Sparks of Author Inspiration

In recent interviews, I've been asked to describe the sources of my inspiration as an author; those sparks that led to me writing stories, particularly the ones that prompted me to write in the first place. It's those original sparks I'm focusing on here, those that fascinated me enough to kickstart my love of speculative fiction. These sparks have forged a lifelong passion, they didn't wink out of existence, they grew into flames that sustained my imagination. These works produced the fuel that excited my imagination and led to me wanting more - not just as a reader, but as an author too.

I'll warn you now, this exercise will involve going back in time. The sources of my inspiration, the sparks that fired my passions, started in the last 1950s! For that reason, you may well never have heard of some of these sources; it's one reason for writing this post, it might interest YOU to find out more about these things. (Where possible, I've added links)

Pulp Fiction

Long before Quentin Tarantino made the film, pulp fiction represented a great way to read stories that were truly "out there". These stories were often so weird, to a pre-teen, they didn't always make sense. Yet, they were so imaginative, so full of What If? scenarios, they fascinated me. Frequently, they included stories by authors who would so make it big (if they hadn't already) - these magazines were another form of publication and ideal for short stories. I soon graduated to novels by these people. I can't remember where I found these magazines, I just found odd copies and read them, it was that simple.

My reading had started with Enid Blyton, like every other kid in the 50s. I didn't stay with her for long! These magazines stirred my imagination, they introduced me to new worlds, new beings, new possibilities. That's what the 50s was all about, it was a decade of considering new horizons as we looked toward space, new and dangerous technologies and the beginning of the Cold War that threatened everything we knew and valued. I absorbed those concepts.

1950/60s Cinema

Alongside the magazines, came the films. They were everywhere and the quality varied enormously. Science fiction films often began as "B" movies, which accompanied the "main feature". (Remember we didn't have TV in these early days). Their growing popularity soon brought them into the mainstream and attracted the bigger studios, bigger budgets and famous actors. The three included in this image are examples. 'This Island Earth' was a favourite of mine. It had everything, spaceships, aliens and the sort of science that appeared plausible. For example, the story recognised huge distances covered by a spaceship meant putting its travellers into a form of suspended animation, so they could survive the long trip. That was real science! The aliens (and/or robots) were invariably evil and eager to kill anyone who got in their way, they provided the excitement but the science made it all sound possible.

Cold War tensions and the insanity of McCarthyism in America, meant such stories generated tension from distrust and suspicion - such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers. For me, the 1967 series of The Invaders was a better example of this permeating paranoia, aliens had already arrived and appeared like us - apart from being unable to move their little finger! 🤔Unfortunately, every time the hero, David Vincent killed one of them, the body disintegrated so he could never provide any evidence of the invasion!

By the mid 60s, science fiction was everywhere! For kids, it equates to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now. As such, we absorbed those tropes, which meant stories offered something so radically different to the type of novels we had to read in school. The films gave you a visual feast for the eyes, special effects were taking off in cinema (stop motion was king!), budgets offered new approaches too. People flocked to the cinema to see them and the studios responded. Science fiction ruled the world!

Superheroes

As I came to the end of my primary school education, I vividly remember trading comics with my friends. We were avid readers of superhero comics and great debate ensued as to which ones were the best! I've included my top 3 here. I was always fascinated by the ensemble stories. I loved to see how characters interacted with one another, I think that was how my writer self began to manifest in me even then! I savoured the snarky insults traded by Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm in Fantastic Four. The Avengers always had to fight first, before encountering their baddie, because they were such dominant and forceful characters, who could never agree on anything. The X-Men were young, untrained and undisciplined, yet faced with problems well beyond their years. So many of the tropes in these stories resonate with books today. They were all about placing characters into life-threatening situations and exploring how they reacted. A key point to keep in mind - the writers were not averse to killing their heroes! You couldn't guarantee your favourite WOULD survive!

To consider the individual heroes, I'd place Spider-Man as my No.1 because he was my age, nerdy and snarky. I also loved the Thor comics, where the Norse god was disguised as Dr Blake, and Mjolnir was disguised as a walking stick! We got to learn about Norse myth in these comics too, once again, travelling beyond the boundaries of Earth.

All these elements, I now realise, inculcated themselves into my brain and forged the writer I would become. However, I think the greatest influence comes next.

Science Fiction Novels of the 1960s

This image is my attempt to capture many of my inspirations from my teenage years. To illustrate the importance of books to me, this was my routine from the age of 10. I lived on a farm, 5 miles from town. Each Saturday I caught the bus (on my own), where I'd walk the mile and a half from the bus station to the library. I'd exchange my books and work my way systematically through the science fiction section. I'd then walk back to the bus station, catch the bus home and start reading. With no school friends nearby, I read a lot! Adult books too, you'll notice. Sometimes, I didn't understand the science or all the concepts, that didn't matter.

