Diana talks to ... Richard Abbott

Hi Richard, good to chat with you! Hopefully this interview is an interview with a difference and I have come up with some unusual questions!

First things first I am sure there is a question that you have always longed to be asked. Now is the chance. Ask your own question and answer it!

I thought the question should be something about the roles of men and women in my books. I like writing about both men and women, and the diverse interactions between them. I also write about situations which naturally lend themselves to active participation by both sexes – helped no little by working in an environment where this is completely normal. So it was with great pleasure that I read a recent review of Timing which talked about the “bevy… of intelligent and formidable women” found in its pages. Whether writing about past or future, I like to include as much diversity as I can.

If your latest book ' Timing ' was made into a TV show or a film, who would you like to play the lead role? Hmm, I’m not very good on the names of actors. Aamir Khan (who played the male lead in Lagaan) looks right for Mitnash, while Rene Auberjonois is just right temperamentally, though rather too old now. Alexander Siddig would be good too, I think. Out of women to play Slate, which is necessarily a voice part, I think Jennifer Spence or Alaina Huffman would do a good job. Both have played technically-skilled parts in science fiction before.

What made you choose this genre? Well, I like experimenting with different genres. I started with historical fiction – and one day hope to dive back into the remote past – but recently I have been exploring science fiction. My most nearly complete WIP, Half Sick of Shadows, is something of a historical fantasy. I don’t feel constrained to stick with one genre.

How do you get ideas for plots and characters? I am a great believer that many human traits are the same whether you look back or forward in time. So, I find inspiration in the human interactions and occupations I see around me. The scribe Makty-Rasut and his fellow tomb workers in Scenes from a Life were drawn heavily from situations I saw when I was an IT contractor. My current science fiction series is based around financial fraud and hacking, something I have to be aware of in my day job. But (to reassure those who know me) hardly anyone is copied directly from a real person… there are always changes and blends going on. I hope that readers will recognise the kind of characters they meet in my books, but not specific individuals. Plot-wise I start with broad ideas (say a particular kind of financial crime) and work towards details.

If, as a one off, (and you could guarantee publication!)  you could write anything you wanted, is there another genre you would love to work with and do you already have a budding plot line in mind? (Wry laugh) Well, I can guarantee publication because I do it myself! What I can’t guarantee is popularity… But seriously I like dabbling with multiple genres. I do want to go back to historical fiction sometime, partly to tie up the loose ends in my Late Bronze Age series, and then to go back even further to the Neolithic or such like. But I have rough plans for a couple more science fiction books, and I have really enjoyed the sidestep into fantasy – look out for Half Sick of Shadows, later this year sometime. That’ll keep me busy for a while for sure.

Was becoming a writer a conscious decision or something that you drifted into (or even something so compelling that it could not be denied?) How old were you when you first started to write seriously? I have always liked reading, and way back in university days started a long fantasy novel. That manuscript is long since lost – perhaps for the better – and many years passed before I started writing again. The way in for me was via historical study, and the jump to fiction was small. So, I guess it was progress in fits and starts.

Marmite? Love it or hate it? Kind of indifferent (sorry) – I wouldn’t select it if there was a choice, but I wouldn’t turn it down either.

Do you have any rituals and routines when writing? Your favourite cup for example or ‘that’ piece of music...?? I write a lot on the Northern Line, tucked in a corner as I travel between East Finchley and Embankment. That doesn’t really lend itself to favourite bits and pieces. If at home I almost always write without music on – but if I’m editing or working over some already-written piece, then I will probably put on some cool prog rock like Yes or Caravan. Recently I’ve been indulging in Manfred Mann. I almost always write first on my phone, into GMail, then transfer into a text editor and produce the Kindle version in the evening. That way I can always check how it looks on an actual reader. But often it’s a matter of grabbing whatever time I can in the midst of a busy life, so I can’t be too precious about rituals and such like.

I promise I won’t tell them the answer to this, but when you are writing, who is more important, your family or your characters? Family definitely.

Other than writing full time, what would be your dream job? I really like what I do (quality assurance in IT) and would be reluctant to give it up. I reckon there’s a lot of value in keeping on working with other colleagues and doubt my ability to manage well if I was just on my own – probably this way madness lies! Given the option I’d probably shift the balance a little between day job and writing, but I wouldn’t want to give up the day job altogether.

Coffee or tea? Red or white? Tea, almost every time. For alcohol, probably white though I’d prefer a nice ale to any sort of wine.

How much of your work is planned before you start? Do you have a full draft or let it find its way? For historical fiction, I have a clear plan not just for plot but for structure as well, since formal layout was important back then and I like to try to imitate the process of creation as well as the setting. For the rest, I have a sense of where I want to go, and some specific key scenes along the way, but I am not nearly so orderly about planning here. I don’t make a draft in the conventional sense of that word – just lots and lots of reappraisal as the thing develops.

