words_are_weapons

AUTHOR BIO:

My name's Jamie Harris, and I live in Edinburgh, Scotland. When I'm not writing stuff for Wattpad I work for a publishing company full time. When I'm not doing that, I like to read a lot, walk my dog, play a little Xbox, and enjoy a nice beer in the sun. I generally write sci-fi action stories with the main aim of just giving people something fun that they can binge their hearts out on.

Hi, Jamie! We're delighted to have you with us today! Let's start. What are your biggest inspirations?

For FURNACE specifically it was a bit of a mash up of Pacific Rim and Battlestar Galactica - the big mechs of course from the former, and the way the pilots in Battlestar Galactica all had their own cool callsigns and worked in these tightly-knit units. I've always been a fan of military SF (I read a lot of Warhammer 40k novels...) so this was just a really fun adventure into that subgenre for me.

 More generally, I get inspired by all kinds of stuff - movies, books, TV shows and music. Maybe I hear a cool piece of music and that puts an image in my head, and I sort of work backwards from there. I have a selection of playlists that are all tailored depending on the book I'm working on at any given time. Sometimes when I'm watching a movie or TV show it'll spark an idea and I'll have to scuttle off and write it down before it gets away. Sometimes it's just a simple case of reading/watching something I like and thinking "I'd love to have a crack at something like this".

 I could go on and on listing all the books, films, games and authors that I've taken inspiration from over the years, but I'll contain myself for now! Anyone who wants to know more can shoot me a DM.

If you could be any character from your story, who would it be and why?

Probably Ivy, to be honest. I've always liked the back up characters who keep everything ticking over behind the scenes - the unsung heroes without whom the main cast couldn't do their job. That, and I don't fancy being on the front line in the Hunter-Killer books!

Tell us something cool about your story's world, magic system or theme.

Being set on a desert planet, the colonists in the story revere water, and it has taken on a central role in the religion of the population. 

What challenges did you face when writing your story?

The biggest challenge when writing a military SF story like this, for me, was balancing the casualties suffered by the main squad against character development. Due to the setting there had to be some deaths, but it was a balancing act of developing those characters enough so that the loss has emotional weight, versus having the bodycount be realistic in the context of the story. With that, you also run into the difficulty of killing off characters that you'd love to keep :'(

And if I'm being completely honest, keeping track of all the callsigns, officers and the changing members of the squad meant I needed a spreadsheet to make sure I kept everything consistent!

What's your favorite music?

It varies depending on what I'm doing, but I alway love a good film score. When I was writing the two Hunter-Killer books I listened to the Black Adam movie soundtrack pretty much on a loop because it was just perfect for what I was writing:

https://youtu.be/f9ydfcm5UTM

Lastly, what advice would you give to your fellow writers?

I would say not to over-edit when you're writing an ongoing story. Things can always be fixed after the fact, but actually finishing a book is the real challenge, and it took me a while to get into the habit of powering through to finish things, rather than agonizing every little detail. I know people who have planned out whole series but they never get off the ground because they don't actually take the plunge to start writing - they spend to much time planning, and re-planning and tinkering that the project never happens.

The most important thing is to just keep pushing. The more you write the better you'll get at it, so don't discourage yourself by over-analysing every word you write. That's what editing is for once you're finished!

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Thank you for joining us, Jamie! Congratulations yet again and wishing you all the best!