Michael R. Baker's Blog, page 16

SPFBO Judge Interview: Charles Phipps

Now this is a bit of a change. I still have a lot of interviews to put out (and I haven’t forgotten those who have submitted!) But this is a new one in which I interview one of the judges. Charles Phipps is part of Booknest and a pretty awesome guy as well. He writes some awesome sci-fi and fantasy too!

So I invited him into the den of the Thousand Scars for a good drink and an interview. It turns out he can talk quite well! Here is some of his works, as well as a couple of my favourite books of his!

Amazon Author Page

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First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write? 

 

Hi, my name is C.T. Phipps and I am the author of the Agent G, Cthulhu Armageddon, Supervillainy Saga, Lucifer’s Star, and The United States of Monsters (The Bright Falls Mysteries, Straight Outta Fangton) series. I love writing fantasy, sci-fi, and urban fantasy. Whenever I’m inspired to write a story, I try to take that idea to its natural conclusion.

 

How do you develop your plots and characters?

 

I use what I call the “Dungeons and Dragons” method of doing my books. I create characters which are as three-dimension as I can make the, roughly sketch out a series of events the characters are going to be involved in, and then let them direct how they’re going to react to them.

 

Tell us about your current project.

 

Currently, I’m working on the Straight Outta Fangton books that are my attempt to do a rebuttal to all the villain decay which vampires have suffered over the past decade or so. Not by attempting to make vampires scary again, since I know they’re scary, but writing a story from the perspective of a vampire who is neither rich, powerful, nor sexy. Instead, he just works the graveyard shift at a local convenience store outside Detroit.

 

However, after an older vampire leaves a hungry newborn undead in his bathroom, he finds himself involved in a conspiracy to wipe out the rulers of his kind. The sequel, 100 Miles and Vampin’ will be about how he leads the author of crappy vampire fiction on her tour of the vampire-run city, only to have to deal with the aftermath of her getting killed and him getting the blame for it.

 

Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!

 

The star of Straight Outta Fangton is Peter Stone who is a poor black vampire living outside of New Detroit, running the graveyard shift of a convenience store. Peter is a veteran of the Iraq War and was turned a few years ago after five years of serving a powerful older vampire. Vampires are public in this world as are other supernaturals but after becoming a vampire, Peter screwed up.

 

I won’t say how but he got himself exiled from the city on pain of death. However, when someone leaves a starving newborn vampire in his store’s bathroom, he has to try and help her by getting her to someone old enough to know what’s wrong with her. He’s a kind of dorky less-than-cool guy who is really a hard luck sort of guy. Mind you, he’s a lot tougher than most dorks because he has to be and, you know, still a vampire even if he’s a recently created one.

I’m equally fond of his creator, Thoth, who was turn in 1791 during the Haitian Revolution. He then spent much of his career watching the world continue on its merry way, continuing to hurt on people who looked like him and has a very jaded view of humanity. Also present is Peter’s “servant” David, who is really his best friend from high school who Peter has given blood and some of his powers. There’s a lot of other characters I enjoyed writing about like Melissa the newborn, Ashura the Queen of New Detroit, Fatima the Vampire Assassin and more but I don’t want to spoil the book.

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?

 

I think the important thing to remember when writing is to write what you like. Writing is something that requires dedication, hard work, and practice but it is also something you want to do. Do you like STAR WARS? Write something Star Wars-like. Do you like INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE? Write something with brooding tragic vampires. You should always immerse yourselves in the worlds and concepts which interest you. Because you’re going to need to love what you create and want to create what you love. I also recommend you be fully prepared to write a million words of crap before you get your first book which is any good. I rewrote CTHULHU ARMAGEDDON six times before it was ready to publication because I just wasn’t there yet until I’d learned to hammer out my worst ticks.

 

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

 

I tend to immerse myself in the subject of whatever I am currently reading at the time. Straight Outta Fangton was born from my love of vampire fiction before it became an enormous joke in fantasy and sci-fi forums. Interview with a Vampire, Blade, True Blood, the old Vampire: The Masquerade series, and Underworld. Oh and Clerks. Yes, because I love metatextual commentaries on the nature of vampirism and the differences between the way they were in the 19th century versus the 21st century. I even had a statement in the book that vampire media was manipulated by the Old Ones of their race to try to convince humans the undead were cool and sexy versus horrifying monsters.

 

What inspires you to write?

 

I am inspired to write by life. As George R.R. Martin said, “the man who does not read lives one life, the man who reads lives a thousand.” The man who writes lives whatever life he wants.

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

STRAIGHT OUTTA FANGTON is one of the easiest books I’ve ever written, and I managed to write in a couple of weeks. It was a crazy experience because I got up, wrote from day til night, then repeated with no breaks in-between save for eating or the bathroom. I was truly inspired by the world of vampires, werewolves, and vampire hunters which came to me in my dreams.

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

 

I have to say I very much enjoyed writing a particularly dark scene with Peter that reminded me (and the readers) that while it’s primarily a hilarious romp–that these are vampires. They are carrying a terrible curse, that they are hungry for blood, and that they have no control over their hunger whenever it flares up. It was a shocking moment for a lot of my readers and very popular as it really showed what a dreadful thing vampires were. I always felt that was where Anne Rice’s vampires (and subsequent knock-offs) went array as after Interview with a Vampire and The Vampire Lestat–they stopped thinking of it as a bad thing to be.

 

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

 

That just because a book can be churned out quickly, doesn’t mean it’s not your best work.

 

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?

 

I prefer to give my characters a healthy mixture of flaws and virtues. They should have something they’re willing to do the immoral thing before so they’re not paragons as well as something that inspires them to do the right thing. Once you understand the Devil and Angel which motivate a character, you understand the character.

 

What are your future project(s)?

 

Just finished the sequel, 100 Miles and Vampin’ where Peter Stone is required to escort a newly turned Stephanie Meyers stand-in, only to become at the center of an anti-vampiric conspiracy that also ties to an ancient god’s vengeance.

 

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?

 

Couldn’t be anything else.

