Interview with T C Southwell

Q. If you weren’t writing, what would your perfect career choice be?

A. I don’t know, really, since I don’t like working. It would have to be something else I enjoy, like art, or perhaps a fighter pilot, since I’m a speed freak. Of course, I’d love to be a space explorer, but that will have to wait for another lifetime.

Q.Has your motivation for writing changed throughout your career, and if so, how?

A. No, not at all. I still write because I love the stories in my head and want to enjoy them again.

Q. What is the most rewarding experience you have had and what made it so?

A. It was probably when Demon Lord was first published in SA in 2006, although that turned into something of a nightmare. The first time I held an actual copy of the book, though, was truly special. Since then, receiving my first paperback copy of The Queen’s Bladehas been even more rewarding. There’s something amazingly gratifying about seeing my book in print and showing it to my friends and family.

Q.Who are your top two favourite authors and why? Do you feel they have influenced your own writing in any way?

A. Steven R. Donaldson and C. S. Lewis are my all-time favourites, the former because his Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever series gripped me totally and transported me into his world, and the latter because he introduced me to fantasy when I was a child.

Q. When you were in school, did any of your teachers say anything negative (or positive) about your writing that stuck in your head, and how did that affect you?

A. A teacher accused me of plagiarism once because, apparently, she couldn’t believe I had written the essay she marked. I was never able to convince her otherwise, either; in those days, fifteen-year-olds didn’t argue with their teachers. So I got an ‘F’ for it, but I knew it was original, so it didn’t faze me too much. I also won a school prize for English that year, which made up for it somewhat.

Q. Do you sometimes get the impression that reviewers have written reviews on your books without actually reading the book first?

A. Yes, I’m convinced the one review I got for Demon Lord was based purely on the blurb on the back cover, since the reviewer only commented on what was in that. More often, I feel that some reviewers don’t understand the book, or see what they want in it.

Q. If you had to pick between all your characters, who would you rather have as a friend, and why?

A. I think that would have to be Sabre, because he’s got such a great personality with a fabulous sense of humour and fun-loving, helpful nature; a perfect friend. With his abilities, he’d also be mighty useful if I ever needed help! So would Bane, probably more so, but he’d be less inclined to be helpful.

Q. What’s your worst bad habit?

A. Probably smoking, but I also have oddball sleeping habits, which tend to be nocturnal.

Q. What advice would you give to any budding novelist?

A. Write books that you love to read over and over again, without getting bored with any part of them. Cut out any boring bits. Always write for your own enjoyment, and never allow anyone to influence you in a way that detracts from your stories, in your opinion. Polish your writing until it's as good as you can make it, and, of course, self-publish!

Q. What drives you/makes you tick?

A. I honestly have no idea, although I’d guess the wish to enjoy my life makes me do the things I do in order to have fun, like writing books.

Q. When do you expect your next book, (the eighth book in the Demon Lordseries), to be completed, and what adventures do you take the reader on in this book?

A. Demon Lord Book eight is coming along slowly, and I can’t say for sure when it will be finished. Bane is separated from the rest of his group when he goes to the Underworld to rescue an archangel and falls into a black trap. They end up in a strange realm where some of Bane’s powers don’t work, and all he has for backup is the crippled Majelin. Bane also discovers that archangels are even more irritating than angels.

Q. Do you foresee Mirra and Bane ever leading a normal life together?

A. Yes, although perhaps not totally normal, given his nature, but certainly a close approximation of normality, for a time, at least. Being what he is, he can make that happen quite easily, by opting out of his role as a god.

Q. Where can readers purchase your books?

A. All the e-books are available at Smashwords.com, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Scrollmotion, Amazon.com and Amazon.uk. They will also soon be converted into apps for cell phones. In addition, I’m in the process of converting the books to print-on-demand paperbacks, which will be available at Createspace.com.

About the author

I was born in Sri Lanka, a long time ago, when it was still Ceylon. My parents moved to the Seychelles when I was a baby, and I lived on Cerf Island and spent my formative years exploring the islands – mostly alone. Naturally, my imagination flourished and I developed a keen love of other worlds - mostly to escape the one I was in. Living on a tropical island isn't all it's cracked up to be, trust me. My family travelled through Europe and Africa and, after the death of my father, settled in South Africa.

I have written over twenty novels and five screenplays. My hobbies include motorcycling, horse riding and art, andI try to earn a living in the IT industry, as well as doing copywriting, editing and proofreading, amongst other things. Basically anything that will bring in a bit of cash and uses some of my dubious skills.

I started writing fantasy stories in school, where I was often guilty of daydreaming in class, and chastised for not paying attention. I wrote my first full length book when I was twenty-six, a science fiction novel. After a number of publishers resoundingly rejected it, I gave up for a while. I went back to being an avid reader, devouring libraries of books in my hunger for other worlds and fantastic adventures. After reading a truly atrocious fantasy book, I decided to have another bash at the writing lark, thinking that if that guy could get published, why not me? I wasn't that bad.

During a fantastic six-year period when I was unemployed and lived with my mom, I wrote over twenty books, indulging my passion with the aid of a borrowed PC and loads of free time. I enjoyed writing them almost as much as I enjoyed reading them afterwards, since the stories came to me effortlessly, as if I was plugged into some sort of cosmic video feed that played all these marvelous stories in my head.

I still didn't have the courage to send anything to the publishers though, afraid of more rejections. I don't handle rejection all that well, although it's par for the course in the book-writing world. Every author is rejected many many times. I wrote them for the pure enjoyment of it, and the pleasure of reading them again. I became my own most ardent - and only - fan. Still, that didn't dampen my enthusiasm. Then in about 2002, I moved to Cape Town and, miraculously, a local publisher accepted Demon Lord, the first in a five - probably more, but five so far - book series. The sales were dismal, however, due to the bias in the local press that decided - without bothering to read it - that if it was local it had to be rubbish. They also, apparently, thought it must be a 'devil's handbook', because of the title. Nothing could be further from the truth, but anyway, they're entitled to their opinion, even if it has no basis in reality and if they'd bothered to read the book they'd have seen that it's just the opposite. Enought about that.

I have now sent off the first book of another series of five - six if you count the prequel - to a few UK publishers, and await their verdict. Two rejections so far, but I'm hanging in there. The series is called The Queen's Blade, and I shall post more details about it here when I have a bit of time. I also have two other series awaiting the day when they will visit the publishers, which are Cyber Warrior and The Broken World. My original science fiction series, which I have now rewritten and made fairly good - it was rubbish when I sent it to the publishers, so they weren't wrong to reject it - still languishes on my PC's hard drive, and I don't think that one will ever be published, simply because I don't want to publish it. So there you have it. That's me.

To read more about the only book of mine that's been published, visit the blogspot. I plan to have a website one day, but finances are grim right now. If anyone's interested, I'm looking for a patron of the arts to sponsor me. That would be nice. Who knows? Miracles do happen.