Welcome to part two of our interview with science fiction author Tobias Buckell, author of Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and Sly Mongoose. In part two, he talks about how he works as a writer, how became and involved in science fiction, and his upcoming Halo novel, The Cole Protocol.
You are also the author of the forthcoming book The Cole Protocol, the new tie-in book for the popular Halo video game series. How did you come to be involved in that?
The guys over at Bungie seem to have really dug my first book, Crystal Rain, and the level of cool SF/F ideas and action combined. The books come out via Tor, who's my publisher.
What can you tell us about the book?
Pretty much what the original press release said :-) The Cole Protocol takes a look the Gray Team, a group of Spartans who during the fall of Reach were too far away to be recalled. I'm having fun setting up why that may be the case, going to some unexplored corners of the Halo universe, and also exploring the Covenant aliens a bit.
What was it like writing in a pre-established setting?
Halo is young enough it's probably not like writing a Star Wars or Trek book where you have this huge freaking bible of things to avoid, so I have far more possibilities for playing around and amusing myself with cool stuff.
I have heard that there’s sometimes a negative stigma for tie-in books and authors. Have you encountered any of that?
I've had a few older writers give me some guff, but we're in the age where Jeff VanderMeer is writing a Predator novel, Marjorie Liu, bestseller and awesome author, has written a cool Wolverine novel (I'm jealous of her for that, by the way), and Sean Williams and Karen Traviss have written some neat Star Wars novels. It's common. Besides, we're also getting to the point in history now where all of us grew up with these shared experiences around us. While in the 50s everyone wrote about Galactic Empires and shared these common settings, now a lot of us are growing up around these media ideas. If you grew up watching Star Trek and it was something you enjoyed, the impulse to play with it and get paid for it is understandable. When I first played Halo I told a friend 'someone creating this game read a lot of my favorite SF/F.' After meeting the creators, I was quite pleased to find out I was right.
How much do you plan books ahead of time? Do you use an outline or anything similar?
I do use an outline, usually OmniOutliner, from the great folks at OmniGroup. Once the rough outline is in place, I usually port that into Scrivener, a writing application for the Mac that I truly adore.
How much do you usually write in a day? What sort of environment do you like to write in?
I range wildly in how much I write, but it's usually my goal to get 500-1,000 words a day done in order to make deadlines. What usually happens is that the closer toward deadline the more crazy it is. I write at night, starting at midnight usually, and finishing up whenever I get tired. That ranges from 3:00 AM to 9:00 AM depending on how crazy my deadlines are. I prefer 3:00, because then I can be up at 10am and functional by noon.
I'll write in my home office, or at the local coffee shop, sometimes at a park with the laptop.
You have a fairly prominent online presence through your blog. Has that been helpful to you? Is it something you’d recommend for other writers?
It's really helped. A lot of people find me via my blog. It keeps people checking in on me between novels :-)
Have anyone expressed interest in adapting your work for television or film?
Nothing exclusive or moving forward, but my novels are one some desks.
What got you interested in science fiction? Who were some of the first authors you read?
I got hooked on Arthur C. Clarke at seven. When I was in high school Vernor Vinge, Bruce Sterling, C.J. Cherryh and William Gibson where among my favorites.
What current science fiction writers do you like?
Too many to list. The last 5 years in particular has been totally awesome in terms of great fiction.
What do you like to read outside the SF field?
I tend to go for hard-boiled mysteries and spy novels. Really like the spy novels.
Do you have any plans yet for what you will be writing next?
Yes, my fourth original novel, due out in Winter 2008, gets started.
Do you have any parting words you would like to leave the readers with?
For the curious, the novels’ section of my site has the first 1/3 of each of my novels that are currently out available to download. You know, so you can get hooked ;-)
John Markley is a newspaper reporter and freelance writer from Illinois, and has been addicted to science fiction since elementary school. His other interests include history, science, video games, and martial arts. He maintains the blog Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic.
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