Concept Sci-fi

Interview conducted by Gary Reynolds (September 2008)...

OK, let's start with the age-old 'can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into writing' question.

I'm a married father of two and I've spent most of the last ten years working in software marketing. I write in my spare time, usually late at night, and do it because it's a compulsion I've carried with me for as long as I can remember. It's just something I have to do and I can't imagine what my life would be like without it.

How do you approach novel writing? Are you a planner or an improvisor?

Usually, I'll come up with a story idea - usually a couple of paragraphs outlining the major points of the plot - and then spend several months gradually writing more and more notes, doing research and expanding the original idea into a rough outline. It takes time for me to get the "feel" of the book, but once the main events of the story are sketched in, at least
I have a framework to guide my thinking and an ending to aim for. That said, I've noticed that as soon as I start writing the plot tends to shoot off in all sorts of unexpected directions and the framework has to be constantly updated.

Silversands is your first novel. How would you describe the overall experience and how long did it take from start to finish?

It took about eighteen months to write the novel. I was writing in my spare time and wrote the whole thing in the order it appears in the book - straight through from start to finish. Once it was complete, I put it aside for a couple of years and started writing some short stories (most of which ended up in my collection The Last Reef from Elastic Press, 2008) and then went back to it in 2006 and rewrote large sections of it using what I'd learned from writing the short stories.

What's the most important lesson you've learnt from writing Silversands?

The most important lesson I learned from Silversands was that it's okay if the first draft's a bit rough, it can always be revised. The important thing is to get the words down on paper. That's the hard part. You will not hit perfection first time, but you will get a completed first draft that you can work on. Editing is easier than writing. A lot of people make the mistake of trying to edit as they go along - of trying to make each sentence perfect before moving on to the next - and that's deadly. Just write. Tidy up later.

At around 50,000 words, Silversands is pretty short. What was the reasoning behind that? Were you tempted make it longer and therefore possibly more appealing to the larger publishers?

When I was writing, I didn't give much thought to length. I made the story as long as it needed to be. It's pretty fast-paced and I didn't want to slow it down with needless padding. In many ways, I think 50,000 words is a good length for a science fiction novel. As a writer, it forces you to be concise. Many of the classics of the genre are around that length, including
books by Delany, Clarke, Heinlein, HG Wells, and Michael Moorcock. And a book that length can almost be read in one sitting. Perhaps that will become important as our culture speeds up and books face increasing competition from other, more immediate sources of entertainment. As economic conditions change and the effects of electronic publishing start to transform the way traditional publishers interact with their audience, perhaps the current trend for longer novels will slowly give way to shorter works. If you know where to look, you can already see it happening: Cory Doctorow's "Eastern Standard Tribe" is only 50,000 words, for instance.

Which authors have inspired you most and why?

Over the years, I've been influenced by a lot of writers - the beats, the cyberpunks, the old classic SF writers - but I'd have to say the three authors who've had the greatest impact on the way I write are probably Ernest Hemingway, Elmore Leonard and M John Harrison. Reading their work taught me a lot about using tight, concise language to describe dramatic events in exotic locales.

Favourite sci-fi film?

It has to be Star Wars Episode IV. I had just started school when it first came out and now, when I hear that opening fanfare and the words start scrolling up the screen, it makes me feel five years old again.

What are you currently working on?

I have a number of short story projects in the works. I also have outlines for two novels and I'm hoping to write them both over the next year or so.

What can we expect to see from you in the future? Where do you hope to take your writing career from here?

I'd like to be able to write full time one day, as I have a backlog of stories waiting to be written and only so much time in which to write them. The stories I've published so far seem to have struck a chord, so for now, I'm going to keep plugging away, writing new short stories and working on the next two novels.

If you could offer one piece of advice to someone just starting to write their first novel, what would it be?

Write the story one scene at a time. If you're going to eat an elephant, you have to do it one mouthful at a time. In the same way, you can't write a whole story or novel in one go. Break the narrative up into a series of important incidents, and then write a scene describing each incident.

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

My favourite European cities are Amsterdam and Barcelona.

For further information, why not check out Gareth's website. The Last Reef is available to buy from Amazon UK now. Silversands will be released in April 2009.