An Interview with NY Times Bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson

Interviewed by Byron Merritt

Kevin J. Anderson was born in Oregon, Wisconsin (no, that's not a typo) and knew that he would write science fiction when, at age five, he watched War of the Worlds on TV. He wrote his first three page "novel" when he was eight years old (publishers are still fighting over who has the rights to it, I've heard) and bought his first typewriter when he was ten. Early in his writing life he was awarded the ‘Writer With No Future' trophy because he'd collected more rejection slips per weight than any other author. He doesn't have this problem now, and to say that he is persistent would be the most serious of understatements. More than 32 of his novels have appeared on national bestseller lists and he has over 20 million books in print worldwide. His books have been translated into 23 different languages and he and his coauthor, Brian Herbert, caused a major stir when they signed the largest contract in SF history for the Dune prequel novels. Kevin J. Anderson currently lives in Colorado with his lovely wife, Rebecca. FWOMP thanks Mr. Anderson for taking time out of his ENORMOUSLY busy schedule to answer some questions on writing and what it takes to make it big!

FWOMP: Writing is hard work! What in God's name made you want to be a fiction writer?

Kevin Anderson: Fame...Fortune...Stupidity...
Actually, I had the bug since I was a little kid and I ALWAYS wanted to be a writer. I never thought it would be such a long road with so many hurdles to get over. But I can't imagine myself doing any other career.

FWOMP: When did you first realize that you were a successful author? How did it make you feel?

FWOMP: What does a basic Kevin J. Anderson writing day consist of?

Kevin Anderson: 6:30: Alarm goes off; coffee!, shower, get dressed, get the kid off to school. 7:30: Head into office, write down the day's list of projects, read e-mail, answer fan letters. Write notes and review research for current novel-in-progress. 8:30: Go out on a hike and dictate a chapter (usually about 10 pages). 10:00: Get home, answer a few phone calls (the phone rings all day long!). Read /research some of the books piled on the shelf. This involves direct studying for a novel in progress, or reading novels sent for promotional quotes, or other books in fields of interest. Lunch?: Lunch is for wimps. 1:00: Edit a rough chapter from previous hike and dictation. Answer letters, make more phone calls, proofread galleys or copy-edited manuscripts. 3:30: Go out on another walk, dictate another chapter. Dinner: Watch videotapes of genre TV shows to keep up to date: Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, Angel, 24, or anything of special interest. Evening: Sometimes do book signings, web chats, or interviews to promote various books. Answer fan mail, do filing, sign books. Late night: Read another novel, maybe even something for fun this time!

FWOMP: Have you ever been "in the groove," your fingers flying across the keyboards, and suddenly you're interrupted and you lose the flow?

Kevin Anderson: Most of the time I write by dictating into my cassette recorder. I walk in the mountains, far from people, surrounded by gorgeous scenery, and I submerge myself in my imagination. Sometimes I don't pay any attention to where I am or how far I've gone—once I nearly stepped on a rattlesnake, another time I wandered into a couple of tarantulas, even a bear. Those things sure jolt you out of the groove!

FWOMP: What was your very first professionally published novel? How about first article or short story?

Kevin Anderson: First story was a little vignette I wrote in high school, a scene after a nuclear holocaust where the whole world is dead and then a soda bottle washes up on the sterile beach and it says..."Coke Adds Life." It was published in a "best high school writings" magazine, but I never got paid anything for it. My very first novel was RESURRECTION, INC., which sold to Signet Books. I was on a brief business trip and came back to my office to find a message on the old-style answering machine, "Kevin, this is your agent. We just sold your first novel. Great news!" I was so excited I ran down the hall to tell all my fellow employees . . . and in the few minutes it took to do that, somebody else had called with a perfectly mundane message and recorded over my very special message! Aaaarrgh!

FWOMP: How did you feel when you saw your first novel on the shelves at all those bookstores?

Kevin Anderson: Well, I think my first novel was only distributed to three or four bookstores (as most first novels are!). It was really cool to see a real book with my name on it . . . and then I did some book signings, expecting the lines of fans, the adoration, the attention, paparazzi, gorgeous babes in cocktail dresses—when in fact, all I heard was crickets chirping and stared at the table for an hour. Very humbling. That's when I realized that just getting a book published doesn't immediately make you famous!

FWOMP: If you could recommend to readers one book (and ONE BOOK ONLY!) that you've written, which one would it be and why?

Kevin Anderson: Oh, man, you can't do that to me! All right, since I figure everybody already knows about the fabulous DUNE prequels I've written with Brian Herbert, I'll point to another book that I'm very proud of— HIDDEN EMPIRE, the first volume in a big science fiction series called "The Saga of Seven Suns." It's halfway between DUNE and STAR WARS (two universes I know very well), and I literally pulled together everything I love about the whole genre of science fiction. Face it, SF is the only genre where you can paint on a canvas the size of the universe itself. HIDDEN EMPIRE pulls together all of the best parts of science fiction and weaves it into a big multilayered storyline. I've just finished the fourth volume in the series and the story just gets bigger and bigger.

FWOMP: Have you ever been sitting on the toilet, enjoying the moment, and a new book idea pops into your head, but by the time you come out of the bathroom the idea is gone?

Kevin Anderson: Never. I mean, there's a whole roll of paper right there to jot down the idea!

FWOMP: While asleep, have you ever dreamt a new story idea (wet dreams not included)?

Kevin Anderson: I dream on paper, get all my imaginative cooking done while I'm writing. When I sleep, I pretty much just conk out.

FWOMP: You've co-authored with several other writers in the past (and present). Have you found it easier to co-author or work solo?

Kevin Anderson: Yes (and I mean yes to both questions). Some things are easier alone, some things it's better to have a partner. And that isn't just for writing!

