Concept Sci-fi

Interviewed by Gary Reynolds (August 2008)...

Photo: Tim Holman, Marianne De Pierres and Darren Nash at the Dark Space Launch

Can you begin by telling us a little about yourself and how you got into writing?

I grew up as the youngest child of farmers on a wheat and sheep property in Western Australia. To keep me occupied over the summer holidays my mum would buy a carton of books and meter them out to me.  So my reading habit began young and just grew stronger. I probably spent more time mooning about in imaginary worlds than in the real world. That translated very early into writing stories.

I thought of myself as a writer from the age of eight or nine. Even then I loved adventure stories. Over the years the desire to be a writer stayed with me until I was finally mature enough to set some goals. I was thirty four by then!

The Parrish Plessis novels have a definite cyberpunk feel to them, what do you think has happened to cyberpunk since the 80s?

I think it has evolved - only some readers/critics don’t want it to do that, and some like to think that it died. But these sorts of things are so fluid in my opinion. Why try and tie them up in absolutes?

In your Sentients of Orion series you've made the move into "space opera".  Why the change of sub-genre?

I’m not the kind of writer who will ever stay cemented in one sub-genre. I just don’t see that as challenging. I’m fortunate to have a publisher (Darren Nash) who has supported that. However I can never see myself leaving the SFF world.  

Did you have any concerns that writing the Sentients of Orion series might alienate your hardcore cyberpunk fans?

I did. And it did a little. But you really need to be honest about your writing. I know I’ll be a better writer if I continue to try different things. Hopefully some readers will come with me for the ride - if I keep giving them entertaining stories.

Are we likley to see either Parrish or any of the other characters from that series in the future?

I hope so. She’s such a powerful and exciting character to write that I would love to revisit that headspace. However, many variables affect that sort of decision, and not all purely creative.

I certainly have one more story to tell and that will entail the war between Viva and The Tert, and more importantly, Parrish’s choices – the side she takes.

Can you describe your writing process.  How do you go about planning, designing, writing and revising/editing your novels?

The more experience I gain as a writer the more I subscribe to the Stephen King theory that a story is something that you excavate – not plan and plot within  an inch of its life. The creative muse is best – for me at least –when it is free to turn any corner. Writing series though, requires the writer to keep a number of balls in the air over long periods of  time.

Plotting and planning prevent series from becoming loose and baggy monsters.

I always begin a series by writing a series synopsis. Then as I write each book I will write a synopsis for it before I start. These are quite brief – often no more than a page.

Once I begin to write I buy a brand new sketch pad which I use as my notebook. The notebook grows into an absolute mess of notes and questions. Yet somehow I can always find what I want when I look for it. I’ve thought about trying one of the various pieces of writing software, but plot solutions come best to me when I have a pen in my hand.

I write the novel through in a linear fashion. If I’m alternating chapter view points, sometimes I will stay with a character for a few chapters before coming back and resuming the other viewpoints.

The amount of revision/drafts is entirely dependent on how well the novel has come together. Usually a second draft for major plot issues and then lots and lots of word massaging. 

Nylon Angel was your first published novel, how did you go about getting it published and how long did it take?

NA took me about two years to write. I got some positives when I first sent it out. Probably the most significant interest was from Garth Nix who was an agent at the time. He said that he liked it, but that it needed more work. Another year and a bit passed before I sent it out again. This time it went to Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown Australia (Garth had left to pursue his writing career by then). She decided to take a shot on it and sent it to Orbit. Tim Holman contacted us a while after and said all those things writers dream about hearing.

You've also written some shorter works of fiction, such as "Origins" and "The Cure".  How do you approach shorter fiction compared to writing a novel?

With care. It takes me a long time to write a short story – up to a year, so I’m not very prolific. I also try to avoid commissioned short stories these days because I prefer them to spring from an idea that I’ve had ‘involuntarily’. I have three published stories set on the same island that were inspired wholly and solely by Ballard’s collection Vermillion Sands. I felt such strong emotions writing those stories and I don’t think I would have had that experience if I’d been commissioned to write them. That’s not to say it doesn’t work for others.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on Mirror Space, Book Three of the Sentients of Orion series and then will move straight onto Book Four, which as yet is untitled.

Those are my priorities. However when I have time I have a couple of other projects that I tap away at. One is a contemporary paranormal suspense novel which is immensely entertaining to write (and I hope to read) and the other is an original film project (SF Noir). I have also recently finished a teen, dark fantasy which I hope will cause some ‘commentary’ when it sees print.

What can we expect to see from you beyond your current projects?

Long term, I really don’t know but I am keen to work with artists from different media. Hybrid creativity attracts me.

Watch my website space!