Interview with Simon Warwick Beresford
Author of FASCINATE: Twisted Poems For The Depraved
Simon was born, grew up and lives in the East Midlands of England. He went to University in Luton, where he studied BA(hons) Advertising & Marketing Communications and achieved a 2:1.
When he's not writing (and sometimes when he is), Simon works as a Care Team Leader.
Simon started writing poetry at the age of 11, when he had to write a poem for School about Harvest Festival and the Teacher chose to read it out and it received a positive reaction from his class mates. One girl nearly wet herself with laughter and it was s'posed to be a funny poem, so that was a good start.
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So this is your first book?
- Yes, the earliest poems in it are from when I was 17. I started writing poetry at 11 but didn't really do anything worth publishing until my late teens. It took about 20 years to write this book, so the most recent poems in it are from when I was 37, with many from ages in between.
What's the book about?
- Well it's poetry and the majority of it is narrative horror poetry but it's not all horror and as you might imagine being the best of 20 years work, there's some rather varied stuff in there. A funny poem about trying to catch Santa. A poem about a man who keeps an attractive female zombie, chained up as a sex slave. A poem about the ghost of a wasp who died under the bath. It's all pretty random!
What would you say are your strengths of writing in this book?
- Rhythm, rhyme and imagery.
Who are your favourite Poets?
- Emily Jane Brontë, Me *laughs*, Sylvia Plath, A. A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, T. S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Christina Rossetti, J. R. R. Tolkien, Dana Krystle, S. Alessandro Martinez, Bailey C. Weber.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
- To get better at writing, you have to both read and write. That's pretty obvious but I will add that it matters what you read. You don't want to be reading too much of just one individual's work because you want to be developing your own voice. It's okay to have favourite Writers but have several not just one. Also, try not to read too much trash. While you're learning and do we ever stop, you want more good examples than bad.
Could you talk a little about your writing process?
- Sometimes I start by putting on some music but I have to turn it off part way through writing in order to check the poem's rhythm structure. Finding inspiration can be hard sometimes. I mostly write horror, so watching horror films can help but sometimes going for a walk will help more.
Tell us about your favourite character in this book?
- There's so many to choose from but I'm going to say Depravity. She's a personification. Like the Grim Reaper aka Death is a personification of Death. Depravity is a personification of Depravity. She's like eternally 14 or 15, dresses goth and she's disturbed and disturbing. However she's cheerful. A goth who smiles a lot, that's disturbing or so most people would think!
If you could pick one famous person to read this book, who would it be?
- Taylor Momsen. I love her and I think she'd like it!
How have readers responded ?
- Very positively! FASCINATE currently has 4.8 stars on Amazon after 11 ratings and the reviews have been great but please, go read them yourself!
Where next? What are you working on now?
- Well this is the first book in my series 'Poetry Is Twisted, Don't Trust Her' and I'm actually currently writing the 5th book. So if you enjoy this one, there's plenty more! It's quite a loose series but there are some recurring characters.
