Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Two technothrillers, one rom-com novel and a non-fiction travel guide. I’m currently working on an SF series, Beneath the Steel City.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
2184: Beneath the Steel City. Both the author and protagonist were unashamedly inspired by Harry Harrison’s marvellous and utterly timeless Stainless Steel Rat series.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Despite being a full-time freelance writer with a great home-office, most of my fiction is written in coffee shops. I just find I need the change of scenery to focus on fiction. I also use a Mac app called Noisy Typer to create typewriter sounds as I type!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list! I mentioned Harry Harrison, but Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and many more SF writers from that era were childhood reading that spilled over into adulthood and are authors I still read today.
What are you working on now?
The rest of the Beneath the Steel City series. The second book is Replicate, a 25,000-word novella.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Kickstarter provided an excellent start for 11/9, my first technothriller. Ask me in a couple of months what works for SF!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Definitely read Robert McKee’s ‘Story.’ Although ostensibly aimed at screenplay writers, it’s every bit as applicable to novelists. It’s an examination of the question, ‘What makes a story a story?’ by someone who has a very good handle on the answer, having read so many scripts for the studios. That was definitely the best advice I’ve ever been given.
But find your own way too. Every writer has their own pet theories about what works and what matters, and most of them are contradictory. Some fantastic writers are scene-by-scene planners; some brilliant writers don’t even know the ending when they start writing. Some swear writing every day is key, others find they are far more productive writing for solid chunks of time once or twice a week. Some love sprints, others find them counterproductive. Try things out and find what works for you.
I still don’t think you can beat the oldest advice in the book: write what you love to read. That way you’re at least guaranteed one happy reader!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
‘Use Scrivener.’
What are you reading now?
I’m re-reading all of John Grisham’s novels.
What’s next for you as a writer?
We’ll see!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The complete works of Shakespeare is pretty much mandatory, I think. Hemingway’s collected short stories, in part because there are so many of them! They’d keep me going for a while. Otherwise I think I may buy by weight if I’m going to be there a while …
Author Websites and Profiles
Ben Lovejoy Website
Ben Lovejoy Amazon Profile
Ben Lovejoy’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account