If you had free choice over the font your book is printed in, what font/fonts would you choose? I’m a rebel here and an enthusiast of epublishing – so I’d want my readers to pick their own font at will rather than feel they had to put up with my choice. Just for fun, I tried seeing what my books look like with the fairly recent dyslexic font available in many Kindles – I couldn’t read it all the time but it was a useful exercise seeing what it was like.

Imagine that you could get hold of any original source document. What would it be? The founding statement of principles of the first colony on the asteroid Ceres, at the point it transitioned from being just a commercial mining settlement into a real human community.

Have any of your characters ever shocked you and gone off on their own adventure leaving you scratching your head??? If so how did you cope with that!? A minor character from Far from the Spaceports has developed something of an interesting life of her own – and will continue to do so in #3 (provisionally called The Authentication Key). I just went with the flow, presuming that my subconscious knew all about this.

How much research do you do and do you ever go on research trips? For historical fiction, yes, lots, and yes I have (some of the Greek islands, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel). For science fiction, I’d certainly be up for a trip to the asteroid belt – or even Mars – if anybody offered it. Sadly, the opportunity has not yet presented itself. For the emerging fantasy books, I guess the research is more into internal space rather than external.

Fiction authors have to contend with real characters invading our stories. Are there any ‘real’ characters you have been tempted to prematurely kill off or ignore because you just don’t like them or they spoil the plot? Well, when I write historical fiction I focus on people who were in normal terms rather unimportant. So, the problem doesn’t really arise. Besides, I am looking at periods of time where the amount of written evidence is small, and we know the names of so few individuals that I don’t feel constrained. Nobody has yet quibbled about my portrayal of Joshua in In a Milk and Honeyed Land, but then I didn’t kill him off or anything nasty. Unless you’ve acquired a time machine it’s not an issue when writing about the future! But even there, I prefer writing about ordinary people rather than Galactic Overlords or the like.

Are you prepared to go away from the known facts for the sake of the story and if so how do you get around this? Same answer really – in the historical periods I like, “known facts” are few and far between. I have a desire to write something set in ancient Doggerland (now under the waves of the North Sea) and I don’t reckon many facts will disturb me there. With futuristic stuff, I try to be careful to make the technology plausible, which I suppose is meeting the same goals as checking historical facts.

Do you find that the lines between fact and fiction sometimes become blurred? In the places and times I write about, they are always blurred! There are ongoing vigorous debates about whether whole decades and centuries need to be moved around, even for something as recent as Late Bronze. I don’t live in a fictional world where everyone is confident of the actual date and hour of this or that event. That’s part of the pleasure…

Have you ever totally hated or fallen in love with one of your characters? Never hated them – I wouldn’t bother to write about them if I hated them. But there are definitely people that I would get seriously fed up with if I had to work with them. But love some of them, oh yes.

What do you enjoy reading for pleasure? Mostly good science fiction or good fantasy. I have got a bit chary of some historical fiction as there is a trend for high body counts and the like. But when I find a book I like then it doesn’t really matter what genre it is. As a rule, I prefer novella or novel length books to short stories.

What drink would you recommend drinking whilst reading your latest book? Russian Caravan tea.** Or maybe a really nice Jasmine green tea. Or just possibly a local ale if something stronger takes your fancy.

Last but not least... favourite author? I think this has to be Ursula LeGuin. There are a few others close to her but on balance I’m sure she is at the top of the pile.

Thank you Richard! Very interesting!!

Richard Abbott writes fiction set in two very different places. First, there is historical fiction set in the Middle East at the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200BC. The second area is science fiction, set in a near-future solar system exploring issues of high-tech crime and human-machine relationships.

His first science fiction book, Far from the Spaceports, introduces Mitnash Thakur and his virtual partner Slate as they investigate financial crime in the asteroid belt. A follow-up novel, Timing, introduces a new investigation starting about a year later.

His first book, In a Milk and Honeyed Land, explores events in the Egyptian province of Canaan. It follows the life, loves, and struggles of a priest in the small hill town of Kephrath.

A follow-up novel entitled Scenes from a Life begins in Egypt. It follows the journey of a scribe as he travels to discover his origins. down the Nile from Luxor and finally out into Canaan.

A third book, The Flame Before Us, is set in the middle of calamity. New settlers are arriving from the north, sacking cities and disrupting the established ways of life as they come. This story follows several different groups each trying to adjust to the new situation.

Author readings from both In a Milk and Honeyed Land and Scenes from a Life are available online as YouTube videos.

The short story The Man in the Cistern is set in the same location as In a Milk and Honeyed Land, but around ten years later.

