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Susan Whitfield's Blog Interview with Stuart Clark
By Susan Whitfield, Susan Whitfield's Blog, August 27, 2010

SW: Stuart Clark is my guest today. Stuart, welcome to the blog. Please tell us a little about yourself.

SC: Well, I was born in the UK and grew up just outside of London in a little town called Ashford. I have a degree in Microbiology and a Masters degree in Science Communication. I moved to the US in 2005 and now live in New Jersey with my wife and daughter.

I’ve always written in some shape or form, it was just something I enjoyed doing. At university I wrote for the student paper and my first job out of school was as a technical writer for a scientific publishing company. As well as writing sci-fi novels I now work behind the scenes in television (which is much less glamorous than it sounds).

SW: Tell us about your Project U.L.F. - Reacquisition

SC: Project U.L.F. – Reacquisition is a stand-alone novel and the second book in my Project U.L.F. series. The books are based on a futuristic zoo (the acronym stands for Unidentified Life Form) and the teams of men and women trappers who travel to unknown star systems to capture aliens for exhibition at the zoo. In this second installment a group of alien activists have broken in to the zoo and set the exhibits loose on Chicago. The trappers need to recapture the aliens, and the local law enforcement also need to find the truth of who really is behind the break in. It’s an action/adventure story with a mystery thrown in for good measure.

SW: What are your protagonist’s strengths? Flaws?

SC: My main character, a man by the name of Wyatt Dorren, is tough. Not just physically tough but mentally tough. He’s used to being sent to distant planets and not knowing what to expect when he gets there. He’s also been incarcerated and the reason he has ended up as a trapper is as a result of a convict release program that’s given him a second chance at life. His flaw is that he identifies with the creatures that he captures. He is, after all, sending them to a jail of sorts. As a result he is torn between the duties of his job and knowing that very same job is what allows him to be a free man.

SW: Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?

SC: Starting a novel is somewhat of a daunting undertaking and so consciously, or unconsciously, I seem to create a number of “stepping stone” points – events or scenes that I absolutely know need to happen to get me from the beginning to the end. I find these “stepping stones” to be helpful in two respects. First, they provide a number of smaller targets to hit than simply just getting to the end – breaking it up makes it much more manageable – but secondly, they keep me on track. Between these points I write quite organically, letting the story lead me where it wants to go, but the “stepping stones” give me definite marks I need to hit so they keep me from straying too far from the storyline.

SW: How do you promote yourself online and off?

SC: I’ve got most of the tools of the “author online promotion” kit – a facebook page, a twitter account, a Myspace page and a website (www.stuartclark.net) where I have free sample chapters and short stories for download. Online I also frequent some forums and specialist book sites like Shelfari, Goodreads and Librarything. For advertising I use Project Wonderful (www.projectwonderful.com) which I love and which provides really cheap, targeted advertising.

Offline I arrange book signings at local book stores when I can, attend the occasional convention and give talks to school writing classes and sci-fi clubs.

SW: Where do you write? When? What do you have around you?

SC: One of two places – Either at home in the small office we have and that’s usually in the small hours of the morning when it’s nice and quiet, or on the train during my commute and I’m hooked up to my iPod.

SW: Any current projects?

SC: I’m currently working on the third and final Project U.L.F. novel which I hope to have completed soon. After that, I have a sci-fi screenplay I’ve been working on that I need to revisit and finish.

SW: Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

SC: Either my website (www.stuartclark.net) or my publisher’s site (http://www.silverleafbooks.com/)

SW: Stuart, thanks for dropping by. Continued success with this series.