Writing about magic is harder than writing about spies because you're dealing with something that doesn't really exist.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Magic is an art form where you lie and tell people you are lying.
First of all, writing at best - certainly fiction writing - more and more I think is magic.
Sometimes, magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.
It is my writing dilemma. The world of spying is my genre. My struggle is to demystify, to de-romanticise the spook world, but at the same time harness it as a good story.
Spy plots are hard, really hard.
It's a thrilling world, and people really like stories about secrets, which is the essence of a spy drama.
I began writing fiction because it was the only way to tell all the intricacies of a real-life spy story.
I now find magic in the mundane. I'm also more creative - better able to look beyond the obvious and come up with new story angles.
I didn't want to write a book that suggested that magic good/technology bad.
I've known several spies who have wanted to become novelists. And novelists who became spies, of course.