Tim Stretton 2009 on Dog of the North etc

Tim Stretton has written three books - The Zael Inheritance , Dragonchaser and his latest Dog of the North all of which have crackingly good story lines, but all have been written in different styles to suit the plot and the relationships between the characters. So I put a few questions to him which he has answered in depth. Enjoy!

VW: What inspired you to write in the Fantasy genre?

TS: Like most writers, I set out to write the kinds of book I enjoyed reading. Back when I formulated an ambition to be a writer, in my early teens, that was pretty much exclusively fantasy and science fiction. As a reader my tastes are much broader now, but my default setting as a writer has already been fixed. As a teenager I wanted to write like Jack Vance, a giant of the fantasy and science fiction field; as an adult, I now realise how impossible that aspiration is, but it still works away somewhere under the surface.

I wouldn't rule out writing in other genres in the future. My fantasy is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from historical fiction and I wouldn't be at all surprised if one day I tried my hand at that.

VW: What was your inspiration for the three story lines in your books?

TS: The Zael Inheritance was an attempt to fuse the style and sensibility of Vance, Raymond Chandler and Jane Austen. This was clearly misguided and indeed impossible to pull off, but I think it's an interesting failure and I hope it has an appeal of its own.

Dragonchaser was conceived on the rowing machine at the gym: I wondered what life would have been like for people who had to pull an oar for a living. This led me to imagine all the different galleys in the book, and then the politics which give the story its edge. In this book, unlike Zael, the characters were the last part of the jigsaw to fall into place: by contrast Zael started with the character of Laura Glyde and everything else came from that.

Strangely, considering it's the most recent, I can hardly remember how The Dog of the North got started. I was trying for something of the feel of Jack Vance's Lyonesse series. There is a plot twist, which I won't give away-you'll know which one I mean-which I only thought of at the very end of the planning stage. Until that point, the book would have been structured very differently.

VW: Do you think that the Zael Inheritance could happen today or in the very near future?

TS: For a writer of speculative fiction, I'm the world's worst person to ask about scientific projections! That said, many of the conceits about genetic engineering in the book are not very far ahead of where we are now. The idea of big business underwriting genetic research, one of the key planks of the story, is already with us, and every year we learn more about the human genome. The science for the plot twist in the story is not far off-indeed it wouldn't surprise me if it could already be done. It's over ten years since I wrote the book, and I'm sure it won't be too long before it's overtaken by reality-the inevitable fate of the science-fiction writer.

VW: Can you see yourself as a swashbuckling captain in a galley race?

TS: I'd rather be the one shouting the orders than the one pulling the oar, that's for certain! I found the idea of the galley races great fun-probably the most enjoyable things I've ever written.

VW: Do you see something of yourself in Beauceron and Arren?

TS: Without sounding too arty-farty about it all, it's hard to write convincing characters if you don't see some of yourself in them. I recycled a lot of my feelings of teenage awkwardness into Arren, who never quite fits in wherever he is: that was a sense I always had at school where it really wasn't cool to be academic. As far as Beauceron goes, I hate to say that his very willed lack of empathy is something I see in myself sometimes, and the obsessiveness with which he goes about pursuing his revenge has a lot in common with how I go about writing a book. I think even the minor characters need to have some of the writer in them if they're to have any life of their own. Davanzato, the arch-schemer, certainly draws on that part of my personality which has developed in my day job in a large bureaucracy.

VW: You have written your books in three different styles - was this deliberate?

TS: Not at all. I never set out to write a book in a particular style; I try to tell the story in the way I think will be most effective, and I don't have style consciously in mind at all. The Zael Inheritance is very dialogue-intensive because the core of the book is the relationship between Lamarck and Laura-and relationships are best expressed through dialogue. In The Dog of the North, I need to convey something of the epic sweep of the times and the tale I am telling-so there is perhaps less emphasis on dialogue.

TS: I think approaching the story through the style is the wrong way of going about it, and attempts to chase a particular style are likely to end in failure.

VW: Did you have to do much research for them?

TS: I always tell myself that one of the appeals of writing fantasy is that you don't need to do an awful lot of research; in fact it's not true at all. I need to do a lot of "imaginative research" to ensure that my world is consistent and that its institutions function plausibly-for instance, the Summer and Winter Kingdoms of Mettingloom in The Dog of the North. I also read a lot of history, partly because it interests me, but also to get a sense of how other times and places differ from the default 21st century mindset. I don't have to do the detailed research of a historical novelist (one of the things that puts me off!): I really wouldn't enjoy the business of making sure the shoes are right.

VW: Which book did you enjoy writing the most?

TS: Whatever book I'm writing at any given time is at once the best and the worst thing I've ever done. Dragonchaser ended up as the most ‘fun' novel, but I don't think it was any more enjoyable to write than the others.