 

What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e.,

website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charles.phipps.946

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Willowhugger

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/

Website: https://ctphipps.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

SPFBO Author Interview: Phil Parker “The Bastard from Fairyland”

It’s been a few days but I return with another #SPFBO interview! Phase 1 is coming to a close, with only six weeks left for the end of the first brutal judging. Best of luck to everyone still in it.

Today’s interview is with Phil Parker, who wandered into the den of The Thousand Scars lost and alone. I managed to talk Tyir out of harvesting his organs and managed to sneak Phil in for a quick chat while Horse made coffee. He makes terrible coffee. Fucking Pyrans, man.

 

Enjoy the interview!

 

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?  

Hi Michael, thanks for interviewing me! It’s nice here, I like the décor especially. And that welcome meal was scrumptious! So, let me tell you about myself. My name is Phil Parker and I write dark fantasy novels. I’ve been a fan of the genre for a long time but folk like Richard Morgan and Joe Abercrombie have had a big impact on my writing in recent years and I mainly try to read any book that’s vaguely ‘Grimdark’ – I’m into Rob J Hayes and Ed McDonald particularly at the moment.

 

How do you develop your plots and characters?

I’ve no idea. My characters are like gate-crashers at a party. It’s only as you’re trying to explain that they can’t come in, that you get to know them better and start to wonder if it’s worth letting them stay! Sometimes it’s a mistake but quite often the characters who’ve wrecked the place, caused havoc and have grabbed the mike and are singing out of tune are the ones who feature in my stories. If they start threatening people with swords and knives, even better! It’s the characters that then dictate the plot I find. They tell me what to do next.

 

Tell us about your current project.

The Bastard from Fairyland is the first book in The Knights’ Protocol trilogy and it’s an entrant in this year’s SPFBO. I’m in Lynn’s Books group. The story is set in dystopian England after global warming has raised sea levels and society has collapsed, ideal timing for the Dark Fae to invade. It’s a story about vengeance, villainy and violence, of Shakespearian proportions. That last bit isn’t surprising because part of the story uses A Midsummer Night’s Dream as its maguffin.

 

Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!

Remember what I said about characters that gatecrash parties? Well, Robin Goodfellow is definitely one of them, he’s in there, full of anger and threatening people who annoy him! You might recognise the name, he’s out of that Shakespeare play I just mentioned. Except in my story his alter ego, Puck, is a psychotic killer that Robin does his best to keep under control. Robin is a badly damaged guy who’s been mistreated for the whole of his life, primarily because of his sexuality which has caused him to rebel against any form of oppression. As a result, if he sees people suffering, he’ll attack those causing the suffering. For a guy who believes himself to be thoroughly evil, he’s actually a good guy.

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?

Jeez. I’m going to need more wine before I can answer that question! Ah, thanks! The bottle will do nicely. My advice is to start writing and just keep doing it. Then keep reviewing it critically and find ways you can improve on it. Keep polishing.

I think my other suggestion is this: find a good writing course. I did a 3-month novel-writing course with the literary agents, Curtis Brown. It meant sharing my work with other writers and with an established (and highly talented) author. I learned so much but – primarily – it gave me confidence. I started to believe in myself. Until that point I didn’t think I could write. (And weeks go by when I STILL think that!)

 

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

OK, pass me the soap box will you? I believe in building worlds that reflect and exaggerate the world in which we live. The Knights’ Protocol was written during the largest mass migration of people into Europe we’ve known for over 200 years. And it caused some folk to show their lack of tolerance for so many minority groups and forget that these people were also human beings fleeing war, starvation and fear. It showed that if you’re different you can expect to be persecuted and made to suffer and denied opportunities. I wanted my books to show where that could lead us, as a race.

End of lecture.

 

What inspires you to write?

Because I love it. I need to do it. Always have, since I was a kid.

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

Believing I could do it. Believing anyone would want to read it after I had. The thing that gives me the greatest satisfaction now is when wonderful people get in touch with reviews or comments to tell me how much they enjoyed it. It is the best feeling! It still feels like a huge surprise.

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

Oh wow. That’s difficult. I think my favourite chapter is probably the opening one. It had so many iterations, especially on the course I mentioned earlier. I wanted to smack people in the face with a character they’d find unsympathetic, heartless even, but who they thought might actually be a decent person deep down. Feedback has suggested I succeeded!

 

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

I could write a book to answer this question! It wasn’t so much a learning curve, more a learning wall that needed to be scaled. One thing I learned – I noticed the literary agent Jonny Gellar mentioned on Twitter recently – to allow your readers to do some of the thinking, not to give them all the information. It goes beyond the Show Don’t Tell adage. It’s more like Don’t Show, Drop Hints. I learned that reading the work of other writers who didn’t always do that, you look at your own work and realise you’re doing the same thing!

 

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?

Oh well. Confession time. I hear voices in my head. But in a creative way doctor!

I trained as a Drama teacher and I’ve done my fair share of acting. As a result I’m someone who can get into the heads of characters, hear the lines and know how they’ll say them. I shift from one character to another easily, even those (like Robin) who are not always people you can sympathize with. I see things from their perspective.

 

What are your future project(s)?

(Knocks back the rest of the wine). If I cry, pass me a tissue will you? I’ve just dumped the Work in Progress I’ve spent the last six months working on. It was a tough decision but I knew I wasn’t enjoying it and knew something was wrong – I just didn’t know what. I lacked the passion I’d had all the way through writing The Knights’ Protocol.

I’m five chapters into a new project and enjoying it immensely. Too early to tell if it will work but I hope so. It’s a departure from what I’ve written before but I think that’s why I’m enjoying it, it’s a challenge and I thrive on challenge.

 

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?

I’ve spent my working life as a teacher and working in education generally. I still write online learning materials and marketing material for an elearning company. I enjoy both those jobs. But there is a part of me that would have loved to act!

 

What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

I’m obsessive about Twitter – you can always get in touch @PhilSpeculates

I’m also on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PhilSpeculates

On Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/PhilParker-FantasyWriter

I have my website – https://www.philparker-fantasywriter.com/ – you can get in touch with me there too. It has more information about The Knights’ Protocol (including some of the massive amount of research I did for it), reviews of books, my short stories and my blog. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s read this interview or wants to know more about The Knights’ Protocol, or perhaps about self publishing.