I've deliberately included the distinctive yellow cover of the Gollancz science fiction imprint. They were the books I searched for first! I must have read every one! I would then look for other books by their authors, exhausting the library's supply. Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom novels were my first encounter with portal fantasy, I now realise. They fascinated me, that John Carter could be one person on Earth, someone else on the planet we called Mars but which the natives called Barsoom. I've included Tau Zero by Poul Anderson because that story introduced scientific principles that frequently lost me but validated the scientific approach. It made the story plausible and that mattered. I wasn't reading just for enjoyment, I wanted to believe in the possibility of what the future might hold. I was a kid, I hoped one day to see some of these things happening! (In the case of Arthur C Clarke, quite often, I have!)

John Wyndham was always my favourite. I binge-read all his books. Years later, as an English teacher, I had the joy of introducing him to my students, specifically The Chrysalids, my favourite Wyndham tale. It speaks to our culture now, where physical difference leads to persecution, where hypocrisy exists, if something different is found acceptable because it has worth to the majority of the population.

There have been several versions of the Brian Aldiss Science Fiction Omnibus, the cover I've included here is from the 1970s copy. Penguin change the stories. I've included it because it's a favourite of mine, with amazing short stories from classic authors. I used it in my English teaching a lot! It allowed me to read stories to students which we'd analyse and then I'd get them to write their own stories, using the same themes. That copy included A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, where its dire setting has actually come true this year! 😥 It included The Pedestrian by Bradbury too, which also presents a future which is very similar to today! Bradbury was one helluva writer!

Conclusions

Inspiration can be sparked. What creates those sparks? How do they shape you into the writer you will become? I hope I've provided my sparks and shown how their inspiration has stayed with me over the years. Let's pull some of them together.

Speculation - to create a story, every author speculates. We all ask, "What if!" However, for some of us, that question goes further, it acts as scaffolding, structuring the foundations for new ideas and new stories to write. That scaffolding frequently takes the form of tropes - 'figurative or metaphorical language (like a figure of speech) that is used for artistic effect. Today, the word trope often signals a common or overused literary device'. What might be "overused" now, wasn't half a century ago, when speculative fiction was in its infancy. They shaped the thinking of my generation, we continue to use them, often subverting them, to suit our authoring needs. But they inspired us, they made us stop and think. We started creating stories with these precepts in mind. Like seeds, these magazines, films and novels germinated a love for speculative fiction and the need to write my own stories, just like my idols.

Weird and unconventional - Edgar Rice Burroughs created Tarzan but his science fiction stories produced the first portal fantasy and transported its protagonist to a planet humanity thought they knew. HG Wells had used Mars to send us invaders. Burroughs reversed that, sending an Earthman to Mars, where he encountered its reduced gravity and the effects it had on him. He encountered an ancient civilisation, because Martian history suggests that the planet had once been inhabitable. The story broke conventions. It reflected so many ideas of the 1950s, where weird science, unconventional ideas, were given air to breathe, to generate stories that broke moulds. The public's enthusiasm for those stories encouraged authors and publishers alike (later film makers) to turn unconventional into, well, conventional. What if aliens invaded? What if we could travel to the stars? We had to start thinking anew.

Characters weren't two dimensional - look at the stories before the 1950s, where goodies were good, baddies were bad and people usually did as they were told. Superhero stories ended that concept. Heroes could be easily misled, someone who was good might be led astray, or forced to do things ethically dubious to achieve their goal. Baddies had real motives that were credible. Heroes didn't get on with one another, communication might go awry, leadership meant making tough decisions and not everyone agreed with them. Conflict arose from misunderstandings and, under extreme duress, led to even greater conflict. Look at the stories being created now - these concepts are the norm. They weren't always so and we must remember that.

Writing needs courage and commitment - look at the authors listed above and you'll see how they all broke the traditional moulds of storytelling. It takes courage to write something wildly different, unconventional and plain weird. Writers of the 60s frequently speculated about the society they lived in, then projected where those values and beliefs might lead people in the future. It's social commentary, just as much as its storytelling. Many of these novels are now banned in some US states, what does that tell you? How long will it be before Fahrenheit 451 becomes a reality? Writing such material takes courage but isn't it our responsibility, as authors, to comment on what we see - and ask, "What if?"

Plausibility - The observant among you will notice the lack of fantasy novels in my list of inspirational sparks. I will admit to never reading any JRR Tolkien or Terry Pratchett. My entry into fantasy came late, thanks to Richard K Morgan and his Land Fit For Heroes trilogy (2008). This series had a profound effect on me. It provoked the ideas for my first trilogy, The Knights' Protocol. The reason? The need for plausibility. I needed something rooted in the real world, that commented on its society. The world needed to reflect an extreme form of our own. I've never been interested in stories that are too far removed from our own world. Morgan's Altered Carbon science fiction stories (now on Netflix) were the same, possessed of graphic realism that made them uncomfortable at times. My stories pursue that same need for plausibility. Stories pursuing how folklore and myth may possess elements of truth and reality, along with a relevance to our world today. That's where my journey, from eager bookworm to author, has brought me.

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