Simon Haynes came to the attention of Fremantle Arts Centre Press after self-publishing his first novel, Hal Spacejock. He was born in England, spent his formative years in Spain before coming to Australia in his mid-teens where he has remained ever since. Looking to conquer his birthland, he recently signed with the John Jarrold Literary Agency in the UK. The third Hal Spacejock novel is due to be published in January, 2007. He stayed up late one night to talk with Russell B. Farr.
*
Simon, how did you first become interested in SF?
When I was 10 or 11 I ran out of books and started raiding my parents' shelves. The first thing I found was Asimov's Foundation series, which was quite a change from The Famous Five and Swallows and Amazons. Not long after that I saw 2001 at the village cinema, and the film got stuck at the point where Dave Bowman is struggling to get back aboard the ship. There was a close-up of his face, the frame stuck and melted, then darkness, smoke and a horrible smell. And you thought modern SFX were realistic.
Around the same time I found The Hobbit and devoured it. Then, for my 11th or 12th birthday (around 1977) I was given The Lord of the Rings books and we saw Star Wars. I'd say that just about wrapped it up.
*
You spent a good part of your formative years in Spain. Have you found any of this experience inspirational to you as a writer?
Not really. If anything it should have wrecked any chance of me ever writing in English, since nearly all my schooling to the end of year 10 was in Spanish schools. I only studied year 11 and 12 here in Australia, and then went on to Curtin for my BA. On the other hand, I used to spend a huge amount of time just reading anything I could get my hands on. All of it was in English, and I'm sure that helped me with spelling if nothing else.
*
What is it about SF that keeps you interested?
I don't know who first called it the literature of ideas, but they were spot on. SF writers can twist things a little — or a lot — more than writers in any other genre, and half the fun is working out what they've twisted.
*
You took the self-publishing road to getting a book deal. Can you describe briefly what this entailed? Would you recommend this to others?
These days there are two ways to self-publish. The easy way is to upload your text and cover to someone like lulu.com, push a couple of buttons and voila. The hard way is to print the book blocks, hire a cover artist, get the covers printed, then take the whole lot to a binder. I did it the hard way. The good part is you end up with 100–200 books and the bad part is you end up with 100–200 books. (I did break even, and had I not self-published the FACP sales rep wouldn't have spotted Hal Spacejock in Dymocks, I wouldn't have had the contract offer, and so on.)
I wouldn't recommend either route, to be honest. By the time I was considering self-publishing I had several stories in print and had won an Aurealis Award for one of them. I took that to mean I was writing to a certain level, and that when publishers wrote back to say my writing was good but they didn't feel the SF/Humour genre was big enough to bother with it wasn't necessarily code speak for 'this is crap, go away.'
So, if you're writing something publishers are printing (e.g. fantasy trilogies) you can't use the same excuse I did. And if you don't have any paid publishing credits, how do you know your writing is ready?
Even with the publication credits I can still look back on my early versions of Hal (and indeed, those publication credits) and wince.
To summarise: if your work is good enough to be published, you don't need to self publish unless it's a niche market. And if it's not good enough for a publisher, you shouldn't self publish.
*
With writing humorous sf, which way do you try to do it? Are you aiming to write humorous stories that just happen to be sf, or sf stories that have an element of humour to them?
I usually know by the end of the first sentence whether it's going to be a funny story or a serious one, and whatever I've written to that point dictates the tone of the rest of it. I've not written much outside the SF genre, and I don't think I've ever attempted a humour piece that wasn't SF or Fantasy. One of my early motivations (in 2001 or so) was the appearance of Andromeda Spaceways — a market tailor-made for my stuff. I wrote stories just so I could send them there.
*
Where are you planning to take the Hal Spacejock series? Is three enough or do you have a decology boiling away there?
I just completed 50,000 words of Hal 4 for NanoWrimo, and I have another large slab of text hanging around for Hal 5. I'm still deciding which bits belong to which book. The first two Hal books are doing well, and I believe Hal 3 will be getting support from the bookselling chains, which will really help. (Fremantle Arts are treated as a Penguin imprint outside WA. Over East, there are 200+ Penguin reps selling my books into stores, schools, libraries, you name it. And a jolly good job they're doing, too.)