 

Thank you for the interview Michael, I’ve had lots of fun. The party games especially.

 

A huge thanks to you Phil. Stay tuned for the weekend for my next interview. These authors just keep getting lost in the Kahal wilderness. I need to set up some signposts…if I can convince Kramer.

SPFBO Author Interview: Christopher Percy “Dark of Winter”

Welcome to a new week, and a new interview. First of all, I must offer a huge congrats to Barbara Kloss for being the first official SPFBO finalist from Team Weatherwax! I’ve been really enjoying the chance for interviewing you guys. I’ve received a few more interviews this week which is great. For all those who are in doubt, I am always here to interview authors. This isn’t a time limit thing. If you would like a chance to talk about yourself, you will get a slot no matter how long it takes

SPFBO Author Interview: Emerald Dodge “Battlecry”

Welcome to another interview with our wonderful SPFBO authors. The next lucky victim (coughs) is Emerald Dodge with her book Battlecry.

 

 

 

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?  

 

I’m Emerald Dodge, author of superhero urban fantasy! I’m a Navy wife, mother of two charming little boys, and generally a bit of a daydreamer. When I’m not writing, I’m wrangling the kids, baking (I make the best bread in the world), and studying Tudor history.

 

How do you develop your plots and characters?

 

It’s hard to put into words…I think my “method,” if you can call it that, for developing plots is simply “make it bigger.” I like BIG concepts and BIG stakes. I don’t write fights, I write battles. But if it’s a battle, it should be a war. And if it’s a war, it’ll be a multi-generational conflict that…well, you get the idea. No romance should be easy. No friendship should be casual. I like big.

 

Character-wise, I like my characters to be complex and just so slightly damaged. Happiness is boring.

 

Tell us about your current project.

 

I’m currently finishing up the final book in my Battlecry series, Mercury. I’ve spent two books building up the big showdown between the reformed criminal character and his family—who feel a tad betrayed by him—and now the stakes have never been higher. In the background, the superhero leadership structure is falling apart and everything’s in chaos. On top of all that, a main character is dying and nobody knows what will happen. It’s all very exciting.

 

Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!

 

My main character, and narrator of 2/3 of the trilogy, is Jillian Johnson, whose codename is Battlecry. (Roll credits!) Like all superheroes, she was raised in a cult-like camp that essentially brainwashed her. She couldn’t receive an education, watch television or movies, read books, or interact with civilians in any way. But she’s always had a spark of rebelliousness; in high school, she’d be the girl smoking in the bathrooms just because they said she couldn’t.

 

For all her rebelliousness, though, she’s incredibly dedicated to saving people—that’s her thing: she saves people. So what’s she gonna do when she realizes that the people that need saving are herself and her teammates?

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?

 

Write what you like to read! You’ll be more excited about it.

 

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

 

I pulled equally from my own experiences with the US military, and a few religious paracult organizations I had encountered while growing up. I didn’t grow up in a cult, but there were people in my broader social circle who did, and I was weirdly fascinated by them.

 

What inspires you to write?

 

I write to entertain and provide distraction from whatever it is in people’s lives that makes them unhappy. I was a melancholy kid, and books were my usual escape. I want to give back.

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

 

Truthfully, saying goodbye to my characters as I finish up the series. I’ve had them in my head for four years, and I feel like I know them.

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

 

At the end of the second book, Sentinel, Jillian delivers the metaphorical death blow to the Big Bads of the series. She doesn’t do it with fists or superpowers, but in a way that’s so much more damaging and permanent. And it was delicious.

 

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

 

I learned that I could write a book that people liked to read. And then when I finished the sequel, I learned that I could do it again. That kind of confidence can only be gained through experience.

 

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?

 

Mercury, the third book in the trilogy, is from a man’s perspective. I consult heavily with my husband as I go through the draft, and he coaches me on how a man would think/feel in various situations.

 

What are your future project(s)?

 

After I wrap up the Battlecry series, I’m going to start writing an urban fantasy series that I’ve been planning for more than ten years. It’ll be about two friends, one human, one a fairy, and they have to band together to figure out who is murdering children in their hometown. While doing so, they are pulled into the world war that has torn the fairy world apart—and is now bleeding into the human world.

 

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?

 

I’d obtain an esthetician license and work in a fancy spa.

 

What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

 

I prefer to hear from my readers on Tumblr! https://emeralddodge.tumblr.com

 

I also have a Twitter: https://twitter.com/emerald_dodge

 

Battlecry can be purchased on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CX3MGCS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

 

SPFBO Author Interview: Travis M. Riddle

Boom, I return! I’ve had a look at my emails and it turns out I have just under a dozen interviews remaining. If my maths is right (and it hardly is), I’ve interviewed close to 20% of all entrants this year. I still intend on interviewing everyone, so I’m happy to spotlight all those who want to show off their works.

Today’s interview is with Travis Riddle, author of Balam, Spring.

 

 

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write? My name’s Travis M. Riddle, and I’m an author from Texas! I’ve self-published two fantasy novels: “Wondrous” and “Balam, Spring.”

 

How do you develop your plots and characters? It usually starts with a scene or setting that I think sounds interesting—with my newest book, I actually thought up two scenes, and they ended up being one of the very first and one of the very last. From there, I tend to develop more of an actual plot and some characters to fit into that plot. The last part of the process, which is the most important for me, is that after I get a few key details ironed out I begin to understand what the themes of the story are and what it is I really want to write about. From there, I’m able to craft the rest of the storyline around that theme, which is immensely helpful in the plotting of events and figuring out what I want to say and how I’m going to approach it.

 

Tell us about your current project. My latest novel is titled “Balam, Spring,” and it’s about three people living in a quiet coastal village who have to come together to discover the cause and a cure for a new, fatal illness spreading throughout the town before everyone succumbs.

 

Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them! The novel follows three main characters: Theodore Saen, a schoolteacher who’s on break for the next few months and witnesses the first death from the illness; Aava Yren, a newly-graduated white mage who is brought to Balam to find a cure for the disease; and Ryckert Ji’ca, a retired mercenary who’s absorbed into the mystery due to nothing else but his own curiosity.

