Interview With Author Val Hull
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been serious about writing for about 10 years now. During that time, I completed a total of nine novels. And though some of those are more learning experiences than proper works of fiction, this still leaves me with a solid backlog of dare I say decent stuff I’m now ready to share with the world.
My genres of choice range from fantasy adventures to hardboiled mysteries. The one unifying thread among those is humor. Observational comedy, eccentric zany characters, putting the spotlight on the incongruities of life in the oftentimes unique settings my characters inhabit – we do it all.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest (and first) published book is one of my earlier works. Entitled Soup of the Universe, it takes place in what can be described as the choice layover point for all the interdimensional travelers out there. This setup gives me a wide canvas where just about anything can happen.
The story was originally envisioned as this grim and mysterious tale of occultists traveling the wastes where nothing quite makes sense. But upon hearing the news of Sir Terry Pratchett’s passing, as a big fan of the man, this idea transformed overnight into a somewhat absurd comedy about elderly scholars, demons doing community service, and undead warlords turned comedians. In a way, Soup of the Universe is one big tribute to the Discworld series.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not sure how unusual this is, but when laying the groundwork for a story, I tend to start with a single scene in my head. It can be an amusing bit of dialogue, a single line, or even just a clear picture of some room. Armed with that, I then start trying to figure out what kind of setting this scene would work in and who are the characters to act it out. And this is pretty much my approach to worldbuilding. No maps or character sheets here.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The abovementioned Terry Pratchett is a big one, of course, but Robert Asprin’s MythAdventures series is an equally important inspiration. If we go further back, the original humorist P.G. Wodehouse is still unrivaled – his command of the language is nothing short of mind-blowing.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have great fondness for numerous pulp-era writers. I read a lot of those kinds of stories as a kid without much consideration for how age-appropriate they were. As a result, I was perhaps the only 8-year old who wanted to become a lawyer when he grew up because of Erle Stanley Gardner’ Perry Mason stories. Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories had an even greater impact on me than even the Conan the Barbarian movie. And continuing the trend of famous barbarians, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories hold a special place in my heart – as a Pratchett fan once you realize that Lankhamar is essentially a prototype for Ankh-Morpork, it all starts to make sense.
What are you working on now?
My first eight novels were entirely standalone, with the ninth serving as a sequel of sorts to Soup of the Universe. Continuing this trend, I am currently working on a couple of sequels to two of my other works – a more traditional fantasy adventure and a modern-day romantic comedy.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As someone who spurns social media, my promotional strategy can best be summed up by flailing wildly and hoping for the best. If this works out, I shall dub myself a disciple of Enyanomics.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Writing isn’t about muses or inspiration. It’s about iron will and discipline. Write every day, assume your early stuff will suck, keep trying to analyze why it sucks. Following this simple plan, eventually you’ll become at the very least decent. After that, the sky’s the limit.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best writing advice I ever got, I got from a talk Monty Python’s John Cleese gave on creativity in management. Find it, watch it, become unstoppable.
What are you reading now?
Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique cycle. For whatever reason, it took me forever to get into CAS, but now that I have, I can definitely see why he’s considered one of the most underrated greats of his era.
What’s next for you as a writer?
The same as it’s always been – writing more. But now with the added dimension of trying to sell what I write. Fun times.
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?
I’ll start by cheating and call for The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne – not only is it a great read, it has plenty of practical advice for surviving and thriving in the wild. And as for entertainment, I never tire of re-reading Robert Asprin’s Another Fine Myth, so I’ll go with that.
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