Anyway, if the first Hal books gather a following, those readers are going to want more. That means my publisher will want more, and so I'm working on them now, before any pressure is applied.
*
Are you looking at writing novels outside the Hal Spacejock series?
Yes, but not yet. While writing Hal 4 I came up with a character who could feature in her own novels. In the Hal universe the police are called the Peace Force (ho ho) and they get a bit of stick from time to time. In Hal 4 there's a female detective who seems a good sort, and I wouldn't mind writing an SF crime series featuring her. Doubt it'd be humorous, either.
*
Do you ever get concerned that you'll be forever branded as "the guy who wrote those Spacejock novels"? Do you fear or rejoice being branded as a humorous sf writer?
I'd be more than happy with that. I'm not a delicate artiste or the author equivalent of a comic actor who dreams of playing Hamlet. I'm in the entertainment game, pure and simple.
*
You also write software, much of it freeware and some of it helpful for writers. What inspires you to do this and give it away free? What sort of feedback do you get from doing this?
I wrote all my programs for my own use, then shared them for others. I feel there's a certain arrogance in putting them online, though. I mean, I've been using my own email software since 2003 but how can I claim that it's better than Outlook or Thunderbird? And if it isn't better, why should anyone bother to use it? The same applies to all my software, but the point is that each of my programs is better than the alternatives in certain ways, and it's only because the others were lacking that I bothered to write mine in the first place.
*
You've also participated in NaNoWriMo on a couple of occasions. What have you got from this as a writer?
Write wildly without worrying too much whether it works. Don't edit, revise, think too much. Just type and let instinct take over. There's also the luxury of telling people I'm busy for an entire month.
*
How fast can you actually type?
When I type it's like a pair of crabs conducting an orchestra with four batons each. I use the wrong fingers on the wrong keys, but my excuse is that I have large hands (I'm around 6'3") and I couldn't touch type properly unless you upsized my keyboard by 20%. According to some typing tutor program I trialled I'm in the 60wpm range, but it would be really nice to hit 100 or more. Never mind, at least I don't have to look at the keyboard.
*
What motivates you to write? Is it fame and fortune or a desire to unleash the ideas that you're bursting with?
At first I wanted to see whether I could craft a story. Once you set off on that path it's only a short step to wondering whether you can get something published, and then you're hooked. To remain hooked, you just need to dream up the next goal before you achieve the current one. And you have to be prepared to work for years and years to achieve each step.
*
Which writers have inspired you?
Several really bad ones. I threw their books aside and decided I could do better. (To be fair, it was bad books and not bad authors.) One of my goals is never to inspire anyone else.
*
What do you read?
Andromeda Spaceways is my short fiction fix. As for books, I have a house stuffed to the rafters with them. I reckon I still have a third to read ... maybe 800–1000 books. Not all SF, by any means.
*
As an Englishman who grew up in Australia, do you have any thoughts on how Australians seem to perceive their chances of getting published overseas?
No, and if they find out how to do it perhaps they could let me know.
In the past I submitted a handful of stories to the majors and got a couple of personalised rejections from F&SF but by then I was working exclusively on novels and didn't try them with any more. I think getting published overseas (and I assume you mean with the biggies in the US) is impossible for just about everyone, no matter where you live.
*
As a member of the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine collective, what benefits do you see in Australian publications publishing the work of overseas writers?
We pick the best from all the fiction submitted to us, whatever the source. Our only concession to local (Aus & NZ) authors is that their blind slush is marked 'Local Author' so our slush readers know to offer a few more comments and suggestions.
The benefit is that when local authors appear in ASIM they know they're writing fiction as good as or better than all the fiction we received from writers around the world. If we were only accepting fiction from local authors the benchmark would be other local authors.
*
Do you think that Australian publications doing this see the best work from overseas writers?
The pro markets get the best (and most of the rest) first. It's where people send to next, and I think our acceptance of email subs helps enormously. After someone gets a rejection from Asimov's, they can do a quick tidy up and have the thing in our slush pile within minutes.
