Guest author Becky Black
Mar. 2nd, 2013 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charlie_cochraneI'm delighted to say that my guest today is the lovely Becky Black. Becky's a Geordie, which automatically earns her a gazillion brownie points from me and is a genuinely nice gal to boot. So I asked her:
The internet! I’d always wanted to write, but was very shy of showing my writing to anyone. I did a lot of “writing avoidance”. Massive planning, notes and world building, but little actual writing. Because if I wrote something I might finish it and have to do something with it. I was far too scared to do that. Then the internet came along and I started writing some fanfiction. It felt much easier to share my writing on the internet when the people are just usernames. And where if nobody liked the writing I could just disappear and never have to interact with those people again. But people did like it, so I kept writing. But without the internet I really don’t think it would have happened.
With the first one it seemed utterly unreal. While each stage – an acceptance, a contract, edits, a cover - were all further clues it might be for real, part of me didn’t really believe someone was going to publish my book. That it must be some kind of mistake. I think that part of me only accepted it all as real on the day the first royalty cheque cleared and turned into actual money in my bank account. There’s something very real about money!
After that, there wasn’t quite as much sense of unreality as there was with the first. But there’s still the same fear as back when I was posting fanfic stories. What if nobody likes it? What if they hate the characters?
That publication is really just the start, not the end. Unless your ambition was to get published and tick that off your bucket list and never write another book. That’s not the case for me, so it kind of hit me as a bit of a shock that I needed some new ambitions and to set some new goals and plans to move forward with. So it’s good to start thinking about that before the first book comes out!
A “what if”. A few years back I had a thought “What would you do if you were a farmer living in an isolated valley in Afghanistan, cut off from the world for the winter, and Osama Bin Laden showed up at your door, badly wounded or sick?” Which gave me the idea of a story where someone dangerous with a big price on his head is injured and stuck somewhere isolated with someone who has plenty of reasons to kill him, and that eventually the authorities will show up. But he’s alive and getting stronger every day…
I tend to get a plot idea first and then think up characters who will have something especially interesting to do in that situation. And the characters then develop quickly on my mind, until a character who didn’t exist a couple of days ago suddenly feels like a real person, like they were waiting there all the time in my subconscious, which is weird. Then they really come alive once I start writing them. Once they start walking and talking and interacting with other characters.
I definitely discover things all the time as I’m writing about my characters. They come from the unconscious mind I think. That works away on everything I’ve thought about the character so far and then shoves new ideas at me.
Karl from Liar’s Waltz I think. He’s ex-military, cool headed and big and strong. I considered Raine from Stowaway too, he’s also an ex-military man, but has an unfortunate tendency to be distracted by a good looking lad in a lift.
Probably some kind of epic space opera playing out over ten volumes, with war and death and politics and revenge and lovers torn apart and doing anything to get back to each other. Big stakes and fundamental emotions. I love that.
Several by Thomas Hardy. My god, I just can’t take him. The only one of his books I finished was Tess of the D’Urbervilles. And I wish I hadn’t. That was when I was 14 and I’m still angry about it.
I don’t think I’ve ever thought of that. It’s not really the way it works for me. I might think, I wish I could write a book as good as that, but someone else’s book is someone else’s story and characters. I might love them, I might even write fanfiction for them! But I don’t find myself wishing I’d been the originator of them. I just want to be able to write something as clever or funny or cool.
Well I reckon it’s about time Patrick Ness did another Chaos Walking book. Okay, so it’s a trilogy and there are three done, but that never stopped Douglas Adams!
I’ve got several on the go! One I’m about to submit with is the first book in a series. Another I’m in the middle of editing, which is post-zombie apocalypse. I had a load of fun writing that. Can’t wait to get it all edited and sent out. I’m also working on a novella. I always like to have lots on the go.
Chrysalis Cage
Jarrett Blake's escaping from prison after months of torture and solitary confinement, but his bid for freedom ends when his stolen ship crashes into a remote moon. He wakes to find himself with two broken legs and helpless in the care of Marc Satie, a technician stationed alone at an isolated monitoring station. Marc saved Jarrett's life, but was it an act of mercy or does he want to claim the reward on Jarrett's head? It's a big reward--as befits the most wanted terrorist in the galaxy.
Jarrett gradually recovers under Marc's care and seduces him, hoping Marc will never turn his lover over to the authorities. As time passes. Jarrett begins to think of it as more than a seduction. Marc is beautiful, gentle and kind and Jarrett's had none of those things in his life for a long time. He wants Marc at his side permanently.
But Marc has a secret and the exposure of it will show Jarrett he's been in more danger than he ever realized. Marc is not the man Jarrett thought he was. After the truth comes out, Marc proposes a daring plan. If it succeeds they can walk away together as free men. But they have very different ideas about where they're walking to.
- What inspired you to start writing?
