Author Interview: Claire Buss

Today, Claire Buss is stopping by for an interview. She’s the author of The Gaia Effect, Tales from Suburbia, and, most recently, The Rose Thief.

About the Book

Title: The Rose Thief

Author: Claire Buss

Publication date: 10 November, 2017

Length: 347 pages

Goodreads

Synopsis: Ned Spinks, Chief Thief-Catcher has a problem. Someone is stealing the Emperor’s roses. But that’s not the worst of it. In his infinite wisdom and grace, the Emperor magically imbued his red rose with love so if it was ever removed from the Imperial Rose Gardens then love will be lost, to everyone, forever. It’s up to Ned and his band of motley catchers to apprehend the thief and save the day. But the thief isn’t exactly who they seem to be, neither is the Emperor. Ned and his team will have to go on a quest defeating vampire mermaids, illusionists, estranged family members and an evil sorcerer in order to win the day. What could possibly go wrong?

Interview

What is the hardest part of writing?

For me the hardest part of writing is shoehorning the time in. I constantly feel guilty that I’m not writing when I’m doing other things and I am probably the Queen of Procrastination so when I do have a little spare time, I usually find something else to do. I think a lot of that is fear or doubt in my writing ability. Quite often, as I’m sure most writers do, I’ll write something that I think is awesome and then a few days later I’ll be convinced it’s the biggest load of rubbish ever written, in the world, ever! I get very nervous at people I know reading my books, I want them to enjoy it of course but I also want their honest opinion. I’d like to think I take constructive criticism well and I’ve been fortunate to get some great reviews. Developing a thick skin is certainly a skill a writer needs to develop.

I know some writers claim they never read their reviews but I think I’ll always read mine, bad or good, I want to know what people thought. It can be so interesting when they pick up on something you never set out to include, it’s just what the book meant to them individually.

I can definitely relate to the self-doubt, but also to what you said about readers picking up on things. That’s so true!

Tell us a little about any upcoming projects.

I’m currently attempting to write the sequel to my first novel, The Gaia Effect. I say attempting because I had a baby girl in early December 2017 and trying to do anything at all is a challenge. Also writing a sequel is hard! Obviously you’ve got to keep the same tone and rhythm, keep the characters realistic and believable based on what you’ve shared so far. Then there are the questions readers have raised about various aspects of book one that you try to answer. The first rough draft is finished and it is extremely rough so this next stage isn’t so much about editing but more about reorganising sections and filling in the gaps, getting the basic structure sorted out. I’m actually looking forward to it!

I’m also planning to release another collection of humorous short stories in the summer called Tales from the Seaside and two novellas to go with my fantasy novel The Rose Thief. If I can get all that achieved this year, I’ll be very happy.

Welcome to the world, baby girl. How exciting! Babies do take all our extra energy. Sounds like you’ve got some great projects in the works despite all that. What do you do when you feel stuck (writer’s block)?

When I get stuck I usually walk away from the writing, I’ll leave it for a few days and let the problem marinate in my brain for a while. It works because part of my brain never stops thinking about it, never stops worrying over the problem so that suddenly the rest of the brain says – hey, we got it, lets crack on. I like it because I know I don’t need to worry about writers block, the answer will come to me, in time.

I did see a brilliant solution on twitter the other day. This guy said bake a square cake, ice writers block on it then cut it up piece by piece and enjoy with a cuppa until its gone. How genius is that?

Anything involving cake sounds good to me. Especially if it helps with writer’s block.

Time for some word sprints!

Coffee or tea?

Tea, and preferably a slice of homemade cake.

Mm, cake. Do you have any body art?

Yes – Leo starsign on my wrist, George the Gecko on my shoulder and dragon on my back.

Hey, both my kids are Leos. What’s on your to-be-read shelf?

Haha – over 4500 books on my Goodreads TBR list and over 50 indie author books on my kindle.

About the Author

Claire Buss is a science fiction, fantasy & contemporary writer based in the UK. She wanted to be Lois Lane when she grew up but work experience at her local paper was eye-opening. Instead, Claire went on to work in a variety of admin roles for over a decade but never felt quite at home. An avid reader, baker and Pinterest addict Claire won second place in the Barking and Dagenham Pen to Print writing competition in 2015 setting her writing career in motion.

The Gaia Effect, a hopeful dystopian novel and winner of the 2017 Raven Award for favourite Scifi/Fantasy novel, was published in 2016.

Tales from Suburbia, a collection of humorous plays, blogs and short stories was published in July 2017.

The Rose Thief, a humorous fantasy inspired by Claire’s love of Pratchett was published in November 2017.

Claire has had two short stories published in 2017. ‘Underground Scratchings’ can be found in the sci-fi and fantasy anthology Tales from the Underground, published by Inklings Press. ‘Patient Data’ can be found in the sci-fi anthology The Quantum Soul, published by SciFi Roundtable.

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