Michael O' Connor

Michael's story is ideally read on 14th of December.

What inspired you to write SLIGHT EXPECTATIONS?

I live quite close to St James' Church in Cooling, Kent, which is where Charles Dickens set the opening of his novel "Great Expectations". I went there one day to see it for myself, and standing there alone in the churchyard, with a slight breeze rustling the grass and crows cawing overhead, it seemed to me that if I closed my eyes for a moment, the ghost of Dickens might appear. That was the basis for my story.



What other material do you normally write?

Much of my work in the past has been what is termed 'genre fiction' i.e. fantasy, horror and science fiction. However, I am moving away from that now into more mainstream work, although I suspect I shall never be able to forgo of an element of fantasy in any story I write.


What made you become a writer?

I cannot remember a time when I wanted to be anything else.


Which writers do you admire?

Unsurprisingly, Dickens and many of his nineteenth century contemporaries are particular favourites of mine. More contemporary authors I admire include Michael Moorcock, Peter Ackroyd, Jasper Fforde and Anthony Burgess.


Tell us something about your writing routine.

I don't really have a writing routine. I do it as and when the inspiration happens to coincide with the free time. I do a lot of reviewing, editing and proofreading for other people, which generally has deadlines, so my own work tends to be squeezed in around that.


Do you have a favourite place for writing?

I have a spare room in my home which I grandiloquently call a 'study' (so much more literary than 'home office'!) and I do all my writing there