What
was the inspiration for the Broken Empire series?
There
wasn’t any obvious (to me) inspiration for the story or the
setting. The main character, Jorg Ancrath, was directly inspired by
Alex DeLarge from Anthony Burgess’s 1962 book, A Clockwork Orange.
Inspiration is a strange and nebulous thing though. We’re all
products of our environment and I have been reading fantasy for a
very long time.
You
write, in my opinion, some of the best characters that you hate to
actually like, great anti heroes. Are you just exploring a different
side of the hero character, or is it a necessary extension of the
world you are creating?
I
don’t create worlds and then populate them with characters. I think
about a character and then follow them. So no, not necessary
extensions. And although my books do turn out to explore themes in
what has sometimes been called a literary manner, I don’t set out
to do that either. So I wouldn’t ascribe any great meaning to the
character choice other than I write the books I would like to read.
So I need characters that interest me. My characters aren’t
vehicles for plot delivery, they have to generate the story from
within, and to do that you need someone interesting and conflicted.
With
shelfinflicted.com
being a review site, what are you currently reading? What would you
recommend?
Right
this minute I am reading a self-published book with two ratings and
one review on Goodreads. It’s by T.O Munro and is called The
Medusa’s Daughter. I’ve only just started but it’s good so far.
My
best read of last year was another self-published title that emerged
from the contest I‘ve held the last two years (Google SPFBO if
you’re interested). The book is Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft,
a really great read.
More
generally I find my tastes align with many popular choices. I love
George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, I am keen for Pat
Rothfuss to bring his third book out, Robin Hobb’s work is genius…
Are
you a gamer? Physical or video) If so, what are you into right now?
I
would certainly count myself as a video gamer, having played with
dedication since the things first appeared in the 70s. The truth is
though that since my writing took off I really haven’t found the
time for it. I bought a PS4 and played one game on it: GTA5. The last
games I really got into were some years back. I got pretty good at
multiplayer Call of Duty and the RTS game Command and Conquer 3.
When
I had a day job I would happily play video games when “off duty”.
Now I write full time I find it hard to consider any hour “off
duty”.
finally,
what would you want to say to anyone who wants to have a career as a
writer?
To my way of thinking wanting a career
as a writer is a rather upside-down way of approaching it. It’s bit
like saying “I want to be an author.” A better approach, one more
likely to have a happy outcome, is to say “I want to write.”
Nobody can stop you doing that and it shows that it is the writing
that will make you happy and scratch that itch. From some people I
get the impression that it’s the being an author they’re really
after, for some imagined kudos, social approval, popularity, or
wealth. And the writing is a necessary chore that will get them
there. That’s unlikely to work out well.
