What initially sparked your interest in writing, and how did you discover your passion for storytelling?

I started writing, or at least creating stories, at a very early age. Neither of my parents were writers, so I’m not sure where my interest came from, other than possibly books and TV shows.  I still have some of the books I created as a young boy. Some were about a tiger-masked ninja fighting some monsters. I even created the illustrations for these stories.

That said, I didn’t discover my passion for writing until much later in life. For some reasons, I never believed I could become a writer until my wife, Leigh, encouraged me to give it a try. It quickly became evident to me that writing was something I enjoyed greatly. I’ve always loved to immerse myself in stories, and with writing, not only could I adventure in mystical and new worlds, I now had a say in what could happen. Although I enjoy the process of writing from start to finish, my favorite part remains the sense of wonder I feel as I experience the story and live its events with the characters.

How do you approach world-building in your novels?

In my opinion, world-building is one of the most enjoyable parts of writing. It is often associated with the fantasy genre, but it really applies to any book. Even a story set in today’s world requires the writer to develop a setting, selecting the places, characters and rules he or she will follow and present in the book.

In my case, I usually learn about the world at the time of writing, with the characters as they progress in their own life. It is a time consuming approach, but it is also much more fun. It allows me to enjoy the mystery of the world, at least for a while. It is more time consuming, because it means I have to come back, and review the story once I know more about the world, to make certain everything aligns and that I’m not breaking any rules or going against any history detail. From what I understand, many authors write a long first draft and then have to come back, and cut it down, remove the fat. I work in the opposite direction. My initial drafts are short, often with little background details or without a conclusion. With every revision, I add details, background information, and layers to the story.

The only exception to this approach are the stories taking place in the world of Arvelas, like my novella The Conclave and my upcoming dark fantasy series The Baneseeker Chronicles. This is because I first created the world of Arvelas as a teenager, while playing and hosting tabletop role-playing games. It is a world I’ve travelled to a lot over the years and that I know very well. There is still a world-building element to any story I write in Arvelas, but it has much more background information to draw from than the settings of my other stories.

What was the best part of working with Tom to design your cover?

Prior to my career as a fiction writer, I started a digital magazine called Hop Culture, which threw beer festivals around the United States and had its own line of glassware and apparel. In that role, I worked with many awesome artists including Killer Acid, Sam Taylor, Yeye Weller, Pseudodudo, and Lauren Martin, to name a few.

Just like those artists, Tom is a professional. It doesn’t matter that he’s designing book covers while they designed festival posters or beer glasses—the best artists I’ve worked with were able to take my vision, combine it with their own, and create something greater than the sum of its parts. 

What role, if any, do maps play in your world-building process?

During my first year in college, I commissioned a French cartographer to design three maps: one of a world, one of a continent, and one of a city. Those are the places I write to this day!

In my opinion, anything that helps ground you better in a fantasy world is a service to the story, whether it’s models, character sketches, maps, etc. The more you can do to help a world come to life, the better the story will be!

What books, authors, or life experiences have had a significant impact on your writing style and the themes you explore in your work?

Some of my favorite authors include Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson, Annie Dillard, MFK Fisher, and Michael Chabon. I love the dark, dry humor of British fantasy authors like Roald Dahl, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, and Mark Lawrence. 

Can you provide any insights into your upcoming projects?

On the book side, I’m slowly but surely working on the the fourth book in the Toroth-Gol series, and I have a few other projects coming out this year, including a cozy fantasy. The best way to stay up-to-date on those projects is to follow my personal Instagram at @hopcultureken or join my email newsletter list here. 

What initially sparked your interest in writing, and how did you discover your passion for storytelling?

From as early as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to tell stories. Star Trek played a big part in this, as I mentioned elsewhere, but I fell in love with alien worlds and epic fantasy settings even before learning about the Starship Enterprise.

I was a kid during the early days of computer gaming (BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum and up) and RPG games really helped to drive my interest in storytelling, along with the wonderful “Fighting Fantasy” novels.

I was also a role-playing nerd and gamemaster (Paranoia and Role Master mainly), which is the perfect outlet for someone who loves to tell stories.

I tried to write my first novel in my early 20s, but I didn’t have the patience or discipline back then. I did eventually finish that book (and series) more than 15 years later. It’s called The Planetsider Trilogy, and it’s still popular today, having held No.1 slots in Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction on Amazon US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Age and experience have their benefits, I suppose!!

Why did you choose Tom Edwards Design to create your cover?

