Author Interview: ANDREW HINDLE

I'm delighted to welcome a self-published author of many books to the blog today to talk about their journey to publication! 

Here we go... 

Andrew Hindle was born and raised in Fremantle, Western Australia,
before the heady futuristic appeal of Internet romance led him to
Finland at the turn of the millennium. He now lives in a pleasant
little village called Sotunki with his wife, two daughters, a bunch of
bank loans and a sort of bemused, dizzy sense of shock about how it
all happened. Honestly, he was a teenager like three months ago.
​

Find out more about Andrew here! 

Blog
Amazon
Latest project

​The Final Fall of Man, 8-book sci-fi series:

Six untrained civilians.
Two seasoned officers and two radically unspaceworthy scientists.
One mad alien inventor.
And six hundred and twenty-eight clone crewmen with severe
intelligence-formatting errors.

The Final Fall of Man is a science-fiction series showing the future
history of the human race some thousands of years after the
destruction of Earth and humanity's adoption into the Six Species (a
sort of interstellar union of alien races in which humans are very
much the half-tamed monkey of the group that they bring out because
we're fun at parties).

Buy your copies here! 

Tales of the Final Fall of Man, 3-book (5 planned in total) sci-fi
short story anthology series:

A collection of short stories and novellas set in the galaxy known as
Cursèd's Playground, where the Final Fall of Man series is also set.
Covers events in the distant past, near past, and elsewhere in the
expanded galaxy - and beyond.

Buy your copies here! 

Oræl Rides to War, 2-book (3 planned in total) sci-fi / fantasy trilogy:

​A massive series of surreal blended sci-fi and fantasy, further
detailing the "expanded urverse" introduced in other books. From its
forgotten history as a flat world populated by Gods and immortals and
mythical creatures, to its distant future contact with alien species
of the Molran Fleet, and its ultimate destruction, Oræl Rides to War
tells the true history and future history of Earth, and how we got
from here to the interstellar union of The Final Fall of Man.

First two books cover 0-1990-2378 AD (Bad Cow) and 2616-2626 AD
(Greyblade), while the up-coming third book will cover the final year,
3699-3700 AD (The Last Days of Earth).

Buy your copies here! 
​

"Are You My Corpulent Brood Matriarch?", an illustrated children's
book / parody:

​The simple tale of a little lost monster trying to find his way back
home. Because, in a way, aren't we all? Suitable for monsters of all
ages.

Based on the children's classic, "Are You My Mother?"

 
Buy your copy here! 

​The Interview... 

Who are you and what do you write?

I am Andrew Hindle. On Usenet, Facebook, and various facets of my
"real" life, I am also known as Chucky, or Hatboy. On Twitter, it's
Edpool. I have a lot of different personas but they're all pretty much
the same so I pass for a mundane (except for Edpool, who wears
spandex).

I like to say I write science fiction and fantasy books that few
people read. Because I don't want to starve, I also write instruction
manuals that nobody reads.


Where and when and how did the writing life begin for you?

Perhaps my earliest school-memory (with the possible exception of the
wonderful beatings teachers used to be allowed to give us) is of
writing a story in ... I want to say it was year 3, so I was 8 years
old. The teacher typed it out on a computer (she must have done this
for all of our writing projects, because the school only had the one
computer at the time and nobody had a computer at home) and then
printed it.

Now back in the good ole days, computer printer paper came in a big
perforated strip, so she could print it all in a single roll. I
happened to see her showing it to her colleagues before she brought it
to class - she held it by the top and let it unroll, displaying a
rambling epic that was taller than she was. I mean, she wasn't tall
but I guess my point is, I have never written half a page when I can
write five feet three inches instead.


How has the journey to this point been? Can you give us a basic rundown?

Basically, since learning how to read and write, I have only stopped
occasionally to sleep. I wrote weird RPG-style stuff all through high
school, and expanded this into a sort of mythos and worldbuilding when
I was at university (where I majored in Creative Writing, a safe and
rock-solid career-based decision). I never actually published or
submitted anything at the time, though, preferring to just keep on
re-writing and re-writing.

After moving to Finland and spending four years in a steel mill
putting notches in the ends of screws (thank you, Bachelor of Arts
with Creative Writing major!), I landed a job as a technical writer in
2005. I've been a technical writer ever since, paying the bills by
copy editing, creating user documentation for mobile phones and x-ray
machines and weather instruments, among many, many other things.