FWOMP: Your new DUNE prequel science fiction novels (co-authored with Brian Herbert) are doing extremely well. But if you could choose one other science fiction author with which you could co-author, who would it be and why?

Kevin Anderson: If I start listing names, you'll forward this interview . . . and then they'll contact me, and I won't have time to do it!

FWOMP: Having attended several of your book signings with Brian Herbert but never finding the right moment, I have a question for you. Who has more hair?

Kevin Anderson: Well, if you count all the hair on my back, we're probably about even.

FWOMP: Does your lovely wife, Rebecca Moesta, ever get tired of reading/editing the incredible volumes of material you put out?

Kevin Anderson: Absolutely! I put her through hell—right now, in fact, she'd much rather be Christmas shopping, but she is holed up doing a fine-line edit on DUNE: THE BATTLE OF CORRIN. (Now, if it was *me*, I'd rather be reading than shopping, but that's not her preference necessarily.) But she knows she's an absolutely crucial link in the process, spotting inconsistencies and proposing fixes, so she dives into it.

Kevin Anderson: Walking out of the California Redwoods, chatting with two friends, I came to a dead stop on the trail and said "I have just had the coolest idea for an anthology." It was WAR OF THE WORLDS: GLOBAL DISPATCHES, published by Bantam in 1996.

FWOMP: You've traveled extensively. Has this helped you come up with new ideas for writing?

Kevin Anderson: It helps me get a lot of new details, seeing different landscapes and cultures, different foods, architectures, different people. Too many people think the whole world is a carbon copy of their own neighborhood—especially in SF, we have to create believable alien cultures.

FWOMP: If you were given the option to write a satirical story about Bush's time in the White House, would you do it?

Kevin Anderson: Given the option? Nothing's stopping me now if I want to. But since I have this terrible habit of writing several 700-page books every year, I barricade the doors and try to keep the other projects out!

FWOMP: If you could compare President Bush to one of your characters (in any book), which one would you choose?

Kevin Anderson: Iblis Ginjo in DUNE: THE MACHINE CRUSADE or Chairman Wenceslas in HIDDEN EMPIRE (though the Chairman is pretty smart . . . until he starts losing it in later volumes of "The Saga of Seven Suns."

FWOMP: How many books/stories a year do you put out on average?

Kevin Anderson: I've slowed wa-a-a-a-a-ay down. These days I do a DUNE book (with Brian Herbert) every year—800 pages usually—and a "Seven Suns" book, 700 pages or so, and usually another smaller book or two, plus a few comic scripts, articles, stories. Just enough to keep me off the streets.

FWOMP: If you could give one piece of advice to budding and hopeful authors, what would it be?

Kevin Anderson: Be persistent. Becoming a successful author is like making the Olympic ice skating team (or pick another sport if memories of Tonya Harding still put a bad taste in your mouth). You have to practice, practice, practice, every day, get better, improve your skills, put yourself on the line, and keep trying. Even so, you might not make the team.

FWOMP: Have you ever accidentally deleted something you were working on? If so, did you need any pharmaceuticals or intoxicants to calm yourself afterward?

Kevin Anderson: Great, thanks for reminding me of those terrible memories! As I said, I dictate into a micro cassette recorder and sometimes I get into the zone. On one big hike in the Rocky Mountains, I was cruising along, engrossed in what I was dictating, and I filled up one whole side of the cassette. So I flipped it over and kept going, dictating away, still swallowed up in the story, until I filled up the whole side 2 of the cassette. I was on a roll! So I flipped over the cassette and kept dictating for about another 20 minutes . . . until I realized that cassettes don't have more than two sides. (I shut off the recorder so I did not preserve all the choice comments and imaginative curses I made!)

FWOMP: Have you ever worked on a piece of writing that you thought was awesome, just fan- friggin-tastic, but then your publisher said, "Ummm . . . I don't think so."?

Kevin Anderson: Sometimes the publishers just don't get it. I wrote one of my very best books, CAPTAIN NEMO, set in the mid-1800s, the life story of Captain Nemo of the Nautilus, his boyhood friendship with Jules Verne, how he explored the world in a balloon, fought pirates, discovered a mysterious island, etc. My wife thought it was my best work ever, my test readers went nuts, my agent loved it . . . and no publisher wanted to touch it. We submitted it to a dozen publishers over the course of a year or two, and everybody turned it down with incomprehensible comments like, "Does anybody know who Captain Nemo is?" or "Won't people just read the original 150-year-old Jules Verne novels if they're interested in this?" I just couldn't figure out what planet these people were on. I mean, I had plenty of credits, dozens of bestsellers and awards, and I couldn't sell the book. Then again, I remembered that Frank Herbert couldn't find anyone to publish DUNE either—it was rejected 23 times, and today it is the bestselling SF novel of all time. Go figure. Luckily, I did find an editor at Pocket Books who loved CAPTAIN NEMO and it was published in hardcover and then paperback, to excellent reviews. It has been optioned twice in Hollywood and we're keeping our fingers crossed. Happy ending.

FWOMP: Any new Kevin J. Anderson short stories, novels, novellas coming down the ol' literary pipeline that we need to watch for?

Kevin Anderson: Always! Brian and I just published DUNE: THE MACHINE CRUSADE in September 2003, and A FOREST OF STARS (the second volume in "Saga of Seven Suns") came out in July 2003. I have a "Seven Suns" graphic novel from DC Comics in January 2004, "Seven Suns" #3 HORIZON STORMS comes out July 2004, and DUNE: THE BATTLE OF CORRIN in August.

FWOMP: If I wanted to learn more about you and your writing endeavors, is there a website I could check out?

Kevin Anderson: www.wordfire.com or www.dunenovels.com