mumpsimus interviews KJ Bishop

The Mumpsimus has a very interesting short interview with K.J. Bishop about THE ETCHED CITY and her working methods.

I don't think I have an impulse to tell stories so much as an impulse to spend time with characters. I always used to imagine things about my favourite characters from movies and books, and over time those characters would change in my mind, turning into people who were similar to the originals but different enough for me to think of them as separate. When I started writing, I discovered that the process of writing allowed me to get to know them much better than I could by just daydreaming. I also discovered that I liked writing in and of itself -- the pleasure of making things out of words, of finding the way to express something, to define some notion or feeling of mine that previously had been vague.

I particularly like her comments on revision... as that's what I've been doing a lot of. Sometimes I can't believe how badly I wrote things the first time through. (Or, cough cough, even the second.)

Does it have to be said? Go read the whole thing.