VW: Did you ever get lost in any of your plots because they can be quite complex?

TS: Generally I have a pretty good handle on what's going on. I'll always have some back-up material; background notes on who's who, and I tend to use a spreadsheet for timelines. That's particularly important for books like The Dog of the North where I'm not telling the events in the order they happen, and the narrative spreads over several years. It's important to know how old characters are at any given time in the novel, and who the king is.

VW: Will you continue to experiment with your writing style in your next few books?

TS:As I mentioned earlier, stylistic experimentation is not something I particularly value for its own sake. As the stories I tell change, so will the way I tell them.

VW: In two of your books - Dragonchaser and The Dog of the North - you appear to be very comfortable with setting them in the 14/15th Centuries is this a favourite period of yours?

TS: I do enjoy mediaeval European history because there's so much going: social, political and religious institutions develop and often clash. It's a really good breeding ground for fiction. I'm also interested in Roman and Byzantine history, and also the 19th century which I did for A-level. I could see myself setting stories in any of those periods. Byzantium in particular is an area I don't think has been explored enough.

VW: Can you describe a Gallumpher the animals that are ridden in The Dog of the North?

TS: No, absolutely not! The books deliberately avoid descriptions so it's something I leave to the reader's imagination. If you want to think of them as standard horses, that's fine; but equally you may want to picture them as more exotic. Sometimes by describing things in too much detail you serve only to limit the reader's experience.

VW: With medieval fighting did you do a lot of research or just go to a medieval re-enactment day which a popular now?

TS: Almost no research at all, actually. I choreograph man-to-man combat in my head, trying to avoid implausible feats of strength or dexterity. Greg Mosse, an excellent creative writing teacher, says "watch the film in your head, and write down what you see."

The Battle of Jehan's Steppe in The Dog of the North was much more challenging, because it was on such a large scale and one character's perceptions could not capture the whole story. I blocked that out on a piece of paper after acting it out with coins to represent the different troops. It took me a long time to get that scene right in my head, but once I'd done that it was fairly easy to write.

VW: What is your favoured way of writing - computer or by hand?

TS: Initial notes I'll do either on the computer or by hand, but once I get down to work it's computer all the way. I type faster than I write and it's so much easier to revise an electronic text-even down to changing the names which I do at least once per novel.

VW: What do you do to get the creative juices going if you get writers block?

TS: Go and do something else. The philosopher David Hume used to go and play billiards when he got knotted up trying to disprove the existence of God; I'm more likely to fire up Football Manager on the PC or go for a run. What you're trying to do is shake the mind into a different frame of thinking. The worst thing you can do is sit there and look at the blank screen.

VW: What is your favoured way of relaxing after a hard day of writing?

TS: Ha! Writing is the relaxation. The hard day bit is the day job which inconveniently intrudes.

VW: Which authors have influenced you the most?

TS: Jack Vance, more than any other writer, unites the subject matter and tone of voice that I most want to emulate. If Vance weren't pigeonholed as a genre writer he'd be recognised as one of the 20th century masters. Jane Austen has also been an enormous influence, for narrative tone more than anything else. Patrick O'Brian combines many of the best features of both with his Napoleonic adventures.

Among mystery writers I've always admired Raymond Chandler-again primarily for narrative voice-while among history writers John Julius Norwich has always enthralled. His three-volume history of Byzantium unites an ability to give us the big picture with an eye for the telling detail.

A novel that continues to astound me more than 20 years after I first read it is Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel. In its ruthless control of point of view and its avoidance of a clear resolution, it's as sharp today as it was sixty years ago-a much much better novel than the more famous Rebecca.

Vw: I wouldn't have counted Jane Austen as a favourite of of a fantasy writer!

TS: Vicky - a trade secret follows. All writers like Jane Austen, but most of the tough guy fantasy writers don't admit it...

VW: If you got stranded anywhere what book would you have with you to while the time away?

TS: Easy. Jack Vance's Lyonesse series (and don't tell me that's three books). It shows Vance's art at its fullest development and gives the lie to those who say he can't write a tightly-plotted multi-viewpoint narrative. Much as I love The Lord of the Rings, Lyonesse knocks it into a cocked hat, and if there were any justice it would be just as well known.

VW: You are now writing your fourth book - will it still be in the Fantasy genre or will you experiment with another.

TS: I've in fact just finished it-it's called The Last Free City and it follows on from The Dog of the North. It would be wrong to call it a sequel; the relationship between the two novels is much more oblique than that.

VW: Will you also change your writing style again?

TS: Macmillan think that the novel is more reflective than its predecessor, and no doubt that is reflected in the style. But one of the characters is an accomplished duellist, and there are lashings of political intrigue, so there should be enough to keep fans of action and adventure happy!