This month we have another exciting SF writer it’s been my pleasure to get to know. Tell us a bit about yourself, H.T.
I am aspiring writer of science fiction. A futurist with a keen interest in where our society is heading, I tend focus most of my attention on stories that examine the direction our society is taking or that shows where we could end up. Optimistic by nature, I believe that one day we will look to settle the Solar System as we outgrow our planet and some of my stories examine how this could look. Currently, I have a number of novels underway and some short stories. My aim is to get one of these up and published before the end of the year around the other commitments that exist in my life.
Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?
I have a few works in the pipeline and their main characters are all quite different. With the main character I try to come up with something relate-able and real. I try to avoid the overly heroic or perfect. We are all people and we all have flaws, so I try to make sure my characters reflect this. In addition, I try to make them varied so that its not always the same face staring back at the reader.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?
I definitely outline for longer works. I have a process that works very well for me. I start with a basic concept and write a very high level view of what happens. It doesn’t even have character names. Its a few lines for each chapter. I could outline a novel in a page. Then I add detail, enough to identify how many characters there need to be and roughly what needs to happen in each chapter including where it is set. For a novel this comes in at around 5,000 words. The next is the detailed summary. Some characters have names (but many don’t). This provides the detail of what needs to happen. There’s no dialogue or description, just this happens, then that happens. For a novel this weighs in at 20,000 words. Finally, I do my first draft. Interestingly, when I do the draft things change but I have a structure I can quickly change with it to keep track.
What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews?
A review is evidence that the book was read. Understanding reviews is a complex business. A lot of people say that a few five star reviews really puts them of because that’s a clear indication that the authors friends of family are behind it. Others report reading the one star reviews when looking for reasons to purchase a book on the grounds that those are most likely to be honest reviews. It seems that the best thing is to have lots of reviews and that of course is the hardest thing to achieve. I’m sure the first time I get a poor review, I will be disappointed but still, I put my work out there to be commented on so I have no cause for complaint. Any reviews will be welcome to begin with.
How do you feel about endings?
Is there a type of ending you strive for? Endings are hard. They have to be logical, surprising, complete all at the same time. Once I get an idea for a story and have the basic theme with main events, I turn to the ending and look at ways to use this to enhance the theme. Personally, I like the sense of poetic justice where someone what was disadvantaged suddenly finds themselves benefiting from the resolution of the story. We read to be entertained and to think but, as humans, we are also driven by an innate sense of fairness which I try to tap into for my endings.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Yes. It was shocking and it needs to be rewritten completely. It was a science fiction piece with a very interesting premise but the writing was awful. It only took a few books from the library on how to write properly for me to realize how bad it was. In saying that I like the story so I will re-write it. It’s a story about a small base in the atmosphere of Jupiter. It has danger, a bit of political intrigue and a surprise ending. Well, I think it’s great, it just needs to be better written. Still, I’m very fond of it, it got me started.
Thanks so much for your time and input. Best of luck with all future writing endeavors!
You can check out his website here:
The Rambling Muse 