The internet! I’d always wanted to write, but was very shy of showing my writing to anyone. I did a lot of “writing avoidance”. Massive planning, notes and world building, but little actual writing. Because if I wrote something I might finish it and have to do something with it. I was far too scared to do that. Then the internet came along and I started writing some fanfiction. It felt much easier to share my writing on the internet when the people are just usernames. And where if nobody liked the writing I could just disappear and never have to interact with those people again. But people did like it, so I kept writing. But without the internet I really don’t think it would have happened.
- What did/does it feel like watching your first book fledge and leave the nest? What does it feel like with the second and the third?
With the first one it seemed utterly unreal. While each stage – an acceptance, a contract, edits, a cover - were all further clues it might be for real, part of me didn’t really believe someone was going to publish my book. That it must be some kind of mistake. I think that part of me only accepted it all as real on the day the first royalty cheque cleared and turned into actual money in my bank account. There’s something very real about money!
After that, there wasn’t quite as much sense of unreality as there was with the first. But there’s still the same fear as back when I was posting fanfic stories. What if nobody likes it? What if they hate the characters?
- What do you wish you'd known when you were first published?
That publication is really just the start, not the end. Unless your ambition was to get published and tick that off your bucket list and never write another book. That’s not the case for me, so it kind of hit me as a bit of a shock that I needed some new ambitions and to set some new goals and plans to move forward with. So it’s good to start thinking about that before the first book comes out!
- What inspired the latest book?
A “what if”. A few years back I had a thought “What would you do if you were a farmer living in an isolated valley in Afghanistan, cut off from the world for the winter, and Osama Bin Laden showed up at your door, badly wounded or sick?” Which gave me the idea of a story where someone dangerous with a big price on his head is injured and stuck somewhere isolated with someone who has plenty of reasons to kill him, and that eventually the authorities will show up. But he’s alive and getting stronger every day…
- Are you character or plot driven? Have you ever been writing and discovered something totally unexpected about one of your characters?
I tend to get a plot idea first and then think up characters who will have something especially interesting to do in that situation. And the characters then develop quickly on my mind, until a character who didn’t exist a couple of days ago suddenly feels like a real person, like they were waiting there all the time in my subconscious, which is weird. Then they really come alive once I start writing them. Once they start walking and talking and interacting with other characters.
I definitely discover things all the time as I’m writing about my characters. They come from the unconscious mind I think. That works away on everything I’ve thought about the character so far and then shoves new ideas at me.
- If you were in a tight corner and had to rely on one of your characters to save you, which would it be and why?
Karl from Liar’s Waltz I think. He’s ex-military, cool headed and big and strong. I considered Raine from Stowaway too, he’s also an ex-military man, but has an unfortunate tendency to be distracted by a good looking lad in a lift.
- If you had no constraints of time and a guarantee of publication, what book would you write?
Probably some kind of epic space opera playing out over ten volumes, with war and death and politics and revenge and lovers torn apart and doing anything to get back to each other. Big stakes and fundamental emotions. I love that.
- Is there a classic book you started and simply couldn't finish?
Several by Thomas Hardy. My god, I just can’t take him. The only one of his books I finished was Tess of the D’Urbervilles. And I wish I hadn’t. That was when I was 14 and I’m still angry about it.
- Which book do you wish you'd written and why?
I don’t think I’ve ever thought of that. It’s not really the way it works for me. I might think, I wish I could write a book as good as that, but someone else’s book is someone else’s story and characters. I might love them, I might even write fanfiction for them! But I don’t find myself wishing I’d been the originator of them. I just want to be able to write something as clever or funny or cool.
- Which book do you wish somebody else would write?
Well I reckon it’s about time Patrick Ness did another Chaos Walking book. Okay, so it’s a trilogy and there are three done, but that never stopped Douglas Adams!
- What's your next project?
I’ve got several on the go! One I’m about to submit with is the first book in a series. Another I’m in the middle of editing, which is post-zombie apocalypse. I had a load of fun writing that. Can’t wait to get it all edited and sent out. I’m also working on a novella. I always like to have lots on the go.
Chrysalis Cage
Jarrett Blake's escaping from prison after months of torture and solitary confinement, but his bid for freedom ends when his stolen ship crashes into a remote moon. He wakes to find himself with two broken legs and helpless in the care of Marc Satie, a technician stationed alone at an isolated monitoring station. Marc saved Jarrett's life, but was it an act of mercy or does he want to claim the reward on Jarrett's head? It's a big reward--as befits the most wanted terrorist in the galaxy.
Jarrett gradually recovers under Marc's care and seduces him, hoping Marc will never turn his lover over to the authorities. As time passes. Jarrett begins to think of it as more than a seduction. Marc is beautiful, gentle and kind and Jarrett's had none of those things in his life for a long time. He wants Marc at his side permanently.
But Marc has a secret and the exposure of it will show Jarrett he's been in more danger than he ever realized. Marc is not the man Jarrett thought he was. After the truth comes out, Marc proposes a daring plan. If it succeeds they can walk away together as free men. But they have very different ideas about where they're walking to.
