Author Interview with Steve Turnbull

Steve Turnbull is the author of Rebel Dragon, a fantasy novel included in the Fire and Fantasy e-book anthology. He has created worlds in steampunk, science fiction, and fantasy.

What’s your typical writing day like?

I wish I had one. I do still have a day job so I do that, come home, eat, and then start writing. I can usually get a couple of hours in. I can also write almost anywhere and will often write on long train journeys.

How do you approach a new writing project? What kind of preparations do you make?

Um, well … do people prepare? Really? Mostly I just decide what story I want to write and write it. I have several series running so I choose the one that most needs the next story. If it has a historical setting I usually do some research to see what tidbits I can pick up – but that’s about it.

Mostly I’m a discovery writer so I know the beginning and the end, while the rest is up for grabs.

Except it also depends on the project since I just finished a 200K+ SF epic with multiple POVs and multiple throughlines which had to meet at the end. That one had to be planned thoroughly.

It’s a given that creating a book is not an easy process. What’s the most difficult part for you, and how do you push through it?

This is embarrassing. I find creating stories to be very easy but then I never do things the normal way. I did spend nearly 20 years as a journalist/editor. Writing words holds no fear for me. Blank pages are there to be filled.

The most difficult bit? Staying off social media, so I use a package called “Anti-Social” to block access. Works a treat.

What did you enjoy most about writing the book that went into the Fire & Fantasy anthology?

Working with my new lead character, Kantees, because I started a new series in my existing second-world fantasy world. She’s great. And her dragon, Sheesha, would like me to tell you that he’s great too (or he would, if he could talk – which he can’t).

I have written kick-ass female characters but I prefer to write clever ones. Kantees is a slave who has freed herself. She can’t read or write (and that annoys her) but she has a purpose and it’s not the one destiny has laid out for her. Or perhaps it is.

Tell me about your path to publication. What process did you go through?

Long story short: I’ve always loved telling stories though I never imagined I’d be a writer until I was 15 and wrote two novels. They were crap. I still have the first one and take a look every now and then.

I was a magazine editor/journalist. I ran my own magazine publishing company. So when I decided to write and publish it was entirely natural for me to self-publish because I already knew how to play the game.

There was still a lot to learn but it all fitted neatly into the knowledge I already had.

Where did your love of books/writing/storytelling come from?

I was once a quiet and introverted young boy who consumed every science fiction and fantasy book I could lay my hands on. Luckily my father was also a fan so we had plenty of material in the house, and then I strip-mined the local library.

Then I read “Cider with Rosie”, the first autobiography of poet Laurie Lee, and it changed my view on the English language forever: Words could be beautiful.

That’s when I started writing.

What’s your favorite childhood book?

The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. You want something more sophisticated? Nah. That.

What do you like to read, or otherwise do, in your free time?

If I had any free time I would answer that. I like to read but I get only 15-20 minutes a day which is not great. But I generally try to read at least one book by the authors who I know.

Do you have a favorite piece of writing advice you’ve received or that you’ve  given?

“Finish it.” Neil Gaiman

But if I was going to give advice:

Most new authors worry about their “voice”. Stop it. Your voice emerges as you write and it evolves with time. The only way you’ll find out what it is is by writing. It’ll probably be sorted out after 100,000 words or so.

So: write. Write a lot. And keep writing.

Find Steve’s work on Amazon.com.

From his Amazon profile:

When he’s not sitting at his computer building websites for national institutions and international companies, USA Today bestselling author Steve Turnbull can be found sitting at his computer building new worlds of steampunk, science fiction and fantasy.

Technically Steve was born a cockney but after five years he was moved out from London to the suburbs where he grew up and he talks posh now. He’s been a voracious reader of science fiction and fantasy since his early years, but it was poet Laurie Lee’s autobiography “Cider with Rosie” (picked up because he was bored in Maths) that taught him the beauty of language and spurred him into becoming a writer, aged 15. He spent twenty years editing and writing for computer magazines while writing poetry on the side.

Nowadays he writes screenplays (TV and features), prose and computer programs.

**book review of Rebel Dragon coming soon**

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