In this blog post I interview author BG Hilton, whose debut novel is the Steampunk adventure Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys. This exciting steampunk adventure has just been released by Odyssey Books. With an abiding interest in Frankenstein, you can guarantee Hilton’s answers to my questions will intrigue.

Which writer or writers opened your eyes to the magic of storytelling and why?

That’s a difficult one. It’s tempting to say Dr Seuss or Enid Blighton, who are the first authors whose names I was aware of. I suppose if I learned anything from those two it’s that a story can be as simple or as outrageous as you like, as long as it follows an internal logic. In school, I was into Elizabeth Scarborough, Victor Kelleher, Harry Harrison who I love in different ways, before I became a stereotypically cynical teenager and got into Robert Bloch in a big way.

My first ‘serious’ literary novel was Dickens’ Pickwick Papers and I loved how rambling it was. The plot is all over the place and at times Dickens just forgets it completely and has characters tell a fairytale or read a story in someone’s diary. It was a bit of a revelation having read so many stories that just march from beginning to conclusion to realize that there’s nothing wrong with a side trip – and there we are, back at Dr Seuss!

Why do you think people need stories in their lives?

That’s a big question. People use stories as a way to make sense of the world around them. A novel, a banking ledger and a geology textbook are really all just different sorts of stories, in their ways. Stories are the way we impose order on the world. But they’re also the way we seek order, seek understanding. I think that’s especially important in a time like now, when nothing seems permanent or certain. There are always stories there, to help us when nothing else will.

What is your greatest magical power as a writer?

I think I’m good at making people laugh. Not everything I write is meant to be funny, but a lot of it is and there’s no critique I enjoy so much as someone saying ‘I loled. No seriously, I mean it.’ And it’s a tricky thing to do, writing comedy. When you’re telling a joke in person, you can see how your audience is reacting and you can change course or just bail on a joke if it isn’t getting a laugh. When you’re writing, your audience might be reading your joke years later on another continent. So I don’t get it right the first time, what can you do?

Which mythic archetype or magical character most resonates with you and why?

Does Frankenstein count? I’m going to assume so. I’ve always been fascinated with Frankenstein – the doctor as much as the monster. I suppose all writers are a little bit like Frankenstein, creating our characters out of a bit of this and a bit of that and sending them heedless out into the world. But there’s more to it than that. Frankenstein is such a deep metaphor, with so many possible meanings.

What themes or ideas do you find keep arising in your writing?

I find I keep coming back to flawed heroes. I don’t mean stories with hardcore antiheroes or anything like that, but I like my characters to be people who try their best even when they’re not great people. One of my favourite of my characters is a semi-reformed supervillain whose attempts to help people, try as he might, keep bringing him back to building death rays. That’s the sort of thing I mean, characters who just do the best they can with what they have. Can’t get enough stories like that, so I end up writing them.

Tell us about Champagne Charlie….

Hungover aristocrat Edward “Charlie” Decharles awakens in the back of a steam-cab, only to discover that the driver has been murdered. Unused to feeling responsible for anything, he feels compelled to find the killer. As he investigates, he meets “The Amazing” Gladys Dunchurch, a stage magician’s assistant whose employer has disappeared – and not in a good way. They form an alliance – Charlie will help Gladys with his considerable resources and Gladys will help Charlie with her even more considerable brains.

To read more about this Steampunk adventure yarn, you can find Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys on Amazon or at Odyssey Books.

By an expert*

Procrastinating can be a real problem for writers. Faced with a blank page, the call of the wild twitter-verse can be an enduring temptation. Here are some tried and true techniques this alliterative writer has discovered for taming the monkey mind and getting things done.

* an expert at procrastinating, that is. Not so much at the stopping. So maybe don’t take this post too seriously?

Don’t buy a kitten.

