I’d been touting a collection of short fiction for several years before Andrew Hook at Elastic published Somnambulists. The stories spanned about 14 years. The time span for Urban Fantastic, which took in my first success, “Dead To The World” from 1982, was even longer. Whereas the turn-around with my novel The Planet Suite from conception to publication was more like three years.
Which aspects of the work that you put into the books did you find most difficult? And which did you enjoy most?
Every aspect of writing and getting published involves several layers of difficulty. Having consistent concerns or over-riding themes and yet not repeating oneself is a major challenge in the actual writing. Making the slightly fantastic or unusual convincing is another big concern. Maintaining a story’s internal logic is hugely important to me - speaking as an editor, I feel it’s where a lot of novice authors fall down. If you contradict the premise of your piece, you’ve lost your reader’s suspension of disbelief and you’ve totally blown it.
As for the business of getting published: that can often be more tiresome and troublesome than creating your story in the first place. Every author of any longevity has plenty of shaggy dog tales about magazines going bust just before your opus was about to see print, books being accepted and never published, editors never replying even after 24 months, and so on. The advice I would offer is to persevere and to research your markets properly. This latter means buying magazines you want to be published in and books from publishers you want to be published by. And read their guidelines thoroughly. You’d be amazed how many people send poetry collections to publishers whose output is strictly novels.
I enjoy every aspect of writing and editing, dealing with editors, publishers, readers, other authors, artists, agents, etc. I love meeting and talking with people at conventions and writers’ gatherings; writing to and emailing people; reading new work and so on. It really annoys me when I read interviews with professional writers who complain about their lot or who claim to hate the business of writing. Yes, of course, on many levels it’s work, tough work at that, but if you don’t like the profession, pal, then push off out of the way and let the real writers through.
What are the biggest challenges that you face? And, how do you deal with these?
Every new story is a challenge. Seriously. There’s the story as it nebulously exists inside my head and there’s the best version of a compromise that eventually appears on paper or screen.
Article comments
1 - T. Michael Testi
Wonderful interview! It gives real insight into the author!