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction? Like I said before, theme is the most important part of the writing process for me, though that may differ from person to person. I am just personally more motivated to write when I’m really passionate about the “idea” behind the whole story. It helps me feel like my story has a direction and purpose.

 

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book? A big influence on the world of Balam was the Final Fantasy franchise. I didn’t base it on anything in particular from there—though I named a few things or characters as homages to the franchise—but I wanted the world to evoke a similar feeling to how I felt when I first played “Final Fantasy IX.” I wanted the world to be as awe-inspiring as it was quaint, brimming with both wild, grotesque monsters and beautiful scenery.

 

What inspires you to write? Usually things that anger me or make me sad, as depressing as that sounds, haha. The two novels I’ve released and the one I’m currently working on are all completely fantastical stories, but come from real emotional places plucked from my life. Getting the story out there helps me to process and work through those emotions.

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book? The book was inspired by my stepmother’s battle with terminal cancer—before I began writing it she was diagnosed with around two years left and thankfully has lasted four already, which is amazing. But tackling the themes of anger toward the uncontrollable and the grief of losing someone took a toll sometimes. It was both difficult and therapeutic.

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? I don’t have a specific moment I can pinpoint (without spoilers, anyway), but I will say that writing the scenes with Aava and Ryckert interacting were always really fun. They’re so different yet so alike in so many ways, it was a joy developing their friendship and showing how they complemented each other while working together.

 

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? I (hope) I learned to be more economical with my storytelling. I wanted each scene in the book to either move the story along or reveal a detail about the character(s)/locale to help forge a connection with the reader.

 

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it? I create character sheets before I ever start writing a chapter. I come up with their immediate family and their names, backstory leading up to the beginning of the novel, how old they are, their appearance, anything I can think of. I do the same with the world—I map it all out, placing different cities on the map, or deciding on the layout of the town and where certain shops and houses are. I feel like this not only helps me with continuity, because I’m not making up and then forgetting details as I go along and have documents to refer to when I need to, say, mention a character’s brother or where the school is located—but it also backs me into a fun creative corner. Once I have all these details laid out, it feels definitive—this is who the person is, this is their history. So when something arises, I feel like I have a better understanding of how they would react to it, and I can no longer cheat and have them just react a certain way that may go against their personality in order to make the story progress.

 

What are your future project(s)? Right now I’m working on a new novel that’s set in the real world but is still very much fantasy, with a tinge of horror to it as well. It’s tentatively titled The Narrows, and it’s about a group of friends who meet up in their hometown for the funeral of a friend and begin to encounter dark, fantastical things that they believe might be connected to his death.

 

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do? I recently recorded a season of a podcast with my buddy, musician Awsten Knight from Waterparks. It was pretty well-received and we’ll be releasing season two soon. In addition to being really fun, it was also extremely easy, so if I could spin that into a career, that’d be pretty awesome haha. If you’re interested in that at all, it’s called Awsten + Travis’ Slumber Party, and it’s about us reading Waterparks fan fiction then reviewing it. So it’s kind of literary!

 

What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)? It’s probably easiest to follow me on Twitter and Instagram for the most up-to-date info (and dumb jokes), both @traviswanteat. I’m on Goodreads as well if that’s more your speed!

 

Balam, Spring

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38322372-balam-spring

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Balam-Spring-Travis-M-Riddle/dp/1984949802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529607067&sr=8-1&keywords=travis+m+riddle



Wondrous

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32578571-wondrous

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wondrous-Travis-M-Riddle-ebook/dp/B01MR4OV3P/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1529607067&sr=8-2&keywords=travis+m+riddle

SPFBO Author Interview: Kirsten Corby “Daughter of Atlas”

Welcome back. This might be a slow month for the blog as I work on my standalone for November, but I will still upload interviews here and there. Today’s interview is with Kirsten M. Corby, author of the book Daughter of Atlas. What’s wonderful about SPFBO is  it gives a chance for authors who aren’t that well known to show themselves to the world (like me as well!) I’ll post a link to the book down below.

 

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?  My name’s Kirsten Corby, I’m 52 years old, and a librarian by trade.  My husband and I live in New Orleans, LA, USA. I write science fiction and fantasy.  Different kinds, I don’t limit myself to one niche or market. I love most speculative fiction, and I like to try my hand at the different types.  The book I have in SPFBO, Daughter of Atlas, is historical fantasy about the Fall of Atlantis.

 

How do you develop your plots and characters? It tends to be pretty organic.  I’ll get a suden inspiration, and then run it out and develop it, see how it goes.   Sometimes I start with characters, soemtimes plot, sometimes something else. I usually have a good idea of what plot would suit a given character, or vice versa.  I don’t do a lot of fine detail plotting, I keep it loose. But do like to do in-depth character interviews while developing a story – once I already have a good idea of who the character is.

 

Tell us about your current project. As mentioned, my first book I published is about the Fall of Atlantis. I’ve been obsessed with Atlantis since I was a kid; I finally wrote and published the book I’d always wanted to write.  I’d like to write more books about the survivors of Atlantis. I call the series Atlantis Fallen.  Growing up Generation X  in the height of the Cold War, I’ve always been drawn to post-apocalyptic fiction; it helped me contain and conceptualize my fears.  So it’s not surprising I would write something like that, even if it’s completely fantastic.

 

Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them! The book I’m working on right now isn’t a direct sequel to Daughter of Atlas, but more of a follow-on.  There is only one character that appears from the first book, but he has a big role.  His name is Innu; he’s a priest who escaped the destruction of Atlantis. The MC of the first book is a priestess, Herata, who is trying to stop the Fall.  

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?  I think Heinlein’s Rules are a good framework to follow: write consistently, finish what you write, submit your writing to market, keep submitting, and don’t re-write except to editorial order.  The “submitting” part of that is complicated these days by independent publishing. But the basic message is, take your writing seriously and keep at it. Be professional.

