How I write:
Rem Wigmore is a speculative fiction author based in Te Whanganuia-Tara. Their books include The Wind City (set in Wellington), Riverwitch (set in Hamilton) and Foxhunt, a cli-fi/solarpunk novel published by Queen of Swords Press.
Wigmore also has two stories in the recently released Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy: Volume 4.
Which book do you wish you’d written and why?
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. When I read that as a teenager the prose just knocked me out. I used to want to be the next Pat Rothfuss but decided I’d be the next Rem Wigmore instead.
Which writer do you turn to when you have writer’s block?
Mostly I rest and let my brain get back together, have faith the ideas – or my confidence in them – will come back in time. So I read everything I can get my hands on, all the books that’ve been piling up in my TBR. K J Charles is a big favourite.
Which book had such an impact on you that you bought it for your friends?
I can’t afford that. I’m more of a loaner! I did have to buy a new copy of Good Omens (Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman) when my loaned copy got lost.
What book do you go back to to re-read?
I used to re-read way more than I do now. These days I dip back into Ursula K Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness sometimes, as a treat.
Which authors would you want in your book club?
I’m pretty lucky already when it comes to my author pals, so I’ll reach back in time, take Oscar
Wilde and Victor Hugo, and make them fight.
What book did you read as a child or teen that had a profound effect on you?
Old Blue: The Rarest Bird in the World, which I got out from the school library over and over. Baby’s first conservation text!
Have you ever finished a book and gone straight back to the start to read again?
No, but if there was a big twist I might flip back to earlier and go, ‘‘Aha!’’
When it comes to a memorable book, what is more important – a great plot or great characters?
Oooh, gonna be divisive here – for me it’s characters all the way. I’ll read a book with a dull or flawed plot and great characters, but not one with characters that don’t interest me, even if the plot’s brilliant.
What’s your writing routine? Do you have a certain time of day you like to write?
My sleep schedule never got over working nights, so I finish my morning routine around noon, then settle in with a coffee to do my various writing tasks, aiming for about three hours on a good day. Then I have my walk and dinner. I can sometimes write in the evening, but my brain flat out refuses to do editing or emails.
And where do you write?
Mostly on the couch in the lounge, sometimes in my room, sometimes at cafes if I’m struggling. My posture is best not spoken of.
What ‘‘must-read’’ book have you not read? Go on, fess up.
Plenty of the classics – Of Mice and Men, Tolstoy and Dickens, all that.