IMP Profile - Derek Paterson

Derek Paterson has remained involved with the IMPire throughout the years. He wrote back in mid-2006 to share tidbits with me that I am not allowed to share on the Web. As there is no expriation date on this embargo, I fear those secrets will remain locked away in the IMPire's deepest vaults until enough money is waved under my nose to prompt me to betray my online friends.

Michael:  Where are you now?

Derek Paterson:  An ancient land of mountains, forests, and rain. aka Scotland.

Michael:  Still writing? If so, what's your current/next project?

Derek Paterson:  Still writing! Currently revamping an alternative history adventure novel that got written a couple of years ago via "the Novel Factory" -- a splinter group of IMPs who vowed to write 5,000 every fortnight come hell or high water. I have several half-completed novels generated via various incarnations of the Novel Factory that ran from the late 1990s through into the early 2000s. So many ideas and projects, so little time! Ditto for dozens of half-finished short stories. Oh, and I've been writing screenplays for the past 3-4 years, after some fool encouraged me to try my hand at breaking into the industry. Fat chance, but great fun.

Michael:  Do you have a Web site? (Yes, I found many of your Web sites, but it's late, I have to fly to Tacoma in a few hours for a convention, so I didn't bookmark them). If you have 2 or 3 active sites (like a static site and a blog), that's cool.

Derek Paterson:  http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57

A Google search on "Derek Paterson" will find links to this site via previously published stories and reviews.

Michael:  Do you have a current bibliography?

Derek Paterson:  http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/bio.htm

Michael:  Are you still active with the IMPs? If so, what role do you play? Just critting? Mentoring? SysOping? etc.

Derek Paterson:  I'm still active. By default, since so many other folks have left the IMPire including Duke (Dave Bollinger) I've ended up being SysOp, whose sacred duties entail saying hi to new arrivals and occasionally renaming or moving a discussion thread.

Michael:  When did you join the IMPs? (How long were you active with the group if you no longer participate?)

Derek Paterson:  I'm not sure, probably since around 1995.

Michael:  Do you have a Mike Resnick-and-the-IMPs anecdote to share?

Derek Paterson:  Alas I missed the Mike years.

Michael:  When did you publish your first story? What was the title?

Derek Paterson:  That would be... ADJUSTMENTS, published in 2000 by the sadly defunct JACKHAMMER e-zine (Eggplant Literary Productions).

Michael:  Do you recall that IMPs is short for "Informal Association of Writers Impatiently Waiting To Be Published"? But there was an older name. Do you recall what it was? Take your best guess.

Derek Paterson:  Mmm, no, that's the only definition I remember.

Michael:  Of all the IMPtales you critted, which one do you remember most vividly? Who wrote it?

Derek Paterson:  Bill Allan's TERATOID. Sci-Fi featuring a monster on the Moon. Hard to forget.

Michael:  Of all the IMPCritters who shredded your beloved words, who had the most impact on your subsequent writing?

Derek Paterson:  I won't say, but I said SCREW YOU! and sold the story anyway. I've had more than a few SCREW YOU! responses myself. :)