About Me

Rebecca L. Brown (25) is a British writer currently based in Cardiff, South Wales where she lives with her partner and assorted menagerie. She has recently returned to writing medium-length, short and flash fiction pieces (including micro-fiction), after a short break which felt considerably longer than it was. Rebecca specialises in horror, SF, humour, surreal and experimental fiction, although her writing often wanders off into other genres and gets horribly lost. More updates and examples of Rebecca’s work can be found on her Twitter page @rlbrownwriter

An Interview With Rebecca

An Interview With Rebecca L. Brown: 13/07/2010
Why Bewildering Circumstances?

I think a lot of the best writing is inspired by bewildering circumstances, even everyday ones; that moment when you’ve no idea what’s going on and you just give up, sit down in the eye of the storm and put pen to paper is when I’m at my best creativity-wise.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m currently working on two big projects; the first is a series of mixed media projects using a combination of photography and micro-fiction or micro-poetry to create stories. I don’t want to give too much away about that at the minute; you’ll see it when I’ve finished it. The second is a series provisionally titled ’Letters to Inappropriate People’ which will include To The Neighbour’s Cat, Dear Assorted Deities and Dear Mr Balloon Man, all of which have appeared on my blog already. I’m aiming to create a series of slightly surreal, humorous letters to a range of different characters. A lot of them will probably be illustrated.

Do you have a specific writing style?

Not really; I think it depends on my mood to be honest. Some of my work is very dark or sarcastic (I probably sound a bit bitter sometimes) but a lot of it is light-hearted. I tailor my language to the audience a lot and the subject matter. I really don’t like the idea of someone being able to classify my style as a writer, that would put limits on me; I don’t want to be stuck in a box like that, I’d get lonely…

What influences or inspires your writing the most?

I think everything I read influences me; I’m very easily influenced and I’ll read almost anything. I suppose I like to read what I write; horror, comedy, fantasy, SF, poetry… I’m a huge fan of Terry Pratchett, Edgar Allan Poe and John Wyndham. Other than that, I suppose I’m influenced by life; I love writing about things I’ve read in the news, something I’ve seen or something a friend says which sticks in my head. My friends are my muses most of the time, I couldn’t write without them.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

I always have a problem getting the word count right; if I’m trying to write micro fiction, I end up with a novel and all my attempts at novel writing die terrible deaths after a few thousand words. I also get a bit obsessed with a particular word sometimes and start over-using it. Someone has to remind me that not everything can be ‘dank’.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Never be too proud to take criticism or rejection. Learning from criticism is what makes people better writers. Don’t write a trilogy when a sentence will cover it. And make sure you’ve found out what the editor wants before you submit to them; you can write the best horror story in the world and that children’s anthology publisher still won’t touch it.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Thanks for reading and for all the feedback, you’re all completely awesome people!



If you have a question you would like to ask Rebecca, e-mail it to rebeccalbrown@hotmail.co.uk with the subject line 'Question'; the best ones will be added here.



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