First there’s the cuteness. Makes you want to stop whatever you are doing and pat them. Especially when they purr and get all smoochy. And before you know it they have put you into a kitten coma. You lose any will of your own and just keep patting. Just keep patting. I may be talking from experience here. Then there is the feral deconstruction of everything that you hold dear. Procrastinating is easy when you have to run around protecting everything you own from a fast, mobile monkey who wants to play with and kill it all.

Have children.

No seriously. I know this seems counter-intuitive. But there is nothing like only getting half an hour to yourself every day to make you fine tune your ability to drop everything and just get on with it when that magical time arrives. Having children makes you truly realise the value of your time. Because most of it is spent doing about twenty different things, some of which involve bodily fluids, and none of which you can actually remember a few hours later.

Get a water-proof notepad

All the best ideas come to you in the shower, right? So with the right equipment, you can start writing that story as you wash. There are definitely water-proof notepads available. I’m not making this up. Picture it: scrub behind the ears, add a vigorous fight scene. Shampoo your hair, describe the revelatory moment when your heroine’s true identity is revealed. Sure you water bill might go up, but if you’re getting a lot more writing done, it might just be worth it.

Put your mobile phone in a blender.

Turn the blender on. Self-explanatory really.

Realise your plan for 10 points on procrastinating will take too much time and change it to 5 so you can get on with your writing

Over January I’ve been tidying my study and realised I have a LOT of books on writing. Some I’ve read (or skimmed), many I haven’t. I’ve done a Masters and PhD in creative writing as well as attending numerous classes and workshops over the years. But my preference outside of this training has been to find my writing style rather than reading what other writers say they do. Still, there’s always something to be learned when a writer talks about their process. So this year I’ve decided to work my way through these books and share the key nuggets of wisdom through reviews.

Sometimes the Magic Works

Terry Brooks is the author of the Shannara Chronicles, a popular book series (later TV series) featuring elves and humans. Compared to the Lord of the Rings, it was a bestseller from the beginning. Sometimes the Magic Works is part memoir and part writing guide. Although Brooks has been very successful, he speaks openly about book signings with few attendees. Not being a big fan, I skipped some of the anecdotes and sought out the nuggets of advice. There were some gems.

Advice on being a writer

Whilst Brooks trots out the old ‘write what you know’ adage, he also encourages you to ‘write what you observe’, advice I have also heard from John Marsden. Marsden pointed out that what you think you see and what’s actually there are two different things. For writers, paying attention is important for bringing your book to life in a way that feels real. But, as Brooks says, some of your ‘deep background’, the really detailed world building that makes it come to life, should never appear in the book.

Brooks explores ways writing allows you to think deeply. He talks about the puzzle-solving aspects of it, and how stepping from the real world into the world of imagination allows you to gain new perspective. By chronicling the human condition, he says, we can find answers to current problems in what might be. This is particularly relevant in the difficult times we face.

Characterisation

Some of the most useful advice about the mechanics of writing relate to characterisation. The key take out points are:

• Characters are revealed through their words and actions, not what you as the writer say about them. They need to behave rationally and consistently – or, if they don’t, there needs to be a reason why.
• Every character must have a reason for being in the story and their characteristics must be relevant to the story too.
• A character needs to keep moving (physically, psychologically, or emotionally) in order to grow. Growth leads to change and transformation; they discover truths about themselves or others, or come to terms with some aspect of their lives. Without change nothing is happening.
• The strength of your protagonist is measured by the threat of the antagonist (whether person, monster, weather, mountain, disease…). This threat might be immediate or there might be potential consequences. Facing these shows the courage, resolve and strength of your main character.

This quote from the book resonated so much. In writing the Tales of Tarya series I loved my characters and my world so much I wanted to stay with them. As I neared the end of the series I found myself writing more and more slowly.

Advice on being an author

As a recently published author I found the real gold was in the discussion of how to survive. Most books focus on ‘how to write a book’ or ‘how to get published’. But once you are published you begin a rollercoaster ride that requires real resilience. Brooks identifies important qualities that help: determination (be patient and committed), instinct (trust you know which way to go) and passion (be fearless). He encourages writers to be grateful for the chance to create magical worlds.

