Word Craft #4: Brian Trent

New England author Brian Trent writes both science fiction and fantasy. He’s an early riser who gets his 5-6 hours of writing started at 5 a.m., which by my math means the work whistle goes off no later than 11 in the morning — not a bad lifestyle! But of course a writer’s work is never done. Please welcome Brian Trent to Word Craft!
-J.D.

ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BOOK

Tell us a little about yourself and what inspired you to become a writer.

Writing has been in my blood since I was very young—I still have the wordless illustrated comics I used to draw when I was in my single digits. The desire to tell stories was there at the beginning, to create worlds I could play in. As I got older, I realized that I could also use stories as little laboratories to examine anything I wanted: different narrative techniques, unique characters, the potential impact of a speculative technology on the world, the potential development of society in the future.

Science fiction is still my preferred sandbox. I do write fantasy, history, and horror, but I’ve always been drawn to the rational structures and extrapolative methodology of sci-fi.

What’s your book about?

Imagine a future in which a portion of the populace has access to god-like technologies, while the rest of the world still languishes in poverty and disease and war. A world in which death itself has been banished by the “arkies” who reside in majestic structures, while the “wastelanders” beyond whose civilized borders struggle in fierce turf wars for the simple desire to survive one more day. 

This is the world of extreme in Ten Thousand Thunders. Set in the far future after Earth has recovered from a new Dark Age, the story focuses on four characters from various backgrounds. They are brought together to solve a mystery reaching all levels of society—the immortals and the ones who still die. The book is part mystery, part thriller, as the characters team up to unravel a shadowy conspiracy… and the terrifying threat behind it all.

INSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION 

Why do you write?

There’s little choice in the matter. Writing is my passion, and building worlds for characters to interact in is a joy. I live a good deal of my life in imagination, a kind of augmented reality over the mundane. I suppose every writer does that to an extent. Putting those fantasies down, shaping them, polishing them, seeing them published for others to enjoy (as surely as books are my preferred portals to worlds that other writers have created) is a wonderful, detail-oriented obsession. Musicians hear songs in their heads. I’ve got an endless parade of characters whispering, shouting, fighting, beckoning, in mine. 

Have you ever taken an extended break from writing? If so, why, and what brought you back?

I have occasionally taken breaks when I feel my creative reservoir running dry. I’ll notice that I’m not being as productive as I like to be, that I’m finding it more difficult to motivate myself to write. Writing is a discipline, yes, and even when discipline becomes a habit, it still requires energy. Rather than wait for this to crystallize into full-on writer’s block, I abide by the warning signs. I step back. Recharge.

And I always take two weeks off when I complete a novel. It’s part mental purge, part opportunity to recharge the creative batteries, and part celebration. Completing a novel should never be taken lightly; I celebrate by hiking my favorite mountain trail, and then later, going to a specific Japanese restaurant to indulge in one of their best sakes. The bartenders know me by now.  

What do you do when you need additional inspiration or ideas?

A writer’s imagination needs fuel. Like a fireplace, it needs something to burn, or otherwise it sputters and dwindles.

If I feel I’m running low on inspiration, I’ll do something—spelunking, skiing, traveling, gardening, anything that engages both the mind and body while having nothing to do with writing. Hemingway strongly advised that writers not think about their writing when they’re not actually writing, and while I think that’s a tad severe, I appreciate the underlying philosophy. Last year I took a cooking class, a glass-blowing class, went to Italy, and spent some weeks immersing myself in mathematical study. Partly it’s because… why not? Partly it’s to challenge myself, get the creative energies churning. Creativity is not an eternal state—it requires maintenance and exercise, to prevent a writer from collapsing into torpor.

Do you finish everything you start? If a piece isn’t working, at what point do you cut your losses and abandon it?

I’d say I finish about 98% of what I start, though I have certainly reached the “fix-it-or-kill-it” stage with some pieces.

 That stage isn’t always obvious. If I’ve got a story that I’ve made several attempts at telling, I usually just table it for a while and try coming back to it in the future. One of my stories that was eventually published with Escape Artists took four years of on-and-off attempts before I got it right. 

 METHODS AND PRACTICES

Brian’s writing desk

How often do you write? 

I write about 4-5 days a week, for about 5-6 hours a day. 

Do you have a regular time of day and place that your write?

Yes. My writing is done in the morning—usually starting around 5 a.m. I despise writing in evenings or nights, because those hours are for relaxation or socialization or research. Besides, I’ve tried composition at night and I find my productivity plummets—my mind is elsewhere. In the mornings, my focus on writing is at its sharpest. 

Do you keep a writing log? What data do you track (word count, session start/end, etc.)?

No, though I keep a meticulous log of where I send my work, what’s been published and where, and various notes on the industry. Having a good handle on the market’s topography is essential. 

What elements of your life distract you from writing the most, and how do you manage those distractions?

