What advice would you give to debut novelists to encourage them?

Louis Lamour once said writing was like gold mining. You have to dig through a million tons of dirt before you hit the yellow stuff. That's true. I quit quite a few times back in the early days. I wrote my first novel when I was 21. I didn't publish until I was 35. Which shows the amount of dirt I had to dig through.

14)What advice would you give to debut novelists to encourage them?

Anyone who needs constant encouragement just isnt going to make it. You need stamina, self belief, and a dogged obstinacy. It also helps to have a thick skin and an ego that makes Everest look like a pimple on a sheep's bum.

Interview (13/03/03)

1) At times all authors have trouble coming up with with new ideas how do you combat this problem?

The only time I suffer from lack of ideas is when I quit smoking. It is more than irritating. Recently I quit for a month, and not only could I not write I didnt even know how to write. I would sit and look at the screen, reading what I had written before quitting, and think: 'Coo, that's clever. Wonder how he did that.' By the time I went - reluctantly - back to the Bensons they tasted like shit and stank the house out. But I was writing again.

2) After an unsuccesful book or a book that many fans thought was a let down such as Ironhands Daughter how do you bounce back?

Stories are living things, like people. Some you like, some you dont. I figure that if I do my fans the courtesy of giving a novel every ounce of energy, passion and belief that I possess then they'll forgive me if an individual tale doesnt appeal to them. In my experience readers tend to go off authors when the writers start churning out poorly written, cliche ridden novels. As long as the author cares enough about his readers to give them the best he can they'll stick by him/her.

3) White Wolf is sited as Book One of the Damned, how is the next part of novel going to keep the reader enthralled and how many books will there be?