I loved Brooks’ idea that the point of book signings is to create a link between readers and books – and not necessarily YOUR books. He encourages authors to use these opportunities to make readers so enthusiastic about books they can’t wait to buy more. The key, he suggests, is to make a connection rather than a sale. Remain cheerful, so people remember a good experience, be thankful that organisers/publishers have taken a chance on you, and be anxious to chat, and ready to answer questions.

Inspiring last words…

Finally, I love the idea Brooks put forward that writing creates a writer’s identity. If, as he suggests, you come to be the sum of your words, then the more fantastical stories I create, the more I will evolve into a magical being!

Clare Rhoden is an academic and author with an abiding interest in how stories shape our world. Her animal-centred dystopian novels explore the future we might end up with if our fascination with technology continues. At the same time it delves into the question of outsiders and refugees. With fascinating world building and an array of unusual characters, the two books (so far) in the series offer “a thought-provoking read reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984… about what it truly means to be human” (~ Elizabeth Foster, author, Esme’s Wish, Goodreads). For more information on Clare click here to go to her website.

Which writer or writers opened your eyes to the magic of storytelling and why?

Thanks for having me, Rachel! I have to confess that I had a pretty traditional diet of books as a child, and that I’m forever grateful to my mother who was a bibliophile and started me reading at the age of three. The first book I stayed up all night to finish (with a torch under the blankets) was ‘Black Beauty’ by Anna Sewell. I think I was about eight years old. I couldn’t put it down. In fact, I’ve rarely been able to put down any book since!

Why do you think people need stories in their lives?

Stories have been around as long as people have been able to speak. Stories are essential to our humanity. I think stories help us to make sense of our lives, especially stories which include characters or situations we can relate to. We can also admire the courage and persistence of the protagonist, and aim to employ some of those qualities in our own lives.

Stories with magic in them offer us the potential to break out of our usual thinking patterns and look at the world with fresh eyes. We can step out of the everyday and blink away our limitations. Even the most simple of stories will do this for us.

What is your greatest magical power as a writer?

I don’t usually think of myself as being very magical, and have spent far too long trying to prioritise my practical self. I would have to say that my imagination is my strongest magical ability, because it appears to be a power completely separate from my ordinary rational thinking. Therefore it must be magic! The incantation that brings this power into play starts like this: “Imagine what would happen if …”

Which mythic archetype or magical character most resonates with you and why?

I kind of like werewolf stories – now that’s something I don’t tell everyone! My favourite magical character is the shape-shifter, especially one who can fully enter the animal world (shape-shifters who can assume other human bodies are really scary). I think that shifting into another body is the epitome of seeing through another’s eyes, and that’s the key to empathy.

What themes or ideas do you find keep arising in your writing?

The interaction between humans and animals is a common theme in my writing, and most of my stories feature animals as characters or as important members of the community. I don’t think I’ve ever written anything that doesn’t have at least one mention of a furry critter (who may just be a enchanted cat, or a lost unicorn, or an everyday wise old dog).

The whole notion of what love is, in its many guises, is also something I find myself exploring quite often. So another question I ask myself is, “what would love do?”. Then I let imagination get in there and play with the storyline. I find that my ‘difficult’ characters tend towards selfishness, while others show quite a lot of compassion. Mind you, it can be fun writing those self-absorbed folk. I have an idea for a story in which a wicked wizard is so absorbed in magically perfecting his face in the mirror that he forgets to breathe and falls down dead, much to the delight of his long-suffering cat. Maybe I’ll call it ‘Wizard-face Yoga Pose’…

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If you love dystopian fantasy, book one, The Pale, and book two, Broad Plain Darkening are available now from Odyssey Books and the usual online outlets. The Stars in the Night, Clare’s WWI family saga, is also available for pre-order now.