I think most writers today will agree that the greatest potential distraction is the Internet and the many devices that connect to it, namely the ubiquitous smartphone. These things are the Person from Porlock incarnate. When I’m writing, I’m offline, the phone might as well be locked away in the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and no one’s around to distract me. Again, writing in the predawn hours is helpful for these purposes.  

Do you revise as you go, or wait for a complete first draft?

This is complicated. I don’t write stories in any particular order—the scenes are out-of-sequence, the characters are barely formed, the dialogue is placeholder stuff. As I go along, I’ll return to each element and develop them, smoothing out the rough edges, inserting revelations I’ve had about a character or a scene.

Once I’ve finished a first draft, I’ll do a systemic revision from first page to last. Then I embark on a second draft. And sometimes a draft after that. When it’s at a point I’m pleased with, I always step away from the story and “let it cook” on a backburner. For me, this is imperative. Staying away from a story for a few weeks is a valuable approach because when it allows the writer to read it fresh when they do return to it. 

At that point, I’ll give it one more thorough revision, and move it to my COMPLETE folder. That’s the launch bay for either first-readers, or submission to a specific market.

Who sees your work first, and why?

I don’t let anyone see my first drafts because they’re borderline Pnakotic Manuscripts in terms of confusing, eye-melting enigmas. I mentioned above how my early drafts rarely follow any kind of chronological order, but they also experiment with character, perspective, description… in addition to being filled with notes. Even if someone didn’t go blind reading them, any feedback I’d receive would be useless as the second draft is invariably a radical metamorphosis. 

I rarely send anything to a first-reader until my “let it cook” phase. Those readers are usually fellow writers who I know will provide honest, critical evaluation.

Do you have any particular methods via which you communicate with your subconscious mind?

I subscribe to the notion of daily imagination rituals to immerse in the world I’m creating. On any given morning, I mentally put myself into my fictional worlds and ask, “How would my day be going if I was in that world? Would my breakfast really be comprised of hen eggs and wheat toast? What’s the local economy, religion, and technology? What are the jobs? Are there considerations like magic? In short, what are the rules? 

This dovetails with my (grudgingly admitted) habit of physically acting out action scenes or scenarios (in the welcome privacy of my home at the dark morning hours) so that I can consider them from an active, 3D perspective. Where’s the light source? Would that conversation really take three minutes? Do I actually have time to flip over that card table before the gangster’s goons can jerk their pistols and shoot me? I tend to be a rather visual writer, and often think of composition in terms of constructing a movie… except that the writer has to fill all roles: director, actor, fight choreographer, lighting department, prop-master.

And finally, I like to do real-world research as much as possible. If I have a scene that takes place in a police station, I will speak to police officers and tour the station. As a sci-fi writer, most of my story locations don’t actually exist, but there are analogs and real-world substitutes and modern-day professions that can still be helpful.

What methods or practices have you used to increase your productivity?

Absolutely don’t worry about writing in an orderly, sequential fashion. I write the scenes I want to write, as they occur to me. Later I can organize them. I don’t think I’ve ever written a first draft that runs smoothly from first page to last.

Research is essential to keeping productive—few things can stall a project like stopping every few pages to look something up. That’s why I advocate doing research in my off-hours, and it doesn’t even have to align with a specific project. Experience is a writer’s fuel. Is there an exhibit at a regional museum on the salt-industry of colonial Cape Cod? I’m there! A beekeeper is giving a lecture at the local library? Sign me up… and I’ll be sure to inquire if she’s willing to take me on a tour of her apiary so I can see the bees up close. It doesn’t matter if these opportunities for research and learning don’t align with a current project; I’ll probably use the experience at some point. New experiences even inspire stories, more times than not.

The worst part of writing, I find, is starting a story. Facing the glacial whiteness of a blank page is intimidating, which I think is why I have learned to dive in, just to get the story’s wheels turning. I also tend to work on more than one story at a time. If done right, this keeps my productivity at high levels and keeps me from getting burned out on any one tale. Batches of my stories tend to grow up together.

There is a danger with this approach, however, and that’s if too many stories start to fill up my plate. When that occurs, I’ll sort through the tales I feel most strongly about, and concentrate on completing them, getting them to the final draft phase of their evolution. 

How important are lighting, sound/silence, smells, and other sensory factors to your writing process?

When I’m deep in the process of writing, I don’t worry about my own environmental details so much. I’m sure that any writer will agree: when you’re “in the zone,” you might as well be in the sensory deprivation tank in Altered States.

Author Brian Trent

FORTHCOMING

What are you working on now, and what projects do you have scheduled?

I’m presently working on two novels: the sequel to Ten Thousand Thunders, and a dystopian fantasy novel that I’m having fun with because it’s allowing me to deliberately invert several narrative tropes and expectations.

I also have a number of stories slated for publication this year in magazines and anthologies. Most recently, my humorous fantasy story “Old Spirits” was published in the Release the Virgins anthology, my science fiction tale “Dayshift” will be appearing Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, and my story “Aftershock” is appearing in Galaxy’s Edge. Other publications I’m unable to announce at this time, but some big projects will be unveiled later this year.