Welcome to The Creative Council, where I interview creatives about their lives and work and the ups and downs of being a creative soul.
Today’s interview is with Connor Whiteley!
Connor is the author of over 80 books in the science fiction, fantasy, nonfiction psychology and many more genres! He has sold short stories to magazines such as the Hugo-nominated Pulphouse Fiction Magazine and has received an Honourable Mention from Writers of The Future.
He is the writer of internationally bestselling fiction such as his Bettie English Private Eye Mysteries, Agents of The Emperor Science Fiction Stories and more.
Connor is a passionate reader and author offering weekly book recommendations on his Fiction Author Facebook and Instagram pages. He hosts The Psychology World Podcast and studies Psychology at the University of Kent, England.
He was a former Explorer Scout where he gave a speech to the Maltese President in August 2018 and he attended Prince Charles’s 70th Birthday Party at Buckingham Palace in May 2018.
Plus, he is a self-confessed coffee lover!
The Interview
Hi Connor! Over 80 books! I can’t wait to ask how you got there!
· When did you start creating? Do you remember what pulled you in?
As a kid, I have always been interested in books, especially science fiction and fantasy books. For example, I used to really enjoy the Warhammer 40,000 and other books published by Black Library, and then, over the years as a young teenager, I tried to write a few books. I never finished any of them because writing was so hard.
However, I started to write more seriously and start finishing books around the age of sixteen. I was a Scout in the United Kingdom and we were camping on Brownsea Island on England’s southern coast. It’s this beautiful island filled with pine trees, red squirrels (something that is extremely rare to see in the UK) and it has a very strange coastline. The majority of the beaches on Brownsea Island are covered in broken tiles, roofs and clay pots.
Therefore, my muse wanted me to write a trilogy about how all that stuff on the beaches got there so my Brownsea Island trilogy got born over the next few years. Whilst I had a lot of problems with publishers and other nightmares around that series, I am happy with it because it got me writing.
· When did you start pursuing your current craft for real? As in, when did you begin to take yourself seriously as a creator?
I wrote my Brownsea Island trilogy and my Garro series (a science fiction fantasy series), and I consider that time as me writing once in a while, but I wouldn’t call myself a professional writer back then. I was writing books, but I didn’t take it as seriously as I do now, and I didn’t have the professional mindset or drive to learn how to create better stories.
It wasn’t until March 2019 that I started to take my writing more seriously and I decided to become a professional writer. It was only a few months before that I had suffered a lot of trauma around Scouting where I lost that massive part of my life, the majority of my friends and more so I needed something to fill the void.
Thankfully, it was that sense of lost and wanting to find something else to do with my life that drove me towards writing. Including me wanting to learn how to do it professionally and five years later (almost six!!!), I haven’t looked back. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.
· What if your favourite genre to write in?
I love questions like this one because it’s next to impossible to answer. I love all the ‘big four’ genres (science fiction, fantasy, mystery and romance) for different reasons, because they’re all great in different ways.
I love writing science fiction because I get to explore the far future, and I get to travel the galaxy telling stories with gripping characters. Also, that’s another reason why I love writing fantasy, because it is pure escapism with a little touch of magic on the side, so both genres are brilliant fun.
Equally, I love the mystery genre because I grew up on crime programmes and TV dramas such as NCIS, Castle and more. I really enjoy the puzzle and crime-solving aspect of the mystery genre. This is even more fun when the line between mystery and romance becomes blurred in the romantic suspense genre.
Finally, romance is brilliant fun because it is arguably the most challenging, since a good romance has a very set structure, plot, pacing and tone. For example, your two characters have to have a Happily Ever After, good romances are always positive and good romances focus on the emotion between the two characters instead of there being tons and tons of plot twists like in a mystery, for example.
And sometimes it is just nice to take a nice romantic break away from the space opera, epic fantasy or twisted mysteries I write, and just settle into a nice, calm and emotional romance story between two great people.
But if I had to choose just one genre…
I would have to say that science fiction will always be my first love. Simply because I grew up on the genre, I love traveling the galaxy, writing great space battles and having the fate of the galaxy hang by a thread. That is amazing fun to me as a writer.
