SPFBO 9 Author Interview - Ted Cross

What inspired you to write your SPFBO entry? Is there a particular story, personal experience, or idea that sparked this book?

When I lived in Iceland for a couple of years, it intrigued me that they did not have a military and relied on other countries for defense. I had been working on a story where a huge spire with a magical crystal on top has enforced peace across a kingdom for thousands of years. Anyone whose mind dwelt overmuch on negative traits, such as jealousy, rage, etc., could not live within the radius of the spire due to a powerful feeling of weakness and fear, so the peaceful kingdom was surrounded by communities of bitter exiles. The Iceland experience got me thinking about what might happen when a people is peaceful but suddenly that peace is taken away—what happens when the magical spire is destroyed? Can the people survive?

How would you describe your writing process? How did it evolve during the creation of this book?

I’m retiring this September in order to write faster. With a career in diplomacy that keeps me busy and stressed out, I simply don’t find time to write often enough, so each book has taken between four to six years to finish. This one took six. When I do write, I do so fairly quickly. I don’t begin a story without something compelling in both character ideas and some big plot ideas, but I don’t outline. I do a lot of pondering before I begin each chapter. I need to have at least a vague idea of what should be happening and to whom it should be happening, and then I begin to type and lots of new things happen that I never anticipated. I love the fact that the story can end up going places I did not plan for—it’s almost like I’m a reader, in a sense, getting to discover the story along the way. However, I never allow it to wander too far from the main plotline. George R.R. Martin was my primary motivation to start me down the path to writing novels, and like him, I enjoy complex plots with multiple point-of-view characters.

As far as how my writing has evolved during the writing of this novel, I think my style is pretty well set by now. I admire those writers, such as Tolkien, who can do gorgeous prose, but my personal style has always leaned towards simple, clear prose. I did make one change to how I do character thoughts, but that was driven by audiobooks and by how confusing thoughts can be to a listener if it isn’t well-defined as to what is a thought and what is dialogue. I made thoughts more explicit.

What challenges did you face during the writing or publishing process, and how did you overcome them?

For this book the biggest challenge has been getting any buzz for it’s release. It feels as if something has changed over the past few years. My first novels, especially my sci-fi, did quite well during their releases. I got multiple blogs to host interviews or reviews. I had quite a number of early reviews go up on Amazon and Goodreads, and they generated a decent number of sales. When I worked on the upcoming release of this book, I was unable to get any blogs to show interest in doing a review or interview. The book hit its release date and sank without a trace, though I feel it’s my best-written novel. So, I haven’t overcome the problem so far, other than by entering SPFBO!

Who are your biggest literary influences and how have they impacted your writing style?

As I said previously, George R.R. Martin is my biggest influence. When I first discovered him, I felt as if I had been waiting all my life to find books that felt so genuine despite the fantasy setting. I’m influenced by so many other writers, though, that I can’t possibly list them all. Major ones include Robert E. Howard, J.R.R. Tolkien, Fritz Leiber, Colleen McCullough, Ursula Le Guin, Glen Cook, and Greg Iles.

How do you approach world-building in your fantasy novel? What elements do you think are essential for a compelling fantasy setting?

For me what has always mattered most was a feeling of realism. Some will not like my world building, because I was heavily influenced by having grown up playing Dungeons & Dragons as a kid, so I enjoy that type of setting. I craved books that did a D&D-type setting in a very realistic manner, but I never found any that did so. I know many people love the official D&D books—my youngest son absolutely loves Drizzt—but I always found them cartoonish or the characters too overpowered. I wanted a D&D-type setting but done the way George R.R. Martin might have done it, with an authentic feel as if the characters were real people. Since no one was doing what I wanted, I eventually just did it myself. I do think that I’ve gotten that out of my system now, and any future fantasy novels will no longer have elves and dwarves and such. I’ll likely aim more at sword and sorcery. I have one novelette completed, and like Howard did with Conan or Leiber with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, I plan on finishing six or seven of them and then compiling them into one book.

If you could give a piece of advice to the main character in your book at the start of their journey, what would it be?

Well, I have several main characters. I suppose for most of them the best advice I could offer would be to lean on those who care about you the most, both friends and family members. That’s what is most likely to get you through the tough times ahead.

As a self-published author, how do you navigate marketing and promoting your work?

I don’t do nearly enough marketing. I try to get Bookbub promotions, though of late they no longer seem to work as well. I used to get great returns from Bookbub, but recently I’ve lost money on the past three. I don’t have enough spare cash to put into real advertising, so I rely on word of mouth, but I’ve noticed that many readers like to do word of mouth only on already popular books. They seem reluctant to tell people about new discoveries that they loved. I’ll get some brilliant reviews of my books, but I never see those people mention the books on Reddit or Facebook. I wish I could make people understand just how critical their support of indie books is—if they love an indie story, they should keep the book in mind, and when an appropriate thread shows up on Reddit or someplace else, tell people about it.

It’s nice when lightning can strike for an indie writer, such as deservedly happened to Josiah Bancroft with Senlin Ascends. I hope it might strike for me one day. My sci-fi novel was nearly optioned for film/tv, though it ultimately didn’t happen. Something like that can change everything for an indie writer. If I can produce more good books, I increase my odds of that lightning striking for me.

What made you decide to participate in the SPFBO competition? How do you think this experience will benefit you as an author?

I am proud that I knew Mark Lawrence way back before he was published. I was in a Yahoo group of his before Prince of Thorns was released, and I always really liked him. I love that he gave back to the writing community by inventing the SPFBO. I entered the very first one, when it didn’t yet have as much of an audience. I’m thrilled the competition has garnered much more interest of late, and I think it’s a great way to try to get your book out there.

If you were to win SPFBO, what impact do you think this would have on your writing career?

I would hope it would give me a bit of name recognition and put my books in front of a decent number of new readers. I don’t expect I’d get a publishing deal, since I use a more traditional fantasy setting, but you never know.

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

I’m hoping my pending retirement will allow me to produce books more quickly. I’m working on a sci-fi novel that is a distant sequel to my first one. I’m also working on two other stories, one that is a supernatural autobiography of a sort, and the other is the set of sword and sorcery stories that I mentioned above.