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Part 2 An Interview with Alan Baxter 8/6/2009 6:01:39 AM
With so much to discuss with dark fantasy author Alan Baxter, part 2 of this interview focuses on this author’s writing habits and experiences on the road to publication.
LS: As far as your writing style, Alan, do you tend to plot out your stories in great detail? Or do you tend to fly by the seat of your pants and allow your mood/characters drive you as you write?
AB: A bit of both. I get a story arc together, I make notes and plan timelines to make sure that the story is cohesive. I do all the research I need to do to write convincingly. Then I just start to write and fill in all the meat of the story as I go. Often the story will take me in a direction I didn’t expect and I’m always happy to adjust my notes and rework the arc to suit that. I find storytelling to be a very organic process and I love letting my stories and characters tell themselves.
LS: As a writer, I’m always curious as to whether other writers have little rituals they undertake before they hunker down to the business of writing. What do you do to get you into that mind frame?
AB: Slap myself around a little! I’m a terrible procrastinator. I love what I do and I love the process of sitting down and letting a story pour out. But I can sometimes take so long to get started with each writing session. I have stop doing all these little distracting things and just GET STARTED! Then I’m fine.
LS: Based on what I’ve read of your works it’s obvious to me that you have a wildly creative imagination. Have you encountered bouts of writer’s block? And if so, can you share with our reader what you do to get around (or over) this wall?
AB: I'm lucky enough to not really suffer from writer's block. I have a problem with the opposite really. With so many ideas and stories I want to tell it's hard finding the time to tell them all. But that also helps if ever there is a block of any kind. If I find that there's an aspect of plot that I can't work around or a piece that won't seem to go right, I just put it aside and work on something else for while. If I'm having trouble with a novel I'll take a break and write a short story or do a bit of work on a novella and so on. I always have several things on the boil, not to mention regular blogging. I tend to read the same way. I usually have at least two or three books on the go at once. It's a bit hectic being me sometimes!
LS: The quest to publication can be a long, grueling quest, wrought with heartache and disappointment. Can you share with the readers your experience to make RealmShift and MageSign a reality?
AB: That’s a long and complicated story. In short, RealmShift was nearly published by one of the big trad houses, but fell over at the eleventh hour. I decided to self-publish it while I wrote MageSign. When MageSign was ready, I set up an indie publisher called Blade Red Press and used it to reissue RealmShift and publish MageSign. The full story is a lot more convoluted, but that’s the quick version. Hopefully Blade Red Press will grow and become a genre publisher with a good reputation. We have one other author on board at the moment and will be looking for more soon.
LS: There are more and more titles becoming available as e-books. Do you feel this will drastically change the landscape of publication, particularly for the mainstream publishers?
AB: Definitely. Before long e-books will be the mainstream and print will become the niche. I love seeing my books in print and there will always be a market for that, but it will become less popular. Once good quality e-readers become more available and cheaper there’ll be no stopping e-books. I see print books as being bought primarily through Print On Demand methods. Even bookstores are starting to use POD machines – that’s the way of the future for print, I think.
LS: What are you reading now? And what made this book special enough to land on your to-read pile?
AB: I’ve just started Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. My sister-in-law and her husband gave it to me for my birthday and said that they’d really enjoyed it and were sure I would too.
LS: What is the most profound discovery you’ve made in terms of your writing and how it has touched the lives of others?
AB: To be honest, I’m not sure that anything really profound has happened just yet. But I love it when I hear from a complete stranger that they’ve read one of my books and really loved it. When someone takes the time to tell me, that really touches a chord. I hope I can keep on doing that and reach more and more people.
LS: What do you foresee in your writing career over the next five years? Are there possibilities of branching out into other genres?
AB: I see at least one more novel, hopefully more than one. I see a few more Ghost novellas. Hopefully I’ll get more short stories published – I love short stories and I’m always sending short fiction and hoping someone will buy and publish them. I’ve had some success with this in the past and I’m always hoping for more. Basically I want to keep doing all the things I’m doing, only more of it and hopefully better! I can’t really see myself changing genres any time soon – I still feel like there’s so much to explore. And as I don’t restrict myself too much, I have a lot of options. I write dark fantasy, horror and sci-fi and I cross those things over as much as possible. No need to try anything new at this stage.
I did have a non-genre short story published by Harbinger Journal a couple of years ago, just to see if I could do it. I enjoyed that, but it’s not my favourite place to be.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share in your life, thoughts and experiences as a writer. I’m sure we’ll be hearing plenty more from you in the near future! For more information about Alan Baxter or to buy his books, please check out the following:
