Defenders of Writeousness

Philip Reeve is the author of the Mortal Engines Quartet, the Buster Bayliss series, the Larklight trilogy, and several other books. He offered to answer a few questions for the Defenders of WRITEousness. Here are his answers.

When writing a novel, it is almost always necessary to build the world in which the main characters live. In your experience, what is the best way to imagine and create a world for your characters to live in? How does one make the world believable, even if it is a fantasy or something along those lines?

I sometimes find it difficult to answer questions about the way I write because when it’s going well it’s largely instinctive, or emotional, rather than something I consciously plan and think about. In fact, I try to avoid planning things in advance. All my books thus far have been set in imagined worlds, since even my ‘historical’ novel Here Lies Arthurtakes place during a period of British history about which almost nothing is known. I tend to just let these worlds develop as I go along. It’s mostly a pretty logical process – if you start from the premise that in this world cities move about, for instance, obviously that will have certain effects on the landscape, and you start to think in terms of city states rather than nations.

Quite often, looking back, I realise that there was a key visual thing which formed a sort of kernel around which the the world of each book accreted: the retro-fitted future in Mortal Engines was pretty much sparked off by a World War One tank crewman’s mask which I saw in a museum. When those early tanks came under fire, blobs of molten metal would start flying about inside, causing distress and inconvenience to the crew. So they were issued with these masks made of leather with louvred metal eye coverings and a sort of chain mail veil hanging down: they look both futuristic and medieval. I made some drawings of them, and I think the whole Mortal Engines world grew from that seed. Larklightwas definitely inspired by a display of 18th Century scientific equipment in another London museum.

Once you have the outlines of the world and have started writing I think detail becomes very important: I like giving things trade names, for instance, so that someone doesn’t just get into an airship, they get into a MkVII Goshawk Super-Gnat or whatever. I want to know where things are made, and what they feel and smell like, the name of the shop which sold them. And why just have someone ‘head north’ when you could be naming a few of the towns they’ll pass, extending the world beyond the boundaries of the story? It all adds texture, and I think texture is what makes a fictional world convincing.

Creating believable and likeable characters can be tough. What is your advice on creating a good character? Also, out of all the characters you have created, which is your favorite?

I don’t claim to be any sort of expert on any aspect of writing; I just potter along doing the best I can. Some people like to work out all their characters attributes and backstory on index cards before they start, but I think you can always tell; like the worlds, I prefer my characters to evolve naturally. Since I write for children and young adults I’ve always tried to have a young person or two at the heart of my stories, but that’s probably not strictly necessary: as long as they’re underdogs to some extent I think children will still sympathise. I do usually write about girls, too; I’m not sure why. Maybe I should force myself to write a strong male protagonist next time. I don’t always aim for ‘likeable’, though. I prefer slightly detached, reserved characters. Or, indeed, total sociopaths like Hester in the Mortal Engines books. She’s still probably my favourite, though Fever Crumb runs her a close second, and I greatly enjoyed writing in Gwyna’s voice for Here Lies Arthur.

What are good resources for getting published?

Well, the world of publishing is on the brink of such seismic changes that I can’t really offer any advice. I’m sure it’s already changed a lot since I got Mortal Engines published ten years ago. For instance, I didn’t have an agent when I started out; I just sent my manuscript to Scholastic. Nowadays I should think finding an agent is pretty important. Still, the one resource that you absolutely can’t do without is a good story, well written, and the only way you can get one of those is to write and write and write. As far as I can see, in the present state of the industry, a good book will always find a publisher – it may not find areadership, but someone will publish it.

What makes good dialogue?

Ideally I can hear each character as they speak; the sort of words they use, the rhythms. Of course in the type of stories I tend to write, the dialogue is often there to serve the plot – “There he goes!” “Let me explain the plot to you, professor…” etc. So a lot of the work is in sugaring those pills, and hopefully making them sound a bit more natural.

What is your writing process? What is your ideal environment?

I usually write for most of each day. I tend to start at chapter one and work my way slowly through to the end, with many detours and much backtracking along the way. Most of my books end up in the bin at some point; the ones that end up getting published are the ones that I pull out and start again. When I finally get to the end I start again and try to improve it. A book is never really finished (well, mine aren’t) but there comes a point when they won’t let me do any more rewrites. The only thing about the environment that matters to me is QUIET.

What are the essentials of a good fight scene?

I suppose unpredictability would be a good thing to aim for: usually when you read a fight or battle scene you have a fairly good idea who’s going to win, so it’s nice to be surprised from time to time (difficult, though: I’m not sure I’ve ever achieved it). Otherwise, brevity is probably good: if a fight scene in a book goes on for more than a few pages I usually find myself skipping to the end. I suspect that actual combat isn’t that interesting to read about; the build up and the aftermath are where the drama lies.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? How do you overcome this?

Whether I’m writing or drawing there’s always a little voice going, “This is no good. This is rubbish! Why don’t you chuck it in and get a proper job?” Luckily I have no other marketable skills, which helps me to ignore it.

What got you started writing? When did you start?

I was very little, only five or six, so I really can’t remember why I started, but I always had some ‘book’ on the go while I was at school – usually a paper-thin knock-off of whichever author I was enjoying at the time. By the time I was thirteen I was turning out very bad full length novels.

I know you also do illustrations. Have you considered illustrating for any of your books?

I’m more of a cartoonist than an illustrator, so it’s never really been appropriate. I am, however, working on a fantasy novel at the moment, and I quite fancy doing some illustrations for that.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Write something every day. Always write what you want to, not what you think will impress others. And don’t expect to make any money at it (then, in the unlikely event that you do, it will come as a nice surprise).

Many of us in the Defenders of WRITEousness are big fans of Dr. Who, as I believe you are, too. What is your favorite episode, and who is your favorite Doctor?

I was never a real Dr Who fan: I have very mixed feelings about it. I used to watch it when I was eleven or twelve, in the late 1970s, so Tom Baker will always be the Doctor to me, just as Roger Moore will always be James Bond. I enjoyed watching the latest series with my son, and we both thought Matt Smith was an excellent Doctor. But I’m more of a Quatermass man really. AndFirefly, of course. American television is so much better than our homegrown stuff at the moment that it’s quite embarrassing.

How do you take your tea?

White, no sugar, please. (And English Breakfast or Darjeeling: Earl Grey is not fit to be classed as tea at all.)