Q: How long have you been writing, and what kind of stories do you
most like to write?
A: I have been writing speculative fiction for over a decade now. I
write what I like to read which means that my stories range in tone
from the very complicated and serious to the very silly and
humorous. On occasion I write a story that is actually all of those
things.
Q: What
sparked the idea for your story in Unearthed? Can you remember?
A: I was driving home from the launch
of Airborne and decided it would be fun to write a story where
buried treasure gets dug up at the very start instead of the end.
Once I had that initial scene in mind the rest of the story
followed quite easily.
Q: What's the title of your story in Unearthed? In general,
do you get the title first, or do you write the story first? Do you
remember what prompted this particular title?
A: I title a story when I start writing but usually change it as I
finish each draft. My contribution to
Unearthed actually
went through three titles until I finally decided on "Wherever You
Call Home." I knew that title was the one I wanted because it
captures George's struggle to be find meaning in his life as well as
mirroring the different supernatural creatures trying to get along
in their adopted land.
Q: What's the best/worst writing advice you've ever been given?
A: "Keep
writing." I can't remember who told me that but honestly I have
never heard better advice. If you don't actually sit down and
put words to paper then you can never tell the story you want to
tell or experience the joy of having your work read by others
Q: What are you working on now, or what's your next planned writing project?
I tend
to work on multiple fiction projects at the same time. I'm
almost finished a short story about a supernatural guardian
tormented by the failures of his past, about a third of the way
through a novella about a man and an AI ship thrown together in
a twisty intergalactic plot, and just starting a curious tale
about a man who discovers the voice in his head belongs to his
toaster (who doesn't like him.)
You can visit Peter online at his writing site: http://www.peterandrewsmith.com/
Thanks, Peter!
