About S. C. Abbey:
S. C. Abbey was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but spent most of his childhood wandering the streets of Asia, where his parents worked and lived. He enjoys reading a huge variety of genres such as mystery thrillers, religious conspiracies, science fiction, fantasy, and etc. He is the author of the Harvey Nolan thriller series, which is a mixture of action, mystery, and humor. Harvey Nolan is a Columbia University professor who has an affinity with crime that always seems to bring him along for the ride. Katie Moulin is an ex-FBI, current Interpol Agent who has seen her fair share of conflict and the ugliness of human nature. Harvey’s tragic family’s past and Katie’s privileged upbringing crossed paths when they were younger, before when times were peaceful. Till now.
What inspires you to write?
Great movies, captivating television series, and well-written fantasy books of the early 20th century. I think all authors are inspired to write because they have amazing stories threatening to burst out of their minds that it would seem impossible to not want to share them with the world. I like the fact that I can create a whole universe and decide on everybody’s fates in it – in short, I create convincing characters I love and then plot to kill them.
Tell us about your writing process.
My writing process is pretty easy: I first start with a one page summary of the entire book, not more than 500 words, if I can help it. I only write series because I like a story with different layers of plots instead of just the immediate one so the first one page would be the ‘above the surface’ iceberg plotting of that particular novel and then I would write another one-page ‘beneath the surface’ plotting of the series. I then decide how many chapters I want to break them into with consideration on POVs, angles, progression. No chapter should be redundant, it has to play a part in moving the story forward or else it will get axed. I then write one chapter at a time. I usually jump from chapter to chapter, I don’t necessarily write in sequence.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Absolutely. I always try to speak out loud the dialogues in my novels to make sure they sound convincing and natural in speech. I speak them out loud with the right emotion and expression, it’s almost like acting. Some dialogues work well written, but don’t sound very natural. Those get struck off. And yes, I do listen to my characters. Contrary to what some people might say, my plots always stem from the characters, not the other way round. And they evolve as the plot that stems from them, affects them. It’s fairly confusing I know, goes one circle.
What advice would you give other writers?
Don’t you dare give up. You have a voice, everybody does, find it, hone it, present it. Readers, do give first time authors a chance, it’s not easy writing a novel – finishing one is a huge accomplishment – give the authors constructive feedback and encouragement, you never know, but you might be helping to nurture the next J.K. Rowling.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Well I decided to self-publish right from the start because I like to have my hands in every aspect of the publishing journey. It’s hard work, but also a lot of fun. Trouble is I don’t have a huge marketing budget to market my books to the world, so thank god for websites like bookgoodies!
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Amazon has created a beautiful thing, and it has come a long way since. Gone are the days where amateurs can just slap a book together with a poorly designed cover and a 10,000 unedited manuscript – the market is demanding an increasingly high standard of self-published fiction – which is a good thing, it really benefits everyone. So please authors, use a professional proofreader/editor. Don’t put out rubbish and expect it to sell. Have some respect for your readers.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Crime/Political/Espionage Thrillers
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
S. C. Abbey Home Page Link
Link To S. C. Abbey Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Facebook
Twitter
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
Thank you Deborah for the interview!