Fully Awake Dreamers – Christopher Ashworth

 

Today’s Fully Awake Dreamer is my buddy Crash. Although he is known in the real world as Christopher Ashworth. He’s my nano buddy, you would have seen his story the other week, but here is a little more into him!

Tell us a little about yourself and what you write.

My name is Crash, or Chris if you want to be formal, or you’re my parents. I’m almost thirty and in between work, returning to university to study and whatever else the day throws at me I tend to write science fiction, fantasy and the occasional bit of simple fiction (such as what if world hunger suddenly got solved).

What is your burning writing desire about?

Generally it’s a nice solid bit of character description , doesn’t matter if I’m describing a notorious business person in a well made suit or sloppily dressed space-hobo, once I get a idea for a character in my head I need to get it on paper or I’ll finding myself thinking of him until I do.

Are you working on anything right now? Can you give us a little bit of a sneak peak?

I’m mostly working on world building currently, I can’t really show anything from it as it’s mostly notes but I can give a good piece of advice which was given to me by D M Cornish, author of the ‘Monster blood trilogy’. If you ever do end up building your own world to write in remember this, you don’t have to use all of it. Focusing your story on something the size of a small state or country is perfectly fine.

What nourishes your dreams besides writing?

Finding new recipes to bake, bantering with friends and listening to other people talk about their days or what they want to do.

What inspires you?

Most of my inspiration comes in the form of ‘Wow that would be a good story’, most of the ideas I get for that come from either reading or watching something that I find quite interesting.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from writing?

Spelling and grammar, both of which I can be rather horrible at some days and amazing at the next. But I’m always getting better at both

What’s the hardest thing you’ve had to overcome when it comes to your writing?

To not delete my mistakes on a reflex, it breaks the flow of the writing and you can always go back and edit it later. This is actually something I constantly have to make sure I don’t do.

What advice can you give to budding writers?

Just write, even if you hate what you’re currently writing, just write it out. You can always go back and visit it later and when editing you can always get a fresh pair of eyes from a friend, or family member. Just make sure when you do ask you know what you want it to convey.

Are you dreaming fully awake and how did you get there?

Maybe? I don’t know! What was the question again? You can’t prove nothing! *Proceeds to leap from a window, into a bush and run off into the sunset*

About the Dreamer

Chris Ashworth is an accounting superstar and web enthusiast who lives in Adelaide. He has no previous publications but he organises the local Adelaide NaNoWriMo chapter.