I was shopping for covers and cover designers one afternoon, as authors often do, and part of that process (for me) is checking the Copyright pages of books with covers I liked. Tom’s name kept appearing, which led to his website and an awesome list of pre-mades, which were sold out! That was a good sign (though not for me), but by that point, I’d decided I wanted a series of "Tom Edwards" covers, so I bit the bullet and got in touch. That was a great decision.

How do you engage with your readership? Do you actively seek feedback, and if so, how does it influence your future writing?

I have a bunch of social channels but I’m terrible at posting content and updates. I’m just not a very ‘social media’ sort of person, in general. I have a newsletter, which I’ve curated over many years, and the membership of that is ~7,000 strong. That’s my main method of communicating with readers.

I do encourage feedback and I get a lot of comments, particularly on the adverts I run to promote my books. I engage with everything, even the snarky comments! However, I think it’s important to take these comments with a pinch of salt, and the same goes for reviews. I read the bad reviews and the good (thankfully, most are good!), in case there’s anything I can learn (common mistakes or peeves, for example), but ultimately, it’s my story and my decision. I write what I would want to read.

Character Development: What unique challenges do you face when developing characters in a futuristic or otherworldly setting, and how do you ensure that they remain relatable to readers?

For me, good sci-fi is a good story first and foremost. I like to think you could take all of my books and put them in another setting and the stories and characters would still work.

Forsaken Commander, for example, would work in the age of sail, or modern times. It would only require adjustments to who the antagonists are and where they are. For example, they wouldn’t be post-human in the age of sail, but could be another minority group, and the setting could be remote islands instead of planets. The elements of story and character I think would remain the same, because they’re universal.

I create documents that include important elements like a character’s wants and needs, their conflicts (internal and external), how they change as a result of the story, what impact they have on people and the world, and so on. I flesh all this out in advance so I know who they are and how they would react in given situations.

I use a tool called Scrapple to create massive scrap books of character or worldbuilding notes, which then becomes my master reference. After a while, you get to know the characters and settings well enough that it becomes second nature, but just as I like to outline my books in detail, I find that the initial work of piecing the characters together is invaluable.

Storytelling Formats: Science fiction can be presented in various formats, from novels to short stories to episodic series. How does the chosen format influence your storytelling, and what advantages or challenges do you find in each?

I like structure and having a plan, so my writing is heavily influenced by the sort of episodic sci-fi shows I grew up watching, such as Star Trek, Babylon 5 and their ilk. I use a three-act structure and think of each book as a ‘season’ in a wider story arc. Each book / season tells its own story, but builds toward an over-arching conclusion.

This allows me to put the foundations in place for long-term storytelling, while ensuring that each book stands alone, and contains all the juicy story beats, tropes and hooks that readers expect and love. Moral Ambiguity: Science fiction often explores moral and ethical ambiguity.

Technology's Impact on Humanity: How do you explore the transformative effects of technology on humanity, both positive and negative, and what cautionary tales or optimistic visions do you present?

The Aternien Wars series was actually inspired by Elon Musk’s Neurolink chip, and questions of where human augmentation might eventually lead us. We’re just at the beginning of this ‘post-human’ age now, which is scary and exciting.

In this series, post-human experimentation leads to the creation of the god-like leader of the Aterniens, Marcus Aternus, who styles his empire on the myths of ancient Egypt.

I wanted to explore how an advanced, post-human branch of humanity might co-exist with the old-fashioned flesh-and-blood kind. It turns out not so well.

Prejudice and fear of change and technology are central themes throughout the series. In the books the Aterniens are considered perversions of nature and a threat to human purity. It’s because of this that they’re persecuted and exiled, eventually leading to two bloody wars.

The prejudice the Aterniens face is mirrored in the way the central character, Carter Rose, is regarded. As a post-human soldier created to combat the Aternien threat, he’s ironically treated with the same fear and intolerance as the enemy. He’s forsaken by the very people he fights to protect. Real history shows us that soldiers are often treated poorly by the governments who use them, and sometimes even by society, as was the case with those who fought in the Vietnam war, for example.

It’s not a very optimistic vision of the future, but as in all of my books, there are strong themes of hope and redemption, camaraderie and of the value of remaining principled even in the face of extreme adversity and intolerance.

For me, there’s nothing more cathartic than someone overcoming seemingly unconquerable odds to win the day!

Why did you choose Tom Edwards Design to create your cover?

