Paul Magrs: A Self Portrait
Paul Magrs Revealed
About Paul Magrs
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. Reading, writing, encouraging others to read and write
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. Get on with it!
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. Getting enough writing done in a day... feeding the cat... sitting in the garden with my partner Jeremy. Reading for a while. Cooking dinner. Having friends round. Going out to dinner. Watching one of my favourite old tv shows till late at night. Just ordinary, daily stuff.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. People close to me being ill.
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. A park, I think. I love Central Park in New York, the Boboli Gardens in Florence, Regent's Park in London, and The Luxemburg Gardens in Paris
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. Robin Hood. I've no idea why. The character always appealed to me.
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. Anne Tyler - my favourite novelist
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. What's next?
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Not keeping a diary more consistently
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. I wish I could play the piano.
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. Getting to be a writer.
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. Talking too much.
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. Loyalty.
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. Something with a better memory than me.
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. I talk a lot - but I listen a lot, too
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Doctor Who
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. Cruella De Ville in 101 Dalmations
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. Lewis Carroll. I'd thank him for writing the book that I can't imagine never having read. 'Alice's Adventures' is probably the book that has filled my head more than any other.
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Reading mystery novels
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. 'You Can Do Magic' - Limmie and the Family Cooking; 'Life on Mars?' - David Bowie; 'Strange Boy' - Joni Mitchell; 'Jilted John' - Jilted John; 'Come Up and See Me' - Cockney Rebel.
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Anne Tyler, Roald Dahl, Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke, Susan Cooper, Angela Carter
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper; A Room with a View - EM Forster; The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald; Saint Maybe - Anne Tyler; Doctor Who and the Daemons - Barry Letts.
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. Carrie's War, by Nina Bawden - which should be on my list of top 5 as well.
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Stop thinking it isn't good enough and get to the end before you start mucking it about!
- Q. How did you come to write Diary of a Dr Who Addict?
- A. Remembering being eleven and twelve and being obsessed with a certain TV show, and the novelisations based on that show. And also, how at the same time, I was learning how to write my own stories, for myself, in my own time... and starting to set about seriously trying to write fiction.
