Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
What would you like readers to know
about the writer behind The Black Hawks?
Hello! I am a large,
white middle-aged English man, once described by a colleague as “seven foot of irreverence”.
I am, in fact, only six foot six. I am married, with cats and children.
2 How did you get
into writing? Is it something you’ve always wanted to do, or is it something of
a new path for you?
I grew up
reading huge amounts of genre fiction, and some of it was so trashy that I
became convinced I could do better. I held on to this thought right up until I
actually tried. Still, I kept plugging away, and the Black Hawks is the result.
3 Given the proliferation of sub-genres within
SF&F currently (grimdark, hopepunk et al.), how would you describe the
genre of your own work?
Good question. I’m
far too squeamish for proper grimdark, but drama without peril is as untethered
to reality as drama without humour, so I think I probably end up somewhere in
the middle. I’m certainly not writing comedy – the books are serious, even if
the characters aren’t always. Ed McDonald coined it as “WitPunk”, and I’m
rather taken with that.
On a related note, what draws you to work
within that genre?
Fantasy has an
abiding appeal to me: it’s the ultimate blank slate. You can create situations
– moments or quandaries – unconstrained by superfluous concerns. You can create
millennia of histories, or complex and devious magic systems, or just be all
about the specifics of a plot – whatever you need to tell your story. I deliberately
took a very pure, very classic setting for the Black Hawks because I wanted it
to be immediately familiar to readers – when you’re not trying to work out the
kinks of the world, you can be carried along by a quicker plot. And all the
better to start messing with convention from there.
It could have been
space opera, I suppose, but then I’d have needed to worry about airlocks.
How long would you say it’s taken you to write
The Black Hawks? And what was the hardest part about writing it?
The original idea
dates back to 2009, possibly to a dream I had after one sherry too many. I only
started planning it in late 2014, wrote the first draft the following year,
then took 2016 to plan and write the sequel (I wanted to see how it ended).
After another year of revisions, I queried in 2018 then enjoyed another 9
months of edits and proofing on the way to publication. So somewhere between one
and ten years, depending on how you care to measure…
The opening remains
the hardest part: it’s the oldest in terms of the idea and plot architecture,
and the first bit I wrote. It’s been much revised, but much of what follows is
dependent on it, precluding more radical approaches.
6 The Black Hawks follows a mercenary band of
oddballs and troublemakers as they travel the breadth of the land, trying to
get paid. What made that concept leap out at you? What made you want to write
about this crew?
As I mentioned, I
have a deep and respectful love for classic quest fantasy, and I wanted to do something
in that mould. I’m also innately contrarian, so decided to write the Fellowship
of the Ring from the perspective of the least heroic people imaginable – a
group of struggling freelancers, just trying to make a living. A lot of what
does (and doesn’t) happen in the book is a result of setting out to tweak the
tropes and traditions of classic fantasy.
As for why them:
I’ve had a pretty long and varied career in my day job, working on variety of
projects with a variety of people. You can choose your friends, but you can
rarely choose your colleagues, so you tend to stick by the ones you like the
most. I thought that was a concept that deserved illustration.
As a
follow up: each member of The Black hawks is vividly realised and memorable;
would you say that you have a favourite from the band? Or the reverse?
Each of them is, on
some level, me, which is a deeply disturbing thought. That said, while you’d
have to be a godless savage not to love Lemon, I do have a soft spot for Foss.
I bet he gives amazing hugs.
The world of The Black Hawks is a complex and
intriguing; could you tell us a little about how you built it? Was there any
historical (or otherwise) reference or inspiration for the shaping of its
history?
Like, I suspect, a
lot of fantasy writers, I’m a big fan of history. When it came to the setting,
despite aiming for a classic quest fantasy feel, I wanted to do something a
little different (did I mention that I’m a contrarian?). The land is in the southern
hemisphere, set in an equivalent mid-13th century Eurasia probably
closest in geography to the Caucasus.
The setting is very specific (although most readers may not notice,
which is fine by me!). There’s no magic, but there is Technology, and as the
residents of the kingdom in question are about to find out, it’s not been
standing still.
9 As The Black Hawks is the start of a new
series for you – how many books do you think will be in it?
Given the standard
unit of fantasy is the trilogy, the Articles of Faith series will be two books
long (see previous note re contrarianism etc and so on).
1 On a more personal note: as reader, what type
of book do you enjoy? What are you reading right now?
I’m currently
(still!) reading the Lies of Locke Lamora, which has been on my TBR for over a
decade. I keep reading other things in the middle - a mixture of research and
genre-typical books, depending on what I'm writing. My personal taste is books
with a sense of humour - not necessarily joke-packed, but at least
acknowledging the absurdity of existence. You've got to laugh, right?
1 On
process: Some
authors plan their novels in great detail before setting pen to paper; others
seem to take a more seat-of-the pants approach. How would you describe yourself
on that continuum?
Lots of planning. LOTS. Detailed outline, the occasional character
sketch, reams of world-building notes, mood boards, family trees and timelines,
swathes of dialogue for pivotal scenes written months in advance.
…Then I leave most of it out, and cheerfully deviate from the outline as
I write, according to what actually fits better with the story as it develops.
Past Me would be furious if he knew.
1 Have you found the rise of social media has had any impact on
you as an author?
I don't think I'd have a grounded
understanding of publishing without Twitter, and concomitantly a writing career.
I first tried writing in 2011, wrote a thing, then had no idea what to do with
it. Eventually I shelved it as I learned more about writing as a craft from
following writers, and publishing as an industry from following everyone else.
When it came to starting the Black Hawks (a couple of years later), I had a
much clearer idea of what I needed to do, as well as story structure,
characterisation etc. I still held off querying it for another 3 years, so
possibly I was a bit too pessimistic.
On the bright side, I now know about the
editing process, the writer's influence on things like cover and title (none),
and my expectations as a debut are, I hope, pretty reasonable. The absolute
best thing about Twitter now is hearing that people have enjoyed the book - it
tickles my shrivelled black heart and makes me very glad indeed.
Obviously, the rest of the time it's an
absolute sewer, but I think overall it's been a positive for me!
1 Finally, I know The Black Hawks has just come
out, but could you let us know what’s next for you?
Book 2 is now with my
editor, and the next year will be spent converting what I sent her into
something fit to publish. In the meantime, I'm working on a standalone
follow-up, set in the same world, which should have something of a Wild West/Fury
Road feel to it. We'll see.
Thank you for having
me!
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