 

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?  Well, my book takes place in the real world, so there’s not much worldbuidling to be done.  For the culture of Atlantis, anything and everything in world history that I liked. Why not? I imagine it as a syncretic, world-spanning empire, a forgotten mother culture to all of human culture.  I’ve been much inspired by the works of Graham Hancock, his books on lost civilizations such as Fingerprints of the Gods.  Love those boks!

 

What inspires you to write?  It’s tough. I don’t really enjoy writing, the actual physical act of sitting down and writing, that much.  It’s work just like any other, it’s taxing. But I have this gift, this ability to tell stories with words, and I feel like I would be wasting my life if I didn’t use it, this free gift from the universe.  Gift are rare. Don’t squander them. I feel better about myself when I’m writing consistently.

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?   Having to admit to myself that I had to make certain changes that I didn’t want to make, because all my workshoppers and beta readers were telling me the same thing.  Well, I did. Once I resigned myself to the inevitability, it wasn’t that bad.

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?   The actual Fall of Atlantis.  I had been aiming toward that since the moment I started writing the book, it was such a relief to actually get to it!  Oops, did I just give away the ending? No, of course I didn’t! That was one of the challenges of the book, telling a story everyone already knows the end to.

 

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? Yes, I learned that there comes a point when you have written the book to the best of your current ability, and you have to call an end to it, and let it go out into the world to be read and judged.  You could tinker with any given manuscript for the rest of your natural life, if you let yourself. But that wouldn’t make it better, just different. You have to know when enough is enough.

 

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?    I guess, I don’t find it difficult?  Just empathy. Be empathetic. Everyone imagines they are the hero in their own story.  Even villains have reasons for what they are doing, even if those reasons are self-serving.  If I am struggling, I like to do a “character interview,” where you pose a bunch of biographical questions, and answer them as that character.  You always learn things that way, sometimes quite fundamental things. You can find sample character interviews around the net if you Google them.

 

What are your future project(s)?   Right now I’m working on the second Atlantis Fallen book.  I was working with some writer friends on a shared universe anthology, but that’s kind of fallen apart. So I’m wondering what on earth to do with that completed manuscript I wrote.  I’d also like to try my hand at some big-ass space opera like the Expanse series.

 

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?   Well, I’m far from being a full-time author, so I do have a day job, librarian. I’m a library branch manager.  Librarian pretty much is my ideal job. It uses all my skills. I stumbled into librarianship ass-backwards, as most do.  But as I look back on my life, I see I was destined to become a librarian. I won the Summer Reading Club at my library branch one summer when I was a kid.  I met my husband in a library. Stuff like that.

 

What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?  I have a blog, www.atlantisfallen.net. That would be my favorite way.  I also have an author page on GoodReads.  I’m on Twitter as @kmcorby, but I hate Twitter. It’s the worst.  Don’t use Twitter, kids.

 

My book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Atlas-Novel-Atlantis-Fallen/dp/0692893202

Monthly Roundup – October 2018

It has been quite the active month for the blog, hasn’t it? Welcome to my monthly show where I sum up the posts of the past four weeks. This time however I’ll be doing things a little less-half-assed. Before I just shoved the links on, gave them a happy little slap on the bum and sent them on their merry way. I won’t do that this time!

 

Kingdom Come Deliverance Review

First of the month came a game review that was a long time coming; Kingdom Come Deliverance.

Kingdom Come Deliverance took a long time to come out, and it’s taking a long time to fix. Consoles really have it rough and there are still niggling issues. But do I recommend it? Oh my days, yes.

The game doesn’t hold your hand and combat can be rough but I haven’t played an RPG like this in quite some time. It’s quite taken my breath away at times, the story and characters on the whole are pretty good and it’s just an overall fun experience. Even better, Warhorse is continuing to support it with future content and I can’t wait for all the Workshop mods in the future. I will err on the side of caution and say this isn’t for everyone. Do not come into this expecting something like Skyrim or Witcher 3. It has its jank and has its quirks, but it’s one of the best experiences you can ask for – if you’re forgiving of some bugs. If you’re a performance micro-manager, I would wait for a little longer, and I would definitely recommend PC over console if I had a choice. Click on the image below to take you to the review:

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SPFBO Interviews

Next in the month was my #SPFBO interview with Samuel Gately, the proud author of The Fire Eye Refugee.

SPFBO Author Interview: Samuel Gately “The Fire Eye Refugee”

 

 

Then we had the company of Amanda M. Justice with her novel A Wizard’s Forge, the next lucky soul to enter the Thousand Scar’s den!

SPFBO Author Interview: Amanda M. Justice “A Wizard’s Forge”

 

 

 

Next came one of my favourite interviews of the month with Carol Park and her book Banebringer. With its evil looking cloud of doom on the cover, it enticed me into picking up the book.

SPFBO Author Interview: Carol A. Park “Banebringer”

 

 

 

 

The latest treasure hunter into  my Interrogations of Doom was William Ray, here with his SPFBO entry The Great Restoration. Below is a rather spiffy link to his cool book cover. I love a happy fire-breathing dragon and this one was no exception.

SPFBO Author Interview: William Ray “The Great Restoration”

 

Then we got Josh Erikson, one of our latest semifinalists for SPFBO! He gave quite the detailed responses in his interview, and his victory was fully deserved.

SPFBO Author Interview: Josh Erikson “Hero Forged”

 

Last but not least in the SPFBO interviews I had J. Elizabeth Vincent join me for a good chat.

SPFBO Author Interview: J. Elizabeth Vincent “Raven Thrall”

 

Special Appearances

I also had the honour of interviewing two very special guests to my blog.

The first of course was none other then the founder of SPFBO, critically acclaimed author and the mastermind behind writing awesome little shits, Mark Lawrence himself! Turns out he’s a lot more then just his books.

SPFBO Creator Interview: Mark Lawrence

 

I also got the chance to interview rising star in the author community Alicia Wanstall-Burke! Her debut Blood of Heirs came out last weekend, and I recently had the privilege of interviewing her. I must say this: I haven’t been this excited for a book in quite some time. Just look at how gorgeous the cover is!

 

Author Interview and Debut: Alicia Wanstall-Burke

 

Other News:

Quite a lot happened for me this month. Firstly I and my debut novel The Thousand Scars got longlisted in Book-nest’s Fantasy Awards, which I found a massive achievement in only my first year of pretending I know anything about the industry!

