Interview With Author Sean White
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in the south-west of England and have been writing for as long as I can remember. I have written one novel, titled The Goalkeeper. I trained in theatre production so before I moved onto books I wrote a number of plays that I either directed myself for local theatre festivals or were produced in London Fringe venues.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Goalkeeper. On the face of it, the title makes it seems like this is sports novel – and to a certain extent it is, but it’s also much more than that. It combines my love of the three S’s: Sci-Fi, Superheroes and Soccer (or Football, as we call it here). I wanted to write an action-packed science-fiction-end-of-the-world-time-travel epic, with big stakes. But moreover I wanted the book to be a love story; to explore the meaning of love – in the sense that a person’s passion and devotion for their sports team (for example), and the emotional investment they make, is nothing compared to feeling of love for another human being. In this story someone unexpected drops into my protagonists life and in an instant changes it, and so the question is how far are you willing to go for someone you’ve just met. What will you do to protect them?
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not unusual, but I have a few self-imposed rules:
1) I keep writing forwards, going from the beginning to the end without looking back. Once I’ve finished the final sentence of the final chapter, only then do I go back and start my edit.
2) Nothing is off the table. Every idea goes in the first draft, and may or may not be taken out in the edit.
3) I write better in the mornings than the evenings so I have to make the most of that!
4) I always finish for the day halfway through a sentence, so I give myself somewhere to go for the next day.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I remember reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres when I was a teenager (before the movie came out) and although that is a very different story to my genre, it taught me a lot about structure and creating the context of the world that your characters live in. I would say my biggest influence is the work of British author Matt Haig – the way he very seamlessly blends crazy, supernatural, wild ideas with the very true and honest realities of life has had a big impact on me. Of his works, I would recommend The Humans (personal favourite), How to Stop Time, The Midnight Library and The Radleys.
What are you working on now?
I am working on the sequel to The Goalkeeper! I have had the idea in my head for a very long time, and now I’m working on it, it is expanding in ways that are brilliant but unexpected. I haven’t nailed down my title yet (I often don’t until the end), but what I can say is it will dial down on the soccer and have more of a historical setting…
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep going! Don’t stop! If you’re anything like me you’ll have a full-time job and family and all other kinds of responsibilities, so make the most of the time when you get it. Believe in yourself – there not a single book in the world that is everyone’s cup of tea, but as long as you have love for your story, get it on the page. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a completed book and saying to yourself “I did that”.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Similar to what I’ve mentioned above about keeping going. Get from the beginning to the end and see what you’ve got. I think without that mantra I wouldn’t have finished.
What are you reading now?
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.
What’s next for you as a writer?
More stories, more books. I have a ton of ideas, but I also have a few of my play scripts from my theatre days I’d like to adapt.
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