Thanks to the lovely Ana at Michael O’Mara Books I have been lucky enough to have an email interview with the talented author of Diary of a Wimpy Vampire Tim Collins.
Picture and details from his Amazon profile: Tim Collins is an author and advertising copywriter who lives in London. He has published ten books that have sold over 100,000 copies in total. He has written for several magazines and newspapers and has promoted his books on many TV and radio shows.
Interview
1. How would you describe Diary of a Wimpy Vampire?
Somebody described it as Twilight meets Adrian Mole, which I took as a great compliment because I think Sue Townsend is brilliant. They used to read Adrian Mole to us at junior school, but I’m sure most of it went over our heads.
2. Diary of a Wimpy Vampire is very different from your other books, why did you choose this one to write?
I initially wanted to write a direct parody of Twilight, but several other writers beat me to it, so I tried a more general vampire comedy. I was keen to do something on vampires when the recent craze took off because I’ve always loved the genre.
3. I love Nigel, he’s a geeky but loveable character. Is he based on what you were like when you were at school? Obviously without the blood drinking, but each to their own.
When I was Nigel’s age I was performing as a stand-up comedian so I was trying to turn the angst of adolescence into material, which was probably good training for writing the book.
4. What was the easiest/hardest part of writing Diary of a Wimpy Vampire?
The easiest part was writing the main character. If you devise characters around a fundamental contradiction like geek/immortal, it makes them easier to write. The hardest part was keeping up with all the Twilight parodies to make sure I wasn’t doing the same jokes.
5. Where do you do most of your writing?
On my sofa in the living room, or in the bedroom if my wife is watching Sex and the City.
6. What routines/quirky habits do you have for when and how you write?
In the past I’ve written to such tight deadlines that there wasn’t much time for quirkiness. I don’t think my publisher would be too happy if I said I needed to hang upside down using gravity boots for a month to get inspired.
7. What keeps you writing?
I think the thing that keeps anyone going until a book is finished is love of the genre or subject matter. In the case of vampire romance, you only need to watch Let the Right One in to see how great it can be.
8. Any future projects you would like to share with us?
At the moment, I’m writing the next volume of Nigel’s diary, in which he realises that having a girlfriend is more complicated than he thought, especially when she keeps pestering you to transform her into a vampire, but your parents won’t let you.
9. Is there a question you’ve always wanted to be asked but haven’t? What would your answer be?
I grew up reading Smash Hits, so I’m disappointed that I’ve never been asked what colour Thursday is. It’s purple.
10. Are there any tips and advice you would like to pass on to aspiring writers?
I would suggest writing a story with conventional structure before attempting anything more experimental. It’s fine to reject rules such as those laid down by Robert McKee in Story, but I think it’s important to be aware of them.
Thank you very much Tim for doing this interview. I loved your Smash Hits reference. I too grew up reading that magazine and they new how to do an inerview! I cannot wait to read the sequel.
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