Ask the Author: Phillip Carter
Answered Questions (9)
Phillip Carter
It was originally (in August 2018) conceived as a leaflet of spin-off stories from a novel I was writing, designed to be given out for free and to advertise the novel. This was when I still wanted to go tradpub with the novel. Not sure if I do or not now, and WBTH is 125000 words long, far larger than the 3000 word leaflet it started as.
It was a mere four days in that things got out of control. And the first semblance of the 11 universes emerged as two stories "On Cyborgs 1" and "On Cyborgs 2", which as their titles suggest, were part of the same universe.
I wanted to write short stories that functioned similar to satellite sketches in sketch shows, so one story universe gets older as we read something else, so when we return to it eons have passed and we feel we have been on a trip in another universe before our return. I like that idea a lot.
For WHO BUILT THE HUMANS? there was one primary goal
"Write a universe."
So to not just write a short story collection, or a novel, or a short comedic surreal poetry collection with audience participation built in, but to write all of those things and to make them into a coherent, jagged whole. It was an immense technical challenge to do all of this and have it accessible for readers (the book sounds complicated but reads smoothly, and all the stories can be enjoyed in any order).
So to summarise.
WBTH was a leaflet, then a 16 story collection, then 38, then 50, then 49, then 47 (I cut down to 47 because I didn't like it ending at 50, which happened naturally but felt very unnatural and contrived). Eventually the number 47 worked a lot better, as the 15 ON-SERIES stories fit perfectly between every 2 other stories.
I am making it sound complicated but I am the builder of the car, I know all its bits. All you need to know is it drives well and there is a button that can dispense wasps from the back when needed
It was a mere four days in that things got out of control. And the first semblance of the 11 universes emerged as two stories "On Cyborgs 1" and "On Cyborgs 2", which as their titles suggest, were part of the same universe.
I wanted to write short stories that functioned similar to satellite sketches in sketch shows, so one story universe gets older as we read something else, so when we return to it eons have passed and we feel we have been on a trip in another universe before our return. I like that idea a lot.
For WHO BUILT THE HUMANS? there was one primary goal
"Write a universe."
So to not just write a short story collection, or a novel, or a short comedic surreal poetry collection with audience participation built in, but to write all of those things and to make them into a coherent, jagged whole. It was an immense technical challenge to do all of this and have it accessible for readers (the book sounds complicated but reads smoothly, and all the stories can be enjoyed in any order).
So to summarise.
WBTH was a leaflet, then a 16 story collection, then 38, then 50, then 49, then 47 (I cut down to 47 because I didn't like it ending at 50, which happened naturally but felt very unnatural and contrived). Eventually the number 47 worked a lot better, as the 15 ON-SERIES stories fit perfectly between every 2 other stories.
I am making it sound complicated but I am the builder of the car, I know all its bits. All you need to know is it drives well and there is a button that can dispense wasps from the back when needed
Phillip Carter
TV license man sent to his own house to discover I have taken a huge shit in his rice cooker.
Phillip Carter
The island of Mata Nui, from Bionicle.
I would completely sever my ties with this universe and live on as Toa Carter, Toa of making poems and sometimes causing trouble with his poems.
I would also befriend Lewa
I would completely sever my ties with this universe and live on as Toa Carter, Toa of making poems and sometimes causing trouble with his poems.
I would also befriend Lewa
Phillip Carter
I exist. Writing is a thing I do like breathing or writing snappy and annoying responses
Phillip Carter
Children's books about various depressing subjects
Graphic novel about a magic pencil who has anger management issues
Game about magic cats
Poetry collection with another poetry collection taped to the back of it
A stand-up comedy set
Minecraft castle/temple. Can't decide between medieval or Aztec. Might do both.
All of these are real by the way.
Graphic novel about a magic pencil who has anger management issues
Game about magic cats
Poetry collection with another poetry collection taped to the back of it
A stand-up comedy set
Minecraft castle/temple. Can't decide between medieval or Aztec. Might do both.
All of these are real by the way.
Phillip Carter
Keep aspiring. You will always be aspiring. Art is like science, there's always more of it hiding round the corner like a nerd at a house party, and the nerds always know all the best long words. Harvest the nerd brains. Do it. Do it now.
Phillip Carter
Definitely the luxury yacht and the many overtly offensive stereotypes of people I keep on my yacht, such as Slutty Simon and Saxophone Susan (she was cursed by a witch, speaks only in jazz, allergic to eggs).
I also quite like how they chiseled my name onto the surface of Mars, and how Elon Musk did a big long wee on it that time. That was a highlight.
I also quite like how they chiseled my name onto the surface of Mars, and how Elon Musk did a big long wee on it that time. That was a highlight.
Phillip Carter
I don't believe it exists.
This was controversial at uni and it's controversial now, but writer's block is a delusion. I get my ideas from everywhere, all the time, and you likely do as well. But, if you tell yourself you are a bad writer or a bad artist, you will automatically and often subconsciously censor your ideas from yourself, thus leading you to believe you have no ideas at all.
I don't want to live in a world where everyone is chronically uninspired, so I have opted not to. I just do not choose to believe that any artist is genuinely bereft of ideas. Sure, some artists have shit ideas, but those are still ideas.
Most of my stories start as "what if?" questions. What if aliens just visit us because they are lonely? What if the end of the universe is also the beginning? What if we are in a simulation, but it doesn't matter? What if the ONLY type of universe is a simulated one, and the cosmos is causa sui?
(I probably used that phrase wrong)
Anyway my point is, you are reading this right now, and it has lots of words. Take one of those words, put some " " around it. There, you've got a bit of dialogue. Now argue with it. Argue with it until you have a novel.
Ideas are EVERYWHERE. You just need to know how to look.
Writer's block is a lie.
This was controversial at uni and it's controversial now, but writer's block is a delusion. I get my ideas from everywhere, all the time, and you likely do as well. But, if you tell yourself you are a bad writer or a bad artist, you will automatically and often subconsciously censor your ideas from yourself, thus leading you to believe you have no ideas at all.
I don't want to live in a world where everyone is chronically uninspired, so I have opted not to. I just do not choose to believe that any artist is genuinely bereft of ideas. Sure, some artists have shit ideas, but those are still ideas.
Most of my stories start as "what if?" questions. What if aliens just visit us because they are lonely? What if the end of the universe is also the beginning? What if we are in a simulation, but it doesn't matter? What if the ONLY type of universe is a simulated one, and the cosmos is causa sui?
(I probably used that phrase wrong)
Anyway my point is, you are reading this right now, and it has lots of words. Take one of those words, put some " " around it. There, you've got a bit of dialogue. Now argue with it. Argue with it until you have a novel.
Ideas are EVERYWHERE. You just need to know how to look.
Writer's block is a lie.
Phillip Carter
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