David King


Location Australia
Occupation writer and editor
Website http://www.djmking.com

About Me

I migrated to Australia in 2007 from Norfolk, England. My work has been broadcast on BBC Radio and has appeared in print and online magazines, including Amarillo Bay, Carve Magazine, Eclectica, Cadenza, Southern Ocean Review, The New Writer, 7th Quark, and World Wide Writers.

For many years, I was Fiction Editor of the UK literary magazine BuzzWords. (www.buzzwordsmagazine.co.uk)

Why do you write?

I write because I have to, the need to do it is ingrained in me.

To me, one of the great joys of writing fiction is in not knowing how the story is going to unfold, the surprise that comes when the characters do not go the way I might expect.

I would never deliberately plot, because then nothing could hold any mystery for me. Frankly, I could only write that way if someone held a Smith and Wesson to my head, and maybe not even then. Some things are worse than death.

I love the re-writing more than the initial draft. Like Carver once said, it is often in the re-writing that I find what I was actually trying to write about.

Any favorite authors? Books?

The first book I actually remember was Treasure Island, which somebody gave me when I was seven. I still have that copy, along with other classics on which I sharpened my reading teeth: Masterman Ready; The Three Musketeers; Ben Hur; Moby Dick.

I moved on to boarding school and discovered Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons in the library there. I have been an avid Ransomite ever since. Like many claim, reading Ransome inspired me to get on the water and sail boats for myself. I have all his books, fiction and non-fiction.

University (although I majored in history and geography) made me rediscover writers I’d refused to appreciate before: Shakespeare, Dickens, the Brontës, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy. I began to enjoy poetry – Shakespeare and Hardy, Swinburne, and modern(ish) poets like Philip Larkin.

My tastes now are pretty catholic. Some novels I admire are: Anthony Powell: A Dance to the Music of Time (I have all 12 volumes); Milan Kundera: The Unbearable Lightness of Being; A.S. Byatt: Possession; Georges Perec: Life: a User’s Manual. In a lighter vein, I like anything by P.G. Wodehouse.

I used to feel cheated by short stories but then I read those of A.E. Coppard and realised what I’d been missing. Now I devour shorts as if they were chocolate bars. I still admire Coppard but I’ve accumulated other literary heroes: Raymond Carver, William Trevor, John Cheever, John Updike, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, and so many more.

David King's Wall

Michelle Elvy – Jun 14, 2010

David - thanks for your reading of my story X. I am pleased it moved you; sorry for the wrenching pang, but I suppose that's what this kind of tale does. Thank you. Nice to meet you here, and I look forward to reading more of yours too!

Jack Swenson – Jun 12, 2010

David, "Naked Ladies" is a mishmash, but it was a lot of fun to put the pieces together. Thanks for good comments.

Walter Bjorkman – Jun 12, 2010

David, thank you for reading my flash for this week's 52\250.

George LaCas – Jun 10, 2010

Thanks David, and "Chelsea 4" is already up.

George LaCas – Jun 09, 2010

Thanks, David!

George LaCas – Jun 09, 2010

Hi David, thanks kindly for your comments on and fav of "Hotel Chelsea - Scene 2" - and don't forget there's a Scene 1, which I hope you read.

Claire King – Jun 06, 2010

Can we form some kind of a group, david, Myra, me? Hi David, thanks for coming by to read Peach and your comment. Glad you enjoyed it!

M.H. – Jun 05, 2010

Thank you, David, for your generous comments on "I don't have a gun" - they are much appreciated :)!

Jack Swenson – Jun 04, 2010

David, I appreciate your kind note about "Only a Memory Away." Yes, I've spent some time "on site," too, but fortunately so far only as a visitor.

Meg Pokrass – Jun 03, 2010

David, thanks for your comment on Slices. Very much appreciated! -m

Cherise Wolas – Jun 03, 2010

Hi David,

Thanks so much for your lovely comments on An Italian Lunch (revision), and from a former longtime fiction editor as well. High praise indeed that my piece captivated and you want to read more.

I just read about you, and so fully agree with what you wrote in WHY DO YOU WRITE. That is pretty much how I work as a writer as well. I love getting deeply into the characters and seeing what they do and hearing what they saw.

I once took the collected stories of William Trevor - hardbound version - on a trip. Heavy lifting but such great writing.

I look forward to reading your work.

Martha Williams – Jun 03, 2010

David, thank you for your kind words on Hummingbird - much appreciated.

Gary Percesepe – Jun 03, 2010

thanks for reading my work, david, really--

James Lloyd Davis – Jun 02, 2010

Thanks, David, for your comments on "The Pure Land." Much appreciated.

Jack Swenson – Jun 02, 2010

David, Thanks for your note about my priest story. Yes, indeed. Your story put me in story-telling mode. Thank you!

Meg Pokrass – Jun 02, 2010

Thank you David for your very kind words on "Slices"! Looking forward to reading your work.

Susan Tepper – May 31, 2010

David, thank you for reading and commenting on The Fall of Love, I'm happy you enjoyed it

Jack Swenson – May 29, 2010

And thank you, David, for sharing your story. Encore, encore!

Andrew O. Dugas – May 29, 2010

David,

Thanks for the kind words about "Collection Day." I'm happy it pleased. That you were previously an editor of a lit journal, I am doubly honored.

Best,

AD

Martha Williams – May 29, 2010

David, thank you so much for your kind comment on Hummingbird - and welcome to Fictionaut, I look forward to reading your stories. M

Darryl Price – May 28, 2010

Welcome. Good to have you with us.

Myra King – May 27, 2010

Hi David, welcome - we share the same name! Isn't that a coincidence! he he...

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