I first hired Tom in 2015 to create the cover for my first science fiction novel, Alien Hunters. A few months prior, Tom painted the cover for Nick Webb’s bestselling novel Constitution. The cover for Constitution really impressed me (and all who saw it). At the time, I had already written several fantasy novels, but I was new to science fiction. I contacted Tom and was very lucky that he agreed to create the cover for Alien Hunters. Since then, I’ve written 44 science fiction novels, and Tom created the covers for every one.

You’ve written over 80 novels! With so many different themes, characters and settings, how do you describe your writing career?

I've written 87 novels. 89 if you include two unpublished books. How would I describe my writing career? I’m an indie author who loves fantasy and science fiction and writes a lot. That’s about all there is to it. I was five or six when I read my first book by myself. I was thirteen when I started writing my own stories. I just kept going with it, and it’s an honor to share my stories with other people. For me, it’s all about the joy of storytelling and literature.

In the Moth series and others, you share maps, music, artwork and an encyclopedia specific for each world you create. This is quite unusual so I’m interested in hearing how these different facets come about and the importance of them in your broader writing.

One reason I love fantasy is the worldbuilding. Universes like Middle Earth, Realm of the Elderlings, The Cosmere—they all have such lush, beautiful worldbuilding. Moth is a much smaller universe (there are only six novels in the series), but I wanted to delve into the worldbuilding and make the experience immersive.

How do you define the difference between sci-fi and fantasy?

I don’t think you can come up with one definition for each genre that captures every work perfectly. The two genres are related. Star Trek is clearly science fiction. Lord of the Rings is clearly fantasy. Star Wars? Not so clear. It includes elements from science fiction, obviously, such as starships. But it also includes traditional fantasy tropes, such as knights, princesses, wizards, monsters, and magic. I think the two genres often meet and intersect.

How do you keep track of all the details in your world-building to ensure consistency throughout your series?

Spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets that keep track of characters, locations, and alien species. And Word documents that include timelines and details on weapons, starships, organizations, and so on. I still end up forgetting a lot, and sometimes I must go back over old novels to remember.

The fantasy genre often deals with good vs. evil. How do you navigate these themes in your work?

In this century, there’s been a trend toward morally ambiguous characters and conflicts that don’t necessarily involve good vs. evil. Examples are works like A Song of Ice and Fire or The Stormlight Archive, where it’s not always clear which side is “good” and which is “evil.” Those works can offer complexity and, arguably, a more realistic view of how our own world works. Personally, I think that classic good vs. evil – which can sometimes be seen as naïve or simplistic -- has an important place in our genre. Through good vs. evil stories, we can explore the nature of morality and sacrifice. Tolkien understood this. I think stories of good vs. evil resonate with people through the generations. They might sometimes go out of style but they’ll always keep making comebacks. As humans living in a world full of evil, we crave stories that can show us the heroism of good people.

What initially sparked your interest in writing, and how did you discover your passion for storytelling?

I was born in Israel in 1980. Back then and there, we only had one TV channel, which broadcast in black and white, and only for a few hours in the afternoon. There wasn’t much to watch. And I didn’t yet have a computer or game system. And I was no good at sports. But I did have a local library. So much of my childhood was spent reading. I kept returning to the library for more. In 1991, I stumbled across a book called Dragons of Winter’s Night. It was the second novel in Dragonlance Chronicles. I loved the cover and picked up the book, not even realizing it’s a sequel, and read it. I was blown away. It was my first time reading fantasy. Since then, fantasy and science fiction became my favorite genres, and I’d grab everything I could find from those genres. I started writing my own stories when I was thirteen. When I was fourteen, I wrote a novella – it was about 50 pages long – about a post-apocalyptic world, in which the last human survivors battle against robots (the robots were basically ripped off from the Terminator franchise). When I was fifteen, I began to write a fantasy novel. I reached about 400 pages, then ran out of steam and stopped. I was nineteen when I wrote my first “real” novel, titled Firefly Island. Now I’m 44 and still going.

How do you approach creating and developing characters? Are they inspired by real people, purely imagined, or a mix of both?

For me, creating the characters is the most important part. That’s my top priority. Before plot, before worldbuilding, before anything else—I want to make sure I get the characters right. I think the greatest stories, the ones that stay with you forever, have great characters. Years later, we might not remember the plot of Lord of the Rings, but we’ll remember Gandalf. We might not remember what happened in Dragonlance, but we’ll remember Raistlin and Caramon. I want to create characters that resonate like that. I don’t always succeed. But it’s something that’s always on my mind.

