Name: Terri Lucas

Day job: I work in an art gallery in Manchester. I get to be surrounded by art all day, which is a great source of inspiration for my writing.

Extra-curricular: In my spare time I like to browse secondhand book shops, have lots of tea and cake and travel.

Favourite book of all time: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I first read this book when I was 16 and fell in love with it. I find myself looking for it in every bookshop to see if I can buy a copy with a different cover each time. I’ve started a similar collection with Mrs. Dalloway.

Literary pet peeves: Happy endings for the sake of happy endings. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely miserable, but not every story needs a fairytale final chapter.

Guilty pleasure: Crime fiction, Buffy comic books and TV medical dramas. I have, on occasion, allowed Grey’s Anatomy to influence my social life.

Three favourite authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf and Val MacDermid.

Favourite fictional character: I’d have to say Frankenstein‘s monster. I feel he is misunderstood. I don’t think it’s ok to go around killing people but I can see why he hates Frankenstein so much. Frankenstein’s monster acts on his feelings and that’s why I like him.

Other recommended reading: Amber Benson has a fantasy series about Calliope Reaper-Jones, whose father owns Death Inc. I really like the series because it has a strong, fiesty main character and the stories deal with death in a humourous manner. If you like horror fiction, I’d also recommend Manchester based author, Tom Fletcher. His first novel, The Leaping, took a spin on werewolves that I’ve never seen before and his second novel,  The Thing On The Shore, blew my mind.

Terri’s first play, I’m Your Man, debuted at 3MT Manchester in March, produced by Curious Fly and can be seen again as part of Sparkle: The National Transgender Celebration (July).

Alex Herod