After the cameras stopped rolling, we asked Kim a few extra questions just for you – here's what he had to say.
Q: What is your top tip for getting started with writing?
A: Read a lot of books of all types. Something that’s specific to me is that I spent a few years writing plays to be performed by large, mixed-ability casts – which meant finding things for everyone to do, whether they be playing lead characters or one-scene walk-ons. To keep a volunteer cast enthused throughout rehearsal period, it’s important that every actor feels they have a moment on stage which is worth turning up for. In translating this to prose writing, it means that every walk-on policeman, guard, barmaid, suspect, assassin, monster or exposition-spouting witness needs to have a nugget of character or eccentricity, or an unusual way of speaking, or even just a joke to call their own. Oh, and give them all names even if they're never mentioned – it will make them feel more real to you, and therefore to your readers.
Q: When you are not busy getting lost in words, what hobbies do you have?
A: I've been lucky enough that most of the things I'm interested in – movies, TV, music, theatre, history, politics, pop culture, literature, comics, even social media – feed back directly or indirectly into my work. I suppose socialising, eating out and lying around count as hobbies.
Q: If you could invite one character from your Warhammer stories to a dinner party, who would it be and why?
A: Detlef Sierck, the playwright adventurer introduced in Drachenfels, is mostly based on Orson Welles, who was one of the great dinner guests of the last century, so he’d top my list. Detlef would tell outrageously entertaining stories and eat all the pies. I’d not need to invite Genevieve, because – in a very real sense – I live with her, so she’s always here. I'm also iffy about the etiquette of inviting a vampire over the threshold or for a meal, considering their specialised diet…
If you've not watched the interview yet, check it out and see what else Kim has to say.
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