Richard Ford Interview

Richard Ford is the author of a number of fantasy and science-fiction stories. His latest series, Steelhaven, is a gritty fantasy novel in the same vein as Joe Abercrombie and has the same kind of epic feel and interchanging viewpoints as A Game of Thrones. Here’s the blurb for the first in the series, Herald of the Storm:

Steelhaven… Under the reign of King Cael the Uniter, this vast cityport on the southern coast has for years been a symbol of strength, maintaining an uneasy peace throughout the Free States. But now a long shadow hangs over the city, in the form of the dread Elharim warlord, Amon Tugha. When his herald infiltrates the city, looking to exploit its dangerous criminal underworld, and a terrible dark magick that has long been buried once again begins to rise, it could be the beginning of the end.

The series has been well received by readers, bloggers and Ford’s contemporary authors such as Mark Lawrence, Luke Scull and John Gwynne. Being two books into the trilogy, Fantasy-Faction decided now would be a good time to get hold of the proud Yorkshireman and ask why he decided to start a gritty epic fantasy series and, now that it is underway, how he feels the series is going.

Interview with Richard Ford

So, first things first, you’ve been a writer for quite a while now and if a reader is yet to pick up Herald of The Storm, they probably wouldn’t be expecting something quite as epic and with such a large cast (I’m basing this on Kultus and your short stories – such as the Warhammer ones). Can you tell us a bit about your new series and what why you chose to go down the path of Epic-scale Fantasy?

I’d fancied writing something pretty ‘epic’ for a while. I’ve been a fan of Gemmell and Martin for years, even going back to the Weiss and Hickman Dragonlance books of old, so it was only a matter of time before I had a go at epic fantasy myself. As well as that, the time was right, with the popularity of the Game of Thrones TV series and writers like Joe Abercrombie and Richard Morgan writing in the genre but bringing a modern slant to their plotting and dialogue. I knew there would be an audience for the kind of fantasy I wanted to write – blood-soaked and profanity laden with characters you weren’t quite sure whether to root for or not.

With George R.R. Martin proving that Epic Fantasy can be mainstream and popular with ‘normal’ folks there has been a fair number of authors jumping on the Epic bandwagon. Reviews for your novel (and nominations for pretty high profile awards!) have proven that Steelhaven was amongst the top of the pile, what is it that differentiates your tale from others under the same ‘genre’ tag?

I’ve tried to concentrate on character first and foremost. Background and worldbuilding are always secondary to that as far as I’m concerned. That’s not to say those elements aren’t important, but I prefer to build the story around the characters, then the world around that. It’s encouraging that most people have responded positively to that way of doing things.

Related to the above, where were the dragons and unicorns? 😉

Ha ha! Have they not been done to death? There’s plenty of other novels that feature ye olde fabled creatures of legend. I wanted to base the Steelhaven trilogy around plausible and realistic characters (although the Shattered Crown does feature seven-foot lion-human hybrids) and sticking a unicorn right in the middle of it would only drag the reader out of the grim reality of the plot. Lots of other writers do that kind of thing much better than I ever could. I think all writers should stick to what they know!

One of the most impressive parts of book one was the pace at which it read and I think that was because of Wes Craven’s ‘bomb under the table’ theory – we know something is coming, but we don’t know when. You also did a very good job of ending each chapter on a cliffhanger and not making the book too long either. Writing in ‘epic’ fantasy that is often heavily criticised for being too slow or too ‘wordy’, was this something that took much editing to get right?

Surprisingly little, although for Herald of the Storm around 7,000 words were cut from the original 159,000 manuscript but I’m led to believe that’s fairly normal as far as copyediting goes. Fact is I get bored very easily, and if I’m bored writing it, chances are the reader will be bored reading it. I prefer fast paced fiction, which isn’t to say you need to have a sword fight in every chapter, but something does need to happen to move the plot along and keep the reader interested. Saying that, some fantasy fans do prefer novels as epic in length as they are in content… I’m just not one of them.

