Welcome
to The Book Commentary, Stefan. To begin, we would like to know more about your
writing journey. When did you start writing and how did you discover that you
were cut for writing?
I always wanted to write. Well, not exactly
always, but ever since I came across an illustrated book of Jules Verne’s
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as a kid, the printed word fueled my imagination.
In high school and university, I breezed through essay and writing assignments,
puzzled why some of my classmates struggled. Books, of course, particularly
science fiction, got my formative ideas factory churning. I figured if others
could write short stories and novels, so could I. It did not look that hard.
Hah!
I first turned my hand to writing short
stories. I yearned for the day when people would walk past a bookstore and see
my books on display. Vanity? Perhaps, but the fire burning deep within me that
urged me to write also compelled me to share the products of my imagination.
Regrettably, just making my way in the world after college, I could not indulge
my passion. I had to find a way to live and support myself. Hence my IT career,
but that fire never went out, although I did allow it to die down a few times,
frustrated at not being able to find a publisher or agent. Publishing is a
savage game, as I came to learn, and publishers are not keen to publish my
books just because I wanted to see them in bookstores. When I said enough to my
IT career, I devoted myself full-time – well, almost full-time – to writing and
helping other authors navigate through the writing and publishing quicksand.
What
inspired the Shadow Gods Saga and what has been the most life-altering or most
challenging part of writing the saga?
With several short stories behind me, still
in college, I turned my hand to writing a space opera novel. I am glad that
piece of work will never see the light of day, but the process has taught me a
lot about the mechanics of professional writing. I am still learning new things
about that. When I started my first IT job, I began writing what has
subsequently been published as With Shadow and Thunder. That was the easy part.
Finding a publisher and agent brought the sharp reality of publishing pitfalls
into hard focus. In the end, I turned to several e-book publishers and eventual
self-publishing.
There is no single event or idea that
triggered that novel. I guess it was an amalgam of accumulated information
gleaned from reading other books, combined with something that finally bubbled
to the surface into a format I felt I could use. What I wanted to write about
was science fiction not set on Earth. There were, and are, enough of those
around. I set out to create a completely new universe of worlds, political
systems, and people who struggled to survive pretty much the way we cope with
life. I also sought to create a main character who had something extra about
him – the power of Death in his hand. With the book done, there was so much
more to tell, I followed it up with Through the Valley of Shadow. By then, the
universe I created had expanded enormously, and I simply had to write how my
principal character came to have the power of Death, which evolved into the
first book in the series, In the Shadow of Death.
The Shadow Gods Saga was an evolution and
expansion of complexity as I matured as a writer and my horizons broadened with
life’s experiences. What challenged me was making sure my principal character
also matured as life’s trials challenged his beliefs and behavior, rather than
have him portrayed as just another shoot ’em up hero.
Is
there a relationship between your writing and your career in Information
Technology? How would you establish that link?
My writing has not been influenced by my
career in IT. Writing for me is very much an emotional, soul-searching
experience, while the writing I did during my career was ordered and technical.
However, my IT career greatly influenced how I approached writing. It gave me a
framework of discipline, planning, and organization. When I was a computer
programmer, a program would not work unless every step was defined in a process
flowchart first and properly coded. That planning and organizing carried
through my years as a systems analyst and program manager and I employed those
skills in planning my novels.
Many authors told me they approach writing
with an idea, sit down, and let it rip. That might work for some, but having
read a few such efforts, cringing at the end result, I never could just sit
down and bang away at the keyboard – with one proviso. I have managed to write
some of my short stories in one or two sessions. However, I always approach my
novels in a systematic way: a brief outline, research, plot, develop
characters, and follow up with a detailed outline before I put down a word into
the novel, although I have been sorely tempted at times to start pounding away
before all the plot threads have been tightly woven together. With a detailed
outline, am I confident the novel would not have any holes through which the
reader could slip through. I must say, though, during the writing process, some
of my characters take me in unexpected directions and say some surprising
things, but I relish those moments, as they make the book more alive.
Can
you talk about the process? How do you come up with ideas for your books and
what sets your characters apart from other novels in your genre?
