Interview with British Screenwriter Lucy Walsh

Lucy Walsh 

UK 

Welcome, Lucy, to Vision and Verse.  We're thrilled to have you here this morning.  It is always a pleasure to have bright British authors on our blog.  You raise our collective IQ.  Now, what have you written?
I did a writing degree where I did loads of creative work for assignments along with my own writing outside of it. I’ve written short stories, short films and a feature length science fiction screenplay (called Plan 3). I’ve had a few short stories published in anthologies (which I also had the pleasure of editing). I’ve just started writing movie reviews and articles for GeekSmash.com and I’ve got a short play that, as far as I’m aware, is going to be performed in the next month. 

Which of these is your favorite medium?
I don’t really have a favorite medium because I usually fall head over heels for the story and its character despite its medium, but I would say that scriptwriting is my main forte and, if it’s possible, find easier to write in.

What is your favorite genre to write?

Science fiction! It’s the escapism that appeals to me but also that the genre allows you to explore and deal with big issues. At university, I did a lot of research into the genre and it ended with me choosing to do Plan 3 for my final major project there. It’s all about a planet’s destruction because of the rise of technology and racism, lots of deep stuff, but it’s all hidden away in a made up planet where this mad adventure takes place. It was great fun to write and I learnt a lot about myself and my writing from it too.

Plenty of people succeed without a writing degree and it’s a very personal decision to make for your writing, but I’d recommend it to anyone who was interested in it. It was a brilliant decision for me because when I started I was desperate to learn about it all and develop, I hadn’t really met many other writers at that point so it was a natural decision for me to make when I was looking at universities. I think the big thing this course helped me to do was in the end write Plan 3, I’d wanted to write a science fiction feature since I was about fourteen. In the final year you work on a professional product which will hopefully help you to get a foot in the door. It also equipped me with everything I needed to know about writing and it’s definitely given me a grounding for all of my work and the way I work. I got my first contract a couple of months ago and went straight back to the lecture notes to check it! 

Favorite food.
Black Olives – I used to hate them but then I hit twenty and haven’t been able to get enough of them since!

Where would you like to visit?
Rome - Italy is such an inspirational place to me, I’m desperate to experience one of it’s most famous cities. 

Rome is beautiful and exciting.  I loved Rome.  Go to Venice, too, if you can.  Venice will steal your heart.  Favorite musical artist.  Do you listen to music when you write?  What?

At the moment, I’m fond on Bon Jovi and Nerina Pallot and a load of movie and television soundtracks (Doctor Who’s “Doomsday” will always be inspirational for me). When I started writing, I didn’t listen to music often. I found it too distracting but then I found that it helped me get into the right mood – but it can’t be music with lyrics when I’m writing because I find that invades the words I’m writing down, so I always listen to dramatic soundtracks. Whilst writing and developing Plan 3, I religiously listened to the Gladiator soundtrack. If it counts, my cat also comes and sits on me when I’m working so she often gives me a good few musical purrs to add to everything too. 

What makes you laugh?

My best friend always comes out with the best-timed jokes and knows just when to crack them. As writing this, I’m chortling away to the scenes where the dwarves in The Hobbit invade Bilbo Baggins’ house – comedy (and fantasy) masterpiece.

How old were you when you started writing?

I have vague memories of writing and drawing made up stories or scenes from when I was a young child, but it took me quite a while to actually pen a story. I think I was about thirteen when that happened and I believe it was a story about a haunted lighthouse. Then a friend introduced me to the world of fanfiction, I’d just gotten into Docto Who and started writing heaps of my own adventures with the Doctor and Rose. It was great fun and it just developed from there I think and I started doing my own stuff.

I am a big fan of The Tenth Doctor  David Tennant and I love Billie Piper, too.  Where do you get your inspiration?
I’d say it was a mixture of things. My biggest source is from the television shows and books that I love. When I need it, I head to those and seek out my favourite scenes or moments but sometimes real life inspires me too. For example, my little brother managed to inspire my for a character (although he doesn’t know that yet…) and my cats have featured in a couple of things before.

What do you do when you get a writer's block?

A good break, sometimes just a walk outside will do but sometimes it can be a couple of days of doing no writing at all that eventually helps the problem. 

Who is your favorite author?
H G Wells

Best book you ever read.
I’m fond on The Time Machine, it holds great memories for me and was just a really fun book. It’s very scientific too which just fuels all of my interests!

Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
This sounds clichéd but my parents and my best friend – they’re all brilliant.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
I would love to speak with Russell T Davies. He was the head writer of Doctor Who and has done other great shows like Bob and Rose or Queer As Folk. His writing inspired me so much when I was beginning to write (and still does now) that I just want to talk to him. I’ve no idea what I would say actually, but I’d think of something and maybe give him a huge hug for helping to get me on this writing adventure of mine. 

I love Russell. T. Davies.  He is by far the best writer of our time.  Torchwood, Casanova, and well as Doctor Who.  What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?

Go for it! Be patient, persistent and don’t let anything or anyone stop you from doing it. You’ll get there and when you do, even if you hit some obstacles, it’s the best feeling in the world. 

You are delightful, Miss Lucy.  Please come and see us again.