Elaine Miles
Elaine Miles began writing short stories in 2006, when a back injury forced her to lie down and do nothing for six weeks. Unable to do much more than lift a pen, she thought she’d give writing a go, and sent a short story off to a writing competition, never dreaming for a minute that she’d win anything. But amazingly, she did, and she realised she might be on to something. She’s never looked back.
In 2012, Elaine won a prize for Best New Writing awarded by the Rondo Theatre in Bath. In the same year, she decided that being onstage herself might be a blast (for which read, completely terrifying) and so she began performing her stories before a live audience. Fear was rapidly replaced with the excitement and buzz of live performance, and since then she has read her stories at a multitude of live events, performing her work at the Bath Festival of Literature as well as other events in Bath and Bristol. A number of her stories and monologues have also been broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol and Bath Radio, and Tempest Productions have created audio recordings of a number of her stories.
Q: If you could travel back in time, which of the great writers would you like to meet and why?
A: John Steinbeck. To thank him for some of the most enthralling reading experiences of my life. Doubtless I’d immediately fall into a dead faint with the excitement of it all, but still.
Q: Do you have a lucky writing talisman? If so, what is it?
A: A fountain pen. It’s such a beautiful pen I always feel bound to try and get my writing to live up to it.
Q: What is the least interesting part of writing for you?
A: The interminable wait for the next idea. Oh, and formatting.
