An interview with...
M. Kelly Peach
Tell us one of your first experiences where you realised that language had power.
One of my earliest experiences of the power of language was reading Clark Ashton Smith’s poems and stories in middle school and high school. His writings of memnons, eidolons, and hashish-eaters blew my mind and carried me off to new and strange worlds.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
Follow your dreams, do not be dissuaded by family or friends who haven’t a clue about what you’re trying to do in your writings.
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
No.
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
I love doing research for my writing projects. For me, it is one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing. For example, I read more than a dozen books on cosmology and horology for my short story The Horologist.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
Although I adore them, I don’t know if I have ever really understood women. When I was an adolescent, girls were mysterious and scary. I am not as frightened of them now but they are still baffling. My wife is the best thing in my life; there are any number of reasons why she is “my better half.” When writing female characters, I try to be sensitive to them and make them well-rounded, intelligent, and strong leaders.
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
I certainly do and have gone through a number of short periods where the words were scarce and elusive.
One of my earliest experiences of the power of language was reading Clark Ashton Smith’s poems and stories in middle school and high school. His writings of memnons, eidolons, and hashish-eaters blew my mind and carried me off to new and strange worlds.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
Follow your dreams, do not be dissuaded by family or friends who haven’t a clue about what you’re trying to do in your writings.
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
No.
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
I love doing research for my writing projects. For me, it is one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing. For example, I read more than a dozen books on cosmology and horology for my short story The Horologist.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
Although I adore them, I don’t know if I have ever really understood women. When I was an adolescent, girls were mysterious and scary. I am not as frightened of them now but they are still baffling. My wife is the best thing in my life; there are any number of reasons why she is “my better half.” When writing female characters, I try to be sensitive to them and make them well-rounded, intelligent, and strong leaders.
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
I certainly do and have gone through a number of short periods where the words were scarce and elusive.