I recently discovered Greg Hamerton, who is another of those rare South African fantasy authors who has actually been published. His books The Riddler's Gift and Second Sight are fantasy adventures in his Lifesong series. I asked him a few questions about his books, his writing life and his insight into the digital publishing industry.

Tell us a little about your Lifesong series:

Where did the idea originate?
Some music has an overwhelming beauty; I'll hear it and it changes me. I wanted to understand what that beauty was, and why it is important to our spirits. So Tabitha discovers the Lifesong, and begins to explore the mystery of the essence of music, and the world around her begins to change. I set this in a classic fantasy realm, divided on a familiar dark vs light struggle, but Tabitha's magic will reveal much, much more.
 
What is the basic premise of each book?
I know this probably breaks some sort of Writing School Law, but I didn't have one, other than that I wanted to immerse myself in the magic of this altered world I could sense was there. I'm not a moralising author, I don't construct the book to make some great point or instruct my readers in How They Ought To Live Their Lives. I wrote to explore the beauty of music, and to paint with words and to coax a world of visions to life. I'm basically optimistic about human nature so my fantasy, although having dark shadows, will always have an uplifting message, but beyond that there is no obvious premise. I like readers to discover their own insights by observing the interaction of the characters and the magic.
 
Which of your characters was your favorite to write and why?
Zarost, the Riddler, because he will always find the humour in a situation, and he allows me to observe a scene upside-down. He reminds me of my father - when he answered my questions about the world, he was always wise, but I often couldn't tell if he was pulling my leg or being serious.
 
Tell us a bit about your life as a writer:

What is it about Fantasy that fascinates you enough to want to write it?
Some part of me still believes that we are all capable of being magicians, and that the secret is just out of reach of our daytime consciousness. This kind of thinking doesn't survive in the cold hard light of logic and reason, but I'm fascinated by the idea of magic, the kind where consciousness affects reality. I think about it a lot, I really enjoy reading about it; I love writing it.
 
Once you have an idea how do you go about putting it to paper? What is your writing process like?
Like George RR Martin, I'm a gardener as opposed to an architect. I find it hard to plan the future of people I don't yet know (my characters). So I plant a seed, and nurture it, and explore. The whole series is a discovery, and that keeps me excited. When I started writing I had the luxury of a few years of 10-hour writing days, 5 days a week. Even so, I averaged about 2000 words a day, with some days lost to puzzled moments picking at plotknots. More recently I had to change to stolen hours 5-7am or during a commute. This requires much more dedication to block out the world and get into the story. It's easier for me now because the years of full-time writing have developed the ability to flick the switch ... it's a kind of magic ;-). In the beginning, writing full-length fiction in this 'stolen moment' fashion might have simply been too hard.
 
Has writing always been a natural inclination for you?
I suppose so, but I never considered it as a career, because it was never really presented as a viable career path when I was at school. Now I know why! Any responsible teacher cannot encourage you to do this as a sensible way of supporting yourself. It isn't a job, it's a calling, or an art.
 
What advice would you give to young/new Fantasy and Science-Fiction authors in South Africa?
Set your life up so that you can afford to write without earning any money from it. The commercial success of your writing needs to be an independent bonus. From what I can see, it takes a very long time to develop a writing career. The lack of money will do your head in after a few years. Find a second string to your bow, something that you like doing that earns money now, focus on that first then slowly introduce a wedge of writing time into your working life. Yeah, I know it's good advice I didn't follow - I was so consumed by the wonder of writing that I just leapt in and wrote fantasy full time for years. Deliciously defiant financial suicide.
 
Writing in a digital world:

You are one of those modern writers who have embraced the digital publishing industry. Was this an easy transition for you?
You play to your strengths - I've got an IT degree. A website/blog is a useful place to display my books and to offer readers a glimpse 'behind the scenes', but I don't think it's vital for selling books and it's easy to be fooled into blogging instead of writing. I don't think blogging (by fiction writers) generates enough new readers to justify the time spent on it, unless you're unusually talented at blogging. People don't buy direct from the author anyway, they buy from bookstores, amazon and online retailers. But digital is good news - with ebooks, everyone can get into the marketplace, thanks to systems like CreateSpace (offers some useful services), Kindle Direct and Smashwords. Digital publishing is much, much easier than print publishing, and it is a different marketplace where an author's online presence can have an impact.
 
Do you think the digital publishing revolution has changed the way writers approach a story?
I can't comment on writers in general, but I don't think I will try to write in a different way because the story will be digital - readers still need a good story, which needs the same basic ingredients to work. But my approach to a new story has changed slightly - what I think works now is to write the first few chapters as a novella that goes out as a free ebook to get readers excited about the idea of the series / fall in love with the characters, and then you can sell the main story/series. So what used to be one book now needs a bit of restructuring to be a powerful short launch book and then the real story thereafter. The other thing that has changed is that I can try a totally whacky idea out, if I want to, and self-publish that digitally without any concern about the 'commercial publishers' turning their nose up at it. So digital is driving innovation. I think we'll see more imaginative writing being produced. It's a great time to be a writer.
 
You can find out more about Greg and his books on his website. You'll also be able to read some great articles on writing fantasy.
www.greghamerton.com.