*
Who are you supporting in the Ashes? What do you think the result will be?
Australia. I first got interested in Cricket in 1984 & 85, just after we arrived here from Spain. It was C'mon Aussie, C'mon against the mighty Windies, and I was glued to the TV for about 5 weeks in 40+ degree heat. Then they had the B&H world series just to cap it off.
The Aussies look like they're going to romp it in, but the Poms are missing some key players. Actually, I'm much more of an AFL fan. Go Dockers.
*
In what direction do you hope to develop as a writer?
As long as the ideas keep coming, I'm happy.
*
Where do you see yourself in five years' time?
Five years is a long time. I think Hal has the potential to do well in the UK and North America, judging by the feedback I've had, so it'd be nice to actually have the books in the shops there by then. I reckon there will be three more Hal books in print here in Australia by then, too — I understand my publisher is keen to do more, and I'm already writing them.
I don't think I'll write much short fiction — for reasons already explained, plus there's a market for my novels so I'd be nuts to do something else. On the other hand it would be pretty special to crack F&SF — that was one of the goals which got sidelined once I was sucked into the Hal Spacejock universe. The competition is incredible, though.
*
What opportunities do you see for a new writer in Australia nowadays? Do you feel that they are better off trying to get published in Australia or overseas?
I'm now convinced that the first step is to get an agent, most likely in the UK or US. (I don't know of any genre agents you can approach here — I think I found one and they were 'don't call us, we'll call you', which isn't much use.)
The reason I say get an agent isn't because you have to have one, it's because they act as a filter. If you get a reputable agent — and please, check them on Preditors and Editors before you sign — you know you've written a manuscript they believe they can sell. Even if they don't sell it and the agreement lapses, you've got something you can build on: the knowledge that your writing is better than 95-98% of the rest that agent is seeing, and that your story idea has merit.
The alternative is to keep sending the same query letter and sample chapters to publishers, and because the chances of getting published are much smaller than the chances of getting an agent you're facing a 1 in 3000 instead of perhaps 1 in 200.
The other thing is, if you approach all those publishers and then approach agents with the same book, who are the agents going to sell it to? You've already shown it to all the publishers.
*
How important do you think the small press industry is in Australia?
Very. It's a breeding ground, motivator and educator all in one. Publications cover the spectrum from payment-in-copies to zines to semi-pro print mags and ezines. When I first started submitting fiction Eidolon folded, Altair vanished and Aurealis was undergoing a change of editors and, I think, also lost some of their arts funding. I don't think that was all my fault, but it left Orb and, er, I think that was it. (Orb almost accepted one of my stories in 2000, I think it was ... they sent it back and asked for a resubmit with a new ending, and I never did it.).
Now there's an explosion of mags and you're all spoilt, spoilt I tell you.
*
You talk about the way a number of markets died around 2001. Do you think the present number of magazines in Australian is sustainable in the long term?
Only if people keep buying copies and/or subscribing to them. I used to buy Aurealis, Altair, Orb and Eidolon because I wanted to send them fiction and studying the mags told me what I'd have to do to get in. I also enjoyed the news pages, reviews and interviews, although the internet has rendered most of that irrelevant in modern mags. Mind you, the non-fic is the first thing I read in ASIM every time an issue comes out.
*
What's next for Simon Haynes?
Bed. It's after midnight and I've just spent ages typing up this stuff.
Oh, you mean next career-wise. First, Hal Spacejock Just Desserts is launching in January, and I need to work out how to invite all the people who had no idea the last two launches were on.
There's a second printing of Hal Spacejock (Book 1) coming out at the same time, with yet another new cover. They've reset the book so that it's 40 pages shorter (same text, although I did get the opportunity to stomp a typo and a couple of dodgy comma splices.) It looks really smart and should do well.
On the overseas front I recently signed with the John Jarrold Literary Agency in the UK, and I'm hoping he'll snag some interest from a publisher over there. A ready made series with a sales record should find a home somewhere, but you never know — there are so many books and so few publishing slots.
Copyright © TiconderogaOnline 2006
|
|
|
If you liked this interview, please consider making a donation to TiconderogaOnline
|
