Interview David Toft
by
Marilyn Levinson
1) What life experiences helped form you to become a fiction writer?
I grew up surrounded by books, so there was no ‘road to
2) You write paranormal and fantasy novels. What draws you to these
genres?
The freedom. My stories can go where they will, unconstrained by the laws of man
or physics.
3) What is your latest book, SOULFARM, about? What are the themes that
run through it?
Power and the abuse of it, especially the power of the clergy. The abuses of a
church practically unrestrained by civil law are something which
4) How do you resolve plot problems that arise as you’re writing? How
I never plan a story, so I’m constantly writing my characters into cul-de-sacs.
I reverse to the last junction and try again. It makes the journey longer, but
far more interesting.
5) How do you choose your titles?
I try not to think about them until they leap out and smack me on the head. This
doesn’t always work.
6) How much of you is in your protagonist? In your other characters?
Not so much now as in my early stories. I’d like to think that my characters are
far more interesting than their creator.
7) How do you enjoy spending your time when you’re not writing?
Outside of my day job there’s not much of it. My mind tends to be writing when
my body is doing something else. This probably makes me a very boring dinner
guest.
8) Do you enjoy reading books in your genre or are you a more eclectic
I read anything except romance. My wife Mary keeps my to read pile stocked. Her
judgement is much better than mine.
9) Do you have another job besides writing novels? If you don’t, what
Unfortunately I still need to hold down a day job to pay the bills. It’s the
yearning to escape from it that keeps my dreams alive and me writing.