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Mar
25
Justin Thorne on debut collection ‘In the Shadows’
Posted in: UKSFBN Talks To on 25th March 2007 by UKSFBN admin
Justin Thorne, denizen of Jersey, is that seemingly rare combination: a genre writer who is also a musician - a guitarist and singer / songwriter to be precise - who performs regularly with his band The Chiefs.
His first collection of short fiction, In the Shadows is due to be published by Kedzie Press in May and is a blend of some of his previously published work and a number of brand new stories written for the collection. Intrigued by the mixture of creative outputs, we sent over a few questions about how he blends his music and prose writing.
UKSFBN: Could you give us a brief overview and a flavour of the content of In the Shadows?
Justin Thorne: Well, I can tell you that my publisher and I had real trouble coming up with a tagline for In the Shadows. At first, Kedzie wanted me to focus on one genre, preferably fantasy, and this was difficult for me because I never sit down with the firm intention to write a fantasy piece or a horror piece, they just come together. Also, my sales have been in a few different genres so I couldn't just pick out all the horror tales for a horror anthology.
Eventually, my publisher coined the phrase 'anthology of the curious' and I really liked that because it has a kind of travelling freak show feel and meant that I could select stories from across the board. So there you go, the book has fantasy, horror, sci-fi (ish), crime and some that are simply... well, curious. There are ghosts, minotaurs, knights, demons, pigeons, monkeys and a few pub landlords in there... something for everyone!
UKSFBN: How much synergy do you find there is between writing music, writing lyrics, and writing fiction? Is it a similar creative process in the case of all three?
Justin Thorne: It's an interesting question and on the surface, I think they are very different processes. Lyrics can be absolutely personal and make no sense to anyone else and yet if the rhythm and melody has a hook, it can be a great song (perhaps that isn't so different to writing after all!) The end product is consumed in a very different ways.
With music, you are connecting with your listener for a few minutes; most of my stories may engage a reader for anywhere between a few minutes and a few weeks (certainly for novels). But on the other hand, a song will be consumed over and over again and gains a new lease of life once it has become familiar and the listener knows it word for word, and note for note. Not many readers have that relationship with a story.
Also, music has many different brushes to shape a mood beyond the words and in writing, you only have the words. Having said that, the most powerful tool for both the musician and the writer, is the consumer's imagination. With both media you lose ownership of the product as soon as someone else consumes it and your intention or sentiment as the creator, becomes totally irrelevant. The magic in both media is in the gaps you provide your audience to fill with their own vision.
I think the creative process is different, but the connection with the audience is similar in that you are trying to create a mood and leave a resonance with your audience. You're telling a story, a snapshot and in both media, I am trying to get the audience to identify with the lead perspective and hopefully empathise or, at the very least, be very grateful that they are not in the same shoes!
UKSFBN: How much cross-over is there between the content of your fiction - in terms of theme, tone, subject matter - and the lyrical content of your music? Or do you find that each form gives you an option to explore different aspects of your creative interests?
Justin Thorne: I think some musicians are excellent storytellers, and the whole prog rock movement was created as a way for musicians to tell a progressive story with each song. For me though, and with many singer-songwriter types, I tend to use music to communicate my own experiences, fears, desires, weaknesses and hopes.
Of course at a subliminal level, I must be doing that with my fiction too, but in my stories I am very definitely role-playing and experimenting with the voices of my characters - putting myself in their heads rather than a direct link into my own head. Both mediums tackle the human condition but in my lyrics I am much more prone to laugh at myself and share my own inadequacies and self-esteem issues.
UKSFBN: Performing music must surely be a much more extroverted form of expression than the rather solitary discipline of writing prose. Do you think this is why there aren't more singer / songwriter / fictioneers around? Or do you think songwriters more naturally gravitate towards poetry as a form of printed expression?
Justin Thorne: I think both are equally solitary during the creative process. The songwriter sat on his bed night after night has just as many friends and girlfriends as the writer glued to his laptop! But you're right about the live performance aspect and I think that for me, music on some level, is fulfilling my desire to socialise and interact with people and writing fiction is fulfilling my desire to self-actualise.
I do think poetry and songwriting goes hand in hand and I sometimes wish that I could be more like Jeff Buckley, who used to carry a notebook around, jotting down beautiful prose as the muse took him. But that just isn't me. I wouldn't even contemplate writing poetry!
I also think there are more hybrid creative types out there than you think... I am constantly amazed by the number of musicians who are also interested in writing and also the number of authors who can whip out a guitar and hold a tune.
I think the main issue may be time-related. I'm often worried that by splitting my creative output, I'm simply doing two things half-assed and if I focused on one, I'd be much more successful! But then I look at someone like Neil Gaiman with all his pies and tell myself to shut-up and get on with it.
I also couldn't imagine stopping one to do the other although I do tend to have waves of inspiration in one medium or the other. Luckily for me, at the moment I am in the studio for music, which can be very uncreative and monotonous, so I get to be creative in my fiction.
UKSFBN: Do you find writing for music to be more enjoyable than writing for print, or vica-versa? And given the choice of music or fiction writing as a long-term career, would you have a preference of one over the other?
Justin Thorne: I find them both equally fulfilling as I really believe that they are addressing different needs or desires in me as an individual. I think the harsh reality is that I don't have a large window for my music and I am actually already speaking to record labels about publishing deals for my songs. This means I write them and someone younger and better looking gets to re-record them and release them.
From a financial perspective, it means I am credited as the songwriter and rake in the cash if the song appears on an album, or even better, is released as a single! But on the downside, I miss that extroverted performance aspect and for me, music is about that connection with the audience and not the writing process in itself. So you could say that writing is more than likely going to be my long-term career.
My preference is to be a rock star, drenched in debauchery and scandal, who makes enough money to retire in ten years to write his masterworks! Is that being too greedy?
UKSFBN: And finally, what are you working on at the moment?
Justin Thorne: If my publisher asks, I am feverishly editing my fantasy novel Footsteps, the prologue of which, appears in In the shadows. Between you and me, I am feverishly working on a fantasy project called Islander, and so far, my research has included excessive reading on the life and times of the pirate king Bartholomew Roberts and the culture, weapons and mythology of the incredible Maori.
I'm fascinated with the premise of paradoxical juxtapositions where "Everything can and will be linked; media, influences, past and present and it can all happen 'here and now' even if it seems contradictory and essentially unrelated." (Firat & Schultz, 1997) Without getting too post-modern or geeky, that simply means I am going to link Islander with one of the short stories in my anthology, and a future novel project. They can all be read independently and in any order and are stand-alones, but if you do read them all, you get a fuller and very different picture.
Music-wise, my new album Live at Jersey Arts Centre is arriving any day and I'll be promoting that over the coming year. As mentioned above, I am also back in the studio writing with a producer and fantastic musician called Jono Rothwell, with a view to seeking a publishing deal for my songs. If a record label likes the way we have recorded them and wants to offer me the above mentioned debauchery and scandal... I will reluctantly release the songs myself and tour that album too!
You can find out all about both Justin's fiction and music over at his website: www.justinthorne.com and hear a selection of tracks from the live CD at his MySpace page.
Source: Justin Thorne
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Tagged With: book news | collection | fantasy | indie press | Justin-Thorne | short fiction | singer-songwriter
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[...] Re: Any other artists / writers here? I'm a musician/writer... does that count? Feel free to check out my tunes HERE... And in an interview recently, I was asked about the synergies between writing tunes and fiction... that's HERE... [...]