserved.
