Here’s the Q & A with the author of ” Sci-fi Political War Series – Prologue “ BEN .
Q: Can you tell the readers on how this Novel came to life?
Ben: Well, after the first novel I began writing, which crept to around the 200 page mark, I realised that I didn’t actually know myself where it was going to end, what was going to happen, if anyone would die, if so, who, who would win (the war), what/who would be affected, etc. I began writing it as a sort of ‘fling’ with no real intention for it to get more than a few pages in, but it grew on me and eventually spiralled so far out of control to the point where it was showing the makings of a fully fledged novel. However, because I didn’t expect it to be anything, I never really planned anything about it, and just went completely ‘on the fly’ with it.
It definitely showed promise as a publishing agency contacted me (2 years ago exactly now) wanting me to finish the novel, have it emailed to their editor, and if it still held its ‘kick’ so to speak, they’d like to publish it. This made me look at it very hard and try and coax a solid story line out of it. However, due to the complete lack of planning I simply could not finish it.
Since I missed this opportunity I dropped writing for quite a while, a little over a year. Finally I decided I would write a new novel, and PLAN the damn thing before I wrote a word.
I had never written sci-fi genre, so it was a risk, but so far I have received excellent feedback, some has been critical of spelling, however that was simply due to differences in the English language between countries. I.e. UK English vs. American English, etc.
I’ve always wanted to write a novel depicting a world which I personally would love, but me being me, I also enjoy chaos and destruction, so war is pretty much a commonality amongst my lengthy writings. I used to write a lot of short stories (non in my folio) that we’re full of suspense and quite successfully scared/shocked readers. My favourite writings have always been suspense/thriller/adventure. So with all this in mind, I figured a war-time novel with a small degree of paranormal and advanced technologies would be fun. Particularly if I could drop a chunk of suspense into the thick of it 
Couple this with a 5 month time off from Uni, seemed like a good thing to do
Q: What can we expect to see in the upcoming chapters?
Ben: A lot of confusion and uncertainty will be at the forefront of the coming chapters. The beginning will be fast paced, quickly changing scenes, and a lot of ‘things’ will be occurring, many of them will be openings for further plot development later down the line. The core characters will be introduced along with a small slither of their personal lives. However, due to the way the novel will be starting off, there will be little time to dabble with the characters, so readers will learn more about the characters and their personalities as the plot develops.
Additionally, there is some information in the first/second chapter which holds some very powerful information, however, the reader, unless they have a fantastic memory and put together what they learn in later chapters, they will not understand until the very end, however, the entire novel can easily be predicted about halfway through IF the readers can piece the pieces together, but I can guarantee, it will take longer to piece it together than read the rest At the end everything will be made murky clear, and readers will most likely grab a bat and hit themselves in the head for missing all the hints and subtle tells in the novel. I can promise you, the novel wont be ruined after chapter one though, I’m not stupid, and these clues will be very well hidden, subtly AND sparingly used.
Q: What characters will we see and who’s your favourite?
Ben: You will meet numerous characters, both core and a fair few minor characters, some of which will grow increasingly ‘core’ later in the novel. The main characters will become known fairly early in the novel, and a couple of minor characters will be revealed.
My favourite is without a doubt Sunny, who is a pilot in the military for the Empire. Without saying too much, he has some quirks which make him interesting, and rather fun to deal with, despite the quirks sometime having a very negative affect Although, I cant say Sunny is my absolute favourite, as I have one other character which I really like, despite this character not having a name, at the moment he’s in the novel as $$$$$ cause I cant think of a name that suits his him. I like Sunny and $$$$$ because they both have a slither of my own personality in them, which makes them a whole lot easier to write about and sense what they would do in situations. Another main character called Jason is proving to be most likely the hardest to write with, as he a pivotal point in some very tight situations, and thus his personality needs to be very well balanced, so as the things I need him to do will seem in character and realistic
Q: What strange planets will the reader come to see?
Ben: At this stage I doubt the readers will see any planets other than the one they start on, they will undoubtedly be given information on other planets, but thus far there are no plans for any characters to go off planet. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any dynamic scenes/landscapes, the way I have it planned out there will be many changes in scenery/setting. The settings will by no means become bland =D
Q: My favourite question to ask each writer that passes by is, what fan fiction would you love to tackle and why?
Ben: I don’t really like writing fan fiction, reading it is fine, but personally, if I am to write something, I prefer to write it myself and not base it on somebody else’s work. If I absolutely had to write a fan-fiction piece, it would probably be a novel just prior to the time of the first Gunslinger Novel by Steven King titled ‘The Gunslinger – The Dark Tower 1’ I guess mine would be called ‘The Gunslinger – The Dark Tower 0’ lol
Q: What’s the next project after this one?
Ben: The project after this one? I haven’t really thought about it. I suppose I may look into a solid horror novel and try and scare the reader to the point they can’t finish the novel. It’ll be very tough to get that affect, but after this I’d like to try it. This novel will have a horror/suspense element, but the next project I’d make those two genres my primary focus.
The current project’s focus is more of a thriller/adventure/suspense with some aspects of other genres thrown in, but these are the core 3 elements in the current project =]
Q: Thanks for doing the Q & A with us, anything you would like to say to the readers?
Ben: Keep reading, keep writing, if you don’t write, start!
Read my work too! Haha, I’m always open for comments and criticism, or just having people read and appreciate my work =]
Thanks for your interest too Jesse!!
