Author Interview with Joshua Done

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

One of the awesomest things about belonging to a close-knit community of space opera fans is you get to really dig into the inspirations behind the stories and ask the author a bazillion annoying questions like a little kid in a candy store make well-reasoned inquiries of the authors.

This month Joshua Done has answered our survey about his book The Exile Empire, one of our own :-)



So don't be shy! Come on in. Ask a zillion questions. And -do- hop on over to the Exile Empire book discussion thread to scope out Joshua's great space opera tale.

Book thread is HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Be epic!

Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen


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1. What books have most influenced your life?

I think that The Lord of the Rings had a significant influence on my early life. G.A. Henty, however inspired a true love of history. His books made me study more and more history, which I use as inspiration in many of my works.


2. How do you develop your plots and characters?

Typically I develop the world first and then establish reasonable goals for factions and people involved in that world. Once the groundwork is laid I work on developing how those people would attempt to accomplish those goals, how they might have succeeded and failed already, and pick the path that sets up the story in the best way possible. With that done I can launch into writing the novel.


3. Tell us about your Space Opera Fans book?

The Exile Empire is the first novel of the series by the same name that follows the survivors of an interstellar war as they try to carve out new civilization from hostile territory. It follows multiple personal, technological, and cultural metamorphosis that create a society utterly different from the one they left behind.


4. We all need a hero! Tell us about your protagonist(s)? Was there a real-life inspiration behind him or her?

I think that I drew inspiration from a lot of historical figures and several fictional. None the least of these would be Aeneas, combine that with a healthy dose of PTSD, some cybernetics and you start to see an interesting character.


5. A good villain is hard to write. How did you get in touch with your inner villain(s) to write this book. Was there a real-life inspiration for him/her/it?

There are multiple in my book and yes, they are based off of real world people and movements. They are subtitle and I don’t want to give them away, but if you can pick out the inspiration you get 10 points… the obvious one was Rousseau, yes I know he is an economist / philosopher not Darth Vader. Economists can be bad guys too.


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

History, lots and lots of history. For this story I would have to say that the Mongol invasion of Europe played a big part along with several of the pre BC era diasporas.


7. Sci-fi fans love techno-porn! What real-life science (or pseudo-science) did you research for your book?

I did massive amounts of research over two decades before I started writing… that, and I’m a massive geek.


8. What was the hardest part of writing this book?

Finishing it.


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

Chapter one, I think I like scary stories more than I originally believed.


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

Yes, how to refrain from stopping writing.


11. Is there a message in your novel that you hope readers will grasp?

Yes, many.


12. What are your future project(s)?

I am writing book three in the series right now, book two in a parallel series, and a fantasy novel.


13. If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be?

Emperor.


14. 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)?

All of the above.
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJoshua...
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://twitter.com/JoshuaDone


15. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to the Space Opera Fans community members?

History isn’t cyclical… except when it is.

Interview granted to Space Opera Fans: 2015.11.06

[Anna]

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VISIT THE BOOK DISCUSSION THREAD:!

HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

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