An interview with
Bruce McRae
Tell us one of your first experiences where you realised that language had power.
When first giving my father backtalk, and later, reading Emily Dickinson when I was 10.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
“You're not half as clever as you think you are.”
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
No, and don't see the point in it. As it is, I'm swimming in anonymity.
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
Very little. I take notes, however, all year long, usually gleaned from what I'm reading, and mine them as needed. When writing I might refer to sources and books as I'm going along.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
As I don't write fiction there are few female characters to deal with. If I do have a female show up in a poem I have her the same as I would a man. Most of my writing is from an outside narrator's point of view.
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
No, not at all. The very opposite, I write too much and have to temper my output.
Writing is too enjoyable for me to ever see it as any kind of a problem. Some days I may not feel like writing so I'll get into other mischief. There's a lot of it about.
When first giving my father backtalk, and later, reading Emily Dickinson when I was 10.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
“You're not half as clever as you think you are.”
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
No, and don't see the point in it. As it is, I'm swimming in anonymity.
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
Very little. I take notes, however, all year long, usually gleaned from what I'm reading, and mine them as needed. When writing I might refer to sources and books as I'm going along.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
As I don't write fiction there are few female characters to deal with. If I do have a female show up in a poem I have her the same as I would a man. Most of my writing is from an outside narrator's point of view.
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
No, not at all. The very opposite, I write too much and have to temper my output.
Writing is too enjoyable for me to ever see it as any kind of a problem. Some days I may not feel like writing so I'll get into other mischief. There's a lot of it about.