Concept Sci-fi

The version below has been edited for the web. If you'd like to read the full interview (containing considerably more information on Philip's thoughts on the writing process) you can download it here.

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

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

I started as a novelist - fresh out of University, determined to set the world on fire - and discovered it was bloody hard work. And so, while doing a summer job at London Zoo (!!!), I wrote a screenplay for a TV comedy. I sent it off to the BBC Script Unit, who liked it and to encourage me, gave me a job as a full-time script reader. Every day I would go up to North Acton, clamber through a corridor stacked head high with scripts, and read scripts, and write reports, and read scripts, write reports, and read…. And that’s how my career in drama was launched.

My passion for writing came early. I wrote novels and short stories for fun, all through my teens and early 20s, and I always assumed I would be a professional writer. At school I wrote a short story about a bank robber who is killed, goes to Heaven and attempts to steal from God. It was a daft comedy but people really liked it and it made me so many friends - total strangers would stop me in the corridor, and say, ‘I really liked your story!’ That was a great lesson in life for me. I thought - either I learn some social skills, or I became a writer.

Guess which I chose…

How do you approach the art of writing a novel?  What techniques/processes do you use?

One of my early jobs was as a literary manager of the Royal Court Theatre, where I read a book on improvisation by Keith Johnstone. The ideas behind it always impressed me - the notion of letting things flow, of being organic. And I used to run workshops with a Writers Group where we would adapt the Impro principles to the process of writing. We’d bring in actors who’d make up stuff and create characters, and ‘hot seat’ (an actor’s trick for developing a character, which is great for writers too.) And then the writers would each write a 5 minute play on a given topic or title, there and then, quite spontaneously. And all of this made me fall in love with the ‘impro’ idea.

Later, however, as a TV script editor, I learned to be very methodical and to plan stories in great detail in advance. And both as an editor and as a writer, I would always use ‘step outlines’, or what some people call ‘scene by scene breakdowns’, in which you write the entire script, but without dialogue. It’s a great way to pre-plan.

All this gave me a sense of storytelling tricks and sleights of hand, and made me obsessive about pre-planning. But my Impro days made me aware of the power of making it up as you go along.

And my novel writing is essentially a synthesis of these two contradictory techniques. These days, I start with an idea, mull it for a while; then launch in. I write spontaneously, without planning, and I let each scene take me where it will. But at every stage, I’m thinking of red herrings and twists and doing all those ‘front brain’ story things that make the narrative fun for the reader.

This worked well in Debatable Space, where I literally started with no notion of what was going to happen and the book ‘wrote itself’. However, sometimes it doesn’t work so well…that’s the risk you take if you write spontaneously. Then, the front brain structural stuff has to happen at second draft and third draft stage, after a process of heavy thinking and detailed planning. But in my view, the magic only comes when you don’t 'self-awarely' work at it.

At the moment, I’m writing a pure action SF novel, Red Claw and with that story, which has a very clear, high concept, I knew pretty much in advance what the beginning, middle and end would be. But the twists and turns all emerged organically; and a lot of what happens along the way surprises even me.

The thing I’ve found strangest about writing novels is how long it’s possible to go without getting any feedback or interaction. Months and months and months go by, and it’s just me and the danged book. That’s a necessary thing - there’s no point showing a half-baked novel to someone. But it does feel strange to me. So the most recent trick/technique I’ve learned is to multi-write. Rather than just writing one novel, I’ll write several at the same time, plus short stories. So for much of this year I’ve been writing Red Claw; but I’m also rewriting Ketos, my SF epic, now at fourth draft stage; and I’ve also written three short stories, two of which are to be published next year.

This, I find, keeps me fresh. If I get bored with one novel, I can dabble in the other - then suddenly find I have to go back to Book A! (Which happens to be the one the publisher is expecting, er, urgently!)

Debatable Space is your first novel. How would you describe the overall experience?

In a word, surprising.

Surprising, because if you write a SF novel that people like, suddenly a whole world opens up. You make friends fast, and they are real friends to boot. You discover a community of like-minded souls who, darn it, are nicer and cleverer than the people you meet in other genres and mediums. And the deal I was offered was a 3 book deal - so suddenly, instead of selling a project and walking away, as has always been the way for me, I suddenly found myself with a life in science fiction. Which, by the way, I had always dreamed of, but hadn’t done very much about.

I look back with some startlement at the process of writing Debatable Space. I wrote it, as you have to do, on spec, i.e. for no money. I wrote chapters on holiday, in the evenings, in odd scraps of time. And for some reason I never wondered how I would write it or what I would write - it had its own energy. Now, I’m having to work much harder at the SF novel writing process!

Before getting Debatable Space published, you worked in a number of different genres.  Why so varied?

I think the truth is that, when you start out as a writer, you are surrounded by high walls which are an impassable barrier between you and your dreams. It was true when I started out; it’s just as true now. So whenever you see a slightly lower wall, you climb it; whenever you see an opportunity, you seize it. So, basically, I worked in TV and film because I could, following a series of (looking back on it) lucky breaks.

If I’d sold my first novel - the one I wrote in the year after I left University - that would have launched me as a novelist and maybe I’d never had dabbled in any of the other things. (That was never going to happen though - boy, that book was a clunker!) So instead I wrote a TV script to see what that was like - and got a huge amount of encouragement. Then I was broke so I started reading scripts for theatre; then I read for film and TV companies; and then I wrote another TV script and that launched me as a TV writer. Then, quite unexpectedly, I sold a theatre script to radio (!) and that launched me in a radio career.