The short story The Lady of the Lions is set in the same location but around one hundred and fifty years earlier.

Triumphal Accounts in Hebrew and Egyptian is the ebook version of his PhD thesis which, for those who want the technical details, supplies academic underpinning for some of the ideas and plot themes followed up in fiction.

Richard lives in London, England and works professionally in IT quality assurance.

When not writing words or computer code, he enjoys spending time with family, walking, and wildlife, ideally combining all three pursuits in the English Lake District. 

**Russian Caravan is a blend of oolong, keemun, and lapsang souchong teas, all produced from Camellia sinensis the Chinese tea plant

© Diana Milne January 2017 © Richard Abbott December 2016

Louise E. Rule Interviews Richard Abbott for The Review's Author Interview

Louise E. Rule Interviews Richard Abbott for The Review's Author Interview

Richard Abbott is the author of Scenes From A Life, which was reviewed by Margaret Skea in March here at The Review Group. If you would like to read Margaret's review, please click the above link.

The product description on amazon.co.uk tells the reader that:

[M]akty-Rasut is a scribe in New Kingdom Egypt, fashioning tombs for the elite. He lives a comfortable but restless life, moving every few years further upstream along the river Nile. He is content to exercise his talent without examining his origins.

Then a series of vivid dreams, interpreted with the help of a senior priest, disrupts this pattern. To solve the riddle, he must go on a journey that will take him outside the Beloved Land and away from the life that he knows. His travels take him into the neighbouring province of Canaan, to a hill-country village called Kephrath, and to a way of life he has never considere[d.]

About Richard Abbott (from amazon.co.uk)

Richard Abbott

Richard Abbott lives in London, England. He writes about the ancient Middle East - Egypt, Canaan and Israel - and has also contributed to the lively academic debate about these times. His first book, In a Milk and Honeyed Land, explores events in the Egyptian province of Canaan at the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. It follows the life, loves, and struggles of a priest in the small hill town of Kephrath. A second novel, Scenes from a Life, follows on from and is set around twenty years later than In a Milk and Honeyed Land. The short story "The Man in the Cistern" is set in the same location in the years between the two novels. The short story "The Lady of the Lions" is set in the same location but around one hundred and fifty years earlier. Triumphal Accounts in Hebrew and Egyptian is the ebook version of his PhD thesis which, for those who want the technical details, supplies academic underpinning for some of the ideas and plot themes followed up in fiction. When not writing words or computer code, he enjoys spending time with family, walking, and wildlife, ideally combining all three pursuits in the English Lake District. He works professionally in IT quality assurance, and also develops mobile and tablet apps with a focus on the ancient world.

Hello, Richard, welcome to The Review's Author Interview, thank you for taking time out to answer some questions.

Thanks, Louise, for the invitation!

You have an obvious passion for the ancient Middle East. Could you tell our readers what drew you to that time, what was it that captivated you?

Originally I got intrigued by the chronology of the ancient world, and looked into both mainstream views and some of the more alternative ones. But as I started to read actual ancient sources, initially in translation and then more directly, I abandoned chronology in favour of literature, especially poetry and its various forms. It is so much more fascinating! Plus, of course, it gives much more direct insight into the minds of people in the ancient world, rather than just modern ideas of how best to create an exact timeline.

Once hooked by the language and literature, I narrowed in on the particular period in question since it was a time of flux. The Late Bronze Age had been a long period of stability, and in a very short span of time, perhaps fifty years or so, it completely collapsed. Religious freedom, international trade, and cultural interchange gave way to a narrow parochialism. the role of women shrank from a position of importance and respect to one which, in many places, amounted to simple ownership. Many reasons for this have been proposed, and none is entirely convincing, so it is an open field for the writer. My characters live in their world with customs and habits of thought built up in one age, having to adapt to a very different one. 

In your first book, In a Milk and Honeyed Land, published in June 2012, you explore events in the Egyptian province of Canaan at the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. Even though it is a time that you have already researched, and on which you had written a PhD thesis, did you have to do a different type of research for your novel, for example, your characters, and their lives?

Yes indeed. The PhD focused mostly on the language and poetry of the time, so I was pretty comfortable with that. However, for the novels I needed to have a sense of what regular life was like - housing, food, journey times, vegetation, clothing and so on. I put a lot of thought into what village religion would be like - no large temple or priestly hierarchy, for example, and existing mainly to serve the daily struggles and delights of village life. I had a lot of fun thinking how the society might signal things like social or marital status through designs on the headscarves worn (I call these "kefs", which is an adaptation of modern Hebrew and Arabic words) - no gold wedding rings here! We do have a very modest amount of pictorial evidence for headscarves, but nothing to help us interpret the visual differences.

