About Nuah Belleton:
Nuah Belleton is an Australian Writer (barely), Physicist (a long time ago) and Data Scientist, currently breaking ground in the burgeoning field of Predictive Analytics.
When he saw that Graeme Simsion had successfully combined his technical and fiction writing Nuah decided to publish his first book – Superfacial: Part I of the Purgatory Field series.
Part II (Prodigal Star) is scheduled for release in April.
As a technology optimist Nuah enjoys the fast pace of change and the ever widening scope of human endeavor, even as it makes writing Sci-Fi that lasts all the more challenging. Still, William Gibson did it so it can be done.
As part of writing this book he spent a lot of time studying a range of subjects, from neuroscience to how it might be possible to create buildings 10 kilometers tall.
He is married to a very talented artist, whose work graces the front cover – probably the best part of the book.
He is current working on the Purgatory Field series as well as a ‘How To Guide’ for implementing Predictive Analytics in the Energy Industry.
He lives in Adelaide, South Australia with his wife, step-daughter, two cats and a labradoodle. The older cat enjoys typing with all four paws, especially when Nuah is trying to write.
What inspires you to write?
It’s all visual. I get the picture of what I want to write and its like an internal movie. I try to represent the images in words.
That’s what happened with Superfacial – I saw a picture (part of a writers group exercise) and got this internal imagery going – the darkness, rain, the way the water reflected small points of light. That became the climactic scene in the book.
Sometimes the trigger can be a casual sentence I hear. I once found a piece of paper on the ground. I picked it up for some reason. It was a note that read ‘Still waiting for you…’ and then the name of an airport. Now that’s a book right there.
Tell us about your writing process.
Pantser or planner. Hah! Both.
I start as a pantser who often writes backwards from the end, from the middle out or scattered. The key for me is the scene. I get the strong mental image of what it looks like and I write that. Once I have that out of my system I take the kernel and start planning out how to fit it into a larger narrative. Then I go through everything to make sure the timelines and continuity is all there. That’s when the spreadsheets come out. I also have word limits to avoid burn-out. Once I hit my limit I stop (unless I can’t ;).
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
A little of both, but mainly I see them. Sometimes, for a really powerful scene, I can get lost in it totally. That’s when phone poles need to watch out if I happen to be walking down the street. Oops – just realized that sounds even stranger than talking to them. Forget what I just said. Nothing weird round here. No sir.
What advice would you give other writers?
Hmm. I am barely a writer myself so this is an awkward question. I don’t feel qualified is what I am saying.
But okay…some of the things that helped me were as follows.
Go through an remove any ‘ly’ words. If you need them it means you are telling not showing.That’s not absolute – especially where dialogue is concerned but it is a useful technique.
Get into the action from page 1 if you can. Lexicon by Max Barry is a great example of that.
If you are doing Sci Fi then try to get outside yourself and the current world. I think it is now even more difficult to write a lasting sci fi book (by lasting I mean a few decades) but William Gibson did it with Neuromancer so it can be done.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I self-published.
Being an Australian Sci Fi author there is not much alternative (correct me if I am wrong). The only publishers that have a Spec Fic division are UK or US based.
Then there’s the time thing. I work in what is (to me) a very exciting field – Predictive Analytics. That takes a lot of my energy and creativity. But I had finished my first book (Superfacial – Purgatory Field Part I) and completed the drafts of three more (Parts II to IV) so I figured better out where people could read and (hopefully) enjoy them than sitting on my computer.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Very exciting. There will always be challenges, but look at the breadth that has opened up. The invention of the printing press allowed everyone to start reading. Now the changes in publishing are letting everyone write. Self-expression. Exploration. Fantastic. All good.
What do you use?: Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Dystopian Science Fiction Romance, Adventure, Hard Science, Cyberpunk
What formats are your books in?: eBook
Website(s)
Link To Nuah Belleton Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
