This interview with Ben Counter came out in October 2006 just as his latest Horus Heresy book, Galaxy In Flames was published. Third in the latest rapid-fire trio of Quote the Pros is Ben Counter, author of the latest Horus Heresy book, Galaxy In Flames.
Ben is a prolific writer: he has written the Soul Drinker space marine trilogy (Soul Drinker, The Bleeding Chalice and Crimson Tears) then there's his Grey Knights books (Grey Knights and Dark Adeptus) and finally Daemon World, a tale set on a ... well, I guess that's obvious.
He has also tried his hand at writing for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, as he is the author of Barony of the Damned, an Adventure in Mousillon.
1. In Galaxy In Flames you got to write about the Istvaan massacre. Is that a high pressure gig? Did you enjoy working within the limits set by previous writers and game designers?
The Horus Heresy and the characters involved are important to a lot of people - including me - so it was intimidating to be messing around with such important parts of the 40K background. It was a new experience, however, playing with the biggest toys in the box, like the Primarchs.
2. How different is it to write about the Heresy rather than 40K? Any changes in style and pace?
The way people behave is very different in the 31st millennium, including Space Marines. With a few exceptions they're not very religious, for example, whereas by contrast religion is a massive force in 40K. On the other hand they look forward instead of back - the Great Crusade is full of hope, with the Emperor about to unify Mankind and usher it forward into a new age, which is all very different to the bleaker and tradition-obsessed 41st millennium. The practical details - types of armour, Legion organisation, and so on - are relatively simple to match up compared to having people act in a properly '30K' way. I hope that comes across in Galaxy in Flames, because in part the Heresy tells the story of why the Imperium went from being full of promise to being bleak and grim.
3. Is it an advantage to have already written about strong space marine characters: including their weaknesses and corruption?
Very much so. Most of the big players in the opening trilogy are Space Marines, so having written lots about them makes it easier to both have them being 'Space Mariney', and different to the way 40K Space Marines behave.
4. You have two active series: Grey Knights and the Soul Drinkers. Will there be more?
Yes. The 4th Soul Drinkers book is in the editing stage, and another Grey Knights book is very possible indeed.
5. How did the ideas come about? Did you always plan to write the Soul Drinkers trilogy or did it take on a life of its own?
Soul Drinker started out a novel about Chaos Space Marines and after lots of discussions with the Black Library guys it mutated (in a way, literally) into something else. It wasn't planned as a series, but that's how it turned out. It's particularly interesting for me to work out what the Soul Drinkers are going to get up to next because they're in such an unusual and tenuous position in the Imperium.
6. You are the only author to have based an entire novel, Daemon World, in the Maelstrom. Was that an easier or harder setting than the rest of your writing?
It was mostly easier. On a world where magic is all over the place and basic laws like physics don't have to apply, there's always the opportunity to have something impossible and crazy happening to make everything a bit more interesting. Sometimes it could be difficult to stare at a white screen and think 'damn, I've got to put something even more mad and daemonic here', but most of the time it was pretty fun.
7. Have you always wanted to be a writer? How much of a struggle was it for you to become one?
I have wanted to be a writer for a very long time, since I was at school. For me, it was a case of plugging away sending off short stories and proposals, while doing other things - university, a day job, and so on. It was about sticking to it and always having something to work on in my spare time.
8. How did you go about getting your first short stories and then novel accepted for publication?
The first story I sold was Daemonblood, which appeared in Inferno! Magazine. I just sent off lots of story proposals to the editor (Marc Gascoigne at the time), maybe a dozen of them or more, each one getting rejected. Finally they got one they wanted and I wrote the first draft, and after a couple of revisions it was good to go. It took a long time. After I'd had some stories published I asked the BL guys if they wanted to see a novel proposal, which is where Soul Drinker came from. I was very, very lucky that BL and Inferno! were around to submit to.
9. Who are or were the biggest influences on your writing?
I was lucky to have some friends who lent me good, old science fiction, from writers like Robert Heinlein and Alfred Bester. That was some great stuff. Gormenghast was a big one, too, by Mervyn Peake. Day-to-day influences come from everywhere, like films and television, or the news.
10. Books. Who is your favourite non-BL writer and whom are you reading at the moment?
Iain Banks is one of my favourite writers, along with the old sci-fi stagers above. My favourite book is Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, and right now I'm reading Cross of Iron by Willi Heinrich, which a friend lent me.
11. Your biog says that you are an avid miniatures painter? What do you paint and are you a 40K gamer?
I'm not much of a miniature gamer, although I played a bit of Necromunda and Blood Bowl, and now I play a lot of roleplaying games. I paint anything that catches my eye, really. It was miniatures that brought me into 40K and got me into the background in the first place. Right now I'm painting lots of odd 40K bits and pieces, for when I get to run the 40K RPG.
12. And does the writing get in the way of it?
Not really - writing is the job and painting is one of the things I do to unwind.
13. Would you ever be tempted to write WFB fiction?
I really like the Warhammer fantasy background - I run and play a lot of
WFRP, for example. The background has lots of very unusual bits in it, and a really nasty, blackly humorous streak to it which is a lot of fun. At the moment, though, I'm sticking to 40K for novels, because it was my earliest gaming love.
14. What do you think is the most common misconception of a writer's life?
That all writers must write in the same way.
15. What do are the highs and lows of writing a novel?
The lows tend to come towards the middle of the book, when I've been working on it for a long time but there's still a long way to go. The highs are towards the end, when all the threads start to come together and it's exciting to see the various conflicts come to a head.
16. Is having to hit a word count ever frustrating?
I tend to break a book down into strict chunks of word count, so it's more of a guide than a limitation. Also, if I had longer to write a book, the book would just take longer to write.
17. Do you see yourself principally as a novelist?
Yes, but I'm always trying to add another string to my bow. I'm very enthusiastic about working on the 40K RPG, for instance.
18. How different is it to work on a novel compared, say, to writing for 2000AD?
Comic strips are collaborative, in that usually one guy writes them and another bunch do the art, layout, lettering and so on, so the script is just one element of what ends up on the page. When you're writing a novel, you're mostly on your own. RPGs are very different, too, because with RPG writing you're trying to create the potential for plot and conflict, rather than actually seeing those plots through to the gory end as in a novel. I really like writing RPGs because I enjoy writing loads of description, and background writing in RPGs is all about cool description.
19. What are you working on now? What other plans can you tell us about? Anything for another publisher?
Right now it's editing the 4th Soul Drinkers book (Chapter War), working out the plotline for the next book, and working on the 40K RPG.
20. What practical advice do you have for aspiring BL writers?
Don't give up, read a lot as well as write, listen to advice. Try to make everything in a story stem from the motivations of the characters involved.
21. Are you now a full-time writer?
Yes, although I only switched to full-time quite recently.
22. Which of your own books and stories is your favourite and why?
Grey Knights. I love writing about the Imperium and how horrendously corrupt it is, and there's lots of corruption and ignorance playing a part in Grey Knights. Grey Knights are also one of the coolest parts of the background and I'm smug that I got the chance to write a book about them.
23. When you become Evil Overlord for the day, what rule would you impose on the genre or publishing in general?
BRING ME PIE..
The usual thanks and apologies go to Ben, the former for making the time to do this interview and the latter for any errors or omissions I may have made whilst compiling this.
- Martin Belderson
