Usually, ( at least according to the books I've read! ), you are when writing an article meant to start off with a quotation or a story that is related in some way to the main body of the article. This time I'm doing things a little bit differently......this time I'm starting with some questions for you dear reader!
Do you like Star Wars? Do you like Dune?
Did you like The X-Files? Do you like Star Trek?
Are you a reader of Graphic Novels?
If the answer is yes to any or indeed all of the above then read on, as this is an interview I conducted by email with award winning Sci-Fi author Kevin J Anderson. Mr. Anderson is one of the few science fiction authors to write works for both Star Wars and Star Trek. He has been a prolific writer since he was eight years old. His first book Resurrection Inc was published in 1988, and since 1993 forty seven of his books have enjoyed time on various bestseller lists. As well as writing various books for numerous sci-fi licenses, he is also noted for writing his own Saga of the Seven Suns series and novels involving both Superman and Batman, as well as these super hero related works he has also wrote some graphic novels.
This interview is NOT about any one of his works, published or otherwise, but it is about writing, and the writing process, with advice for new and budding authors. In fact this interview is the reason I have not wrote or submitted anything to these hallowed pages in a while, I've been busy reading Star Wars novels, reviews of which I hope to have very soon............
You are known as an award winning author of novels, short stories and graphic novels of the three mediums which would you say was the easiest to write and why?
I enjoy doing different things, so I don't feel like I'm stuck in a rut. My brain is wired best to writing novels; I do comics and short stories, but I feel most comfortable with the novel form.
As a follow up, which is the hardest to write and why?
A short story is hardest for me, because when I have an idea and start exploring it and expanding the characters, I usually find so many other facets to explore. It's hard to rein it in.
Do you find it easier to write about established fictional universes like the "Star Wars" universe, or is it easier to write about your own universe i.e. "The Saga of the Seven Suns"?
Now, don't get the impression that any full-fledged writing is "easy." I am fascinated by many projects, so I do all kinds. I enjoy doing both established universes (such as Dune, Batman/Superman, and Star Wars) and in creating my own (Saga of Seven Suns, or Dan Shamble, Zombie PI). As a fanboy at heart, I love playing with characters and universes I grew up with, but there's also a lot of approvals and "writing by committee." In my own universe, I can make all of my own decisions.
In your early career, with the exception of your friends and family, were there any groups or organizations that helped support and encourage you, as you tried to establish yourself?
I took some creative writing courses in college, and there I met another aspiring author, Kristine Kathryn Rusch; we helped each other out, learned the business, made connections, and she's now a bestselling, prolific, and award-winning author herself. I was also active in small press magazines, even became president of the Small Press Writers and Artists Organization.
It is said that you were influenced by "The War of the Worlds", but are there any other books that influenced you early in your career?
Very much influenced by War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. I also read Dune when I was
young, and it blew me away. The Lord of the Rings made a big impact on me, and then I read stacks of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Do those books still influence you today? Or are you now influenced by more contemporary writing?
All of those books made a lasting impact on me, and I keep reading and learning from good books. I really enjoy Larry McMurtry (I think LONESOME DOVE is my favorite book of all time). I like the big epics like Sho-Gun, Gorky Park, The Stand.
Now that you are a much more experienced author, is there anything in your early work, that you wished you could go back and change?
Of course—if I haven't learned anything after writing 120 books, I wasn't paying much attention. Since we are reissuing many of my old novels at WordFire Press, I do have a chance to do some polishing…but I usually don't. I have so many new novels I'm working on, I'll let the other works stand on their own. (I did just reread my first novel, RESURRECTION, INC., though, and was very pleased with how well it holds up.
You have written many works in collaboration with other authors, notably with your wife Rebecca Moesta as well as Doug Beason, and you are also working with Brian Herbert on the "Dune" novels. Do you find it easy to write in a partnership? Or do you find that working in a collaboration causes friction between authors, because both parties have different ideas for the narrative?
I collaborate because I enjoy brainstorming with other authors; I like the exchange of ideas, riffing off of each other, building upon suggestions. I've done fifteen big novels with Brian Herbert, eight with Doug Beason, and we're still close friends; I've done about thirty with Rebecca Moesta, and we've been married 22 years. If you can put your ego on hold and both parties put the novel as the priority, you can do a great job in collaboration. It brings the resources of two people together, the life experiences, the knowledge base. (But it's a challenge many people can't do.)
Do you find doing research helps while writing? Do you find the research process challenging? While you write, do you find that you learn new facts and information (primarily while doing research) that you didn't know before?
Some projects are more research-intensive than others. My "Terra Incognita" fantasy trilogy or my novel CAPTIAN NEMO, for instance, required years of research on history, nautical legends, the legend of Prester John, the works of Jules Verne, the background on sailing ships, navigation techniques, cartography. Other projects, like Dan Shamble, Zombie PI or THE DRAGON BUSINESS, are ideas I can usually write off the top of my head. When I am researching, it involves book research, often travel to places that appear in the book, sometimes interviews with experts. I always learn something, and that knowledge makes its way into the novel.
Are there any topics that you would never write about?
I have so many projects in the works, I don't have to worry about some topic I would avoid. There are a lot of things I wouldn't choose to write about (glorifying child molestation is a pretty obvious one, or championing ignorance over science), but I have plenty of things I can write.
What is the hardest scene you have ever had to write?
A scene in THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, where a main character's faithful dog dies at his feet…I wrote that only days after I had to put our beloved family cat to sleep, and I could barely make myself write it; I had tears pouring down my face as I put the words down.
Do you find it difficult, like some authors do, to kill off recurring characters in your books?
Some readers say I kill off too many of them! Especially in a big epic like the Saga of Seven Suns, with so many titanic events and such a large cast of characters. But a writer has to be true to the story.
What do you find is the hardest part of the writing process?
The first edit. The first draft is fun, and after I get the prose polished a little, it's fun. But the first edit through is a lot of work.
Is there anyone who you have been tempted to write into one of your books, and then kill them off? What way would you use to kill them off?
I did that for one of my X-Files novels, after auctioning it off for a charity. A fan won the auction and got himself written into the novel, just so a monster could eat him.
You have a very large fanbase, and that includes myself, what is the strangest thing that has been said or done to you by a fan?
I met a Star Wars fan who actually, truly believed the Star Wars universe was real and that she was exiled here to Earth; she thought that I had a conduit back there, because I could tap into that universe and tell stories.
Do you think the advent of the internet has changed literature in any way?
It has certainly changed publishing; the whole world has altered in book publication and distribution. Big publishers are in great turmoil right now, but a lot of authors have embraced it and turned to the new methods.
Would you ever consider going down the route that many of the newer and an increasing number of established authors are doing, and self-publishing via the "ebook" medium?
Yes, we've already got more than 80 titles up and available, most of my backlist, as well as titles by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, Bill Ransom, Neil Peart, Brad R. Torgersen, Doug Beason, and a bunch more forthcoming. I hope your readers will check them out, because these homegrown ones are what we do out of our own pocket. www.wordfirepress.com
Finally, do you have any words of advice for any of our readers who are also budding authors?
Write all the time, constantly, and keep getting better. nobody ever said it would be easy.
I would now like to take the space to wholeheartedly thank Mr. Anderson, for the time and trouble he has taken, out of his busy schedule to answer my questions. I would also like to say to you dear reader thank you for reading, and I hope this interview affects you in the same way it affected myself and makes you want to read and read and never stop......I've got to go now folks books to read..............