But at the same time, I think there’s something in me that loves the sheer variety of these different challenges. If I wrote novels and nothing but novels that would be great - but I adore writing screenplays because it forces me to be concise; I adore writing radio, because it forces me to be dramatic; and I love writing TV shows under pressure, because, darn it, it’s exciting.

I’m an impatient spirit at heart - I love writing in different mediums and in different genres. It’s the adrenalin junkie in me; doing the same thing for year after year is a saner course, but it doesn’t give you that insane buzz I relish.

Will you continue to work in a number of different genres going forward?

I very much hope so. I’ve just sold a couple of SF short stories which are very different in tone and feel to Debatable Space - with a contemporary setting and a darker tone. I’m developing a new SF idea that will blend detective drama and space opera. And I’m also very active in radio, TV and film working on a wide range of stories in a wide range of genres - from film-noir to action to - well, wait and see...

What is it that appeals to you about science fiction?

Science fiction is a genre that deals with exciting ideas. It’s about speculation and dreaming and imagining; and once you add real vibrant characters to that mix, it’s unbeatable.

Also, it’s also the genre I read most as a boy. Westerns and SF - that took me through my teen years. (Louis L’Amour! Don’t get me started on that!) So for me there’s a magic about SF that’s associated with that stage of life - when you’re a teenager, brimming with enthusiasm, and constantly discovering things for the first time.

A writer friend recently told me that her 15 year old son took Debatable Space off her TBR pile, and read it, enthralled, over three days. At one level, that appals me (my God the book is full of swearing! And appalling violence! And sex!) But at another level, it thrills me. Because I wrote the book remembering the joy I used to get from SF when I was 15 years old; and if Debatable Space works for 15 year-olds who are reading today, I must have done something right.

What are you currently working on?

I’ve just started a second draft of Red Claw, my latest Orbit novel, which is a high concept action thriller - think Predator on an alien planet and you pretty much have it. I wanted to do something exciting and visceral and also brainy. (Not that I’m especially brainy, but the characters all are.) I also wanted to write a science fiction book in which the ‘science’ isn’t quantum physics or astrophysics, it’s biology. This is a book which brims with aliens of every sort, not just alien monsters - alien grasses, alien bugs, alien soil, alien plankton, alien everything.

It’s a book about the joy of discovery - the joy felt by every naturalist who finds a new species. But on an alien planet, assuming it’s as fertile as Earth, you will discover a new alien species every few seconds…And if you’re a nerd and a geek (my favourite kinds of people), how great would that be?

Also, I’ve just finished a radio drama - a 90 minute adaptation of a Sudanese novel - and that has left me on an adrenalin high, anxious to do more radio stuff. There, the process is all about pitching. Offers season begins this month, and I have two ideas in. The process is a slow one, and though I have a pretty good strike rate, and a good reputation with the commissioners, there’s never any guarantee that a given idea will get made.

One of the ideas is particularly challenging - it’s a radio series made up of 15 minute episodes, and I’m aching to get my teeth into that.

I’m also sketching in thoughts for a horror short story. That’s not my genre of expertise, but I have an idea I’d really like to work on. So I’ll probably work on that in tandem with Red Claw.

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

I want to write science fiction novels that stay in people’s minds and imagination… that’s what I hope you’ll see from me in the future. I’m developing a new Universe called the Exodus Universe - basically, the Debatable Space universe but a hundred years or so after the events of Debatable Space, in a different sector of the galaxy. That gives me a chance to create new rules and new planets and new villains, which is the most fun part.

If I digress from space opera/hard sf from time to time, then I might well explore the wonderful genre of urban fantasy, which Lilith Saintcrow and Jennifer Rardin and Joss Whedon among so many others do so well. But that’s an idle thought at present.

But I will also continue to write thrillers and crime dramas and sundry other stuff for the screen - I love having that diversity and would be loath to lose it.

How do you think science fiction will develop over the next twenty years?

I think it will get richer and better and will be more highly regarded by the mainstream critics.

The truth is, there are more and more good writers out there - and more and more people being born, come to that - and in my experience (as a teacher of screen-writing) there are an astonishingly large number of talented people who want to write, and really should write. So all of that will feed into the growth of SF.

But I also have a theory that SF will become, in due course, even more successful than fantasy (which currently, in the book trade, outsells SF year on year.) And I think the reason for that is to do with myth. Fantasy is all about myth of course - and about world-building, the joy of imagining being in other cultures where different social rules apply. But SF, too, also used to be about myth; the myth of conquering space, the pioneer spirit, the dream of touching the stars. But that particular cultural myth pretty well withered in the aftermath of the Apollo landings; and space became boring. The fact we have astronauts in space right now - right now! - on the International Space Station holds zero interest for the majority of people.

So though SF fans continue to love SF, the ‘myth of space’ has no real role in our culture.

But wait till we have a colony on Mars…or the first light-speed spacecraft heads for the stars…or we discover life on a meteorite…or aliens turn up in our back yard. Then the world will start to pay attention to the stars! And when mankind starts to explore space again - and we really have to! - and real human beings are out there, in jeopardy, finding new worlds - the myth of space will once again be at the forefront of our culture.

And, of course, at this point, writers of space opera and hard sf will be hugely successful, and will be morally and legally obliged to buy free drinks for everyone else…!

For further information on Philip Palmer, you can visit his website.