I spent many years on my Shadow Gods Saga
books, having been initially influenced by science fiction authors like Larry
Niven, Keith Laumer, Roger Zelazny, and others. For a while, that had been a
sufficiently satisfying outlet for me, but a moment came when I realized that
to gain attention from a traditional publisher or agent, I stood a better
chance writing a contemporary novel. My book, Cry of Eagles, was that effort,
which has now turned into a collection of seven books. During this period, I
returned briefly to my Shadow Gods Saga to write Guardians of Shadow, perhaps
my last book in the series. We shall see. I also produced Lifeliners, something that evolved from one of my short stories.
Like many authors, I have more ideas than
books I have written. Getting an idea is easy, as there is lots of source
material to draw upon: my life’s experiences, history, current events, other
fiction and non-fiction books, politics … a wealth of things. The difficult
part comes in picking a random idea – and one can strike by simply watching a
TV program – and developing it into a possible book. I had hopes for several
such ideas, but when I picked at them, most never worked out. My IT discipline,
I guess.
I would not say that my principal character
in the Shadow Gods Saga is unique. However, he does have a unique attribute,
combined with a somewhat irreverent attitude. I cannot claim to have invented
someone completely new, not after thousands of books out there. I can say,
though, he is entertaining. Well, at least I hope he is. With my contemporary
novels, I have set out to create compelling, believable, real-life characters
who have to deal with whatever is thrown at them. That is about as best as any
author can hope to achieve. Only readers who buy my books can tell me if I have
succeeded.
What are you currently reading?
Right now, I am reviewing a techno-thriller
from Readers’ Favorite in the Dan Brown and Stephen Coonts genre. For readers
who love non-stop action with a lot of military jargon will find this book
fascinating. There is enough characterization to fill the spaces between the
action scenes, but the author does not spend too much time on them, which is
fair enough for this type of novel. Personally, these days, I like books with
more character depth. Perhaps that is why I wrote Autumn Leaves. However, there
was a period when I devoured military-type action books.
Right now, though, I am immersed in
outlining my next novel, which involved a lot of research, character, and plot
development. I am almost done, and I cannot wait to get stuck into writing the
book.
Which
author has been most influential in your writing journey?
Ah, that is one question no author should
be asked to answer, as there has not been one single author who shaped my
writing, but I guess it is a fair question. In my green years, like many
others, I went through the old masters: Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Niven. They
invariably influenced my writing in some respects, especially my short stories.
However, when I began reading authors such as C.S. Forester, Mary Stewart,
Michener … you get the idea, the writing style of those authors came to
influence me greatly. Perhaps the way they wrote was how my own writing had
begun to evolve.
If there is one outstanding writer who made
me pause, I would say Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills gave
me a lot of material for reflection. She is not the only one, of course, but
her poetic, lyrical style plucked at my imagination and heartstrings. In the
end, I had to find my own ‘voice’ and shape it to fit my characters.
What
has been the most fulfilling part of being an author?
Sooner or later, every writer comes to the
realization that writing is a very personal and lonely thing. There are hours,
days, months spent working on a novel, editing, rewriting, and polishing. When
the thing is finally done, I am heartily sick and tired of the damned thing,
glad to have it published, looking forward to some relaxing time off – until an
idea strikes and I am off again.
Why do authors put up with it? For me, it
is a fire burning deep inside that cannot be quenched. A drive that pushes me
to create, explore, to share with others what goes on in my mind. There was a
period when I wanted to douse that fire, believing that writing was not for me,
but I was bitten by the drive to create. There is no cure and I don’t want to
be cured. What keeps me going is the sheer joy of creation. When the words flow
faster than I can write them down when everything clicks and my characters and
I are in perfect accord, that feeling makes up for all the frustrations when I
stumble into that mental pothole or speed bump and the words just won’t come.
When a book is done, I nod with satisfaction and hope that readers out there
will also gain a measure of enjoyment and satisfaction being immersed in the
world I created.
If
you were asked to sell your book, what would be the one thing you think readers
will love about your writing?
My my, you want an answer where to find the
Holy Grail!
I am a fairly hard reviewer, and I expect
authors to give their best to readers. Sadly, the self-publishing industry has
given many writers an easy outlet to post some really awful books, which has,
with some justification, tarnished self-publishing in the eyes of agents and
traditional publishers. It is easy to understand how this happened. Many
writers do not understand the English language and its grammar nuances to
properly construct a plot, narrative, or dialogue. I sometimes wonder how these
people graduated high school.
Getting back to your question, I would like
to think readers will like my books because I give them believable stories
populated with engaging characters, and I make them think. Some might not like
that, but that’s the break.