Geoff Nelder inhabits Science Fiction the way other people inhabit their clothes.
? Jon Courtenay Grimwood
LL ? Publications:? How/when did you decide to become a writer?
Geoff Nelder: As a 1970s student, I wrote jokes for a university rag mag. As a teacher I wrote thousands of student reports and so I became excellent at fiction ? the embellishment of truth. In the later years of teaching, ideas surfaced that insisted on being in novels.
LL-Publications: What made you decide to write in your genre/field?
Geoff Nelder: I drive family and friends wild when I test out my story ideas on them because they are too bizarre for their ?normal? world. Hence fantasy and science fiction is the genre in which my brain lives, so that?s where I write. Blame my mother ? she signed me up to the Children?s science fiction book club when I was four, and my dad, who illustrated science fiction magazines in his spare time. I thought all dads did that?
LL-Publications: Generally speaking, what do you develop first? Plot or characters?
Geoff Nelder: Plot ? or a concept, and it will arrive during a bike ride, most annoyingly while going uphill and so stopping means a struggle to get going again. My theory is that freshly oxygenated blood to the brain stimulates my lateral thinking cell, others say it is just being alone with my otherwise empty head.
LL-Publications: Name an author (or authors) whose work you?ve read for the first time that you enjoyed.
Geoff Nelder: Two authors stand out so much that if I read a page of their work, I am obliged to snatch the nearest pencil, grab a pad and write. They are Tibor Fischer, and the first book of his, The Thought Gang. His love of words and lateral thinking make me buzz.? A.L. Kennedy?s short stories are not just beautifully crafted, they are her brain, and I sample it with a tingle in my toes.
LL-Publications: Who is your toughest critic?
Geoff Nelder: It used to be me until I met my son. He would read my latest oeuvre after many drafts, and email me a list of corrections. Then I met Allan Guthrie, the master of pleonasm detection, and the Lord High Executioner of loose writing. He?d take a 3-page story and return it as a short paragraph.
LL-Publications: Do you preview your work to reader groups or fans?
Geoff Nelder: All my science fiction and fantasy short stories are lacerated at two critique groups: Caf? Doom and the British Science Fiction Association Orbiters are online.They make me cry, laugh and be grateful. My fantasy and SF novels just go through the BSFA Orbiters although I have a couple of writing buddies too for expert help.
LL-Publications: What is one of the nicest things a critic or fan has said about your work?
Geoff Nelder: Howard Waldman (author of Back There and other literary novels). ?I made the mistake of looking at the first page and now am now on page 103. I was a little nervous about the book because you said nice things about mine and I don?t at all like the idea of obligatory reciprocity (I?m sure you don?t either). All I can say is that I can?t put it down and I like that electric-crackling style. This is no bullshit. I could follow your characters all the way.?
LL-Publications: How do you deal with negative responses from a critic or reader?
Geoff Nelder: Ah, you must mean my wife? I pretend I hadn?t heard, play the piano louder, and remember to buy her flowers. I genuinely don?t hear much negativity from other writers. The worst feeling is when I?m told what I thought was a unique concept has been used. So far when I?ve followed those comments through, they?ve been groundless.
LL-Publications: What is your philosophy on writing?
Geoff Nelder: Writing, like all art, is about entertainment. I?ve argued that writing fiction can also educate, probe issues, explore the what-ifs, especially in speculative fiction, but all that is entertaining too. Writing is therapy, a sublimation of emotions, frustrations and above all, a damn good reason for standing, looking out of the window and saying, ?Not now, I?m working.?
LL-Publications: What makes your writing different from your peers? What kind of reading experience can you give your audience?
Geoff Nelder: Most of my stories involve ordinary people to whom extraordinary things happen. They often use humour to cope with adversity, and to lift the reader experience, each of my stories has something unique, an unused spice, or in the case of Aria, an original concept. Caf? Doom critiquers say they?d know they?d be reading one of mine even without my name attached ? and in a good way!
LL-Publications: Name a few references every writer (or writer in your genre(s)) should have.
Geoff Nelder: A thesaurus, Google, and my wife ? she?s a physicist, handy for a SF writer even though I have a Masters in Science.
LL-Publications: Your birthday has been declared a national holiday. How do you want people to celebrate?
Geoff Nelder: Hah, got you: it already is a national holiday. Ever since 1605, November 5th (Guy Fawkes Day ? he led a conspiracy to blow up Parliament) is celebrated with fireworks and bonfires. So everyone in Britain celebrates my birthday.
LL-Publications: Where can we find you on the Internet?
Geoff Nelder:
Website is at http://geoffnelder.com
Blog is at http://geoffnelder.wordpress.com
Twitter is at http://twitter.com/geoffnelder
Aria: Left Luggage
280 pages / 100k words
Genres: science fiction
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Source: http://llpublications.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/interview-geoff-nelder-author-of-aria-left-luggage/
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