An Interview With Ian Benke
Write an entertaining story. Give the reader a reason, on every single page, to keep turning to the next page.
Science Fiction and Fantasy are hugely popular genres. What does it take for a writer today, to write compelling and successful Science Fiction and Fantasy stories? Authority Magazine started a new series called “How To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories”. In this series we are talking to anyone who is a Science Fiction or Fantasy author, or an authority or expert on how to write compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Richard Paolinelli.
Richard Paolinelli began his writing journey as a freelance writer in 1984 and gained his first fiction credit serving as the lead writer for the first two issues of the Elite Comics sci-fi/fantasy series, Seadragon.
After nearly a quarter of a century in the newspaper field, in 2010, Richard retired as a sportswriter and returned to his fiction writing roots. Since then he has written several award-winning novels, two non-fiction sports books, and has appeared in over 20 anthologies including eight of the 11-book Tuscany Bay Books’ Planetary Anthology Series and five Sherlock Holmes collections.
He serves as a co-host on LA Talk Radio’s, The Writer’s Block, and is co-Publisher at Tuscany Bay Books. He currently resides in Western Colorado.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share a story about what first drew you to writing over other forms of storytelling?
When I was a child we moved around quite a lot due to my father’s drilling business. During these moves I’d be in the back seat, bored to tears (no iPhones back in the before times) so I began writing little stories in a notebook between destinations. I guess I caught the bug then and never lost it because all these years later I still enjoy creating new universes and filling them with new people.
You are a successful author. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The first would be that I’ve never stopped learning the craft. Any writer who says they know everything about it is lying to themselves. There is always something new to learn that will improve your own writing. An example of this comes from my newspaper writing days. When I started, I just wanted to be a sportswriter. But I worked at a paper that encouraged staff to work the copy desk and pagination as well. I did this and the skills I learned landed me jobs over other writers who did not possess them. And, some of the photoshop skills I learned in newspapers have been a huge help to me in book publishing.
The second would be hard work. I’ve never been afraid to jump in and get to work on something, even if I haven’t had much, if any, experience doing it. A lot of people shy away from the unfamiliar. Its like learning to swim. The best way is to jump in and do it. And sometimes, learning as you go can be loads of fun.
The third would be setting and meeting deadlines. Again, in newspapers, you have hard deadlines that have to be met. I’ve carried that over to my novel writing. A lot of writers love to procrastinate, and it’s a terrible habit to develop. So far I’ve only missed one deadline I set for myself and it took several deaths in the family to cause me to push a book release back by just four weeks.
Can you tell us a bit about the interesting or exciting projects you are working on or wish to create? What are your goals for these projects?
Right now I’m focused on writing in John C. Wright’s Starquest Universe. He has five books due out later this year that are set in the 12th Age. Fortunately, he created this incredible universe and invited other authors to jump in and play in his sandbox.
I’m playing in the 4th Age and have two books out already — Galen’s Way and Galen’s Blade — with two or three more planned to come out. I’m also going to have some fun in what we’re calling the Pre-Migration era of Starquest, before the human race is transplanted from the Milky Way galaxy into the Andromeda galaxy. Right now I have four books planned for that era with the first — Ranger — due out in early 2023.
And I also have two standalone novels coming soon. Seadragon, a novelization of the 1986 Elite Comics series that I was the lead writer for, and Firstborn’s Curse, which is based on the Biblical character, Cain.
Wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define sci-fi or fantasy? How is it different from speculative fiction?
Its funny. It seems as if the lines between science fiction and fantasy have become so blurred that it is becoming harder to tell them apart. I suppose I’m kind of old school when it comes right down to it. To me, Tolkien is fantasy. Mystical creatures, set in past, using magic and swords and the like strikes me as fantasy.
Science fiction is more Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Futuristic ships traveling to places humanity has not yet reached. Then there’s Space Opera, which is what Starquest is, which starts to blur the lines a little.
When it comes down to it, I think what is sci-fi, what is fantasy and what is speculative fiction really comes down to the eye of the beholder. They all have different meanings to each of us.
It seems that despite countless changes in media and communication technologies, novels and written fiction always survive, and as the rate of change increases with technology, written sci-fi becomes more popular. Why do you think that is?
I think as a species we’re always wondering what comes next? What’s the next frontier? What’s the next challenge? What will life be like in 20 years? 50 years? 100 years? 1,000 years? Sci-fi writers answer those questions.
In your opinion, what are the benefits to reading sci-fi, and how do they compare to watching sci-fi on film and television?
