Today I'm thrilled - not to mention confused - to be interviewing an author who writes as twins Ailsa Abraham and Cameron Lawton, who have their own genres and bicker constantly on Facebook. They share a blog and nobody is quite sure if they really are two people or one disturbed personality...
Hi Ailsa and Cameron!
Hi Linda thanks for inviting us. Great to be here.
We'll be finding out more about the genres you write in a bit later, but to start with I was wondering what you like to read? Has anyone particularly inspired you?
Ailsa grew up reading fantasy which is
probably why she writes her genre. Alan Garner, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis are
probably her inspiration. Cameron was a Biggle freak and also the Viking saga
by Henry Treece. We're both history crazy so any well-researched historical
novels, Mary Renault for example are snapped up. Also Terry Pratchett – just to die for!
Do you have a hero or heroine? (Fictional or real!)
Cameron – Captain Jack Sparrow in
Pirates of the Caribbean. How anyone can wear THAT eye make-up, camp it up like
that and not come over as gay is beyond me. I WANT that look! I'd love to have
written a character like that but my guys are very in the closet.
Ailsa - (rolling her eyes) Nanny Ogg in Terry Pratchett's witches stories.
She is as close to a practical witch like me as I've ever read. She's
down-to-earth and doesn't hold with all Magrat's fancy paraphernalia bought
from the esoteric shops. That's so great. People have very weird ideas about
witchcraft and shamanism. If you but realised, there are probably practicing
witches in your community but you may never notice them.
Speaking of that sort of thing... Do you have any rituals when writing?
Some people need a certain pen, a particular sort of paper, complete silence...
We swap between propped up on the bed
with the laptop or sitting at OUR desk on the desktop. That started after an
operation when Ailsa had to keep her feet up for some weeks and found that a
very comfy position.
As far as silence – yes! Can't have the
radio or TV playing although there is certain music, instrumental that is very
conducive. Shaman's Drum was written exclusively to Era playing on a loop on
the headphones. Even when we go on
holiday in the caravan, usually down to Spain or over to Germany, the laptop
comes too and it isn't a break from writing. I think we get more writing done
then, sitting under the awning, very pleasant.
Oh and there must be an endless supply
of freshly-brewed coffee and (guilty blush) cigarettes for us to work properly.
We writers all seem to have an inner Demon or a gremlin on our shoulder telling us we're rubbish. What does yours look like - do you know? How do you shut them up?
I think mainly for us it's our
characters. They tend to peer at what we're writing and say “I wouldn't do
that!”. For Ailsa the main demon is the one who sneers “Fantasy eh? Floaty
girls dancing in the moonlight is it? Or hunky hero and completely made-up
world, like dungeons and dragons eh?” Because that is soooo not what I write.
My stuff is based on solid, practical experience of shamanism and paganism, I
just set it in the future to accommodate the fact that these had become the
“mainstream religions” of the day.
Cameron – whenever I doubt my
abilities, usually when I read some of the awesome work my fellow-authors over
at MLRP write, I remember when I got my first book published and our gorgeous
Scottish auntie who is over 80 was explaining to a bunch of her friends in an
Edinburgh tearoom. They're all a bit deaf so she found herself shouting at the
top of her voice, “I said, dear, that Cameron's now writing pornography.... for
homosexuals;” And I want to die because I don't; I write murder mystery and
detective fiction where the two main characters just happen to be gay men.
They're superb at their job and have to hide their relationship at work. But if
you saw the same situation on any TV series with a heterosexual couple, you
wouldn't turn a hair. Sure, my guys have sex, they're in love … who wouldn't? Even Ailsa's couple in Shaman's Drum get it
on a few times, maybe not so graphically but they do!
Ailsa (laughing) yes, but even then you
had to write the sex scenes for me and from the male point of view!
So, you help each other out - are the two of you also competitive about writing?
No. We are very supportive. We
advertise each other's work and we share a blog where we post about our life at
home and applaud when one of us has a success. No – we're twins and the only
competetive thing we've ever suffered from is …. boyfriends! Oh and clothes!
Cameron – that's true. She has crap
taste in men – I'm trying to improve her dress sense but ..(eyeroll) silk
purses and sow's ears etc.
Ailsa – yes, Bro – and you fall in love
faster than an avalanche down a mountainside! Oh and we steal each other's
fragrances regularly which causes much bitterness on Facebook. The War of the
Aftershave ran for weeks (giggle).
Do you have a favourite word or phrase?
(A & C exchange glances) Yes, most of them
extremely vulgar. Ailsa's husband is ex-Navy and uses “colourful language” all
the time but he's really inventive with it and has us rocking with laughter.
Ailsa - There are so many, though. I think “f**ktard” is my favourite insult at
the moment.
