World, Writing, Wealth discussion

Thank you, Ian, for taking the time to participate in our interview and help people get to know you better.

Members: If you have any follow-up questions for Ian, please feel free to post them.

Tell us about your writing.

When did you decide to become a writer?
When I was in first year University, there was a small group in a room in a women's hostel, and the then fashionable science versus arts discussion sprang up. I made the comment along the lines, "At least scientists end up doing things. All your ambitions are is to criticize." (Nothing like leading with the chin!) It ended with them asserting that I could not even come up with a plot for a novel. After I assured them, "Of course I could," I was given a day. The following evening I outlined said plot, and they insisted I write it, so in the summer "vacation" I worked in a freezing works during the day and wrote in the evening, borrowing a typewriter from Dad's office. I got three rejections from publishers and gave up, but when I came back to the script about thirteen years later I looked at the start and shuddered. It was awful. But then when I looked further it got a lot better. Rewrite! Still no luck with publishers, but at the time I had some sort of platform in the New Zealand media, so I tried self-publishing. Part of the reason was my taxation rate then was 66% on top dollars, and my salary was not that great. The exercise was a disaster, the reason being when I was about to receive the shipments, I was also involved with a petrochemical development, and bankers had advanced me $80,000 as subordinated debt to set up a laboratory, and I had a 10% interest in the venture. They told me they would call in the debt if I did anything in the public eye. I was a few thousand dollars down on the book, and stood to make millions, but that is another story. The point was, how could I sell books if I could not advertise? I did sell about 150, but I still have a couple of boxes of them.

Why do you write?
It is a bit like the tar baby. Later, when I had nothing to do, I decided that that first entry had not worked, but I had hardly gone about it the right way, so I thought I would try again. In 1988 or thereabouts, New Zealand had one of those recessions, and my research business was suddenly rather short on clients as they had all gone bankrupt, or, as was the case with the petrochemical venture, it had disintegrated, effectively as a consequence of government tearing up a contract.

What are your ambitions for your writing career?
I am not sure. Right now, I am editing two of them. One of them is a scientific one, which is more about archiving my theoretical work, and the other is a present-day thriller, with spying, hacking, and Russians. When I get these off my list of things to do, I guess I will have more time to think about "What next?"

What books have you written?
So far, four scientific ones. One on how to form theories, one on advanced biofuels (I have worked on these on and off through my career) one entitled "Planetary Formation and Biogenesis" which contains a review of about 600 scientific papers that outlines the problems, and then my account of what really happened, and finally, "Guidance Waves", which is my modification of the pilot wave theory of quantum mechanics, and which offer a simplified way of dealing with the chemical bond.
I have written eleven novels that form a sort of future history (albeit two of them reboot to the first century,) A list can be provided if anyone is interested, but they are on my website.

What genre(s) are your books in?
The more futuristic ones are clearly science fiction. The ones closer to the present are more techno thrillers. "Troubles" lies somewhere in between.

Are there any correlations between the books you write and your life experiences?
With the odd exception, all the places on Earth that are mentioned are places I have been to. Thus in "Miranda's Demons", the Brazilian bay really impressed me (but there was no Marisa on that day anyway), but of course they are memories and they may not be like that now. Specifically, I gather the Registan in Samarkand, mentioned in "Miranda's Demons", now looks a bit different because the accumulated sand has been removed. In "A Face on Cydonia", the red-bellied black snake was real, although not quite in those circumstances, Tauranga Bay is one of my favourite spots, and the house with the architects in Santiago is real, and I looked up at it in the same way Jonathon Munro did, but not with the same result.

Do you adhere to an outline or go wherever your imagination takes you?
A mixture. I usually have some scenes in mind for the plot, including a more or less final scene (by that, I mean I usually add a "wash-up") and these are strictly followed, but I have freedom in how I join them up, and if I get a better idea while I am writing, I ditch what was there, or work it in some way.

How do you withstand critiques of your masterpiece?
I think you will see that as we go through the month. Hopefully, well. However, I dislike the outright rude, and I don't like being told I should have written a different book. I think a critique should at least accept that the writer decided to write what is there.

Do you put messages in the books you write and, if yes, what are they?
Yes! And "A Face on Cydonia" has them, BUT I am not going to say what they are, at least not before the end of the month. I want to see if they are seen.

