How did you get started writing?
“I've always enjoyed being a ‘teller of tales’. One of my first school memories is of writing a Mr Men story for my teacher. I fail to recall the exact specifics, but it involved Mr Happy standing in his garden watching an acorn and waiting for it to grow into a tree. What I do remember is that it made my teacher laugh. And even at the age of five, I recall thinking, ‘This is it. This is what I want to do. I want people to enjoy things I've created.’ Although, being five, it was probably more like, ‘Heh! She laughed. That’s cool!’”
Who's your favorite character so far?
“Sergeant Gileas Ur'ten of the Silver Skulls Tenth Company. Why? Because he's a noble savage with a chainsword. What's not to love?”
Which is your favourite chapter and why?
“Well, removing my bias for the Silver Skulls, I'd have to go with the Blood Angels. Jim Swallow's Blood Angels books were the first 40k stories I read and I fell in love with them as a chapter. It's all about the nobility, you know. But it's hard to totally pin down a favourite, because they all have their own unique quirks and appeal, both Loyalist and Traitor.
“There's a lot of chapters I'd love to have a crack at writing for, definitely. So far, I've managed to utilise the Silver Skulls, the Red Corsairs, the Star Dragons and the Blood Swords. Oh and the... no, I'd better not mention that one, it's from my work in progress... but they're not good guys, put it that way.”
You've worked in both short and longform for Games Workshop. Which do you prefer?
“That's a harder question than it seems, because every different form has its own challenges. I've written everything from a 1,000 word piece of flash fiction, through 10,000 word short stories, via 50,000 word novellas and 100k+ novels. And I love the differences. With short stories, the challenge is to keep the story contained. The shorter the story, the bigger the challenge. My ‘casual’ writing background has always been based on 1,000-ish word short stories, so I can fire them off reasonably quickly, more or less making it up as I go along.
“The opposite is obviously true with novels: keeping things going; building the momentum; and keeping it rolling. I'd never written a full chapter-by-chapter breakdown before I wrote The Gildar Rift and the end result, whilst deviating in places, always pulled back onto track. They're all just as much fun to write as each other, though!”
What advice would you offer female writers working in a field which, erroneously perhaps, is viewed as largely male?
“Keep on keeping on. It's an old adage and maybe not very helpful. But the truth of the matter is, there is a huge lean towards male audiences for this sort of genre tie-in stuff and whilst the demographic is clearly shifting, it's likely to remain that way. I've been pretty lucky to tell the truth – most people are really receptive and some are actively interested in seeing things written from a female point of view. It was really nice to write for a female protagonist as well – I believe wholeheartedly that it allowed me to bring something unique to it.”
What's next for you?
“The manuscript for my third BL novel is in the hands of my editor even now, no doubt undergoing the very scary dissection process that editors undertake. (They all have labs and scalpels. It's true. You heard it here first!)
“I have a couple of short stories in the hands of the lovely Adele over at Fox Spirit and have a few more short stories submitted to a variety of other places for consideration. I love the Black Library and I very much hope to keep on writing in their worlds, but it's a great challenge for me, as a writer, to prove that I'm not a one trick pony.”
Thanks for the interview, Sarah. Full details of Sarah’s work can be found here: http://pyroriffic.wordpress.com/about/
Alasdair Stuart