In the first bit of writing news, I hired my editor for The Aegis Mora this week! Talented sci-fi and fantasy author Tim Marquitz will be joining the Counterbalance prep, and I have high hopes that the second in the series will be even better then the first.

Unfortunately the writing community got rocked by bad news.

A friend and fellow SFF author Brandon Barr is in the final stages of terminal leukaemia, and sadly does not have much time left.

Those of us in the community are trying to ensure that his family is well taken care of following his passing, and we have set up a GoFundMe campaign for him. Please donate what you can by clicking on the image below. I will be pledging everything I get next month from my Patreon to this crowdfund. We’ve made incredible progress in just 4 days, but we have a long way to go before we hit our goal.

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That’s it for me this month! November rolls into a new writing mission for me, which will be me returning to my manuscript of a brand new novel. I’m working on a standalone book set in the same world as Counterbalance, with a twist on the heist storyline and the same powerful magic. My own links are down below.

 

Links:

Blog:  http://bit.ly/1RMNPho

Facebook Author page: http://bit.ly/2kiNHSk

Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/2kZ4wix

Worldbuilding Services: http://bit.ly/2kBMiCB

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Thethousandscar

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2knxeHY

Patreon: http://bit.ly/2laP311

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B017GDAO3Q

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thethousandscars

Author Interview and Debut: Alicia Wanstall-Burke

So people may have noticed a bit of a lull in the SPFBO interviews this week. And you’d be right! I’ve been suffering from a bit of burnout. It’s also been a difficult week for me on other fronts, mainly personal. I won’t go into it yet but I am getting better. Trust I will return very soon with more SPFBO interviews, but it will probably wait until the beginning of November.

Important News

In the first bit of writing news, I hired my editor for The Aegis Mora this week! Talented sci-fi and fantasy author Tim Marquitz will be joining the Counterbalance prep, and I have high hopes that the second in the series will be even better then the first.

Now we have a second piece of news, and this one unfortunately is quite sad.

A friend and fellow SFF author Brandon Barr is in the final stages of terminal leukaemia, and sadly does not have much time left.

Those of us in the community are trying to ensure that his family is well taken care of following his passing, and we have set up a GoFundMe campaign for him. Please donate what you can by clicking on the image below. I will be pledging everything I get next month from my Patreon to this crowdfund. We’ve made incredible progress in just 4 days, but we have a long way to go before we hit our goal.

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Now for the main event! I bring you a very special author interview today, with rising star in the author community Alicia Wanstall-Burke! Her debut Blood of Heirs comes out today, and I recently had the privilege of interviewing her. I must say this: I haven’t been this excited for a book in quite some time.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41063986-blood-of-heirs

 

 

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write? 

Oh, this feels like one of those awkward ‘introduce yourself to the room’ moments!

Ok, I live in Queensland, Australia, in a little mining town. I have a six-year-old son who keeps me on my toes, a husband who thinks I am completely mad, and too many pets, but they keep me company while I write, so that’s all right.

I have always written fantasy that leans towards the epic and the dark.

 

How do you develop your plots and characters?

The first book (and a half) that I wrote took ten years. I started it in high school and pretty much re-wrote it once a year. I didn’t have a plan for that story, and it showed.

I had a much more concrete plan for Blood of Heirs, and I did a lot of research upfront about the technology of the South Lands, the climates, the geology, the politics and the magic system of the continent as a whole. A friend said that I know how the tectonic plates of my world move, and I would say that’s true!

The characters came to me pretty organically—sort of out of the blue while I was driving hours and hours to some town or another. Some came fully formed, like Ranoth, whereas with Lidan I only had her name. I had to go exploring to find out who she was and what she wanted.

 

Tell us about your current project.

I’m about to publish my debut, Blood of Heirs, which is the first book in The Coraidic Sagas.

It follows the parallel tales of Lidan Tolak and Ranoth Olseta, two young people with their whole lives ahead of them when everything goes to shit.

Lidan is the eldest of her father’s ten daughters, but in their patriarchal society, a female heir is not ideal. Her father is desperate for a son, and Lidan’s mother is willing to do whatever she has to in order to preserve her daughter’s position. She’s a bit of a maniac. 10/10 would not win mother of the year.

Ran wants to prove himself to his father, the duke, and takes on a military command that ends in disaster. His latent magical abilities are triggered, and dear old dad doesn’t think too highly of magic. Ran barely escapes his home alive, pursued by his father’s soldiers.

Along the way, Lidan and Ran are forced to confront the truth of their situations and face the reality that what waits for them in the future, and the shadows of the bush, is so much darker than they ever imagined.

 

Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!

Lidan and Ran are the two point of view characters, and they have a cast of hundreds around them!

Lidan has her thirteenth birthday during the course of the book, and is the First Daughter of the Tolak clan. Her father is the daari of the clan, and her mother is his first wife; a northern woman with pale skin and a murky past. Lidan is outwardly confident but struggles with anxiety and self-doubt under the yoke of her parents’ conflicting restrictions and expectations. When she isn’t fussing over her wild-born horse, Theus, she enjoys the odd cup of tea on the rampart of the village wall and hanging out with her friend, Behn, in the village forge.

Ran is a somewhat naïve fifteen-year-old who grows into a young man, hardened by the battles he’s fought. Or at least, he’d describe himself that way, but really, he’s shit-scared and doing his best not to die. He is the son of the duke of Orthia, in the far north-east, and while he’s had plenty of lessons and training about life, he really hasn’t lived much beyond a sheltered existence in the palace in Usmein. He craves adventure and a chance to prove he can be a worthy successor to his father, but ends up with a lot more death and danger than he bargained for.

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?

I think if you have a story to tell, your brain won’t give you much choice other than to tell it! And if writing feels like the path you need to follow, then go for it.

Tell the story that’s in you, don’t try and follow trends or fashions, and take every opportunity to learn your craft. Take workshops and master classes, read other authors and study their work as well as enjoying it. Gather friends, colleagues and mentors that you trust and who also know what they’re talking about and listen to them.

