From the Personal

I started off in writing fiction assiduously avoiding anything that remotely resembled autobiography. To me using one’s own life felt like the practice of a writer who’d run out of good ideas. But when you’re young and bursting with inspiration (oh, and not lived all that much) you scoff at those would-be novelists who think their life is interesting enough to be documented for the general public.

Nowadays it’s never as simple.

Autofiction really is a thing in literary circles. Not that my past is so interesting that I should plunder those experiences as if they were gems to be marvelled at when represented in some shinier form. Fiction for me has been about, well, making stuff up. Although it is said good fiction always contains a kernel of truth.

My last novel, The Chosen, reads mostly like a memoir. But to believe it you’d have to accept some extraordinary events. That’s not to say it’s all made up, or even – to use that cliche – telling a lie to reveal a deeper truth. The art is in extrapolating from real experience.

I wonder if in this age when facts (empirical evidence notwithstanding) have never been so much in question – never so challenged by beliefs and opinions – that fiction has a useful role. Maybe some readers only trust what seems plausible rather than the ‘Experts’ view. Perhaps this is especially true of my genre of science fiction. And indeed two centuries ago most scientists never imagined their ‘facts’ could be overturned.

As well as providing an escape from the worst of reality, I think fiction has a crucial role to question accepted truths and conventional wisdom. Ideas of a good life, of beauty (superficially at least ), of normality have changed noticeably in the last two decades alone (although I accept that is a personal perspective – the ageing process). And maybe that questioning can be done more powerfully through a protagonist’s thoughts and experience. Even if it’s someone you may not like.

My published books:

World’s Beyond Time UK Worlds Beyond Time (US)

The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)

Download The Chosen for free while it’s still available.

Power of Imagination

One morning asleep with the radio on I dreamt she appeared instead on TV – engaged in some discussion of business and financial matters. Well, I hadn’t taken in what was being said, just remembered this young woman in a faux-leather biker jacket, light frizzy hair tied back, and a noticeable gap between her front teeth – one of those attractive imperfections (unlike the ‘uncanny valley’ perfection of an AI generated image). But what was curious is that – as far as I know – i’ve never before seen this person or anyone who looks like her. I was captivated.

All in my mind?

I sometimes feel like my dream-world is more vivid and, yes, better than reality. But I wonder if I try to conjure up people that seem convincingly real, to compensate.

Is this what we fiction writers share in common – a need to compensate for what’s missing in our lives?

Most of us dream of those we have lost, be it human or a pet. But of those that have never existed…?

Writers always strive for authenticity (or at least verisimilitude), the life we’ve had or never likely to have and make you believe it all really happened (or some variation). Sometimes it feels like I really have lived that life – feel a biting nostalgia when seeing a 1960s car that I know I have never even sat inside.

I don’t believe a good imagination is the same thing as the ability to visualise another’s description. I’m not great at that – I can get frustrated at pages of detailed world building common to SF. It’s what you visualize on your own terms, when maybe a suggestion is enough, that maybe sparks some connection – and even fulfils a need. That’s the power of the imagination.

My published books:

World’s Beyond Time UK Worlds Beyond Time (US)

The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)

The Chosen now available for free on D2D for a limited time only

http://adriankyte.com/

Making the Effort

Reading fiction takes effort. Reading science fiction often takes more effort. But it should never feel like a task. Anything that says “rewards the patient reader” I would tend to avoid, even though some truly are rewarding.

I downloaded two volumes of a book by a well known author at discount, which got off to a promising start. Now I’m struggling. After reading the excellent Upgrade by Blake Crouch – an intense page-turner – this latest novel feels comparatively like hard work. Maybe it’s because i’ve become lazy and my attention span is not what it used to be. After all, the voluminous space saga was never a problem for me in my 20s, 30s and slightly beyond. Those Peter Hamilton doorstoppers, I ploughed through them all – gladly. Yet here I am now getting bamboozled by the welter of characters, their roles and histories, the detailed descriptions of bizarre aliens and their environments. It feels like I am failing in not properly envisioning the scenes. And yet, if you ask me what’s wrong with the writing, the plotting, world-building, I can’t quite put my finger on it; there are no bad sentences. The writing is as agile as the action scenes.