You’ve got a very generous section on your website for advice for other authors. What would you say is the most important of these?

Love reading and love books. Writing is a career. But books are also a hobby and a passion. Understand the business of writing—how to market, how to make money. But never forget that writing is about the love of books.

Why did you choose Tom Edwards Design to create your cover?

Tom had an amazing portfolio of artwork, and I knew pretty much from the start that he would be able to create a stunning book cover for my debut novel, ‘The Dark Maiden’. Then ten books and three series later, I’m still so impressed with the amazing and professional quality of his work. I’d done a lot of research into cover artists, but his work was always the one I ended up going back to. And I knew I wanted his artwork for the covers of The Tales of Iradas series, The Anari Duology, and The Mortaery Chronicles.

What was the best part of working with Tom to design your cover?

His attention to detail! He mentioned to us that he loved drawing armour, so naturally when we asked him to design ‘Black Dusk: Flame and Shadows’, the fourth book in my dark fantasy series The Tales of Iradas, he was so excited. And he didn’t disappoint. I love how he sends the artwork in stages – first a rough outline of the cover, and then by the second draft it’s all fleshed out and looks amazing. He somehow manages to take mere descriptions of what I want and completely exceeds my expectations every time.

The names of your characters are great! How do you decide on naming them and do their names say something about their personalities?

This is going to sound silly, but I Google names from different countries and either blend them together, or take parts of one and stick it with parts of another. I also try (not always) to give some sort of meaning to my character names. Adelaide Redbane is a princess – Adelaide means ‘noble’. Serendipity is a peasant-turned-lost-princess of Iradas, and one meaning of her name is ‘an unplanned fortunate discovery’. Perhaps my favourite though is Jinx Mortaery, Jinx meaning ‘bad luck’. I had a whole scene in Palace of Ash explaining why her father named her that, and given her rather tragic backstory it fit her perfectly. Plus, if it just sounds cool, then I’m all for it.

Can you describe your typical writing routine? Do you have any specific rituals or habits that help you get into the creative zone?

I’ve made a very good habit of starting my writing routine at 5am. I don’t always stick to it, because life gets in the way sometimes, but for the most part, I do. It allows me to get the bulk of my writing done for the day, and I can do it first thing in the morning with a clear mind. I also find mornings peaceful, so that really helps set the mood for writing.

Every book or series I write (and I mean every…single…one) has an individual Spotify playlist. I religiously listen to the specific one for whichever project I’m working on. I even ended up buying a typewriter, something I’ve always dreamed of owning. Recently, switching from writing straight up on my laptop to a tech-free option like that has seriously helped words flow better on a page. Then I just type it all up, editing as I go along.

Can you provide any insights into your upcoming projects?

Are there specific themes or ideas that you're excited to explore in your future works? I’m actually taking a brief hiatus from fantasy, and I’m currently working on a psychological/medical thriller based in an asylum (can you tell I’ve watched American Horror Story?) But 2025 will be the year of steampunk for our imprint, Paper Owl Publishing. We have a new series and a standalone novel in that genre coming that year, as well as the thriller I’ve been working on in 2024. Let’s just say, expect a whole bunch of young misfits with a talent for making illegal weapons in both my upcoming series and standalone novel.

Can you describe your typical writing routine? Do you have any specific rituals or habits that help you get into the creative zone?

My writing routine tends to change yearly, and sometimes monthly. I have a high appetite for novelty, and it seems I’m always experimenting with what routine will lead to the best results, in terms of creativity and output. The demands and realities of life have an impact too. After a break from writing, it always takes some time to get back into the flow of things.

Since 2024 began, I’ve been getting up at 6am, which has been something of an adjustment from my normal wake-up time of 9am – or later! Getting up at 6, though, I normally start writing around 8:30. At 9am I do a little bit of necessary admin work, and by 9:20am I’m usually driving to my office in the closest town to me. That’s about a 10-minute drive.

Once there, I write until 1pm, and then I stop, no matter how much I’ve written. For some accountability, I’ve also started logging my word counts, both per-day and per-session, as well as tracking my average rate of words-per-hour.

But what I’m finding really effective is trying not to worry too much about how many words I’m getting in per day, and instead focusing on writing consistently throughout the period I’ve allotted for it each day. I’ve already had one hiccup, but I was able to quickly kick things up again the next day, with a renewed focused on those two principles: not focusing too much on word totals and forcing myself to stop at 1pm, which acts as a signal to myself that I’d better spend my time before 1pm writing, or it simply won’t get done!

