My interviewee is David K Paterson. His stories, White Noise and The Removal Man, appeared in Fusion. David rediscovered a love of
story-telling in 2007 while taking a creative writing course and since then the
words have just been pouring out. He has written several screenplays, novellas
and short stories. He has also completed the National Novel Writing Month twice
and Script Frenzy three times. His first published short story was featured in
My Weekly magazine in February 2009 and a longer short story was selected for
an anthology in 2010 but this one is yet to be published so Fusion has beaten
it to the tape. David says he is proud to have his second and third published
short stories in the Fusion anthology and is looking forward to a productive
and enjoyable writing future.
How did it feel to hear that his story would be published in
Fusion? David says, ‘I wish I could say I was playing it cool the day that both
sets of results were announced, but that would be untrue - I may have
permanently damaged my keyboard's F5 key from refreshing the event page. As any
creative person knows, there's always that nagging worry that "they're all
going to laugh at you", but we have to take the risk, otherwise we never
progress. I felt that I had written good stories that entertained me, but to
end up with both short-listed was something I never expected.’
David sees it as a definite positive to be in an anthology
with established writers. As he puts it, ‘It’s not just that people who know Danuta
Reah and Stuart Aken will pick up the anthology and hopefully discover new
writers, but it’s also to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with them and
feel that a professional writing career is within reach.’
When recommending a book to pass the time on a long journey,
David tells me, ‘The last book I read on a long-haul flight was "Ready
Player One" by Ernest Cline. I really got into the story, the tale of a
down-trodden hero who battles through a massive online game to claim the legacy
of the game's designer. Great fun if you're a fan of retro arcade games!’
David is clearly building a fan base after his contribution
to Fusion, so what can we expect next from his pen (or keyboard)? He says, ‘I'm
working on a non-fiction project with a few friends at the moment. We're
producing ALL THE NOMZ!, a cookbook for hungry geeks, with recipes contributed
by some of the biggest names in nerd culture.’
It isn’t the answer I expected, but I love the concept, especially
when he goes on to say, ‘All proceeds from the book will go to Child's Play
Charity, a charity drive set up by the people behind the Penny Arcade web
comic, to donate video games, consoles and money to children's hospitals around
the world. We hope to publish in May 2013.’ You can follow ALL THE NOMZ on
twitter and it also has its own website www.allthenomz.com.
Find out more about David and his writing on Twitter
or on his blog
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