Q: How often do you write, and do you have a special time during the day to write? 
A: I write when I can. Having Google Docs (and before that One Note) is a great way to make writing portable. I should be able to pick up a device and get writing but I do seem to need some quiet space to get into it. Nanowrimo was a great motivation to get writing. I’d write in my lunchtime and in the evening and whenever I could. I hit the target and it’s the most productive I’ve ever been. I try to write once a day but sometimes only manage once a week. If there was any chance I could make to my writing, it would be to write more often. Style be damned if you don’t have the words to start with!

Q: For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?    
A: Personally, I’ve grown up with paper books so I am more comfortable reading them. I would prefer to be more comfortable with ebooks though. They are more environmentally friendly and also, it would be nice to be more comfortable reading using the platform I primarily intend to publish in. Weight for weight, the ebook has the advantage. You could take one paper book on a long plane flight but for the same weight, 1,000 ebooks. I can and have read books in ebook format and enjoyed them immensely. The main difference I find is that I am a lot faster when reading a paper book.

Q: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing as far as content?  
A: The number on challenge for me is injecting personality into my characters. I really struggle there, I want them to pop out and I haven’t managed to get into the space where I can get into the moment and inhabit a character shoes, especially where the character is unlike myself. I do find the best way to get over this is to carry on with the draft and let the actions define the characters. The needs of the plot eventually sorts this out for me! The thing I then need to deal with is their voice. It’s not point the villain and the hero having the same speech patterns!

Q: Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?    
A: The first story I remember reading that had a major impact on me was Lord of the Rings. It was a massive book and I tried several times to follow in my brother’s footsteps and read the damn thing but I could never really get it started. Then one day I flipped to page 119 (I think) and was immediately in the battle for Weathertop from then on, I made it all the way through and had enough context to get through the beginning again! What I took from it was an amazement that someone could create a world like that and an amazement that I could get lost in it. I think my friends heard about the book for months after that!

Q: Did you have any ideas about being a writer that becoming a writer changed?  
A: I always thought that writing was a job like being an accountant, people would learn to do it and then become good. Being around writers online has certainly been an education. Even the experienced of us struggle. Its the ultimate creative exercise. You can become better at it but it will always be something that is hard. For anyone standing at the edge and wondering whether to give it a go, I encourage you to do so. It only takes one positive reaction and it all becomes worthwhile.

About H.T. Lyon.
I am aspiring writer of science fiction. A futurist with a keen interest in where our society is heading, I tend focus most of my attention on stories that examine the direction our society is taking or that shows where we could end up. Optimistic my nature, I believe that one day we will look to settle the Solar System as we outgrow our planet and some of my stories examine how this could look. Currently, I have a number of novels underway and some short stories. My aim is to get one of these up and published before the end of the year around the other commitments that exist in my life.