Could you tell us a little bit about how you decided upon your cast? It must be hard to get that balance right – enough that it feels ‘epic’ and that we can see multiple views, but not so many that it feels disjointed and hard to keep track of things.

It wasn’t easy having seven characters from very different positions in the city’s societal structure and linking their plots enough to make a focused narrative. Hopefully I managed it, but that’s not for me to say.

I picked the characters first and had a basic plot for each of them in the first book. Comparing those plotlines gave me scope to cross them over at various stages and eventually the narrative wrote itself in many ways. Of course that makes it sound much easier than it was – just to be clear, I’m also a very talented geezer!

In terms of Worldbuilding, in the first book you focused very much on a single area (Steelhaven). This certainly bucks the Epic Fantasy trend. Did it ever get claustrophobic for you as a writer?

Not really. As I’ve mentioned, the story is principally about characters and how they react to what happens to the city (in that there’s an impending invasion) but Steelhaven is big enough in itself to contain all that. Had it been a traditional ‘quest’ type of epic fantasy then yes, it may have been an issue, but none of my characters are looking for anything in particular… other than a way to survive.

This is your first ‘series’ in that you already have two books out and more planned. Has the writing process been much different to the short stories / singular books you have written? Can you give us some insight into the pros and cons?

I’d actually planned Kultus as the first in a series, but events conspired against that unfortunately. As far as short stories go, you really do need to structure a beginning middle and an end, with a ‘pay-off’ at the finale (which is invariably some kind of twist). Novels are less technical in that regard, in that you have more room to manoeuvre and more breathing space to grow your characters. There also needs to be some kind of arc as far as the plot of each individual character is concerned which you don’t have to have in a short. A novel needs to take the character on a journey, and they’ll usually (though not invariably) end up somewhere very different to where they started, even if they never leave the same city.

Moving away from Steelhaven for just a moment, I wanted to ask you about your other writing experiences. Firstly, you’ve written in the world of Warhammer 40k. It always amazes me just how many authors have written in this world, because I always presume it must take a heck of a lot of research; making sure you keep continuity, etc.

My first professional gig was in a Warhammer anthology and I have a short 40K story in their Heroes of the Space Marines antho. I’d always been a big fan, so I was already pretty familiar with the background. Saying that, the backgrounds they’ve developed over so many years are so huge that no writer is going to know everything about them, so you do need to brush up on your Warhammer-lore before diving in.

Writing tie-in fiction is very much an undervalued art. A lot of tie-in writing is dismissed as cheap cash-in fiction but I challenge anyone to read the work of Dan Abnett or Aaron Dembski-Bowden and not be blown away.

You very kindly agreed to support Fantasy-Faction with our anthology project. The story you submitted actually serves as a prequel in sorts to the first novel. It has to be said though, until recently, fantasy short stories weren’t really the done thing in modern terms, right? Just how difficult are short stories for you as a writer and is it the money side of things that means most writers keep away from them?

Short stories are certainly a very different discipline to novels, and from what little I know of the nuts and bolts of the publishing industry, fantasy anthologies don’t tend to sell as well as novels. Saying that, short stories can be a great ‘palate cleanser’ after you’ve spent eight or more months hacking away at a doorstep sized novel. I’m not sure whether it’s the money that keeps writers away from it, rather than the size of the short story market and the opportunities to write within it. I can’t imagine any writer turning down a gig to write in an anthology – especially if you’re going to appear alongside distinguished luminaries in the industry and have the opportunity to steal tap into their readership.

I did say ‘weren’t really the done thing’. Now it does seem there are more anthologies and even one shot stories coming out (authors often selling them on Amazon pretty cheap). Do you think the eBook means that shorter fiction will find its way back into the mainstream?