The novels also gave me the chance to speculate on things that are credible but unprovable. For example the society I write about in Kephrath is based around the idea that property passes from mother to daughter rather than father to son. A man moves into his wife's family home rather than the reverse. This did happen occasionally back then, but we don't know if it actually did in that particular place and time.

Your character Damariel, in In a Milk and Honeyed Land, has been apprenticed to a village priest. How did you work on the creation of your Damariel character? Did you already have an idea, for example, of how he looked or spoke, or is he a character that just evolved?

Some aspects of his character and background were very clear to me right from the start, others came along as I started to write about him. So the very first bits of the story that I wrote, which were some episodes scattered through the middle third of the book, stayed pretty much as written all through. His basic character was established right back then. But as I filled in detail around that, I had to sort out in my mind how he would react, and started to create a much more extensive picture of his personal and family life: his soul, if you like, and the various ways in which it is hurt or healed.

Storylines have always fascinated me. I'm sure that you have a storyline already worked out before you start writing, but do you find that you keep to it, or do you deviate along the way? For example, with some authors their characters surprise them with the directions that they take; do you find this too?

The overall structure of the book is pretty important to me, so by and large I plan out the big-picture storyline and then stick to it. But as with the character development, there are places where I stop and reconsider whether the original idea makes sense. Like most of us, I guess, I end up having to be quite careful about getting the things I describe lining up correctly with each other, and also with historical events we know about already. I have just been creating a large spreadsheet for my current WIP so as to get things organised properly.

One question that I like to ask authors is this: do you have a special place where you prefer to write, and a special time of day? Or do you find that you can write anywhere, anytime?

I love the Northern Line! For those unfamiliar with it, this is an underground railway in London. My daily commute is long enough that I can do some writing, editing or reading, and really make use of the time. Outside that, I prefer to use evenings rather than mornings, largely because my day job starts pretty early and before long I'm on the phone to my colleagues in India. Generally I prefer long blocks of time rather than bits and pieces, but I'll take whatever I can.

Many authors like to write in longhand, and then put it onto the computer. Richard, which do you prefer, and why?

I used to do longhand but then flipped to direct input. Longhand did not add anything useful for me, and I am quite disciplined about re-reading multiple times to make sure things make sense. My changeover happened at the time I got a smart phone which was easy to use for typing. All of a sudden it was so much quicker to type away and just use copy/paste, rather than write it out once and then type it all in again. Since then I have never been tempted to go back to longhand.

Please could you tell our readers which one you wrote first, Richard, your PhD thesis, or your first novel, and did the writing of the one help the writing of the other?

That's interesting! I started the novel well before finishing the thesis, during the information gathering stage. The core of the book sorted itself out in my head then. But when it came to writing up and then preparing for the interview stage of the thesis, I found I simply could not swap writing modes. So the novel went on hold for a considerable time during which I did not think about it.

It wasn't so much the material being different; it was the difficulty of making the changeover from formal to fiction or vice versa. I am so glad I did the thesis first, since it gave me an enormous love for ancient writing. I try to incorporate some older structures, patterns and language forms into my own writing in various ways: some people like this and some do not. For me it is an important part of recognising a debt we owe to writers of that era who have remained almost entirely anonymous. It is a little frustrating when people (including one recent publisher's reviewer) assume some language uses are modern insertions when I know they are authentically ancient, but that cannot be helped.

Did you use the same discipline that you used in writing your PhD as in the writing of your novel?

Not really. The thesis had to be built on evidence, used creatively to be sure in order to bridge the many gaps in our knowledge, but always with a view to defending any claims or deductions. And of course there was a huge number of references needing to be carefully cited, these being a mixture of ancient documents and modern critical thought.

With the novels I can be much more open to speculation and exploration - as for example with the matrilocal society. There's very little in my writing which doesn't have some kind of basis in reality, but I happily admit that in some places the link is tenuous. I suppose my adherence to overall structure, and the places where I deliberately incorporate poetry into prose, are the points at which the two areas of writing draw closest.

Finally, Richard, how do you deal with your editing process? Do you edit as you go, or do you find doing a major edit right at the end works better for you?

Both, really. I edit in a kind of continuous process once a long enough chunk is down that this makes sense. That (usually) catches a lot of problems. But I do then go over things in a more major way towards the end, and when I'm satisfied get in some external help. A few things still slip through the net but the combination works pretty well. My current WIP involves a number of separate strands which combine in the end, and I am acutely aware of the risks of things not quite making sense when they are interleaved with each other.

I would like to thank you very much for talking with me today, Richard; it has been extremely interesting and insightful.

My pleasure, Louise, thanks for the invite.



Richard Abbott can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.
Richard's website can be found here.

Louise E. Rule is author of Future Confronted.
Louise can be found on Twitter and on Facebook.