Concept Sci-fi

 Interview conduction by Gary Reynolds (November 2008)...

Can you describe your writing process from initial planning through to revision/editing? Do you plan in detail, or do you dive right in?

It depends on the idea, but I am a firm believer in planning. Sometimes I’ll jump straight in and run with an idea for a while, see where it takes me, but after a few thousand words I’ll always then sit down and plan.

Usually, I’ll plan a novel up to a halfway point, a turning point or twist in the story, and then write up to that full-stop. This enables me to tweak the plot along the way and not have to throw out the second half of planned plot. Then, I’ll plan till the penultimate chapter – but never ever plan to the end. I always let that surprise me as I write it. That way the reader gets a few shocks!

Editing: I will do two story edits, looking for ways to tweak the plot and characters, and improve on descriptions, and then a third “tightening up and refining” edit. As Stephen King states in On Writing, “omit needless words”. Which is sound advice. Cut out the junk! Then the book goes through the normal publisher’s editorial process, that of editor and copy-editor. My stuff usually doesn’t need that much work at this stage, just storyline tightening and a few tweaks because I sometimes wander off at a tangent!

What is it that appeals to you about hard military sci-fi?

I love having characters who are trained to face violent situations, so then I can drop them straight into conflict and get the book kicked off. It means I get straight into the action, there’s no messing about in my books! Military characters are brilliant for this, trained with weapons, sent on missions, just perfect for writing high-octane action thriller. The science fiction elements allow me to exercise my imagination to the nth degree and put my hardcore characters in a variety of original and often insane situations facing highly dangerous and efficient foes. Oh yes, and I just love kick-ass robots as well. Can’t do that in a Western.

What do you think people expect from a military sci-fi novel? What forms the bulk of your research?

To be honest, I write adventure stories that happen to be SF and happen to contain a lot of military characters and events. That’s not to say I only write MilSF, because I don’t, and to be honest I do not read widely in the genre because I want to remain fresh and original. I’m not sure what people expect, because every reader has their own set of criteria they bring to reading any book, but I think once a reader recognises a writer they like, they’ll stick with that writer. I urge people to try my stuff, because it’s massively different to most of what’s out there – and I guarantee you will not read anything with such a mix of intelligence, violence and originality. Or your money back*.

Research? I have a collection of Jane’s military books, which are great for basing SF weapons and vehicles on. I use Google and Encarta as well, but the beauty of SF is the scope for imagination.

*a lie.

Who has inspired you and what's your favourite novel of all time?

I have been inspired by many writers, from George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway, to Iain Banks and David Gemmell. These writers inspired me to write. However, I emulate nobody. My writing is quite unique. Remic writes like Remic.

My fave book of all time is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phil Dick.

What are you working on right now?

I am working on another standalone Combat K novel called Hardcore, which is even more insane than Biohell, published in the US at the end of October. I’m also working on a (currently nameless) fast-paced violent contemporary fantasy novel. Imagine elves with machine guns. Sort of.

How does your writing process now differ from your writing process when you wrote Spiral, Quake and Warhead? What have been the most important lessons you've learnt since then?

The first three novels were a steep learning curve, and although I’m still learning (we learn till we die, right?) I think it’s levelled out a bit and I understand the game much better – and that applies to the world of publishing, as much as the world of writing. The actual process of creating a book is much the same for me as it’s always been; I’m just much more refined now, I waste far less time, and my writing emerges more fluent, compact and readable first time round.

And the most important lesson? Omit needless words. Cheers Stevo.

Bladerunner or Aliens?

Ach, that has to be Bladerunner, the film adaptation of my favourite ever book. Aliens is cool thought. I love Aliens.

Can you tell us something interesting about yourself that isn't related to sci-fi or writing?

I do a fair bit of mountain climbing, and the solitude and vast open spaces when you’re high up on a vast snow-swept mountain with nobody near you for twenty klicks is completely awesome!! It’s good for working out plotlines as well.

What can we expect to see from you in the future?

Hardcore is due out November 2009 in the US, and I’m working on another two novels to follow this, one being an original SF concept, the other the violent fantasy book I mentioned earlier, probably for Angry Robot, the new publishing arm of Harper Collins. Although no contracts have been agreed yet… So yes. I am a busy boy.

You can keep up to date at http://www.andyremic.com/, and at Andy's blog Wired & Weird.