Geek Syndicate
GS: Your writing has a style that I find easy to visualise and bring in to life the world of Empire State, but what do you find hardest about writing a novel? AC: I think because I am a big fan of comics I do think I can write visually because I can kind of see it, especially with Empire State because it is quite comic like. I find all of it hard. I think so long as the characters work and the characters come to life they kind of do their own thing and they behave in ways they should behave then when that happens it is really cool and writing is really easy and the whole thing flows but really all of it is hard. GS: Would you want to see the book made into a film and do you have anyone in mind for the key characters? AC: YES! That’s another thing with characters, I do actually when I am writing I do cast people as I write but Kane Fortuna was based on a ballroom dancer because he had this look that I needed. I saw this image he had the hair and the kind of wide eyes. Captain Carson was based on an actor who died years and years ago. The other thing is what ever I imagine in my own mind is completely different to what anyone else imagines including anyone who would make a movie or a tv series. I am a kind of writer. I am not precious about people changing things so I would leave that to people who know about doing that. People have said they could see it as an HBO tv mini series.
GS: Absolutely when you look at things like Broadwalk Empire and things like that you think they can do that with perfection. Getting the whole Manhattan/Empire State yes you can really see it. AC: Its funny because after I had written Empire State, long after I had written it, I discovered Fringe. There is an episode of Fringe that is set in the 40’s with Brown Betty and basically that is the cast, that’s the look, that’s everything. It’s got the fedora hat it’s got the private detective, its got the glamorous woman its got everything. It’s got airships as well! GS: There seems to be a lot of in jokes and references to comics, and you have mentioned a few times that you a big comics fan. How far did you want to go with the comic influence in the book? It’s fairly subtle when you are reading it and I have read a few reviews and other people noticed things that I didn’t notice with some of the names with Kane and things like that. AC: I didn’t have like a checklist of things I thought would be cool and geeky and jokey to put in. Kane Fortuna and Bob Kane you know Batman. I mean there are other things in there as well but it all just kind of came naturally from the idea I think. There aren’t just comic references, there are other references – references to books, to films and real life people as well. GS: How long did it take you to write the novel? Did you just sit down and write it or were you working at the time?
AC: I wrote it from 2009 – 2010 so it took me about a year. But that is like 3 months for a draft and then I left it and then had proof readers read it and then another draft. I did it around a day job so mornings and evenings and weekends, getting up at 5 in the morning and do a couple of hours but that’s the whole thing you’ve just got to. GS: Do you have anywhere in particular that you like to write or doesn’t it matter? AC: It doesn’t really matter. I work at home anyway so usually just in my office. You can’t wait for the right moment or the right mood. You can’t wait for the muse to arrive or you won’t get anywhere. You get into a routine. GS: The World Builder (Go here) idea that offers readers to carry on inventing their own part of Empire State sounds really cool . What are your hopes for what is going to happen and what is going to come out of that? AC: l think you are right. It is really cool and I can’t wait to see what people come up with. I have already seen a few bits and pieces from people who have been commissioned to do stuff. There is a photographer in New York doing stills from a recently discovered 1946 Film Noir production of Empire State which has been lost in time. Its amazing that there are other people out there that are creating stuff based on something that I wrote its amazing. The thing about world builder is that you can do anything – with photography it can be short stories, there is a table top
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