As an author of thriller novels, I have been interviewed many times. However, this is usually a process undertaken by bloggers or journalists, sometimes fellow writers.
Until now, that is!
In my newsletter, I recently ran a competition where my readers could interview me. A large number of fun questions were received and the following fifteen were chosen by a small panel of three. If you entered the competition and your question doesn't appear here, I'm sorry; there were just far too many to include them all.
If you could collaborate with any author of the thriller genre, no longer alive, who would you select and why?
That’s actually quite an easy question. You see, when you collaborate with an author, you have to completely coincide on the way the novel storyline will develop, how the characters are going to develop, etc and discussions are almost inevitable. That’s one of the reasons why successful co-authoring isn’t that common. However, if my co-author, is ‘no longer alive’, problem solved!
Seriously though, without a doubt I’d choose the late British author John Gardner. I was fortunate to correspond, then meet, him when I was starting out as a writer many, many years ago and he was exceedingly generous in providing me with some of the basic skills you need to write thrillers. I used to devour his books, starting to read them as I was leaving the bookshop. I consider him to be one of the most underated authors of the late 20th Century, perhaps because he wrote popular fiction. He actually wrote more James Bond novels than Ian Fleming, and three novels about Sherlock Holmes arch enemy, Professor Moriarty amongst the fifty-five books he penned during his career.
Do you ever get to the point where you wonder if all of the years of work that you do on your books is worth it?
Yes. I confess that, like most authors, especially Indies like myself, facing the obstacles thrown into our paths daily is often like pushing a snowball uphill in July using just your nose. What gives me the motivation to continue? People: the many readers who express their enjoyment of my tales and the author friends who altruistically support and share their skills and talent with others. Now where did I leave that snowball?
Have you ever written yourself into a corner and had to come up with a major plot twist to get out of it?
It wouldn’t be fun if writing a story was straightforward. I’m a natural problem solver with some of the skills I created for my character Amy Bree in ‘the CULL’ books, and the challenge to find a creative solution to a problem, without cheating (or using this special pen I have) is one of the aspects of writing I find so satisfying. So much so, I often create seemingly impossible odds for my protagonists just so they can overcome them. I say no cheating though because creating a plot twist, without it being amply justified by preceding events in the tale (something like the hero about to be eaten alive by sharks who escapes because they happen to carry shark repellent with them every day, for example), no; that’s not acceptable. Dropping a single short clue to something ten or fifteen chapters earlier, seemingly inconsequential and unimportant at the time, then using this to resolve a tight situation; that is most definitely in my wheelhouse.
Imagine the book fairy comes to visit and rewards you with the gift that you going to be transported into one of your own books and have to live through it. Which book and character would you choose to be and why?
[There's a book fairy!!! Do you mean Jeff Bezos???]
‘Outsourced’, and possibly Phil Beasley. He’s got that crazy tilt on Life which appeals to me. Besides, I’ve been ‘in’ most of my other books IRL, and what’s the fun in repeating that? I do have this pen someone sent me in the mail, though… I wonder what it does.
If you were told you couldn't be an author, what would your choice of occupation be?
Strangely enough, although I started writing at an early age, I intended to become a geologist using my languages to work internationally. Through no fault of my own, that didn’t work out, so, logically, I dropped into computers, then into… well that’s another story; one I can’t tell. Finally, it’s back to writing again. However if I woke up tomorrow and books had been obliterated universally and being a writer is not available, I’d probably go with science of some sort. I’ve always had an interest in Quantum Mechanics so, if I could find a way to do that, it’s something I would enjoy.
Many people asked the next question or variations of it, but we went with this one:
Are you related to Bill Gates and is that where you got all your ideas for your books?
Well, you didn’t think I co-wrote with Bill Clinton, did you? He wasn’t available at the time so I found another Bill…
The truth is, many years ago he and I came to an arrangement: he would keep all the fame and fortune, and I would write thriller novels...
Seriously, no, we are not related… as far as I know… but… over twenty years ago I obtained his personal email from a contact in Microsoft and wrote to him about Elizabeth Gates, the first Gates in the colonies, and a very distant relative. She was a passenger on the Mayflower, it turns out. This gem was brought to my attention by someone who did some digging into my ancestral roots. Mr. Gates (not me, the other one) found this rather interesting and wrote back saying we should meet when he was next in Madrid (Spain, not New York, Iowa or New Mexico). Shortly thereafter he sent me an invitation to an event he was attending in Spain’s capital a couple of months hence. I was looking forward to meeting him there. My work intervened and while Mr. Gates (him) was indulging in Tapas, Mr. Gates (me) was far, far away in another country doing what I did back them. When I got back I wrote to apologize and we rescheduled, with the most amazing coincidence that again he (Mr. Gates) was watching flamenco dancing while I (Mr. Gates) was in yet another far flung country. In the end, we decided to leave it up to Destiny. We have a couple of topics of conversation pending for when we eventually meet.
