Ask the Author: Brian Harvey
Answered Questions (7)
Brian Harvey
Two things. First, he keeps the narrative going, even when he's basically asking the reader to follow a pretty technical path. He uses several techniques to do this - foreshadowing and direct address to the reader, which works in small doses. The other inspiration is his ability to make a clear argument based on masses of information. Having tried the same thing myself in my non-fiction, I admire someone who's prepared to put in the time with a stack of scientific papers rather than just skim the abstracts.
Brian Harvey
When I'm distracted or bereft of ideas, I console myself with the realization that whatever I write can't be 100% awful. So I write a thousand words, however crappy they are, get up and forget about it. Usually, some of it is salvageable, and I feel like I've kept up part of the deal with my subconscious (which is, "You come up with the stuff, I'll write it down.")
Brian Harvey
It's nice to see your book in print, and gratifying to get a good review. But for me that pales in comparison to the thrill of the moment when your characters come to life inside your subconscious and begin popping up unexpectedly to tell you what they're going to do next. From the moment the book "comes alive" to the moment it's buttoned up and finished, that's a freight train of creativity that's the best ride in the world.
Brian Harvey
Write because you feel like you should be writing. Simple as that. Expect to stuff a lot of junk in the drawer. For fiction, get familiar with the "rules" so that, when you break them, you won't get blind-sided. Grow an astonishingly thick skin.
Brian Harvey
Tokyo Girl is the follow-up to Beethoven's Tenth. I wanted to put the hero, Frank Ryan, into a more challenging cultural situation, so this time he gets into trouble in Japan. Which is about as culturally remote from North America as you can get. Especially if you get mixed up in the Tokyo Underworld.
Brian Harvey
In my fiction, I'm inspired by situation and character. Once I have those, the plot follows as I imagine a situation where the character would be tested. The actual character is very often influenced by someone I've met, or even just observed. Interesting face, interesting mannerisms - often that's enough. In my non-fiction, there has to be a hook to something I know something about, especially if the subject is technical. I don't think I'd be much good at tackling a subject I knew absolutely nothing about.
Brian Harvey
I got the idea for Gone Grizzly by spending a lot of time hiking in the Rocky Mountains. Grizzly bears are a fact of life on those trails, although people seemed to disagree about whether there were more or less of them than usual. I got the idea, "What if someone tried to manipulate grizzly survival - for profit?" And wouldn't it be funny if that person was masquerading as a conservationist? The idea for the heroine was easy: I made her a Japanese tour guide, of which there are plenty around Banff. Hiroko may be the first kick-ass Japanese tour guide, but I loved writing her.
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