Ask the Author: Phoenix Phil Morley
Answered Questions (2)
Phoenix Phil Morley
With all my books (the one published, the one I’m writing at the moment and the umpteen that exist in my head battling to get put to paper one day) I envisage the beginning first and then my mind then goes off and considers a vibe and tone for a story; maybe some characters, a potential title and then I imagine the very final scene. I then sit with all that in my head like it’s a made up movie and let it simmer. During the months that follow I get inspired by things like songs I could imagine being part of that world or little character quirks and use them to join the dots. When all of that has blended together and can’t be contained any longer I let it all out on a Word document. Of course, very often things change or get expanded upon during the actual writing of it all but that initial start point and end point are the guiding lights of my first draft.
Phoenix Phil Morley
The road to the release of Survive The Universe was a long one. The roots before the shoots go all the way back to early 1999. I was living at the time at a certain university in Wales. I wasn’t a student but I was unofficially living on the campus and as such using their pub and canteen for food. One time while I was tucking into a burger and a pint there was an advert playing on the TV for a video game. I had drifted away from video games a few years back so had no idea how far they had come and this advert was almost like a cartoon. It may have been a Final Fantasy game or something else but with the sound muted to allow for the bar’s own soundtrack of contemporary music the unaccompanied visuals really caught my imagination. I got me wishing that it was a trailer for a movie. In age of non-stop Marvel, Star Wars and all that follow content, it seems weird to consider this now but fantasy/sci-fi blockbusters had largely if not totally disappeared in the 90’s replaced by disaster movies and comedies. Sure, The Phantom Menace was on the way but I missed the world I grew up in which was full of fantastical adventures on TV and the big screen.
So during my time in Wales I started daydreaming about making a movie that would be a love letter to all the movies, comics, commercials and pop music videos I was raised on – my own personal take on the hero’s journey archetype. Over time I started refining these ideas and then my beloved wife Laura suggested that I write a novel based on them. It’s ultimately a love letter to my own personal distractions; all the things that thrilled, frightened and fascinated me as I grew up.
So during my time in Wales I started daydreaming about making a movie that would be a love letter to all the movies, comics, commercials and pop music videos I was raised on – my own personal take on the hero’s journey archetype. Over time I started refining these ideas and then my beloved wife Laura suggested that I write a novel based on them. It’s ultimately a love letter to my own personal distractions; all the things that thrilled, frightened and fascinated me as I grew up.
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