So, lets start with the easy ones... 

What is your name? Dale Parnell

What genre do you write? I started out writing contemporary fantasy, but over the past couple of years I have also written some science-fiction and horror. 

And if given sufficient quantities of tea and chocolate digestives, I will occasionally write poetry. 

Which author would you like to invite for dinner? It’s a really close call between Neil Gaiman or Michael Marshall Smith. Both have had a huge influence on the types of stories I tend to (and like to) write, and I am always ridiculously excited when either author releases a new book. 

When did you start writing? You get asked this question a lot, and in looking back I have come to realise that I was always writing little stories from as far back as I can remember. I remember loving books as a child, and loving the idea of having my own book published, of adding something to the pile.

In terms of starting to write seriously, with a view to finishing a story, editing it and giving it to someone else to read – this started in my late twenties, although I didn’t have the confidence to 

publish until 2017. 

What does your writing space look like?  My wife and I converted our spare bedroom into a craft room some years ago and it has a small desk set up in front of the window (with various houseplants crammed onto the windowsill). I have a notice board, a few notebooks and a radio, and the desk is just big enough for my laptop and my wife’s sewing machine. I like the discipline of having a set place to go and write, plus it means I can shut myself away and concentrate when I’m in the middle of a story. 

How often do you write? It really depends on what I’m working on and what state the world is in! Leading up to, and then following the release of my first book, I was writing almost every weekend, sometimes for six or seven hours at a time. 

Since the lockdown, when theoretically I could have been writing every day, I found it difficult to maintain a regular pattern, and certainly during the early weeks and months I didn’t write much at all. Eventually I came back to it, and I try to sit down and write at least once or twice a week. When I have had projects to complete for anthologies with a set deadline, I usually do write every day if I can. 

Do you have any advice for those starting out? Just keep writing. The best advice I ever read was that you have to write as much as you can, because 95% of it will be useless. I like to think that number comes down with practice, but I always 

keep in mind that not everything I write is going to work, just as not every piece I submit to a publisher will be accepted. If you can be really honest with yourself, you can learn from the mistakes and the bad writing, and make the next story that little bit better.

Secondly, if I’m not enjoying a story I will lose all interest in finishing it. It gets said a lot, but I do agree that you have to write for yourself first, rather than trying to imagine what the audience / readers want to see. 

And thirdly, find someone that you really trust to be honest with you about your writing. For me it’s my wife, but it can be a family member, friend, colleague or a fellow author – just somebody that isn’t going to upset you if they (inevitably) come back to you and say, “I didn’t understand it.” Writing can be a very lonely activity, and you can become so blinkered with a story that you never really step back and check that what you have written makes sense and is enjoyable to read. That second opinion can save you a lot of trouble and embarrassment before you start sending your work out for consideration. 

What is your next project? I like to keep an eye open for submission opportunities with independent publishers – I love the community you get with groups of authors for each anthology / publisher, and so if I see something that gets me thinking I will usually start working on that. I am also currently writing a longer science-fiction story, which will potentially be a stand-alone novella. It was inspired by a submission call for ‘Space Pirate’ themed stories, so there are a lot of fun ideas and concepts I get to play around with and large-scale action scenes. It’s silly and outlandish and I love writing it!

This section is a creative exercise. Book titles as questions.

let’s see what you come up with...

Can you hear me? (By Elena Varvello) 

Sometimes I do find ideas for stories will pop into my head that creep me out a little. There are endless internet memes about a writer’s search history being too similar to a serial killer’s, and so 

on. I’m not all that surprised that the first ideas that come to mind from “Can You Hear Me?” are either ghost stories, or something that starts with the main character being buried alive...

But that’s one of the things I find so exciting about writing – those moments that take me by surprise, as if someone else is doing the typing. And you do find that when chatting with fellow authors, almost everyone has a story about the weirdest or most appalling thing they have had to look up online!

Who killed the bride? (By Lily Malone) 

A slash of vivid red on white satin and lace. Poisoned fruit cake, spiked champagne, Deadly Nightshade in the bouquet ... there are so many wonderfully iconic scenes that you could create from a wedding murder whodunnit. And I freely hand all those over, since I am absolutely useless at murder mystery! Every now and then I try my hand at something different – sometimes it works, sometimes not, but I think that for murder mystery it’s never going to be!

What do men barbecue? (By Richard A. Shweder) 

Meat

Butchered, bought and marinated

Charcoal grilled and smoke ring tasted

With beer-bottle balanced 

And banter flowing

No rain will stop our spirits growing

Until that moment, meat blackened

We feast

It’s tribal instinct, genetic coding

The flames call out and without knowing

We crowd around and give advice

A dozen chefs for half the price

We barbecue because we can

Because the fire

Because the ham

Because the steak

And chicken too

But I’d start that in the oven

Wouldn’t you?

Thank you so much