On being interviewed...

[Anthony G Williams]

Something rather unusual happened the other day - somebody wanted to interview me about one of my novels (Scales)!

The someone was Paula Berinstein of The Writing Show, a website which produces podcasts for downloading. She liked the book a lot and wanted to ask me lots of questions about it. It was an interesting experience but rather hard work, as I'm not very introspective about the way I write my stories - I just sit down and write them - but it did cause me to think about what I did and why.

The interview should be available for downloading in about a week. In the meantime, I've posted some thoughts about it on my blog.

[Teresa Edgerton]

The idea of doing a live interview chills my blood. You're a braver soul than I am.

[Anthony G Williams]

It was a bit daunting at first, but I soon got into it - almost an hour passed very quickly. I did have advance notice about the kind of issues she wanted to explore, which helped. And in a previous existence I had done some public speaking and had some interview training, so it wasn't an entirely strange experience.

It did take me quite a while to wind down afterwards, though!

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by Anthony G Williams

It did take me quite a while to wind down afterwards, though!

I can well believe it.

[Ian Whates]

I can sympathise, Anthony.

The only interview I've been the subject of to date (in this month's edition of Visionary Tongue magazine) was done via the internet, which was fine. However, tomorrow evening I'm conducting (interviewer rather than interviewee) a live interview on behalf of the British Science Fiction Association on the wonderfully gifted artist Anne Sudworth: Untitled Document.

This will be in front of a room full of people, which is altogether a more daunting prospect.

[Estrella]

My dear Ian

And what a fantastic job you did too. It was an absolute pleasure to see you as always and you were extremely charismatic. Although having met Anne Sudworth a few times before, I had never heard her speak about her work. All I can say is she glowed like her tree paintings. Radiating a natural phosphoresence that lit up the room and illuminated her audience with her artistic flair. It was also my first BFSA meet and it was great fun!

The question is have you guessed who I am yet?

*

[Ian Whates]

Hi, Estrella, welcome to Chronicles! Hope you have fun here... and thanks for the kind words. Have to confess. the interview seemed to go very well, but it's not so easy to tell when you're actually involved... As for Anne, yes, she's a total delight!

By the way, Sam, how was your head feeling the next morning?

[littlemissattitude]

Originally Posted by Ian Whates

This will be in front of a room full of people, which is altogether a more daunting prospect.

One of my favorite kinds of panels when I attend LosCon are the ones where someone interviews a writer in front of an audience. The most recent time I attended (a couple of years ago) I got to attend such an interview with Tim Powers, who had some very interesting things to say. The best part was that the audience got to ask questions, as well, which elicited some even more interesting comments.

[Ian Whates]

Yes, LMA, at the interview last Wednesday I basically directed questions at Anne for the first 45 minutes or so, which she answered eloquently and entertainingly (or so it seemed to me), and then opened it up to the audience for the final 15 minutes, which struck me as about the right balance.

I've never met Tim Powers or heard him speak, but I believe he's one of the Guests of Honour at Eastercon 2009 here in the UK (along with Jon Courtenay Grimwood, who is always worth listening to), so I'm looking forward to that.

[Anthony G Williams]

The interview with Paula Berinstein of The Writing Show about Scales is now available for downloading as a podcast here: http://writingshow.com/?p=306

Mental note - if I ever get interviewed again, I must acquire a microphone and so on, rather than talk over a telephone - it sounds much better!

[Neal Asher]

One of the main things about being interviewed (audio) is talk slowly. I've done a few and note a tendency to gabble, which is annoying.