Sci-fi has a history of being the science fact of the future. Verne wrote of submarines visiting the ocean floor and ships landing on the moon. Inconceivable notions during his time but achieved fact in ours. Star Trek had hand-held communicators that fit in the pal of the hand and flipped open. We call them cell phones and they are more powerful computers than the first computers that were built decades ago. Sci-fi stories challenge the scientists of the future to make what seems fantasy to us, be fact to our grandchildren.
And seeing sci-fi stories come to life on the screen aids us in seeing how those words would work in real life. Although I must admit I’m still disappointed we haven’t been given the flying cars the Jetson’s promised me when I was a child watching Saturday morning cartoons.
What authors and artists, dead or alive, inspired you to write?
Jack McDevitt. When I was ready to step away from my newspaper career, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. I came across his book, Time Travelers Never Die, and loved it. So I started checking out his other books and loved them too. Then I found out that he was the same age (46) that I was when he decided to step away from his original career and begin writing.
So I decided that if he could do it, there was no reason why I couldn’t suck it up and give novel writing one more shot. That was 12 years, 14 books, and 22 published short stories ago.
If you could ask your favourite Science Fiction and Fantasy author a question, what would it be?
I have several favorites, so I can’t pick one. But as a group I would love to ask them how they came up with the stories they wrote that I enjoyed reading so much.
We’d like to learn more about your writing. How would you describe yourself as an author? Can you please share a specific passage that you think exemplifies your style?
I consider myself a Superversive author. By that I mean I look to write entertaining stories that also inspire and uplift the reader. I detest the subversive author and their stories that browbeat the reader and make them regret ever having had picked up a book in their entire life.
Superversive doesn’t mean that everything is rainbows and unicorns. Bad things happen in Superversive stories and there are bad people in them. But there are also good people, doing great things and overcoming terrible times. Those are stories that I as a reader want to read and judging from the responses I get from people when I discuss the topic, so do very many others.
Its not exactly a passage, but my very first sci-fi novel, Maelstrom, features a man who was only trying to find a way to prevent the next mass extinction event by way of an asteroid crashing into the Earth. His creation instead nearly destroys everyone on the planet. But he finds a way to atone for what he has done and save what is left of the human race. That, to me, is the definition of Superversive. An ordinary person, thrust into an impossible situation, and somehow finding a way to overcome it.
Based on your own experience and success, what are the “Five Things You Need To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories?” If you can, please share a story or example for each.
1. Write an entertaining story. Give the reader a reason, on every single page, to keep turning to the next page.
2. Give them characters they can buy into — be it to root for and to root against. I’ve read more than a few books where I can’t find a single character within to be bothered to care about. And if I’m rooting for your main character to have the entire universe fall on top of their head by the end of the first chapter, then you haven’t done your job as a writer.
3. Don’t get lost in the minutia. I’ve read books where the writer spends four pages describing the color of a table. Leave some room for the reader’s imagination to get involved. Be a little vague of a character’s physical description, the town the events are taking place in. If the reader’s imagination is allowed to fill in some of the blanks it makes the story more real to them.
4. Have fun writing the story. Trust me, if you aren’t, its going to translate onto the page, the reader is going to pick up on it and they aren’t going to have any fun reading your book. The most fun I’ve had writing a story was Barn Wars: The Rise of Brooster Motherclucker. Its was a short story for an anthology titled: Cracked, that was a collection of sci-fi Chicken stories. It was a scramble (see what I did there?) of Star Wars and the old Looney Tunes cartoons I grew up watching. It was sheer madness and I had a blast writing it.
5. Keep writing and keep learning as you write. The more you write, the better you’ll get and don’t ever let ANYONE tell you to stop. We need more voices in SF/F, not fewer.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Entertainment, Business, VC funding, and Sports read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂
Elon Musk. The man looks at a problem and doesn’t say “Nope, that’s impossible to do” and then walks away. He just sits down and asks “How do we make this happen?” and then goes about making it happen.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Just go to www.scifiscribe.com and everything you need to know — including my social media links — are right there. I even blog from time to time.
Thank you for these excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent. We wish you continued success.
About The Interviewer: Ian Benke is a multi-talented artist with a passion for written storytelling and static visual art — anything that can be printed on a page. Inspired by Mega Man, John Steinbeck, and commercials, I.B.’s science fiction writing and art explore the growing bond between technology and culture, imagining where it will lead and the people it will shape. He is the author of Future Fables and Strange Stories, the upcoming It’s Dangerous to Go Alone trilogy, and contributes to Pulp Kings. The CEO and Co-Founder of Stray Books, and an origami enthusiast, Ian is an advocate of independent, collaborative, and Canadian art. https://ibwordsandart.ca
Author Richard Paolinelli On How To Create Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.