What makes you come back to Tom to design your covers?

 I've kept coming back to Tom, dozens of times, for every single book cover, for one simple reason: I understand what gets readers interested in my books.

The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” is rarely ever followed, if ever. Virtually every reader judges a book by its cover. What’s more, they do it in less than a second.

That’s all you’re likely to have to grab a reader’s attention – a fraction of a second. These days, readers are treated to a smorgasbord of high-quality books to choose from. They scroll through page after page of them.

For yours to catch their eye, it has to leap off the screen at them. That’s what Tom’s work does – it reaches out and grabs them.

Your book’s cover represents the very first step readers must take on the path to reading your book. If you don’t make it an attractive step, chances are they’ll never take it.

What obstacles have you encountered in your writing journey, and how have you overcome them?

My biggest challenges in becoming a writer were what’s often called the ‘inner critic’ and also writing consistently. I decided I wanted to become a writer when I was 15, and while I managed to write my first novel in high school, I really had no idea what it meant to stay disciplined as a writer.

It was partly insecurity, or my ‘inner critic,’ that kept me from writing consistently. I would always have an ideal in my head that I could never seem to match on the page. I’d reread my work and think it was junk. My stories just didn’t seem as special or impactful as what I’d envisioned when I set out to write them. And I let that stunt me. It made writing painful for me, and I would procrastinate a lot, when what I probably should have been doing was practicing by writing more.

Gradually, I gained the confidence to write more and more consistently, and for better or worse, a big part of that involved external validation – first from submitting books to awards and winning a couple of them, and later from readers who enjoyed my work.

As for finding enough time to write: I found it hard to come home from a day job and then make myself write. At the end of each day, I just didn’t seem to have the motivation for it. My solution was to save up enough money to be able to quit the job for a few months and focus on writing full-time. When the money ran out, I’d find another job, and start saving again. I went through that cycle until I started making enough money from my writing to write full-time indefinitely, which I’ve been blessed to be able to do ever since. That was nearly 10 years ago, now.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers who are just starting their journey or facing challenges in their creative pursuits?

I’d encourage aspiring writers to be clear about what their goals are. Is their goal to write for their own fulfillment, or do they want to make a career from this? Would they want a traditional publisher, or to publish their books independently? Will they write fiction or non-fiction? What genre will they write – and what will they need to know in order to write effectively in that genre? All answers to these questions are valid, but I believe it’s important for a writer to know what his or her answers are as early as possible.

Once they’ve figured out what kind of writing they’d like to do, I’d advise them to do their best to combat their inner critics and to stake out time in their schedules so that they can write consistently. I know from experience just how hard both things can be, and sometimes just learning how to practice can itself require practice.

One insight that likely would have helped me when starting out would be to ignore the daily word counts you see other authors posting. The word count an author should shoot for is the one he or she can do consistently, every day - even if that’s just 250 words. If you write 250 words, six days a week, that’s 78,214 in a year, or a decent-sized novel. And you can grow from there.

Ethical Dilemmas: Science fiction often explores ethical dilemmas arising from technological advancements. Can you share how you incorporate ethical considerations into your storytelling and the impact it has on your narratives?

Absolutely. At the beginning of my Ixan Saga, it’s a new technology that leads to just such an ethical dilemma. Technology is a double-edged sword, and during the early adoption phase of a new technology, we often can’t see the negative consequences it will have for our society.

Humans use a technology called dark tech to dominate the galaxy in the Ixan Saga - a technology that allows them to open temporary wormholes to fire on targets with impunity. During this period of dominance, the species it shares the galaxy with grow resentful of humanity, and when dark tech finally fails, humanity finds itself surrounded by enemies.

Storytelling Formats: Science fiction can be presented in various formats, from novels to short stories to episodic series. How does the chosen format influence your storytelling, and what advantages or challenges do you find in each?

I mostly write in story arcs that stretch across multiple books, since that’s what readers seem most interested in reading. Readers seem to enjoy characters they can get to know over a series – characters who become something akin to close friends. Watching characters grow as they confront successive challenges is one of the joys of reading fiction, and in a sci-fi series spanning multiple books, the challenges can get pretty epic!

Short stories seem great for experimenting with unique concepts, and I’ve written short stories that have later grown into novels. But I’m a novelist at heart, it seems. It’s “big ideas” that initially attracted me to this genre, and the longer formats really allow an author to flesh those out!