LJ Idol Presents:

What an excellent question! :-)

When I was a teenager, I developed crushes on literary figures instead of rock musicians. I was obsessed with two the year I was 13: Lord Byron and T.E. Lawrence. Not obsessed with their work in any real sense (can't stand Byron's poetry; have deep ideological problems with Lawrence's "pan-Arab"ism.) Obsessed with their lives.

Have always wanted to write something fictional about them.

I mostly enjoy writing speculative fiction. Now, Byron has been done to death as a character in speculative fiction (most notably in the very, very fine Tim Powers novel, The Stress of Her Regard.) But to the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever written a Lawrence of Arabia fantasy novel.

So, you know. Just as soon as I win Lotto... :-)