Having ruled out Mr. Gates as the source of book ideas, so how does Mr. Gates come up with the stories? Well, many spring from exactly what I was doing when I was eluding my namesake. There’s a wonderful Chinese curse which goes ‘may you live in interesting times’ (please excuse the accent; my Mandarin is rusty). I did! You remember when you’re sitting on a plane, waiting for the crew to close the door so you can finally depart after a half-hour or more delay, then some guy come hurtling into the aircraft, collapsing in a seat all hot and sweaty after a high-speed car trip through the city and a mad dash to the gate? Then you start to wonder who he is and what he does for a living that they hold planes for him? That was me! Behind that scene is a very ‘unique’ ‘job’ that had me spending more time in International airports than in my own home. These days I call it ‘research’ for the books. Things I’ve seen, things I’ve done, stories I’ve heard from others, all stew together in the melting pot of my mind and some emerge on the pages of my novels. What! You thought they were fiction?
What keeps you going to get these books done… I guess what I am asking what motivates you to keep writing?
Three things: the desire to tell an entertaining tale; the reactions of you, my readers, through your emails and reviews; and the knowledge there are many more pushing at the ‘little grey cells’ waiting to emerge onto my computer screen. Plus, it’s much cheaper than a psychiatrist.
In your travels around the world what is the most amazing/mind-boggling thing/situation you encountered?
Almost being on a plane that crashed into a mountain killing all on board still ranks as my most important near-miss, with getting shot at coming a close second. Though you did say amazing/mind boggling so perhaps herding elephants using a light aircraft in Amboseli, southern Kenya has to be an experience I will never forget. Or touching the talons of an eagle as it soared overhead while standing on the edge of a river gorge. Or fighting two Rottweilers who were attacking someone. Or avoiding a sword cut delivered to the back of my head by a Grandmaster and which I couldn’t see coming, to pass a 5th Dan exam in one of my martial arts… or… Yes, Interesting Times, indeed.
What do you find most exciting about being an author?
You know that feeling of inner satisfaction you get when finishing a book you liked? It’s a heady mixture of fulfilment and sadness that it’s all over. Well, multiply that by a hundred and that’s what it feels like when an author finishes a new novel. Maybe that’s why we keep writing new books; we are somehow hooked on that sensation. I’ve discovered recently that we can relive that when we encounter our own books in a different medium. After so many years, I didn’t think ‘the CULL – Bloodline’ could hold any surprises for me, but I was wrong. Narrator, and all-round superwoman, Marnye Young gave me goosebumps when listening to my own book in audiobook format. Her amazing skills added accents and voices to my characters, dragging them from the recesses of my mind into the real world. What a rush!
At what point in your life did you KNOW you wanted to write books and what was your first pick of genre?
The week after the dinosaurs died out I found myself reading a western novel written by two of my schoolteachers and designed to help us 11-year olds learn Spanish. Well, objective complete! What that book and its sequel also did was have me wonder, a few years later when learning French, if such an approach could be applied in that language. I talked my teacher into working with me on the idea of a spy novel featuring a French Intelligence agent, and very much in the Ian Fleming Bond books style, for 4th year French students. The project started well but the teacher dropped out because of other commitments. I couldn’t continue on my own, so I took the basic story and turned it into my first full-length novel (now, thankfully living in a box under my desk). I’d written some two hundred or so short stories (a mixture of Scifi, thrillers, and humorous) at that time, but this was the first book I had attempted. Once polished, I sent it off to an agent who read it and responded ‘not bad for a first attempt; keep on writing!’ So I did, until Life intervened and stole all the time I had available until a decade or so ago. So, Spanish teachers Brian Mitchell and N. J. Margetts, you’ve got a lot to answer for!
Have you ever lost sleep over the way you treated a character in one of your books?
Sometimes we do dastardly things to our characters too, and these can come back to haunt us. Take ‘the CULL’ series as an example. Early on in book 2 I had decided the fate of one of the characters. He’d done some nasty, unforgivable stuff in book 1 and I felt he had to be punished. That didn’t happen until the next book though, and when it did, I felt that the character’s ‘cycle’ had been completed – he had served his purpose in the overall story. I’ve never received a single email from readers complaining about his fate either. Then came book 5, where I had decided another character was going to meet his end. Here though, and despite his nature, he was almost an anti-hero figure, and I found myself questioning my decision constantly. In the end, I went with my gut feeling and… was inundated with emails complaining I’d killed off one of the readers’ favorites. That caused me to lose sleep. Did I get it wrong? Looking back, seeing the whole story arcs from book 1 through to book 5, I don’t think I did. His dramatic end was the consequence of the changes the character experienced throughout the tale and I think it was fitting. [I’ve tried to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but I think you’ll find that when you get dragged into Katie and Amy’s world, you will quickly forget these words.] |
As an aspiring writer myself, I find that when I attempt any writing session I have certain routines I go through. Certain chair, ambient noise, lucky socks, snacks. Do you have any pre- writing necessities?
 |
| the War Room |
When I sit down for a writing session, I have usually gone through all my email accounts and replied to any that need my attention, as well as dealt with anything else that could distract me once I’m ‘in the zone’. I can usually tell if things are going well as the cup of tea I make at the start, or during the breaks, will still be full and stone cold when I realize it is sitting less than 20 cms from my right hand.
