Recently I was interviewed on The Haphazardous Hippo. Here's a backup of the interview.
The Hippo Hangs Out . . . . with Karl Drinkwater
I’m hanging out with an author who writes several genres of books
ranging from horror to contemporary fiction and I’m delighted to welcome
Karl Drinkwater to The Hippo today.
Lost Solace is Karl’s latest book so let me tell you a bit about it.
Blurb
Sometimes spaceships disappear with
everyone on board – the Lost Ships. But sometimes they come back,
strangely altered, derelict, and rumoured to be full of horrors.
Opal is on a mission. She’s been
seeking something her whole life. Something she is willing to die for.
And she thinks it might be on a Lost Ship.
Opal has stolen Clarissa, an
experimental AI-controlled spaceship, from the military. Together they
have tracked down a Lost Ship, in a lonely nebula far from colonised
space.
The Lost Ship is falling into the
gravity well of a neutron star, and will soon be truly lost … forever.
Legends say the ships harbour death, but there’s no time for indecision.
* * * *
Lost Solace has got some fabulous reviews so I think it’s well worth
taking a look at but don’t rush off and do that just yet as Karl is here
now and I know you want to know more about him.
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| Photo courtesy of Karl Drinkwater |
Karl Drinkwater is originally from Manchester but has lived in Wales for
half his life. He's a full-time author, edits fiction for other
writers, and was a professional librarian for over twenty-five years. He
has degrees in English, Classics, and Information Science.
He writes in multiple genres: his aim is always just to tell a good
story. Among his books you'll find elements of literary and contemporary
fiction, gritty urban, horror, suspense, paranormal, thriller, sci-fi,
romance, social commentary, and more. The end result is interesting and
authentic characters, clever and compelling plots, and believable
worlds.
When he isn't writing he loves exercise, guitars, computer and board
games, the natural environment, animals, social justice, cake, and
zombies. Not necessarily in that order.
Karl is a professional member of the Horror Writers Association, and an Author Member of the Alliance of Independent Authors.
* * * *
What book/books made you cry and why?
Harry Cat's Pet Puppy by George Selden. I read it as a child when I was
coping with the death of my guinea pig. The portrayal of all the animals
and the way they suffered from neglect really hit me. I was probably
about eight years old. I remember crying my eyes out, wanting all beings
to experience love and protection. Along the same lines would be Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and Watership Down by Richard Adams. All kids
should read those books, then maybe we’d have more compassion in the
world.
As an adult, I cried when I first read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. To
see our world of such potential beauty destroyed by human choices,
actions and cruelty … I think it hit home quite hard.
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?
Yes. As a child I hated my surname, and wanted to change my name to
James Bond. I’m glad that never happened: can you imagine the bullying
I’d have endured? Anyway, I eventually made peace with my quirky
surname. And since I was about seven years old I told people I’d be a
writer; it then seemed better to use the name they’d recognise, so they
could see I’d stuck to my obsession.
It can be difficult using a single name when you write in multiple
genres as I do. I try and make it clear from each book’s description
what genre it falls into, so my horror fans don’t pick up a quirky
contemporary love story, or my litfic fans don’t pick up a sci-fi
thriller. Then again, if it is my writing and ideas that people connect
with, then perhaps having some crossover is a good thing.
What other authors are you friends with and how do they help you become a better writer?
So many. The writing community is a supportive one, and we all help each
other to improve. All of the literary editors I’ve used are also
authors, since authors best understand the processes and methods – when
something doesn’t work, we will have suggestions to fix the problem. My
friend Julie Cohen
has given all sorts of useful pointers over the years, to me and many
other authors, so I count her as one of my main mentors at the moment,
but there have been lots of others. I also learn from the authors whose work I edit.
The process of analysing text in close detail, identifying issues, and
how they can be improved: doing that for other people also makes you a
better writer. And the end result is the circle of friendship and
support grows.
Do you often hear from your readers and what do they say?
I do get emails, blog comments, messages and so on, and they say things
about my writing that make my heart swell. As with reviews, it’s a more
intimate affirmation than quantitative royalty statements and sales. My
last book was Lost Solace and not only has the feedback been amazing,
but I’d say 90% of the praise in messages and reviews is about the main
character Opal, and her artificial intelligence
companion/friend/spaceship Clarissa. People fell in love with them and
their relationship, their strength. And that is something that makes me
proud, because in an experiment that could have backfired I had decided
to write a novel that, for the bulk of it, features only those two
characters. To feel the love from people’s words … that means I
succeeded.
What do you think is more important: characters or plot?
Which is more important in a painting: shapes or colours? You can’t
separate them, because they are both equally important overall, even if
different individual works gain an effect from focusing more on one or
the other. Without characters that intrigue the reader, and who face
obstacles to their desires, it is hard for a reader to connect. Without
things happening as a result of how characters react to the obstacles
(which forms our plot), you have meandering introspection and random
chance. A good book needs both. Lost Solace is praised for the
characters, but without a tense and fast-paced plot (made up of
obstacles to their desires, of course) the characters wouldn’t be able
to show their strength and become interesting. The two elements of plot
and character are entangled and mutually supportive (then ideally
overlaid with other elements such as style and voice).
You get a brilliant idea/thought/phrase at an inappropriate moment (eg in the shower or driving) what do you do?
Happens all the time. I keep a pad by the bed and jot notes in the dark.
Or I grab my phone and record an audio file with the ideas in. If I am
in the shower I will repeat the idea until I get out and can record it;
or if it is complex, I’ll develop a mnemonic that fractally compresses
the concepts for decoding later. I often think of things on the verge of
sleep, and am quite good at repeating then storing the idea, so that
when I wake up it is the first thing in my mind and can be recorded.
If a genie granted you three wishes what would they be?
The first one would be something to do with compassion. Maybe if humans
felt the impact of their choices we wouldn’t be so selfish and
thoughtless. If we felt the pain from any action that causes pain, then
it would destroy selfishness and thoughtlessness at a stroke. I don’t
see the point of free will if it leads to suffering. So I’d do this, and
humans could be united with each other and with all sentient beings.
I’d implement a guide so that humans would restrict ourselves and our
impacts to a percentage of the earth – maybe 30-40%. The rest would be
left to nature, with interconnected corridors for wildlife. The problem
is that currently humans and human law see the whole earth as belonging
to us, just one species, and unfortunately the most destructive one. Our
level of consumption increases year on year, as does our population
(even when birth rates drop slightly, they still result in an overall
global population increase). We’d have to voluntarily restrict our
population to sustainable levels to achieve that. Covetousness of all
that the eyes behold is not an endearing trait.
For the third, it would be gifts resulting from those above. Reduction
of pollution. Increase in compassion and community connections. We’d
have support networks, more natural lifestyles, better diets, reductions
in disease. Minds that are surrounded by beauty and love and support,
rather than obsessed with time pressures and hemmed in by concrete and
alienation. We’d have peace. I don’t think there’s any point looking to
expand to other planets until we can learn to live sustainably and at
peace within the beautiful one we have already.
I
love your three wishes Karl, if only we could find a genie that could
grant them! I thought that the above quote fitted in with them very well
and I hope you do too. 😉
You can find out more about Karl, his books and connect with him using the links below:
I'd like to thank Karl for hanging out with me today. It's been great getting to know you better. 🙂
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