SIX MINUTES WITH UNA MCCORMACK:

Today LitPick is joined by British author and undergraduate and graduate level writing instructor, Una McCormack! Una is the author of fanfiction Star Trek and Dr. Who books and the science fiction book Weird Space: The Baba Yaga.

How did you get started writing?

I wrote a lot as a child, but had largely given up by the time I became a teenager, mostly because I was focused on exams. After my degree, I started writing fanfiction. This was the early 90s, around the time the Web was taking off (!), so I joined a number of fanfiction communities. My break into writing professionally came because someone read my fanfiction online and recommended me to the editor of the Star Trek books. He invited me to pitch for the range, and commissioned me from that pitch.

Who influenced you?

My writing tends to be quite dialogue-heavy: I’ve definitely been influenced by the writers on the television series that I used to fanfic, such as Chris Boucher on Blake’s 7. I greatly admire Ursula Le Guin, although I wouldn’t for a moment think that my writing style is anywhere near as accomplished as hers! She has certainly influenced how I think about narrative and structure, however, and the kinds of themes that appear in my fiction.

Do you have a favorite book/subject/character/setting?

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien is without doubt my favourite book. I have read it roughly once a year since I was eleven.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to be an author?

Read a lot, and write a lot. Experiment with different styles and genres and forms. Don’t set your heart on becoming rich: don’t even set your heart on becoming published. Enjoy writing for the sake of writing. Everything else is a bonus.

Where is your favorite place to write?

There are several good cafes in the city where I live, Cambridge, where I regularly go and work. I like the ambient noise, the company of strangers – and the ready availability of cake and coffee!

What else would you like to tell us?

I hope that if readers pick up Doctor Who: Royal Blood, that they enjoy it!

_________

We’ve never had an interview with an author who wrote the fanfiction books based on a TV series such as Star Trek, where we’ve seen the books have different authors.

Una graciously answered a few more questions for LitPick.

Is it difficult to write a book that is based on a TV show? The Star Trek books, for example, have a variety of authors. Is it hard to keep the writing consistent, or do you have to?

You do have to be consistent, and sometimes it’s quite difficult to remember everything that’s happened! The Star Trek books are now very detailed and complicated. Fortunately there are some very good websites, and my editor, Margaret Clark, is excellent.

My Star Trek novel The Crimson Shadow is part of a five book series called The Fall. The other books are written by other writers. We worked very closely together – the action of the five books takes place over sixty days! – and had a lot of fun in emails drawing up timelines and spreadsheets!

Have you had to spend a lot of time watching the TV shows as research so you could write according to that show?

I’m a fan of the shows that I write for, and I was before I started writing for them, so I would be watching (and rewatching!) the shows anyway. When I start on a book, I rewatch relevant episodes before writing. For Royal Blood, I watched all of Peter Capaldi’s episodes again to make sure I was getting his character and his relationship with Clara right. For my Star Trek book, The Never Ending Sacrifice, which retells the story of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from the point of view of the Cardassians, I rewatched episodes numerous times, and drew up detailed timelines and character biographies. It was a bit like studying for a history exam at times! 

_______________

Una, thank you for spending a little more than six minutes with LitPick! We appreciate your taking the time to answer a few more questions than we normally ask. We have the feeling that fans of Star Trek and Dr. Who would love the research part of your job!