In 2011 I was diagnosed with cancer, and of course my response was to
write about it on social media. After finally winning my battle I
realised that the entire horrible process was recorded in almost
day-to-day detail on my social media pages, and so I assembled them
into a book. I called it "Arsebook", because I could.

This was, I decided, too personal a story to ever submit to a
publisher. It was not their story to accept or reject, let alone edit.
And so I decided to release it independently, using Amazon. I didn't
need to sell a million copies, although of course I did rather hope
that a story that might help people avoid cancer would be something
people are interested in. But either way, it was my story and I wanted
to tell it my way.

That was about when I realised that all of my stories were actually
like that. I started writing science fiction books, set in the general
background of the universe and mythos I'd been creating and building
on since I was a teenager. It turned out to be very easy, because the
setting was so familiar to me. Before I knew it, I'd finished an
eight-book series, and launched into short story anthologies, a wider
mythos trilogy, and even a children's book. With more to come.

What's been the hardest part of your writing/publishing experience so far? And the
most enjoyable?

I have an editorial group who read my stuff, and we have some really
heated discussions. But all in all I wouldn't say any of it has been
hard. This is like breathing to me. I don't say that to imply that I'm
wonderful and amazing - everybody breathes. But whether I'm good or
terrible, I can't not write. I don't have it in me.


Would you go back and change anything?

I am currently also working on a young adult series of short science
fiction stories, trying to cut through some of the over-florid
waffling and tangents I so like to write about, and make my stuff more
approachable. It's challenging!

If I could go back and re-write everything I've published so far, I
probably would. That's what I did between 1992 and 2011, after all.
And that's why I finally said to myself, "enough. It's finished. Put a
cover on it and put it out there and then write the next thing."

Going back and changing things is authorial quicksand.

Oh, and speaking of putting a cover on it, this is a good chance for
me to praise and celebrate my amazing cover artist, Gabriel Gajdoš:

https://www.deviantart.com/gabrielgajdos

When I finished my first book, I made the cover myself. And it shows.
I'm a middling comic artist and mediocre designer, but I wanted to do
"Arsebook" all myself. When I finished "Eejit" (first book of The
Final Fall of Man), however, I was strongly advised by wiser friends
to seek out a proper artist. I went onto DeviantArt and found Gabriel.

Our collaboration has been amazing. We discuss my favourite visual
scenes from each book, and he brings ideas from his own huge
experience and talent. Often, as a result, I will rewrite scenery just
so it will properly match the art he has made. And as you can see from
my covers, they are brilliant.


Where would you like to be in 5 years time? And 10? Or, what are your plans for the
future?

Sitting here, hopefully with another half-dozen or more books on my
Author Page. But if you want to see my Marvel-esque "Phases" Plan,
here it is:

https://stchucky.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/phases_large_20191112.png

As of right now, I am halfway through Phase Two of my Plan. Fifteen
books down, and many, many books to go. I could ramble at incredible
length about the Plan and why each Phase beings and ends the way it
does ... but perhaps that's a bit too self-indulgent.


What's one piece of advice you'd give to new writers just starting out?

Same as the only piece of advice I ever took to heart about parenting:
Don't listen to anyone else's advice.

And get a good editor.


And most importantly...

Ketchup or Mayo?
Can't eat snaggers without tomato sauce, but you can't eat a noodle burger without mayo.

Night or Day?
Short answer: Night.
Long answer: Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhht.

Inside or Outside?
Inside. I might still have gotten bowel cancer if I'd stayed inside,
but at least I would have avoided skin cancer.

Dogs or Cats?
Dogs.

Twitter or Facebook?
They're both just sewers of the human cultural subconscious. Don't get
me wrong, we need sewers ... just don't make me pick one.

e-book or Paperback?
Oof, that's a hard one. I do love a paperback, but I have to admit
e-books are far more convenient.

Sun or Rain?
Rain. Thunderstorms are nice, but not while I'm on my computer please.

Keyboard or Pencil & Notebook?
Keyboard. I actually write a lot of my stories on phone touchscreen
while out walking or while sitting in front of the TV of an evening.

Comedy or Drama?
Comedy.

Chips or Chocolate?
Chips. As my large authorial belly and high blood pressure will attest.