I have, however, noticed a change in style generally in constructing a successful novel that’s altered over the last decade, that a debut author should probably adhere to, to sell. The previously best-selling have the latitude of loyalty from the reader that will invest – and likewise from their editor. There is the risk of the writer having a clear vision of their book and wanting to add authenticity by adding reams of detail. And therein lies the alien description conundrum; you, the reader, have never seen that strange world or that multi-limbed creature, so the author can’t just skip over it to get on with the plot. Maybe that is why earth/human based novels have wider appeal.

Still, there is the art of finding the familiar in the alien that a skilled SF writer can achieve. A challenge I’m not sure I’d pull off.

My published books:

World’s Beyond Time UK Worlds Beyond Time (US)

The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)

Download The Chosen for free while it’s still available.

http://adriankyte.com/

Letting It Go

It’s so difficult to finally let it go – that book you’ve spent over three years refining to perfection. Well, not quite perfection, just to a point where you know (or rather think, to be honest) that it can’t be improved. It’s been through a final round of tinkering after having felt inspired by other authors (in their brilliance) to see a new way of writing a particular scene. So yes, I had finally attained that wisely objective judgement; seen the forest for the trees; risen above my limited dogged view of the kind of novel I’d originally set out to write; been on a journey of enlightenment – no less. Anyway, that’s what I prefer to believe.

But I suspect not everyone will read it that way. They might well appreciate the fulfilment I got from immersing myself in the life of a character less ordinary, but by the same token see indulgence where I aimed for authenticity, lack of discipline rather than untrammelled literary expression.

I fear the scrutiny of The Editor more than the general reader – including those notoriously fierce Amazon reviewers that even the most acclaimed writers are not immune from. The whole business of publishing, so easy to think, it’s a jungle out there.

In the meantime I have put out my own free – self-edited – version of The Chosen (provisionally titled), which really is a way of safely testing the water, and trying out yet another renewed blurb-style précis that still doesn’t seem quite right. Also, one literary agent insists that it should be read by someone other than myself before submitting. And since the thought of anyone who knows me reading my fiction would be cringe-inducing (at this point in my life, at least), I’d rather only push it on strangers. Not that I’m in the business of writing thinly-veiled autobiography, it just might look that way. In parts.

Yes, maybe my coyness could be a problem if by some faint chance I become successful.

Download The Chosen for free while it’s still available.

http://adriankyte.com/

Science Fiction Anomaly

As a writer, reading a good book – I mean one where the talent of the author really shines through – can produce simultaneous reactions: envy and inspiration (okay, occasionally despondency). Currently I’m reading The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier, a bestselling science fiction thriller, that many would read far quicker than me, but I tend to study and reread instead of simply enjoying the ride.

I’m rarely one to review or promote popular novels, such that they’d ever need my contribution (the screen adaptation rights have already been sold) but here’s an exception.

I try not to view other writers/authors as competition. And here is a chance to study how it’s done so well (if not perfectly). How can he break so many ‘rules’ of contemporary fiction – such as head-hopping within a chapter and many POVs, not all of them likeable, even occasionally slipping into author omniscience – yet still produce something that is cogent and coherent enough to keep the reader utterly absorbed. I guess it’s the old adage about mastering the rules to know how to break them, or perhaps as a French to English translation you subconsciously allow more latitude.

I’m always obsessed by what makes a great work of fiction. The Anomaly seems to achieve it’s (you might say) lofty ambition, gripping as a thriller with the depth of a literary novel, but also a serious take on SF concepts such as simulation theory. To appreciate a book on different levels is a rare thing. Not that many writers set out to write just a good yarn even if that’s what they modestly claim; though maybe as a reader I expect too much, to not just be entertained but find solace in fiction, to relate to that which at first glance seemed barely relevant to my life. Science fiction, of course, has this problem – something I’ve grappled with as a reader and a writer struggling with the [hopefully] final draft of The Chosen. The premise can seem like high concept, but, as exemplified in The Anomaly, you can be surprised at the depth of characterisation and literary sensibility as well as the science.

