What am I working
on?
My primary
work in progress at the moment is a prequel to my Tube Riders Trilogy. The overview title
is Rise of the Governor, but I have another title in mind which is underwraps
for now. The reason being that I’m still trying to structure the story and I’m
unsure how many parts it will end up as. The Tube Riders Trilogy tales place
over three years, and came out at 450,000 words. The Governor’s backstory
encompasses almost 140 years! It’s likely to be a trilogy, focusing on three
key stages in his life. I won’t lie and say that part of me isn’t doing this
because of the added financial incentives of writing a trilogy, because in a
way it is. However, I never scrimp the reader. Each book will be long, and it
will be a complete story, full of action, tragedy, heartbreak, and all the
other stuff my fans have come to expect.
In addition
to this, I’ve been doing a few other bits and bobs. I write sports stories
under a pen name (Michael White), and I’m just finishing up the sixth in the
series. After Tube Riders, they’re my biggest sellers these days. On top of
that, I recently had a halleluiah moment when I figured out how to do page
numbering for paperbacks, at long last. For a long time my personal finances
have meant I could only afford to pay a formatter to do my longer novels, but
now that I can do internal paperback formatting myself all of my novellas and
collections will soon be available in paperback. Just yesterday I commissioned the
covers of my comedy novellas (under the name of Michael S. Hunter) to be
expanded into paperback covers, so they should be available within a week or
two. All my short story collections will soon follow.
And the final
thing is the Tube Riders boxed set. I’m currently using my spare moments to do
the hyperlinked table of contents. It’s time consuming…
How does my work
differ from others in the genre?
My main work,
The Tube Riders books, is dystopia with trains. That, as far as I can find, is
completely unique in the genre. I am a trendsetter, not a follower. I have
never once tried to write a book because “that’s what’s popular now”. That’s
lame. In years to come people will praise me as the man who made trains cool. I
mean, come on, what’s not to like? They’re these massive, noisy, snake-like
machines that can go at huge speeds. Tube Riding should be more popular than
soccer, because its way more exciting, if a little dangerous…
Why do I write what
I write?
I just love writing.
Genre isn’t so important for me, because I’ve written in many different genres.
My stories do follow a common theme though, and that is that they are low on
tech but high on human interactions. So, in a sense, I guess, my writing is
about examining the human condition.
How does my writing
process work?
It’s gone
through a number of transformations over the years, but right now I try to
write the first drafts as quickly as possible. I write hard, and I write every
day. I work full time, so I can’t write massive amounts, but I aim for around 2,000
words a day. This year so far I’ve written 107,348 words. I’m not happy, but I’m
satisfied. And yes, I keep a spreadsheet…! Deadlines and targets are everything
for me, so I keep a record of daily/monthly/yearly wordcounts, averages per
day/month/year, etc. There’s always a target somewhere to push me on for another
couple of hundred words.
Once the draft
is done, it goes on the shelf. Everyone works differently, but I like to leave
my drafts to mature until I can barely remember the plot. A couple of months at
least. Then I can go back to it with a fresh set of eyes. Depending on how bad
it is (they’re always bad), I’ll give it three or four edit passes before it
goes on to an editor/proofreader. I’m a perfectionist and I trust my own
vision. That’s not to say that if an editor, proofreader or beta reader comes
back and says they don’t like something I ignore it, because I don’t. I make
changes where necessary. But 99% of what you see in the final book is me.
Then, when it’s
published, I’ll have a can of beer, take a day off (during which my free time
always feels completely empty) and then I’ll get back into something else. I
can’t usually start a new novel off the cuff, so I do things like edit old
stories for a day or two, change some covers, update my book details in my
other books. Usually within a week or so I can get into the next project.
I’ve seen a
lot of criticism of people who write fast, but I disagree. In practically every
other pastime, the most you practice, the better you get. It’s the same with
writing. My output is puny compared to some guys I know, but the more I write
the better I write. Also, the more ideas you get, the more seem to come. It’s
all part of brain exercise. I’m not overly prolific when it comes to coming up
with ideas, but I have more than I can write over the next year already queued
up. And by next year … I’ll probably be facing the same problem. It’s a good
problem to have.
Remember, The Tube Riders is now permanently free. Also, there will exclusive (and free) content coming soon for mailing list subscribers. Sign up here so you don't miss out.
Chris Ward
February 28th
2014