Randomize ME

Today, we have author Scott J. Robinson featured on the blog’s ‘Indie Saturday‘ for his original “crystal-punk” action fantasy novel The Brightest Light.

Scott J. Robinson writes:

At some point in their career, every writer will be asked, “Where do you get your ideas?”

Sometimes, for some writers, the answer is easy. (The idea shop on Main Street.) Other times, not so much.

Of course, the main problem is that there is no one answer. At least I assume there isn’t. There isn’t for me. And normally (again, for me) it isn’t even about one idea. For me it takes a collision of ideas to make a story happen.

With my series, Tribes of the Hakahei, I wanted to know what circumstances would be required to allow all (or a lot of) the myths, legends and ancient mysteries of earth to be real. Elves and dwarves, Machu Picchu, religion, Robin Hood, Easter Island and a lot of other things. And once that collided with an idea I had for a fantasy story about twenty years ago (or, at least, the characters), the Tribes of the Hakahei was born.

With my latest story, The Brightest Light, it started with the setting. I had a vision (it sounds mystical, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t) of flying islands. Like all single ideas, it didn’t go anywhere. It just stayed in my subconscious, dashing around in circles and trying to run into things.

It wasn’t until I thought of the Hakahei that the collision occurred and things started happening. The earlier story has fantasy characters playing in a science fiction world– what if I could do something similar in reverse? What if I could make a science fiction story in a fantasy setting?

Each of the flying islands became a world with a different culture and a different feel. I started using steam punk technology– that interesting stuff on the cusp between fantasy and science fiction.

But simplicity was important. I had spent about a decade with Tribes of the Hakahei in one way or another, and was still working on it. That is a four book series with six point-of-view characters from six different civilisations. There are a couple of dozen minor characters. There are aliens. There are other universes. There’s strange technology and weaponry. There are all sorts of things.

I wanted something I could write relatively quickly to clear my palette (to get ready for more of the Hakahei at the time).

So, in the end, I toned the ‘different worlds’ aspect. I also decided against the steam punk and invented the entirely new genre of crystal punk. (It’s about to take off, I know it is.) Crystal technology is more about magic than science so I didn’t need to do any research at all.

I threw in some flintlock weaponry and a bit of a McGuffin and let the action roll. And the action does roll. There are gun fights and knife fights and chases through… Well there are all type of chases through all types of places.

The Brightest Light was a lot of fun to write and hopefully it is also a lot of fun to read. There may be a sequel at some point, but for now it stands as it is– short and easy and ready for action.

I’ve been writing Science Fiction and fantasy novels for as long as I can remember. When I was 11 years old, I wrote an 11 chapter, 11 page novel about exploring our solar system. It was typed up and bound (well stapled) and ended uptravelling around to a lot of schools in the hands of a very impressed District Inspector of Schools (or something similar).

I spent a lot of time starting things I didn’t finish. That changed when, aged 20, I decided to start writing and not stop until I had finished a novel. 19 days later, I had Dramoon. It is the type of novel you’d expect from someone that age and I still have it on my computer somewhere.

Since then I’ve done a lot more writing and imporved accordingly. For many years I was a member of the Vision Writing group in Brisbane along with people such as Trent Jamieson, Marianne DePierres, Cory Daniels and Dirk Flintheart.

I live in Woodford, a small town just out of Brisbane, with my wife and three great kids (my wife is great too) and intend to write for a long time to come.

The Brightest Light by Scott J. Robinson is available on Amazon in Kindle format.

You can also check out Scott J. Robinson’s Amazon Author’s page for more info!

To learn more about Scott, follow Scott on his official website: scottjrobinson.com, blog: Wonders Never Cease, Facebook page: The Space Between, and Twitter: @skywordz. Drop by and say hi!

** Read on excerpt of The Brightest Light! (Right-click-download) **

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Do you want to be a featured ‘Indie Saturday’ author too? Go here for more info!

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