Q&A with Ian Tregillis

1. What is the title of your newest book or short story?  What’s it about?  Where can readers find it?

My newest novel, “Something More Than Night,” comes out from Tor Books on

December 3.  It’s a Dashiell Hammett- and Raymond Chandler-inspired murder

mystery set in a medieval vision of heaven. It’s narrated by a fallen angel

who has modeled himself on Philip Marlowe– imagine central casting for a

1930s noir novel juxtaposed with the heavenly choir:

Angels, Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Principalities, Thrones,

Dominions…  It features swell dames and dirty priests, nightclub

stigmatics and the Voice of God.  I had a blast with it.

2. How did you choose to become a writer?

Like most writers, writing is something that I’d always felt drawn to. I

played around with it when I was younger, but was never serious or

disciplined about it.  I didn’t understand the need for discipline until

much later, in fact.  It wasn’t until I’d finished graduate school and moved

a thousand miles from my friends and family when I decided I finally had

time to sit down and try to learn how to write.  (I wish I’d figured out

much earlier that one has to make time for writing, rather than waiting for

life to give one the opportunity!) At that point I joined an online workshop

and set about trying to learn as much as I could.  I gave myself permission

to take as long as necessary to learn what I needed to learn, and I’m glad I

did — I still feel like I’ve barely begun.

3. What’s your favorite part of writing a new book or story?  What do

you like the least?

My favorite part of embarking on a new project is tinkering with new ideas,

new characters, new settings.  Everything is shiny and clean and just a

little bit intoxicating.  It’s a bit like the first flirty days of a new

relationship — everything is intriguing, exciting, seductive.

I love the raw brainstorming that happens before the writing begins,

especially when disparate concepts collide and transform into something new

that becomes a centerpiece of the new work.

My least favorite part of any new project is that moment when it starts to

feel not-so-new anymore.  When it’s no longer fresh and exciting, no longer

intriguing and flirtatious, but merely work that must be finished.  This is

usually the middle third or third quarter of each book.

4. What do you read for fun?

I tend to alternate between fiction and non-fiction.  In fiction, I read

everything from Raymond Chandler to Charlie Stross.  I like to read the

occasional noir story as much as I enjoy spy thrillers, space opera, and

fantasy.  In non-fiction, I enjoy reading about random subjects — the works

of Bill Bryson, for instance, or Sam Kean’s excellent book about the

Periodic Table, “The Disappearing Spoon.”

I’ve also made a hobby of reading crackpot science and fringe archeology

works.  Not because I buy into the claims, I hasten to add! But because I

find the conspiratorial mindset endlessly fascinating. This reading can get

very frustrating, however, so I can only do it in small doses.

5.  What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

I’m lucky to have had several wise mentors over the years.  They taught me

that the most important thing any writer must do is write!  That sounds

obvious, but I think it gets overlooked from time to time.

Enjoying that sense of “having written” isn’t the same as being a writer

– being a writer means working consistently, even (or especially) when it

isn’t particularly fun.  But the writing got much easier (or, at least,

bearable) when I gave myself permission to write lousy first drafts.

Click here to listen to a reading from Something More Than Night.