I learned to type on a typewriter and to this day still touch type with nine fingers because I wasn't strong enough to press down any keys with the pinkie finger on my right hand when I was learning.
2. What is your nickname?
'Russ' short for Russell, my friends are a creative bunch.
3. What is your greatest fear?
Growing up and having to act like an adult.
4. Describe your writing style in ten words.
Verbose, quirky, whimsical, humorous, unplanned, uplifting and childish (I hope).
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Optimistic, ambitious, imaginative, passionate, amusing.
6. What book character would you be, and why?
Arthur Dent. If I was going to be the last human alive after the world had been destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway, I always hoped I would handle it that well and I have also never been able to get the hang of Thursdays.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
December 27th, 1904 so I could watch the first performance of Peter Pan with J.M Barrie by my side. I understand this is fairly selfish as I know I should be preventing a war or saving JFK from the second gunman, but movies have taught me not to mess with time travel and I am sure one more theatre member couldn't have too big a butterfly effect.
8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
Told you.
9. Who is your greatest influence?
Roald Dahl. He proved you need never lose your imagination or childish spirit and embraced life so completely. His motto; 'My candle burns at both ends. It will not last the night, but ah my foes and oh my friends, it gives a lovely light,' (Edna St. Vincent Millay) gives me inspirations within my writing and my life.
10. What/who made you start writing?
I have always written, it was the only way I could get the stories out of my mind and get to sleep. I had a really supportive mother who instead of yelling at me for not sleeping bought me note pads and a bedside lamp. I may have turned away from writing, however, if it was not for my 10th grade English teacher, Clinton Max, who told an impressionable 16 year old me that I really was quite a talented writer and if I got good enough I could always pay someone to correct the spelling.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
Onomatopoeia. I love fancy-smancy English words you can teach children about through watching old Batman episodes on Youtube and it is such a fun word to say.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Peter and Wendy (Peter Pan), it is the only book I loved as a child but still gets better every time I read it.
Paul Russell is an Australian children's playwright and teacher who has turned his attention to writing fiction. His first novel, Journey to Eos (KBR review), was published by Blueprint Publications in September 2014. You can find out more about Paul and his junior fiction novel, including a download of the first chapter of Journey to Eos, at the Blueprint Publications website or visit the Blueprint Publications Facebook page.
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