SPSFC 3 Author Interview - Wayne M Bailey

1.       What inspired the world, characters, or core concepts of your story? Was it a particular event, piece of media, or a speculative scientific idea?

It’s a funny story how I came up with the project overall. A few years ago, a friend and I were innocently laughing about creative ways we could come up with the next big trademark or web domain. This came after seeing the South Park episode where the children trademarked the “Washington Redskins” brand, following the expiration of the trademark.

So, my idea for the next big possible event to happen, and what could be a good web domain to buy, was the migration to Mars. Hence, I purchased - for a very low fee I might say - the web domain “Marsmigration.com.”

Fast forward to me deciding to write my own science fiction novel, and without even consciously thinking about it, Mars wove itself into playing a huge part of where I decided to take my story. It became the obvious choice, it’s quite obviously where humanity wants to aim for – after the Moon of course.

Also, title wise, The Mars Migration stuck. I did try and think of other possibilities for it but having already got the domain for The Mars Migration, I thought I might as well stick with it. Nothing more suitable presented itself.

As for some of the places on Earth, it was quite important for me to set the England parts in the area where I live. I love Stephen King books, and quite a few are set around New England where he lives, and that appealed to me. Why not put the small town where I live on the map?

The Canada parts, I imagined the two spheres entering our atmosphere above the UK, and then splitting off. So I used google Earth, moving in almost a straight line from the West Midlands in the UK, and settled on Selkirk. The Riverside grill on the Red river there, provided me the perfect place to land a sphere.

2. How did you approach the creation of your main characters? Were they modeled after real-life figures, or did they evolve organically as you explored the world of your story?

I wanted to write a story about characters that would be both relatable and mean something to me. So, I loosely based them on my daughter Amber, and my son Daniel. I had them in mind whenever I was working out what they would say and do, but also, I let the characters evolve into wherever my writing, and the story took them.

There are also one or two other characters that I made people that I know. I don’t want to give too much away, but Sheena, the woman in the diner who takes Amber under her wing – that’s my mom. And the noisy cleaner at the police station – that’s my mother-in-law. (Hahaa!)

I wasn’t going to force the insertion of characters to try and get everyone I know in, but if there was a character who came up, who suited a role for someone that I knew, I did take that opportunity.

3.   Science fiction often delves into questions of ethics, technology, and humanity. What central theme or moral question does your story grapple with, and why did you feel it was essential to explore?

To me, the pivotal point in my story, is the Black hole itself. How does one go beyond it, how would one get back, and what would a race of people that lived beyond one feel and think?

If this race of people were divided on being happy with their lot in life, while some of them longed to not be stuck in a dark space anymore - based on hearing legend of what it was to live near a star - how would that work out? What choices would they make, how far would they go to make that happen, and is the grass greener?  

4.   How did you approach the integration of futuristic technology or scientific concepts in your story? Did you base them on existing theories or let your imagination run wild?

I definitely based some of the technology I used on ideas taken from current popular fiction, but also I did let my imagination run wild and go exploring.

For example, things like vehicles and weapons that I used, have been done many times before. But the sphere technology - which causes most of the problems for all of the main characters - I don’t think was taken from anything in particular. Someone will probably correct me on that.

The effects of the field produced by the spheres - that might possibly be familiar to folks who love Sci-fi, like me.

I honestly can’t think of anywhere else that uses the black doorways either.

I tried not to copy everything from Star Trek, or Under the Dome, but you do obviously take inspiration from these ideas.  

5.  The sci-fi genre provides a canvas to depict diverse cultures, species, and worlds. How have you incorporated representation and diversity in your work, and why do you think it's vital for the future of science fiction?

Like Star Trek does, I like to think that race, or people with varying colours or looks, would not be the subject of difference, or prejudice. However, my opinion is that there would inevitably be some people that would crave power more than others. And this is what I explore in my story. A dystopian environment where the feeling is, that the general populous should be happy with their lot in life, and not have wild ideas or different ideas of living, to what their government currently provides.

Well, why shouldn’t they have these ambitions or ideas? If an opportunity presents itself to explore these ideas, should they not try to explore that opportunity for the good of the people? Obviously, their government - who is taking a cut of income from these people would be unhappy - so here lies the rift. Hmmm, greedy governments, keeping opportunity from the people, now where would I have had that idea?    

6.  Every author has a unique writing process. Can you share a bit about yours? How do you manage world-building, plot progression, and character dynamics in such a complex genre?

I would very much admit to being a prantser. I like the idea that as long as I have a general direction for my story - a start and an end of where my story wants to go - I will happily let the story drive me forward.

The main thing that I did have to plan, was the different timelines, and then the time zones of Earth. This caused many sleepless nights, making sure I got them right, or as right as I possibly could.

I had to plan carefully, where each person would be that affected the story on Earth, and then where they would be upon the possible return, or not of the main two characters.   

7.  What's next for you after SPSFC? Are there any upcoming projects you can share with us?

I’ll be honest and say that I’m struggling to get my brain focussed on new projects at the moment. But I have started to outline a possible sequel to The Mars Migration.

I never really intended to write more than one in the beginning, I just had a sudden urge to write this story that came to me, but I do get asked a lot by people that have read my book about whether I am going to do a sequel.

The Mars Migration has been out for one year as of September 2023, and I still feel that my main goal is to get the message of my first book out there. So, it’s still hard for me to concentrate fully on its sequel. But I will try harder on that in the near future.

I do have ideas though, and I’m also curious myself about what the characters would be up to a year after the crazy events of the first book.