Alex: Tell me how you began writing for the pleasure of others?
CLYVE ROSE: I used to write stories for friends going through rough times. Little pieces, featuring them. Giving them powers, or making them laugh. Some of those shorts pieces are now part of longer works.
Alex: Were you always going to do so, or was there a moment when you realized you might, and then chose to do so?
CLYVE ROSE: I tried not to write, for a very long time. I found I couldn’t live that way. I became terribly depressed and quite dangerous at times. It’s not necessarily healthy, to be obsessed with a story. I can’t get away from it though. I wouldn’t be me if I did.
Alex: Are writers born, or do they require a set of skills that require labors and education to bring forward?
CLYVE ROSE: I’m not sure about this. There are many parts of the craft that can be learned. I feel it’s like magic. You have organic witches and warlocks, and then you have your ‘constructed’ High Magicks, which are spells, etc. that one can learn.
Alex: Do you think people are born storytellers versus born blank and need to learn how to become what they will be?
CLYVE ROSE: I believe we’re all born ‘blank’. It’s naive to think we all hone ourselves exclusively, but I don’t believe that to be true. It takes a phenomenally strong and grounded personality to exclude all externalities. Perhaps these beings exist, but I’ve not met one. I think some people like to tell stories, and others like to hear them. Creativity is a kind of giving. The audience or readership are the receivers of these gifts.
Alex: Does the genre of romance (or fantasy or science fiction or mystery) necessarily limit what you create? I've asked many authors about the "limits" of genre, because I've also encountered writers who are rather steady opponents of using labels of any genre upon their works. As well I'd ask is the writer really the person who determines what label to apply. Couldn't a work succeed in many different genres simultaneously, and labeling it is an artifice that reduces ultimate enjoyment by directing the eyes towards a single, sort of, goal? CLYVE ROSE: If I am writing a genre fiction work, there are conventions to be observed for that generic piece. For my body of work as a whole though? No, I don’t think so. I wish the readers were able to determine the ‘categories’, but it’s actually the industry. It’s not the writer. Not really. All labels are artifice if you ask me. Does it reduce enjoyment? That’s really a subjective choice, isn’t it? Who do you write for? Many authors begin their work with a mind towards an audience they wish to appeal towards, but, is that wise? I write for readers, and for myself. I also write for my characters. I know that sounds odd, but the stories want to come out. I hope there’s a less ‘lock me up’ way of expressing that…(working on it).
Alex: Couldn't a work inspire, entertain, enthrall whoever picks it up?
CLYVE ROSE: Again, that’s about the reader not the author. Once the work is out there, how it’s seen, and by whom, is beyond the author’s control. I would hope my work does inspire, entertain and enthrall all who read it, but I cannot ‘make’ that happen, just as I cannot ‘make’ everyone like my personality.
Alex: I am not referring to your loveliness, that is obvious to each viewer, but instead to your ability in your author photos to present a personae and look to your presentation, that is unique. Your presence online is also rather distinct and unique. How important is it for creative talents to cultivate the perception of the creative talent by the audience or potential audience, to enhance the works appeal? Or do you just have fun and don't have an ultimate goal in this?
CLYVE ROSE: I’ve no idea if it makes any difference actually. It grows my following, but I’ve not seen that translate to readership specifically, or sales. That said, I’m an author not an actor so my appearance ought not to matter really. I do think people want to see some of a ‘real’ person these days, to reassure them that one exists. I find this rather ironic, given the penchant for inauthenticity towards which social media appears to cater.
Alex: What links can readers of this interview follow to find more of your work? Thank you for your answers!
CLYVE ROSE:
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