"I have no idea what a raconteur does – but I’m happy to give it a go!"
Author Q&A: we catch up with multi-talented writer, musician and comedian, Keith Errington...
Keith Errington has been writing stories since his schooldays, winning competitions and writing for a variety of publications and anthologies. In the past he has been a magazine designer, typographer, art editor, trainer and technical consultant to many creative consultancies. He is currently a proofreader, paid blogger and publisher of SteamPaper. He’s also a Harvey regular and fab contributor to our monthly Flash!Mob collections.
We catch up with Keith to find out more.
Q: Your stories for Harvey have been many and varied… what are your favourite genres, and what do you like writing the most?
A: Historically, my favourite genre was always science fiction, but I’m not sure I have a favourite at the moment as I’ve been happily experimenting with a variety of different genres. In Rum and Rosemary, for example, I’ve written a story with magic in for the first time. And I’ve written a piece of historical fiction for an anthology out this year. Then again, I do quite like the style I write in for Hopeless, Maine. I’ve no idea how you might describe that as a genre? Comedy-horror maybe?
Q: You have a publication called SteamPaper… what’s that all about and where can people find it?
A: It’s a monthly email newsletter for the steampunk community in the UK. It’s principally an event listings publication, but it also carries news and articles about books, music, steampunk kickstarters and more. Steampunk event organisers can have their event listed for free, and I’ll happily feature steampunk book launches, albums, media, in fact, anything related to steampunk. I started it because I was finding that social media was not a reliable way for steampunks (including me) to find out about events. As I had the skills, I thought, right, in the spirit of steampunk I’ll do it myself then. It’s been running for nine years now. There are 11 issues a year – Dec/Jan is a combined issue, and it has over 4,000 subscribers. You can sign up at steampaper.co.uk and you can follow the SteamPaper page on Facebook.
Q: As well as writing, you’re also a musician, comedian, performer and raconteur… tell us more! What do you do, and where do you do it?
A: Well, firstly, I feel I should point out that I definitely have no free time!
Musically, I perform as a singer/songwriter. I play guitar and Nimue Brown (also a Harvey Duckman writer) accompanies me on electric violin, percussion and vocals. I am also the rhythm guitarist in Jessica Law and the Outlaws, Jessica writes beautiful and unusual songs with great lyrics – a fabulous indie performer. Nimue is in that band too, playing viola and her son James provides backing vocals and percussion. Finally, on the music front, I am just one of the many singers in Carnival of Cryptids, a feral folk choir that Nimue organises (honestly, if you think I’m doing a lot, you should see what Nimue gets up to!) We sing a variety of weird and wonderful songs as well as interesting folk songs. All these musical projects are gigging locally around Gloucestershire, but occasionally we go further afield to play at events and festivals.
Performance wise, I am an emcee and interviewer at events, I perform my own standup comedy, write and perform sketches and radio plays, and generally will jump on a microphone given any opportunity! I also act as a historical interpreter in costume for English Heritage and others.
Oh, and I have no idea what a raconteur does – but I’m happy to give it a go!
Q: What are you working on now and what excites you about it?
A: Well… I am writing songs for an album, comedy material for stand-up shows, sorting out my website (don’t look just yet), writing short stories for Hopeless, Maine, entering a short story competition, working on publishing three sets of short story compilations and of course writing for Harvey Duckman. Phew! I love the variety.
I’m definitely excited to be putting together a book of my short stories – hopefully out later this year, and I’m looking forward to writing science fiction again for the next Harvey Duckman collection. (I currently have no idea what I will write about, but I think it might be cyberpunk in flavour).
Q: If there was an era in history you could go back to, when and where would it be?
A: I once spent a week living in an Iron Age village – no phones, no tv, no watches. It was wonderful, just the daily routine of gathering food, preparing, cooking, eating and telling stories round the fire while drinking mead. Now I know this is a very romantic view of the era, which was undoubtedly incredibly tough and challenging for people living in that time, but honestly, I think that would be my choice. Unless I could be a Roman Emperor of course!
Q: Is there a novel you’d love to write if you had infinite time available?
A: Ooh – this is a perennial question for me. Most of my life, I’ve wanted to write a novel. It’s definitely a life goal. The problem I have, is what genre should it be? What should it be about? Should I write something commercial (probably not!) or write just for me? Hopefully, I’ll resolve these issues soon!
Q: What short story ideas are you working on for future Harveys, and which basket excites you the most?
A: I tend to react to the theme – and for both the Flash!Mob and anthology stories I either get an idea straightaway, or at the last minute. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground, and right now it’s looking very last minute! I will put something in, but I can’t tell you…yet, what the ideas might be. Which basket excites me the most? The next one.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from?
A: Almost anywhere. Sometimes it’s the given title, sometimes it’s an idea I’ve had for a while, and I adapt it to the moment. Then again, inspiration can be triggered by something someone said, something I’ve read or watched. It’s even come from me mishearing or misreading something! I’m also very fortunate to be mixing with a lot of wonderful creative people, all of whom can trigger a thought or a plot idea. But ultimately, the greatest source of inspiration is my partner, Nimue Brown. When you live with a tremendously creative person inspiration tends to add up to more than the sum of the parts. We definitely generate a profusion of ideas together. To be honest, we always have way more ideas than we know what to do with.
Q: What advice would you give anyone starting out on their writing and publishing adventure?
A: Write. (And read a lot). Don’t expect to make money. Write for yourself, or because you have stories bursting to get out. Write for fun. But most importantly, write.
Find out more at: www.keitherrington.com
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