· What do you struggle with most as a creative person?
Time.
This is a problem I’ve always had and I think all writers can relate to this problem because we all have so many stories we want to write, new universes we want to explore and new characters that are begging to be written. This is very difficult from a time perspective because there are only so many hours in the day, so different stories have to be focused on.
I have a long mental list of ideas for different Bettie English private eye mysteries that I want to write, but I also have an equally long list of different things I want to explore in my Agents of The Emperor Science Fiction Stories universe. There is no winning.
Sometimes, I do get overwhelmed slightly because I have so many ideas that I want to write and explore, and sometimes this overwhelm can stop me in my tracks. And I admit this is a bad habit – sometimes, I do other things instead of creating stories, so I don’t have to think about all the stories I want to write.
Thankfully, it is very rare that this happens.
· What advice would you give to creatives dealing with the same?
The advice I would give other creatives is to just write. I know it sounds so simple and too easy, but the only way you’re going to find time to write all these stories is to simply start writing.
For example, last night, I was feeling a little overwhelmed because I have so many ideas for different stories that my muse wanted me to write about. Yet, the night before, me and a friend had been talking and another friend of ours was at the table, so I said to my friend, going off something we had been texting about, “so I can’t take you to any dead body experiences?”
Our other friend just laughed and looked at us, because that was such a random thing to say – this other friend had no context. And yet, that is the perfect opening line for one of my Bettie English mysteries, so I sat down at my writing computer and just started writing.
Granted, I thought it was a short story, but I know it’s going to be a novella.
However, my point is, if you have a lot of stories to tell, then the only thing that is going to help you feel a little less overwhelmed is to just write them one story after another.
Of course, you will never run out of stories to tell, but that is just part of the fun of writing and I love it.
· What do you do to stay inspired?
Consumption and Artist Dates.
Personally, I strongly believe all writers need to consume a lot of stories in different formats, like reading and watching films and TV. Since absorbing stories helps us to create our own stories over time, because we pick up techniques and ideas. Therefore, reading and watching films is one of the ways that I stay inspired to write more, learn more and continue to be a professional writer.
I really like stories by Dean Wesley Smith, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch because they all write brilliant stories that I really enjoy. Then I enjoy watching science fiction and fantasy films. I seriously recommend The Outpost and The Tomorrow War for any writers because the writing is brilliant on that series and film.
In addition, writers need to experience the world, interact with it and just enjoy what the world has on offer. I think that is the general idea behind an ‘artist date’. I forget who came up with the idea originally, but I agree with it because some of my series have come from artist dates. For example, there are times when I go to the British Museum when they have an exhibition and entire series can spin off what I see. The best example might be my Aleshia O’Kin Fantasy Adventures because the idea of those books came from objects I saw in an exhibition about the history of Peru.
Therefore, history keeps me inspired a lot of the time, because you can take a lot of inspiration from history and then twist it to make it your own and unique to readers.
· What’s the best creative advice you ever received?
Just have fun and entertain yourself.
As important as it is to write the best possible story you can in that moment in time, remember there are readers on the other side of your computer screen reading and enjoying your story. It is so critical to keep writing fun and entertain yourself, because you’re making stuff up and there is a lot of fun in that.
My favourite moments in writing are when I am writing along, having a blast and then surfacing from a story when I finish it because I’ve had a lot of fun. It’s like this Bettie English mystery that I thought was a short story. I’m excited about writing it as a novella because I have no idea how the characters are going to solve the crime and get justice.
But that is all part of the fun and when you’re having fun as a writer, then your readers will enjoy it more. They can feel your passion and your sense of fun on the other side of your computer when they’re reading it in paperback or on their ereader.
You can find and connect with Connor on his website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Connor’s Kickstarter campaign for Blood and Wrath, a gripping, enthralling, suspenseful science-fiction adventure novel runs until 25 April. You can back it here.
Are you a creative and would you like to be interviewed next? E-mail me at marielle@mswordsmith.nl and we’ll make it happen!