Ask the Author: Johan Klein Haneveld
Answered Questions (7)
Johan Klein Haneveld
I'm now reading The Mammoth Book of New SF 25 (from 2011). It has a great selection of SF-stories, a lot of them full of ideas, and I'm enjoying it a lot! I'm also eagerly awaiting the new Robin Hobb-book, the last in the series about Fitz and the Fool. I plan to read some more by Alastair Reynolds. Also a lot of Dutch novels on my list, like the 'Bloedwetten'-books by Sophia Drenth and Toevluchtsoord by Anthony Holslag.
Johan Klein Haneveld
The idea for 'De Krakenvorst, boek 1: Keruga' came to me more than 15 years ago, as I read a book by Stephen Lawhead. He had some ideas in there that I thought were great and original, a collection of old races living in different environments. But as I came to the third part of the trilogy these races did not play any significant role in the conclusion. They were just part of the background and the main story just seemed to forget them. I thought that was a missed opportunity and began to think how I would write a story hinging on the existence of these different types of humans and their history. And also I always wanted to write a story about a giant octopus ...
Johan Klein Haneveld
First I fill up my imagination by reading a lot, (books/comics), reading news from the scientific community, looking up scifi and fantasy art online and watching movies. Then I let all that stew inside. The I take walks (often just to get to the train station), or take a shower, of do another thing where I'm not consciously doing anything (cellphones are a bane to inspiration, idea's come when you are not reading or searching for anything. At least with me). And when an Idea hits, I write it down directly!
Johan Klein Haneveld
My book 'De Krakenvorst, boek 1: Keruga' is about to be published, so I'm working on getting the attention of as many potential readers as possible. In the mean time I have to prepare my first short story collection for publication. 'Conquistador' will appear in may 2017 and will contain 11 stories and 1 novella that span the future from the 22nd century to the end of the universe itself. Then I'm also in the planning stage for my first hard SF-novel. 'Neptunus' and 'De Derde Macht' were action/adventure novels in a scifi-setting, this book 'De afvallige ster' will be true SF. I hope to start writing before the end of this year.
Johan Klein Haneveld
Write! And read of course. Read a lot. Then if you think: 'I can do this.' or 'I can do better than this', write! I won't say write every day, as I do not do that myself, but the best way to learn to write is to do it. And accept criticism.
Johan Klein Haneveld
The best thing about being a writer is transferring the world you see in your imagination to the real world, and knowing people will, when reading your words, enter that same world of the imagination. It's frustrating as well, as words can hardly grasp all the details I see before me, but that is the work of an author, to use limited words to suggest depth and beauty.
Johan Klein Haneveld
The best advice I've ever heard about this, was by Neil Gaiman. He remarked that he had moments when he was 'in the flow' and words poured from his pen, and then there were moments when writing was a struggle, and every word had to be wrestled onto the paper. But when he looked back on the finished work he didn't see any difference between the passages written 'in the flow' and those he had struggled with. So inspiration is not the quality that determines success, and if I have to struggle to write, it will still produce quality. I have had years of writers' block, but now I know that, I think I will always be able to write.
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