From 2007:
Just a couple of hours before I had to
"meet" Neal Asher in a chat room for an interview we had arranged, I
had the misfortune to read an interview he did recently, in which he had
answered all the questions I wanted to ask him. So I had to come up with an
entirely new set of questions and found myself probing Neal's mind about the
craft of writing …
Ire: I like what
you said in the other interview that a writer should - above all - be writing,
writing, writing and reading, reading, reading. It seems so many people
nowadays perceive writing not as a job or as hard work, but as something anyone
can do. You may have the talent, the will, the whatever, but most of all you
have to work and learn the skill.
Neal: It's a learning process that never ends. I would
say that if I ever think that I know it all, that'll be time for me to quit.
Ire: Have you
ever attended a writing workshop?
Neal: I was involved in a postal workshop and once I
went to a writers circle - I didn't bother going back because they spent too
much time slagging off Jeffrey Archer and complaining about not getting
published. I guess it goes back to that comment I made in that other interview:
a writer writes.
Ire: And how do
you get your ideas? I mean, it's nothing new when you look at it: aliens, AIs,
monsters, etc. But your writing has that je ne sais
Neal: Like a lot of SF writers I'm building on what
went before and putting my own spin on it. Damn, I can't really say. I'm a
seat-of-the-pants sort of writer. I don't plan much. I just sit down and get on
with it. I'm writing the kind of stuff I like to read.
Ire: Do you have
any favorite themes you like to write about? And do you sometimes "use the
SF" (as some mainstream writer would put it) to tackle our everyday lives
and problems that we may face in the near future?
Neal: Our everyday lives and the problems we face do
come into the equation, but tackling them isn't my main aim. I'm out to write
sensawunda SF and entertain. Favorite themes would be technology, biology
(usually alien, but then, if you want to find the alien just go and lift the
nearest rock), war, murder ... hang on ... in retrospect it would seem my main
themes are mind control, hive minds, how a far future technology impacts on the
human mind and the relationship between human minds and artificial
intelligence. However, if there are no big-fuck spaceships, gun-fights or large
explosions, my interest wanes.
Ire: I've found
on the net your list of 10 SF novels you'd recommend
(http://www.zone-sf.com/nealasher.html) and the first two are written by Iain
M. Banks. Is he your favorite author? Many critics compare your work to his,
being you both have novels that take place in the same universes respectively,
in highly developed cultures (you Polity, him Culture), that they are action
packed and usually have very charming AIs, amongst other characters.
Neal: Ian M Banks is certainly one of my favorite
authors. In "Polity Agent" he's in the acknowledgements where I thank
him for his drones, though admittedly the idea of quirky robots/drones has been
around for a while (R2D2 anyone?).
Ire: What other
authors have had the most influence on your writing?
Neal: Well, if you list just about every SF writer for
the last fifty or more years, that'll about cover it. In "The
Skinner" acknowledgements I thank 'all those writers from Aldiss to
Zelazny' A to Z. Greats like Clarke, Silverberg, Asimov are on the list. The
likes of Van Vogt, Harrison ... damn. My SF
collection is up in my loft so I can't refer to it to remind me. Let's just say
there are a lot of influences there.
Ire: I'd like to
ask you to give some advice to young and aspiring authors, but I know what
you'd say: stop overthinking it and start writing it, right?
Neal: Yes. I'd also like to add that I'm not a great
believer in natural talent. I think we all possess the capability of being good
at something; it's just that not all of us possess the will and the capacity
for hard work.
Ire: How long
have you been writing?
Neal: I think I wrote my first bit of SF when I was
about 15 or 16. After leaving school I dabbled a bit more but didn't take it
seriously until I was about 20. I then spent a lot of time writing a fantasy. Later
I started having a go at short stories, the first one of which was published in
a magazine called Back Brain Recluse in 1989. Okay, I'm 46 now so, on and off,
about 30 years. Shit ... is it that long?
Ire: Your books have
been translated into French, Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, German, Russian …
did I miss any?
Neal: There're Czech copies. I won their Salamander
Award for "The Skinner" and was short-listed with "Gridlinked".
Other countries now conquered are America
and Japan
Ire: Once I
commented your book on your old website and you said something along the lines
of it mattering more to you to be translated into a "small" language,
like Croatian for example, then into a "big" one.
Neal: Did I? There you go: I write so much on the
Internet that I cannot remember it all. Financially it's better if say America or Germany
Ire: How about China
Neal: I'd love to see it. What is it? Close to a
billion of them. Another one might be India
Ire: So you've
written a lot and you've conquered most of the world translation-wise (or
you're planning to), but do you have any idea how well your books are selling?
Neal: I know my books are selling pretty well in Britain
Ire: How much do
you work on promoting your books?
Neal: I've done plenty of interviews, a few signings
and attended one or two SF conventions. I guess I do most of my promotion like
this, over the Internet, talking to those who read my books.
Ire: You keep a
relationship with your readers mostly through your blog and forums. Do you ever
get any ideas from the people you talk online? Do they ever make suggestions?
Neal: Yes and no. When I wrote "Gridlinked",
the book included a character called Mr. Crane - a two-and-a-half meter tall
brass Golem android. I really liked the character and was thinking about doing
more about him. Quite possibly it was the feedback from fans - saying they
really liked him - that ... informed my
decision to write "Brass Man". The feedback from fans saying they
like my stuff is what helps keep my nose to the grindstone.
Ire: So, it
could be said that you're listening to the pulse of your readers regarding your
books?
Neal: Yeah, I'm listening. I'm not going to go off and
do something all arty just to satisfy my ego - I'll keep giving them what they
want.
Ire: You said
you've written a couple of fantasy novels that haven't been published yet. So
the question of the hour is: which do you prefer - fantasy or science fiction?
Neal: I definitely prefer the SF. Even the fantasy I
was writing had to have a logical basis - the powers employed were
super-science rather than magic - and there were few of the usual standard
fantasy tropes like elves, dwarves or magic swords. Thought admittedly there
was a 'staff of power'. Anyway, SF was where I was successful and now having
written lots of it, it's my preferred form.
Ire: Why do you
think there's so much interest in fantasy these days and less and less in SF?
I've had the pleasure of meeting Brian Aldiss last year and he said it's
because people are feeling that there's nothing much left to discover. That
we've gone too fast and too far with technology and people are kind of
regressing, looking for spirituality in myth and legend.
Neal: I think it is because fantasy is easier and most
people know the language. The SF 'language' is a difficult one to acquire. I
think you've got it about right there: a close analogy is between science and
religion - the latter is easier and requires a lot less thought.
Ire: And do you
hang out with other writers? Do you exchange ideas with them, discuss the
current trends?
Neal: I have to admit that I don't hang out much with
other authors. I've met a few. It was nice when getting taken up by a big
publisher to actually meet one of my heroines - Tanith Lee - and others like
Harry Harrison and Michael Moorcock. I've chatted in passing with China
Mieville, Liz Williams, Alastair Reynolds and others, but never really had
lengthy conversations with any of them. I guess I'm just doing my own thing and
going my own way. I'm no necessarily aiming to do anything new ... I'm aiming
to do what is mine, and what's entertaining.
Ire: And
finally, how do you see your future as a SF author? Are there some rewards you
are aiming to get? Some stories you are eager to write?
Neal: I'll keep on writing while publishers keep
taking my stuff. I'm on my ninth book for Macmillan right now, am lined up for
doing another book for Night Shade Books and hope to see more contracts. What
rewards? The rewards are on the shelf behind me. Not many people get to earn a
living doing something they love. I appreciate that and want it to carry on.
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