Above all, be kind to yourself, play nice with others, and be the best human you can be.

 

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

My world, the continent of Coraidin and the Syod Archipelago, draws very heavily on the part of Queensland where I live in, and places I have visited over the years.

The South Lands is a composite of Central Queensland, minus the whopping great coal mines we have all over the place. In the South you’ll find bouncers (kangaroos), wet seasons and dry seasons, soaring gum trees and shadowy tablelands. In the north, I’ve taken inspiration from the Australian alpine region and the Southern Alps of New Zealand, while the Archipelago is inspired by the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. Then I added some dragons to make it cooler.

What inspires you to write?

I’ve never known a time when I didn’t have a story brewing in my head, and I think other stories are what inspire me. As a kid I would watch a movie or a show and go to bed imagining alternate endings and sequels. Writing began as a way to manage the overload of stories clogging up my thoughts, and managing my mental health. I am not a pleasant person when I can’t write!

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

Halfway through the draft of Blood of Heirs in 2015, a joint in my right hand failed. It had been a problem for me since I was a kid, and I’d been told it was fine for as long as I could remember. I finally got to see a hand specialist and found out that the joint had grown wrong and needed to be fused. A bone graft was taken from the top of my hip and a plate and four screws held the joint together while it fused.

Or at least, that was the plan.

Last year, we discovered the fusion hadn’t taken and needed to be repeated. So much fun! #sarcasm

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

I really love the final chapters for both Ran and Lidan. Everything is coming to a head, the pace is relentless, and shit is going sideways faster than either of them can comprehend. They were extremely fun to write, and I still love reading them, even though one scene still gets me in the feels every time.

 

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

I learned that I need to understand where my characters are at and where they think they want to go before I kick off and get too far into the story. I learned to plot and plan, and I realized that was my process.

I also learned that some of the best and worst parts of me have ended up in my characters, and that is all at once terrifying and exhilarating.

 

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?

My draft The Smuggler’s Daughter used a much more structured process of understanding the character’s core drive, or their core code, their goals and the things they do to achieve their goals and protect/adhere to their core drive. It helped me be able to focus more on the actual story rather than muddling through as I’m writing. If I understand their core drives, I can work through how they are coming into conflict with each other, or how they can work together to achieve a mutual goal. Sometimes it feels like playing at divinity, and that’s very fun!

 

 

What are your future project(s)?

Coming up I have Legacy of Ghosts and Empire of Shadows; book two and three of the Sagas. Legacy is only 30,000 words or so shy of completion and should drop around April 2019. Empire of Shadows will be my big challenge of 2019, and I hope to launch it in August at WorldCon in Dublin.

After that we have The Smuggler’s Daughter (Pirates! Smugglers! More dragons! Ships and shit!) and its sequel, The Queen of Thieves.

 

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?

Anything that allowed me to live in a beachside shack in the Outer Hebrides with a shaggy dog that chased seagulls up the beach every day.

 

What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009944711572

Twitter: @alicia_j_burke

Website: http://aliciawanstallburke.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14018179.Alicia_Wanstall_Burke

 

 

SPFBO Author Interview: J. Elizabeth Vincent “Raven Thrall”

Good morning on a warm Sunday! I have my Scrivener open and got my coffee, but it is also that time where I bring you another author interview. Today’s interview is with J. Elizabeth Vincent, author of Raven Thrall.

 

 

Check out some of the other interviews by clicking the links down below:

SPFBO Creator Interview: Mark Lawrence

SPFBO Author Interview: Josh Erikson “Hero Forged”

SPFBO Author Interview: Samuel Gately “The Fire Eye Refugee”

SPFBO Entry Interview: K.M. Alexander – “The Stars Were Right”

SPFBO Entry Interview: Patrick LeClerc “Out of Nowhere”

 

 

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?  

 

I write a little bit of everything, but my passion is epic fantasy with strong characters. I want my readers to feel like the characters they meet in my stories are people they could love (or hate) in real life and that the characters have their own lives and go on living, even when they leave the page.  

 

How do you develop your plots and characters?

 

I usually do quite a bit of planning nowadays, but even though I know the direction of my story when I sit down to write, how it’s going to play out, what characters will say to each other, and how they’ll react—that all happens organically on the page. It’s fun to walk away from your computer after a morning writing session, saying to yourself, “Wow! I did not see that coming!”

 

Tell us about your current project.

 

I am currently writing Revelation of the Dragon, the sequel to Raven Thrall and the second book in a planned five-book series, the Legends of the Ceo San.

 

Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!

 

My main character in the Legends of the Ceo San series is named Mariah Griven. She starts out as a sheltered 19 year old … with wings. She’s not fully human, but she’s not a shapeshifting Ceo San either. Her parents have kept her safe until the series begins, but that’s when it all starts to unravel. As the story unfolds, Mariah needs to learn who she really is and what role she has to play in keeping her kind from become nothing but a slave race for a greedy king.

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?

 

Practice, practice, practice! Write even when you don’t feel like it and even when you don’t plan on publishing. There’s nothing like writing (even when it’s not fiction writing) to hone your skills at, well, writing. And read! Especially in the genre(s) you plan to focus on.

 

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

 

Nature certainly plays a large role in the Ceo San series, both in the landscape of the world of Whitelea and in the characters themselves, many of whom have an animal form. I also take inspiration from interesting people and from other authors and their amazing works. And, I would be lying if I said the current political landscape didn’t play a role in some of the political undertones in the country of Varidian and beyond.

 

What inspires you to write?

 

Honestly, I love making people laugh, smile, cry, and just feel. Books are the safest place where we can experience such a vast range of emotions. It’s invigorating to read (or it should be), but it’s even more so to be the one pulling those reactions out of people.

 

Maybe I’m really a puppet master *insert evil laugh here*

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

 

Writing when I was tired from everyday life or when I was stuck on a certain plot point. Pushing through can be so difficult, but the story doesn’t go anywhere if you don’t, and when you do get through it—that feeling is awesome!