Cameron – one expression? One that my
older character, Rory, uses a lot because he is just so crazy about his lover,
Jack. “What did I ever do to get this lucky?”
A word or phrase that makes your skin creep because you loathe it so much?
Ailsa – ones that I overuse in my first
drafts “and then” is the worst.
Cameron – clichés! “Hot guy” is my pet
hate at the moment – describe him!
What makes you smile?
Loads of things – we are very easily
amused and moved. Animals particularly, and a beautiful view, we're lucky to
have lots of those around here. Unexpected kindnesses from people, especially
our friends on the internet. We're very isolated here and so our net-pals are
very important to us and a compliment or caring remark can make our day!
You live in France. I assume you speak French well! Do you find yourself dreaming in French? ( I spent 2 weeks on the French Exchange aged 14 and found myself dreaming in French. I still occasionally dream in French, although I suspect most of it is made-up words that sound French!)
Well (slight blush) we got here by accident and didn't speak a word of French, apart from bonjour, café and s'il vous plait. But being here we learned very quickly and worked in jobs where nobody else spoke English which is the best way. Now we're bilingual and that is a bind because we forget words in our native language.
Cameron – yes, I'll be in the middle of writing and have to ask Ailsa's husband, in French, what the English is for … (goes very red)
Ailsa – I dream in French and I've noticed that when I'm out and about talking French to people, my personality changes completely. I'm normally very forthright and almost “butch”
(Cameron sniggers). But in French I become a typical, flirty, kissie-wissie, French lady doing all the shrugs and boff!s and getting in far closer to people's personal space than I'd ever do with Brits or Americans.
Cameron – you should see it! She gets positively fluffy and fluttery. Makes me hoot!
Coffee or tea? ( I should probably have offered you this right at the start!)
Both and gallons of it! The morning always starts with tea as we are true Brits. We still have to go to the UK to buy it. The rest of the day it is ground coffee which is very much cheaper here.
Red wine or white?
Either. Ailsa is not drinking alcohol at the moment to raise money for Cancer Research in memory of Dad who died of stomach cancer aged only 38. But obviously being in the land of l'heure apero, it's great to sit outside in the fresh air and have a glass of wine before dinner. We're lucky to live in a wine-producing area, there is even an AOC for our little town up the road. A good robust red is great for a treat when we finish writing for the day but a very dry, chilled white is great for a pick-me up apero around 5.30.
Somehow, I'd feel bad drinking at 5.30 - I guess it just isn't the same if you're not in France!
Here's another irrelevant one: cheese or chocolate?
Cheese every time. Now you're going to say, of course, you're in France but we really do miss British cheese a lot. Favourite dessert for both of us is fresh fruit or dates with blue cheese.
Summer or winter?
(Loud laughter) Neither. We love the Spring and Autumn. Summer it gets waaaaaaaaay too hot here and it's very difficult to motivate oneself. Winter here is usually not so bad, we get snow every year and it's a dry cold. Not like Brittany where we used to live, which was like Cornwall where we grew up – not cold but very damp and foggy. Utterly miserable. The spring and autumn we adore for the change in Nature around us. We're very much country kids.
You two are great fun! How can we find you and keep in touch?
Right here!
http://www.cameron-lawton.com/2013/01/lokis-curse.html
http://ailsaabraham.com/
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17213216-shaman-s-drum
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16233162-cancel-Christmas
You can also find us both on Facebook and Twitter under our names.
Thanks so much for having us – is there any more coffee, please? We'll wash up!
Thanks so much for having us – is there any more coffee, please? We'll wash up!
Red wine or white?
Either. Ailsa is not drinking alcohol at the moment to raise money for Cancer Research in memory of Dad who died of stomach cancer aged only 38. But obviously being in the land of l'heure apero, it's great to sit outside in the fresh air and have a glass of wine before dinner. We're lucky to live in a wine-producing area, there is even an AOC for our little town up the road. A good robust red is great for a treat when we finish writing for the day but a very dry, chilled white is great for a pick-me up apero around 5.30.
Somehow, I'd feel bad drinking at 5.30 - I guess it just isn't the same if you're not in France!
Here's another irrelevant one: cheese or chocolate?
Cheese every time. Now you're going to say, of course, you're in France but we really do miss British cheese a lot. Favourite dessert for both of us is fresh fruit or dates with blue cheese.
Summer or winter?
(loud laughter) Neither. We love the Spring and Autumn. Summer it gets waaaaaaaaay too hot here and it's very difficult to motivate oneself. Winter here is usually not so bad, we get snow every year and it's a dry cold. Not like Brittany where we used to live, which was like Cornwall where we grew up – not cold but very damp and foggy. Utterly miserable. The spring and autumn we adore for the change in Nature around us. We're very much country kids.
