Would you please tell us about the creative process of writing your recent publication?
Author: Brian Falkner
My most recent book is Brainjack, which is set in the world of computer technology, just slightly in the future. It was a book I had wanted to write for many years, but had never found a strong enough story. I grew up during the personal computer revolution, and have worked in the IT industry for many years. When the internet came about it made me wonder what the future of this kind of technology would be. The connections that are made every second between different parts of the world are mind-blowing, and not unlike the connections that are made between different parts of the human brain. When I read some articles about neuro-technology (the analysis of brain patterns) I knew I had found my story. What I had to do was to extrapolate current technology into a foreseeable, and not too distant future. I wanted the world to be familiar to readers, and yet slightly different.
Brainjack by Brian Falkner
What inspired you to start writing children’s books?
I have always loved to write. Somehow I always knew I would end up as an author (although it took me 40 years to get there!). My earlier writing efforts were not in the genre of children’s fiction, and in fact that was a late change for me.
The way it happened was this: I was writing some screenplays as I had an interest in cinema, and thought I would like to write a film. I did this for a few years, but lost all interest one day when a New Zealand screenwriter wrote a movie which was accepted for a prestigious international film festival. The NZ Film Commission were delighted and paid for the film’s director and producer to attend the festival, but not the writer.
That seemed wrong to me. The writer had come up with the idea for the movie, developed the story, and the characters, written the script, but at the end of the day was the least important member of the team. I didn’t want to be like that, so I switched back to writing novels.
It so happened that the screenplay idea I had been working on, was about a young boy who plays professional rugby league. As a novel, that had to be Junior Fiction, so I wrote it that way, and was lucky enough to have it accepted for publication.
How do you get into the mind of a child in order to write in a way they can relate to?
I have two children, and they have a lot of friends. Also I visit a lot of schools. So I am regularly in contact with children, and I listen to the things they say, and try to pick up the way their minds work. Then I remember what I was like as a child, and the way I used to think about things.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you started writing children’s books?
That it is possible to succeed. For many years, I, like many other budding authors, kept working, writing away on numerous projects, without any real belief that one day they would actually be published. I think too many young authors never develop the self-belief that helps them keep going despite all the hard work and rejections. Becoming a published author is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and you have to be prepared to keep going, on and on. Self-belief is a really important part of that.
What advice would you give someone who is thinking of becoming an author?
Write. And Read.
Write as much and as often as you can. You get better by doing. Why do you think football players practise so much? They improve by practising. It’s the same with writing. The more time you spend writing, the more practise you are getting, and the better you get at it.
Reading is also important. By reading a lot of books you are training your mind to think like a writer.
For a parent who has a child only interested in watching TV what advice would you give them to interest their child in reading books?
Sell the TV.
Seriously.
I know some families (ours is not one of them) where the parents do not allow a TV in the house. As a result the family spends much more time together, playing games, reading, and other activities.
If that is not an option (and at least consider it!) then the next best thing is to read to your kids. A friend of mine still reads every night to his teenage son, now 16. He is quite capable of reading for himself, but it is a great bonding time for the dad and son. It is a tradition they have continued from childhood.
Another idea is to have a weekly family trip to the library. When I was a boy my father used to take us every Friday after work to the local library. We would find new books and take back our books from the previous week. As a result I learned to really love reading.
How would you persuade kids that green issues are important?
I don’t really want to persuade kids of anything. But I do want them to have all the information in front of them so they can make decisions for themselves. Whatever problems we are creating now, are going to be worse when those kids are adults, and at that time they are going to be the ones making the decisions for future generations. As an author the one thing I can do is to raise issues in my writing. In the context of an exciting adventure book, if an idea is discussed, then it gives the kids an opportunity to think about the different sides of the issue, without forcing any particular viewpoint on them.
The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner
In The Tomorrow Code environmentalism and human impact on the world are central to the plot. What are your own personal thoughts on this subject – global warming.
You might be surprised to learn that I do not have strong personal thoughts one way or the other on this issue. If I did, I would probably not stress them in a fictional novel. What I like to do is to raise issues in a book, so that children can discuss and think about them. In The Tomorrow Code, there is one character who is strongly pro-environmental issues, one character who is against them, and one who really doesn’t care. This lets me present different points of view, and hopefully the reader can consider all of them, and make up their own mind.
What are your dreams?
I am going to sound like a Miss Universe contestant here, but I really do have a dream of a world where people live together peacefully. It may be an impossible dream, but wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where people didn’t kill each other over racial and national boundaries.
On a personal level, I have a dream of one of my books being made into a movie (a big blockbuster, naturally!).
Would you let us know a little bit about what you are now working on?
My next book is set in Iowa. I lived there for three months in 2008 on a writer’s residency at the University of Iowa, and while I was there I started writing a book about two boys who find a rare book that hides a secret that could change the world.This book should be out in Australia and New Zealand during 2010.
What were your favourite childhood books and why?
I liked exciting adventure stories. At various ages in my life I have loved:
The Secret Seven/Famous Five books by Enid Blyton.
The Adventure Series by Willard Price (Amazon Adventure etc)
Alistair MacLean thrillers
And countless others.
How do you keep in touch with your audience?
I keep in touch with my audience by visiting them. I travel extensively each year, visiting schools throughout New Zealand, Australia, the US and Japan. With the launch of my new books in the UK, Germany and France this year I am hoping to be able to visit schools in that part of the world as well. The Tomorrow Code is scheduled for release May 2010 and Brainjack is Feb 2011. Obviously I can’t visit all of my audience, so I try to connect with other readers through my website: www.brianfalkner.com. Readers are welcome to contact me through the site, and I try to reply to every email. Keen young writers can also publish stories of their own on my site. This year, for the first time I will be starting a Facebook page to help me keep in touch with fans around the world.