You can check out my published fiction, linked below.

My published books:

Worlds Beyond Time (US) UK

The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)

http://adriankyte.com

A Second Chance?

Major publisher puts out an offer to submit your manuscript. Not something that is publicised for anyone but seen via recommendation on a trusted blog site. So you think: this is my big chance. The deadline is still over a month away so I can get it into some reasonable condition.

Well, after that deadline passed, on which I had submitted a rushed through draft of my novel, doubts began creeping in. All those errors, somehow invisible in that month of revision flourish, soon were stark to behold.

I can understand the thinking of Gollancz: a seemingly benevolent opportunity to aspiring authors – who look upon the welter of books in a saturated market but recoil at those gatekeepers to promotion and publicity … and to that purportedly exclusive club of elite talent embraced by the major publishers. Of course it’s pointless ranting on about the traditional publishing industry being driven by profit; that’s the nature of successful business, right? Then surely indies and self-publishers do have a role to fill, not least in offering some alternative from the flavour of the moment.

It is so easy – with winter reflection – to slip into a state of regret at having been so impetuous back in those heady June days, submitting something so far below standard. It feels now like an act of hubris. But I can understand others doing the same. The lure of just having your work read by someone who really knows books; the mere prospect of professional approval is so tantalising. But then failure, rejection, is worse when it’s a publisher (especially a prestigious one) rather than an agent. Turned away by the ultimate gatekeeper!

To be positive, I like to think there is a second chance – to turn a failure into a success.

My other works of fiction:

Worlds Beyond Time: Amazon UK US

 The Captured: Amazon.co.uk The Captured (US)

http://adriankyte.com

Is It Ever Finished?

[Deleted expletive]. Why hadn’t I noticed that before? – is the most common thought I have soon after submitting my work to a literary agent.

The second most: If I’d corrected that egregious grammatical/ stylistic error in time it could have all been different. Well, you never really know.

Too often i’ve wished I could go back in time to change what I so obviously got wrong, wondering how I could have overlooked it after the umpteenth draft. Had something distracted me; mind not fully focused, not brought my A-game due to tiredness, or some other trouble … all those times? Well, no point, really, in going on about the clarity of hindsight – we all know about that, right?

So given another chance, you think: With the benefit of experience (or even wisdom), not to mention regrets, the same will surely not happen again. And yet…

Pitching an MS is another thing. A whole world of potential slip-ups (not least when it’s a science fiction novel). But knowing the potential pitfalls brings out another familiar trait: procrastination. I remember the adrenaline rushing through me at the time of finally pressing send. Committed, no going back, fate set with one click.

I may give an update on my latest attempt to submit my work, when i finally get round to it.

Apologies to any followers left for not keeping up with my blogging. Yes, it has been a long time since my last post. I hope to write another soon.

My published books: Worlds Beyond Time (UK)

Worlds Beyond Time (US)

The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)

Where It Begins (again)

Sometimes an idea is too good to resist. That’s where it begins for me – being taken in by the ‘wow yeah, I’ve got it!’ As a science fiction writer this revelatory moment of inspiration can be a prelude to trouble and, ultimately, disillusionment.

Having resisted the urge to even consider starting a 6^th novel, I happened upon the phenomenon of Skinwalker Ranch through various TV shows. UFOs and a plethora of paranormal occurrences in one location!

Has no SF/horror writer been inspired by this nexus of paranormal activity? Maybe the reality of it is just too strange, too extraordinarily mindbogglingly weird, to distill into a novel or any form that gives you a coherent narrative. Yet what fiction can do that investigative factual reporting cannot is to give the mysterious meaning by narrowing down the context. Such as: here is a scenario to explain how things connect, a perspective through the eyes of a protagonist. Even though documentaries can do this to some extent – in that they give you an insight, they don’t really put you into the protagonist’s world. (That said, there are some real life people connected who would make interesting fictional characters.) But what, crucially, fiction can do is make a bold leap of imagination.