You know sales can be a little tough until you make it big time. If I told you now, that you'd sell up to 1,000 books within the next 30 years, would you still write?
That implies I would still be alive in 30 years. That would take some digesting. But yes, sales are tough. Really tough.

Put yourself in the place of a reader (not easy, I know). Why would s/he want to read or have to read your book?
First, I hope they are entertaining, and I hope they give the reader something to think about. And there is the next answer.

Who are your bestselling competitors in the genre and what can you offer that they can't?
Probably for the SF, Kim Stanley Robinson. You might find it interesting to compare his Mars series with mine, from the point of view of Mars. Robinson had a very optimistic view of terraforming that was popular at the time of writing. I am more pessimistic, due to more recent knowledge. What do I offer? First, I probably know more about science than most writers. As an example, in "Red Gold", I protected Mars from solar radiation with superconducting magnets at the first Lagrange point. Just recently NASA proposed something like that. But I have also been amongst senior politicians (and suffered from their behaviour) and I have been a Director on the Boards of two multinational joint ventures, so I have some knowledge of economics, and how people in power behave.

Does writing interfere with reading?
No. I don't think you can be a successful writer without reading a lot. Even if you don't like a book, at least you can work out why, and avoid making that mistake.

If you needed to make a choice in your literary career what would it be: glory and literary recognition or lots of sales and steady income?
Glory and recognition. When did having that lead to an absence of sales?

The visual is encroaching on the written word. Do you think the written word will retreat and disappear or remain steady?
I think the written word will last, because it allows readers to use their imagination. Otherwise you are lazily using someone else's. I also recently read a study that showed that people who spend hours reading have a really seriously improved chance of avoiding dementia and Alzheimers when they age.

Any valuable marketing tip(s) for fellow authors?
Try to find out what best selling authors do and get help from them. So I fail my own advice? That is because I don't know any.

Do you have a WIP and what’s exciting about it?
I think I mentioned above, I am trying to reflect the times – bankers behaving badly, hacking, espionage, anti-Russian themes, what more could you want? The title? It will be called "The Manganese Dilemma”.

What are your recommendations for reading and why? For example, which book do you consider a must-read (apart from your own, as it's a must-must, of course -:))?
I think it depends on what you want to write. For historical fiction, I think Robert Harris is well worth reading. For SF, I like Kim Stanley Robinson, however, the author who has made the greatest impact on me was Leo Tolstoi (translated, of course). I am not a fan of romance, but Anna Karenina made a huge impact on me, and I am sure "War and Peace" made a big influence on my "Miranda's Demons", not the least in my even trying to write something like that.

What non-writing-related things would you like to say about yourself?
Obviously, science has played a big part in my life, including my efforts to start new businesses based on new technology. One other thing that made a very big impact on my life was that I entered Czechoslovakia from Poland just slightly behind a motor-rifle division in August 1968. I suppose I learned a few things about myself then, and most of what I learned pleased me. I think I behaved well under genuinely dangerous situations.

I live in New Zealand, and for many years I went down to the West Coast of the South Island and spent some time catching whitebait. (They also get a cameo appearance in "A Face on Cydonia"). Unfortunately, you have to be a local to get the very rare spots that become vacant, and the place I had access to has silted up. I have been reasonably well travelled – I have been to at least two countries on every continent (states if you count Australia as a continent) and over 30 states of the US, so I have seen a reasonable amount.

My achievements? Family are important, and I have two children. My daughter is a consultant at Wellington hospital, and my son is a software developer, so at least my wife and I got that part right. My wife is dead (cancer) but I could not do much about that. In science, I have seen into nature, but what I have concluded has often been at odds with the "general flow". Nevertheless, when I was working in the freezing works, I made several extraordinarily ambitious goals. From my point of view, I have more or less achieved them.

Where can readers connect with you?
(a) Website: http://www.ianmiller.co.nz This is soon to be restructured.
(b) Blog : http://ianmillerblog.wordpress.com
(c) Facebook : www.facebook.com/ian.miller.73345
(g) Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004XXEUZQ
(h) Smashwords : https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
(i) Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

Great interview.

Thanks, Graeme. I was a bit apprehensive abut writing it, so i am glad someone found it interesting.

Well, you gave some depth.

Agreed, great interview!

Thanks, Marie

Nice interview, Ian!

Thanks, Leonie