These exotic, erotic, and neurotic tales span settings from Australia’s tawdry Gold Coast to rural China. An erotic encounter inspired by Nina Simone. A frustrating, dusty trip to find an ancient gate. The short stories of Broken Stories capture the doubts that haunt us all.
Looking for tales to play with your doubts and haunt you? These tales await you in Broken Stories, and to help us explore these tales, I’ve been joined by the mind behind these them, Margaretta James. Margaretta, to help us explore today, can you set the scene by sharing how you came to write Broken Stories.
The stories are a montage of real-life adventures that move into the parallel of the imagination.
When you’re getting these adventures and imaginations down onto paper, what are you thinking about?
I usually just have a glimmer of an idea. I quickly write down all my thoughts in longhand. It might be months before I come back to finish a piece.
I find it interesting that you have such long times between when you start and finish a piece. Does this delay mean that your writing energy wanes, and you find writing exhausting?
Writing is an addiction for me. When I am writing, I lose all sense of time.
So you’re probably just lost in another good story! As you’ve kept writing getting lost writing each new story, do you feel that you’ve also seen development in your writing skills?
My voice has matured as I travel more and experience more of life’s vagaries. Living in China for a decade definitely changed my perspectives on many things.
Wow, a decade of living in China would definitely be something worth writing about! Has your love of travel also allowed you to indulge in the fun of a literary pilgrimage?
Yes. I’ve been to see Oscar Wilde’s grave and Charles Dickens’ house.
Oh, that’s some good travelling! And I’m that with each new travel adventure you’ve come with a multitude of ideas to write about. So, can you share a taste of what you’re writing about right now?
I am working on a novel set in outback Queensland, Australia. I also write children’s books.
I know there are some great stories in outback Queensland that are just waiting to be told, so I’m sure what you’ll have stacks of fun getting that novel finished. But before, I let you return the tales of the wild red, can you end our journey with readers the today with a touch of fun? The fun question I have for today is, if you invented a monster what would it look like and what would you call it? What do you think?
It would be a dragon and I would call it Crystal because it would be made from delicate glass.
Now, a glass dragon, I’d really love to see it in action. The big question I have is would it breathe fire, but I won’t ask you to reveal the secrets of Crystal today, because you never know when we’ll see the dragon next! Margaretta, thanks for sharing a little of Broken Stories with us today, and I hope to see more of your tales soon.
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Excited to read the book we discussed today? Find it here on Amazon: ‘Broken Stories ( ASIN: B07MGZ59Y5 )‘.
Want to find out more about Margaretta James? Connect here!