With me, over at, uh, SF Site obviously. Scroll down a touch and there I am – voila!
There’s lots of intrigue going on in the story, with lots of devious manipulations — how devious are you in real life? And how do you make your book’s political manipulations realistic?
Incredibly, I’ve got your wallet right now in fact. Seriously, I’m less exciting than people might think, so not at all devious — I’d feel far too guilty if I started acting like that. As for making the political manipulations realistic — from an early age I’ve had a healthy cynicism towards politics. When at school, I actually went on work experience with a local MP. Let’s just say that it didn’t much endear me towards politicians, or indeed the political system…
You only have to dig under the surface of what’s said in newspapers to see exactly that spin does its job, which is saddening. Some of what happens in contemporary politics I actually tried to replicate completely, changing only the names. Politics never became the main focus of the novel, deliberately so, but perhaps that’s something I can visit later in the series.