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

 

There’s a scene where Mariah and her teenage friend Xae have to sit and listen to their new friend Shira talk with a man who thinks their kind is basically the scum of the earth and is not afraid to tell everyone what he thinks. Shira has to pretend she agrees with him, and she does a pretty convincing job. I relished the tension that created as the two eavesdroppers had to control their reactions, all the while wondering if Shira was really faking it or if they had been conned by her instead.

 

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

 

I learned to listen to beta readers and editors (I’m one myself) with an open mind, but I also learned to put the book out there that I wanted to be out there. Sure, someone might give you some really great advice, but it might not be the best advice for your book.

 

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?

 

I think it’s my personality honestly. My obsessive wondering about how other people are feeling or how they are going to react means I’ve had a lot of practice stepping into the hearts and minds of  other people. I’m also heavily into community theater. Acting and writing fiction fit together so well. You draw on the same set of skills to create believable characters who act realistically and who resonate with the audience.

 

What are your future project(s)?

 

Of course, I aim to finish the remaining novels in the Legends of the Ceo San series. I’ve also published a related novella, Healer’s Sacrifice, and may do more along those lines. There’s an urban fantasy/paranormal lesbian romance on my shelf that needs to be revised. I’d love to write some romance stories someday, but I think my main focus will always be on some kind of fantasy. I’ve been in love with the genre since I read my first Stephen R. Donaldson novel over 30 years ago.

 

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?

 

A graphic designer, I think. I’ve already been doing this for several years in addition to the other author services I provide. At this point in my life, I’ve just found that I get more personal and professional satisfaction from doing creative work.

 

What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

 

I’m probably most active on Instagram and Twitter, but I’m pretty much all over social media. Here are some of my links:

 

Website: https://jelizabethvincent.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.elizabeth.vincent/

Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/jelizabethvincent/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Fiction_Editor

 

Raven Thrall is now 99 cents and will be for the foreseeable future. You can download a free copy of the prologue and take it for a spin from Prolific Works at http://bit.ly/fly-free-jev, where you’ll also have the option of signing up for my mailing list.

SPFBO Creator Interview: Mark Lawrence

So this is a short intermission in interviewing you lot to bring you a very special interview, and certainly the most prolific so far that’s been on my blog. I present to you a chat with who is possibly the Prince of Grimdark. It is none other then the founder of SPFBO, critically acclaimed author and the mastermind behind writing awesome little shits, Mark Lawrence himself! Turns out he’s a lot more then just his books. Speaking of his books, pick them up! And yeah….this is only a few of what he has published!

Speaking of, I really need to read more of his books.

 

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?

 

I’m a fulltime author, as of 2015 when the entire Advanced Research Centre, where I worked as a research scientist, was closed. I write fantasy and science fiction.

 

How do you develop your plots and characters?

 

I develop as I go. I see the value in planning but for me it robs the writing process of excitement, so I let things unfold as I type.  

 

Tell us about your current project.

 

Right now I am writing a short story for the trilogy that is currently in the process of being published. The story sits between Grey Sister, which came out in April, and Holy Sister, which is due out in April 2019. I’ve just finished my book for 2020, The Girl and the Stars, which begins another trilogy set on Abeth, the world of the Book of the Ancestor trilogy. When I’ve finished the short story I’ll start book 2 of that new trilogy, due out in 2021. In amongst all that, I am actively involved in proof reads of the US and UK editions of Holy Sister, and copy edits and proof reads of the books in my scifi trilogy, Impossible Times, all of which is due out in 2019, starting with One Word Kill.

 

Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!

 

I have quite a few of those! I’ll pick Nick Hayes from the upcoming One Word Kill, my first published science fiction … well, at least my first openly scifi book. I say scifi but it’s set in London in the 80s. I guess the vibe is more Stranger Things meets Ready Player One. Nick is 15 when we first meet him and in the process of having his life turned upside down with a medical diagnosis. On the plus side he is a mathematical genius of stellar proportions, and has the backup of his group of D&D-playing friends to navigate an increasingly strange set of circumstances.

 

I think what makes Nick different to my previous characters is that apart from his intelligence he is very ordinary, and that’s underlined by the setting. Like the reader he has to deal with everyday life. In my fantasy books the characters survive in harsh and very different worlds, whereas Nick has to go to school, put the trash out, cycle to his friends’ houses etc.

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?

 

Dunno… I think they will come up with more interesting stuff if they ignore advice. And if they don’t have the motivation to carve their own way in then they might be in the wrong game.

 

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

 

Well, I’ve written many books. 16 published or due for publication, a stake in another trilogy, 5 more in a drawer, parts of several others… In my first published work the setting was the real world and the aging ruins of a civilization much like ours might be in 50 years. So certainly I took a lot of inspiration there.

 

What inspires you to write?

 

Internal pressure.

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

 

I don’t find writing books hard. I guess the “hardest” part is patience. I am not a particularly patient person and yet writing a book is a slow process. You want to get to the “good” bit, but if you rush there then it won’t be good. This may explain in part my lack of planning. If I don’t know where I am heading then I am in less of a rush to get there.

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

 

I don’t really have an answer for that. I think as a writer you need to love every chapter. If something feels dull or dragging or like filler … then what is it doing there ? That doesn’t mean that something has to explode every page – it just means that every chapter should be vital and contain your best writing.

 

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

 

Hopefully I learned some subconscious lessons! But nothing that I could put my finger on right now.

 

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?

 

I don’t think about it too hard. I just form as clear an idea about who I am dealing with early on and then let them run free. I guess the understanding builds from interactions. I don’t so much ask how the character will act in this or that situation. It feels more like watching what they do and then adding that discovery to the list of knowledge about them.   

 

What are your future project(s)?

Well, I have 2 more books to write for my current contract. So that! And alongside it … whatever the mood prompts me to do. If my scifi does well then some more scifi for sure. Maybe go back to a Broken Empire book I have part -written.

 

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?

 

Not sure. I don’t think I would go back to science. I am getting a bit old for the cutting edge and have no interest in management. Maybe something in computer gaming. I wrote some lore and missions for an Xbox game ( Ashen ) last year and that was fun.

 

What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

 

I am sprawled across social media like an octopus that’s been racked by the Spanish Inquisition. I defy anyone to be unable to get my attention.