I also have a large screen on my PC, currently 23”, which allows me to open slightly more than half with the book I’m working on, and also have several more open windows sitting in the space alongside with notes, images, a thesaurus and dictionary and any other stuff I might need to use. I used to have music playing in the background when writing, but now prefer to work in silence, letting 'the voices' tell me what to do! Told you it was cheaper than a psychiatrist.
Would you rather write one mega bestseller and then give up writing for the rest of your life or write many midlist books or series for the rest of your life and be comfortable but never rich or wildly famous?
 |
| Your Amazon link |
If you had a superpower where you could morph yourself into anything, what would it be and why?
I don’t know about morphing myself into anything, but the power of invisibility would be interesting. Just thinking of all the places I could visit that are off-limits… and then write about them…
Of all the countries you have traveled to, which is your favorite, and, why?
Before answering this one, I'd like to urge people to travel internationally as much as their circumstances permit. But please, travel with a light heart. What do I mean by this? I've seen so many visiting, even living, in what are foreign countries to them, who impose their values, language, food preferences, way of life in general, on that country and its people, judging them by their acceptance or not of this yardstick, and then brag about their 'wonderful' experience of other cultures. Sorry, in my book that's xenophobia. Seeking refuge in the stuff of life in your own country whilst living, albeit temporarily, in another is nothing but fear. Fear of being exposed to things that will make you question your core beliefs. Only by challenging what you accept as being 'the best' can you evolve and become a better person. Every single culture in this world has something to teach us if only we don't allow our biased behaviour to filter out what they have to offer. I'm proud to say I have friends all around the world. When I think of them, talk to them, listen to them, I'm not conditioned by their nationalities, skin pigmentation, or beliefs. They are fellow souls on this global journey of discovery, and all, without exception, have something to teach me, if I'll only listen. The key to getting the most out of visiting a foreign country is twofold: learn the language (even a small smattering will make all the difference; when you try to speak someone else's tongue, their smiles bridge the cultural gap instantly; soon you will be smiling too) and respect (never assume you know better). Challenge yourself by travelling; evolve as a person.
That said, it's difficult to pick out one place I've been that stands out as a favourite. I try to immerse myself in the places I've visited, and will visit in the future, keep an open mind and endeavour to see the lessons I can take from how they live their lives. Remember, travelling is not about seeing a new culture from behind the windows of a bus or train, or from the deck of a cruise ship ('If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium', to quote the title of a 1969 comedy movie). It's about people; individuals like yourself. It's about crossing barriers. It's about giving your treasured Swiss Army knife to a young boatman off the East African coast; it's about sharing a meal with a friend from Hong Kong, discovering new flavours; it's about listening to the experiences of someone who lives in a place that doesn't have the freedoms you take for granted. It's about enrichment of your soul.
That said, it's difficult to pick out one place I've been that stands out as a favourite. I try to immerse myself in the places I've visited, and will visit in the future, keep an open mind and endeavour to see the lessons I can take from how they live their lives. Remember, travelling is not about seeing a new culture from behind the windows of a bus or train, or from the deck of a cruise ship ('If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium', to quote the title of a 1969 comedy movie). It's about people; individuals like yourself. It's about crossing barriers. It's about giving your treasured Swiss Army knife to a young boatman off the East African coast; it's about sharing a meal with a friend from Hong Kong, discovering new flavours; it's about listening to the experiences of someone who lives in a place that doesn't have the freedoms you take for granted. It's about enrichment of your soul.
*
I'd like to thank everyone who participated in this interrogation, even if your specific questions were not included. I hope you had as much fun reading the questions selected as I did answering them. And to the reader who wanted to know my inside leg measurement (to judge how tall I am), there is no direct correlation between that piece of data and a person's height. As Monsignor Cancelli says, I assure you, when I'm walking, my feet reach the ground. Thank you all.
Eric @ www.ericjgates.com - if you would like to receive my newsletter, just go to my website and wait 5 seconds. The newsletter goes out every three weeks or so and contains lots of fun stuff, freebies, special offers, insider information, book reviews and recommendations... and some very bad jokes!
No comments:
Post a Comment