Just in time for Short Story Day Africa 2013 here are Fiona Snyckers‘ responses to the 21 Questions:
1. Do you actually enjoy writing, or do you write because you like the finished product?
Sometimes writing can be like pulling teeth. I don’t enjoy that part much. At other times it can be like taking dictation directly from heaven, which is much more fun. Oddly enough, it’s often the hardest-won words that turn out to be the best.
2. What are you reading right now? And are you enjoying it? (No cheating and saying something that makes you sound like the intelligensia).
I’m reading The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. It’s one of the popular bookclub reads at the moment. You could describe it as the grown-up answer to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. The narrator has Asperger’s Syndrome and is trying to find himself a wife. I’m really enjoying it.
3. Have you ever killed off a character and regretted it?
I’ve never killed off a character – that’s how much of a softie I am.
4. If you could have any of your characters over for dinner, which would it be and why?
I’d invite Trinity and her former best friend Lael to the same dinner party and force them to talk things over. It’s not fair that Lael still blames Trinity for rescuing her from anorexia. She needs to let it go already so they can get back to being friends.
5. Which one of your characters would you never invite into your home and why?
Sophie Agincourt would never be permitted to cross my threshhold. She’s just plain evil.
6. Ernest Hemingway said: write drunk, edit sober. For or against?
Goodness, no. I’m such a lightweight I fall asleep within minutes of imbibing alcohol. I’d have to change Hemingway’s saying to, ‘drool on the keyboard drunk, write sober.’
7. If against, are you for any other mind altering drug?
I once took a cautious sniff of my nail polish remover. Does that count?
8. Our adult competition theme if Feast, Famine and Potluck. Have you ever put food in your fiction? If so, what part did it play in the story?
There’s a lot of food in my books. I use it to show the antagonistic relationship many women have with their bodies. Food is the enemy – the tempter who has to be resisted.
9. What’s the most annoying question anyone’s ever asked you in an interview?
I was once asked, “Who is Fiona Snyckers to you?” It threw me completely off my stride for the rest of the interview.
10. If you could be any author other than yourself, who would you be?
Janet Evanovich. She has made a huge amount of money and she’s really funny.
11. If you could go back in time and erase one thing you had written from your writing history, what would it be and why?
There are a number of tweets I wish I’d deleted before sending.
12. What’s the most blatant lie you’ve ever told?
When I was at school I once told my best friend that I had a boyfriend when I really didn’t. I gave him a whole back story and everything. Actually, he may have been my first fictional character.
13. If someone reviews you badly, do you write them into your next book/story and kill them?
I haven’t yet, but thanks for the idea.
14. What’s your favourite bad reviewer revenge fantasy?
In my fantasy, I make so much money with my books that I can afford to buy a yacht. I invite the reviewer onto the yacht and push him overboard. Into deep water. Where he gets eaten by sharks.
15. What’s the most frustrating thing about being a writer in Africa?
I like being a writer in Africa. I don’t find it frustrating.
16. Have you ever written naked?
No.
17. Does writing sex scenes make you blush?
No. I wouldn’t say they’re easy to write, but they don’t embarrass me.
18. Who would play you in the film of your life?
Jodie Foster.
19. If you won the Caine Prize for African Fiction, what would you do with the money?
Spend it on a new laptop.
20. What do you consider your best piece of work to date?
The new book I’m working on. Provisionally titled Now Following You, it’s about a woman who gets stalked on social media.
21. What are you doing on 21 June 2013, to celebrate Short Story Day Africa?
I’ll be checking on the website all day to read the new stories that have been uploaded.
Book details
- Team Trinity by Fiona Snyckers
Book homepage
EAN: 9781920590376
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