Creativity…With Pauline Griffin

Meet the Author

ChrisChat: Why did you write the book that brought you to MuseItUp Publishing?

Pauline: 

I wrote STAR COMMANDOS, the first of my books published by MIU, because I had  to write it once I got the idea.  The others in the original nine novels followed fast upon it.  I saw them as a single book actually.  WATCHDOGS OF SPACE came later at a friend’s insistence that I finish the series.  The final two rose out of that.

ChrisChat: Again, I’m in the position of being your content editor at MIU and knowing these characters and series so well. You know how much I love this series and world. Thrilled you listened to your friend and wrote more. That feeling of ‘must’ write is something magical, at least for me. The story just opens up. What part of the idea came first…story, world, characters? Or was it more a complete picture? Another author mentioned writing SF to overcome the phobia of the genre…I can relate to that…what was it about this genre that drew you?

Pauline:  That “must write” sparks almost everything I do.  It was particularly powerful for WATCHDOGS OF SPACE, PARIAH, AND WAR PRINCE.

What came first was the character Varn Tarl Sogan.  He suddenly arose in my mind/imagination in the situation in which he found himself just prior to meeting with Islaen, and everything exploded from there.  I had enough knowledge garnered through years of decidedly varied reading to go with the story and more than enough research material in my library to flesh out the world and universe in which it takes place.

I wrote s-f because that was what the story demanded.  I continue to do so because like the freedom both s-f and fantasy give the author to create worlds and situations.  I also appreciate the discipline required to do that effectively.  A writer must know this world (or the relevant aspects of it) very well to bring a viable fictional one to life.

AUGUST 5 2014…one more question

ChrisChat:

 I’m going to jump ahead because sadly, we can’t really know the reality of space; however, you’ve taken me on some wild adventures I swore you had to have experienced. Cave diving comes first to mind. While research is a must, how do you immerse yourself into something you’ve only researched? How can a writer exercise their imagination to bring senses alive in their writing?

Pauline:

I have been asked by several readers where I do my caving and had to confess that my idea of exercise is to run fingers over keyboard.  Technical knowledge alone is not sufficient to create a scene.  I have to see and feel it along with the characters, and in order to do that, I immerse myself in the research.  Bear in mind that I love doing it and that the topics are always of keen interest to me.  For example, in a short story, soon to be published by (shudder) another house, my heroine has to scale a rock wall.  The scene fills only about four mss. pages, but I spent six weeks reading rock climbing manuals and viewing videos until I had acquired not only the knowledge but the feeling to write it.  Afterwards, I was able to talk a young man up a climbing wall in a sporting goods store.  (Being a considerate lady, I made my suggestions to his scout master, who passed them on.  They worked.)