We all know the industry is changing at a lightning fast pace and yes, eBooks will make it easier for people to consume shorter fiction in handy bite-sized chunks. Tor, for instance, has just set up an imprint (called The Imprint, funnily enough) which will exclusively produce novella length, e-based fiction. I can only see this model becoming more popular, but time will tell. Traditionally, fantasy fans tend to prefer mahoosive doorstep novels but there’s definitely an argument for producing shorter work. Whether the market is there remains to be seen.

Do you believe writing is a learnt skill or a born talent? Do you have any suggestions to want-to-be writers that will help them on their path to getting published?

Ah, the old ‘nature versus nurture’ debate rears its head again. In theory, anyone can write a story. How good that story is will ultimately be determined by how well you’re prepared to learn your craft. I’d like to think the fiction I produce now is in a different league to the drivel I was writing ten years ago, and I don’t think you ever stop learning.

To any would-be writer I’d say tenacity and being able to accept rejection with dignity are just as important as practice, practice, practice.

So, when you’re not writing or talking to bloggers (who send you far more than the agreed amount of questions!) what do you do in your personal life? What do you like to get up to?

Being an unrepentant geek it’s the usual really – trawling books, films, TV and computer games to see what I can steal for my own fiction. I’m also a bit of a rugby fan and when my back allows (I currently have a torn disc between my lower vertebrae) I throw heavy things around the gym, though I might have to review that one since I’m not getting any younger.

A lot of authors use social media almost exclusively to promote their books and themselves as authors. Your Twitter is… not ALWAYS an example of that, for example:

‘I’m watching Great British Bake Off. What the hell has my life come to?’

‘My baldy-beard combo is starting to make me look like a drug dealer’s henchman. I haven’t decided if this is a bad thing yet. Help twitters!’

What do you think about Social Media as a tool for authors? 🙂

Social Media is becoming more and more important for authors in an ever-changing world, but some of us are still… finding our feet.

And just for the record, I have nothing against baking, or people who take pleasure in it. What you do in your own home is your business!

9. In regards to reading, what are your top five books of all time, what are you currently reading and what are you looking forward to?

Mmm… it’s times like this I wish I was much more well-read than I actually am. In no particular order, and more than likely subject to change in the near or distant future:

Sword in the Storm – David Gemmell

On Writing – Stephen King

Game of Thrones – George RR Martin

The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

Best Served Cold – Joe Abercrombie

Finally, what are your plans for the future? How many books is this current series and are you looking beyond it yet? If so, what can we expect from the future?

The Steelhaven series is a trilogy, the final part of which will be out next year. Beyond that there are no firm plans, though I do have some ideas within the same world that will go beyond the confines of Steelhaven itself. All I can say is; watch this space!

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Shattered Crown is out now!

Richard Ford’s latest novel, The Shattered Crown, is now available in paperback. It is the sequel to Herald of the Storm, the violent, vicious and darkly funny novel, which Fantasy-Faction can’t recommend highly enough to fans of gritty fantasy.

Final Thought…

If you ask a well read genre fan to name some the most exciting new fantasy series over the past few years Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops, Jen Williams’s The Copper Promise and Richard Ford’s Steelhaven would very likely sit towards the top of their lists. Rather impressively, John Wordsworth (commissioning Editor) and Headline were responsible for bringing all three of these authors to UK audiences. Sadly, despite these authors getting masses of attention online, 5* reviews by bloggers and admiration from their fellow authors, Headline have recently decided they won’t be publishing any fantasy books beyond what they are currently contracted for. If you haven’t read the books these guys have put out already then I’d encourage you to do so quickly… They are all picking up 5* reviews for a reason. If you have read their books and are a fan of any of any of these guys then I would ask you to follow them on Twitter, add them as friends on Facebook, favourite their blogs and post reviews for their books (adding that a new publisher needs to sign them ASAP). Although I’m pretty sure none of these guys are going to have much problem finding a new publisher for their work, if we can help speed that process up then lets do it! 🙂

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