My guess is, a number of successful fiction authors have studied this phenomenal location and thought: I could take this on, write a decent story … yet risk the scrutiny from those with such an intense interest and strong opinion on what’s really happening, plus the ensuing barrage of criticism. And really, there are so many potential layers to peel away – to get anywhere near the heart of what is dubbed the world’s most mysterious place – it would be too onerous to try. The truth too strange (if not dark) even for fiction writers.

So would I take it on?

Maybe I should resist that temptation. But you can’t stop being inspired.

My published books: Worlds Beyond Time (UK)

Worlds Beyond Time (US)

The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)

My links site: adriankyte.com

Fix the Unfixable?

There is no achievement so imbued with pride than publishing your first novel. Invested with high hopes and what feels like your entire being into this monumental project. Even if it turns out to be a failure, rejected and unappreciated, it will always hold that special place in your heart. Yes, a lot of emotion tied up with that debut work. So it has not been easy to confront the admittedly very considerable failings of The Hidden Realm.

Twelve years from first published I finally removed it. Well, mostly; it ended up on numerous sites since I made it free. Possibly exceeded 10k downloads. Clearly some readers liked it, but unfortunately those who didn’t made it known. This was in the days when competition on virtual space was nowhere near as fierce, so getting attention was far easier. But that kind of attention carries risk. And my request to delete all reference to it on Goodreads was rejected.

Here’s the dilemma. Should I do an extensive re-edit/rewrite of THR? Or just carry on with my fifth novel (second, third draft etc)? It’s a question perhaps only I can answer. A cursory re-read of my debut I soon got a sense of its failings: too many character POVs with all their narratives; clunky dialogue – which has been my weakness for many years. In the end I did my best to tie everything up to what felt like a neat resolution. Written in the noughties, maybe it seems dated in more ways than just the science&tech.

The most common problem with that first novel is, bursting with ideas, you want to throw everything in, without the patience to think: I can leave that character’s story for the next volume. So the next (Time Over) was like a reset in the series.

Anyway, I hope not to simply disregard THR without some attempt to salvage it. Because, surely, you can never forget your first.

My published books: Worlds Beyond Time (UK) Worlds Beyond Time (US)

The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)

Trouble With Reviews

I recently pulled (unpublished) one of my novels from Amazon due to some poor reviews. It had been there for over six years. In the first year it had garnered a couple of 5star reviews but then the negative ones poured in, the most recent in 2016. I’d actually forgotten about them and hadn’t read every one – until last night. Around five years ago I uploaded a revised version. But too late, for all the difference it might have made. What was worse, negative reviews get prominence, since potential readers tend to find those the most helpful – as a useful warning. That of course can kill the sales of a book from any author who isn’t famous, who doesn’t have an established reputation. How much sales of my subsequent books were affected I’m not sure, but I’m not prepared to take the risk.

I’ve never understood the motivation for writing a wholly negative review voluntarily. I guess it has a lot to do with expectation not being met. Maybe it’s an indication of annoyance, or nothing more than trolling. It often seems that these negative reviewers have an agenda; a grievance that goes deeper than from having read a bad book. Perhaps they are themselves failed authors who want to hit out. I’d be interested to discover.

Over the years I have adapted my writing style to accommodate a different or changing reading style. And admittedly I now struggle with any novel not simply plotted see A Novel Style of Writing?

So if you are curious about why my book provoked such strong reactions it can be downloaded here for free. I accept it is a challenging read, so be warned. And don’t feel compelled to finish it like some seem to have.

Otherwise my usual links: Worlds Beyond Time (UK) Worlds Beyond Time (US)

The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)

Reviews are still welcome. But no trolls please.