You graduated from college in 1960s California with degrees in political science and film, then almost immediately became a full-time writer. Do you have any career hopes you were pursuing in college that were ultimately left behind in your transition to being an author first and foremost?

During your first decade as a writer you produced over twenty novelizations about Star Trek, Star Wars and other various assorted movies and franchises and even a half-dozen or so additional ones in the years after that. I know this for a fact because I bought every one of them at the time and enjoyed them all. How did you get such a reputation so early in your career as the novelization writer of choice these franchises would turn to? Did these works sell more copies than your later novels because of franchise volume? Did having the plot and characters set-in-stone when you sat down to write them significantly cut the writing time and effort required to produce these? Any interesting thoughts or comments to share on this stage of your writing career?

I’ve been dabbling in writing (mostly sci-fi) since I was in my teens. I used to read a lot but as I roared past thirty I found I cared less and less about what other people were writing, except to recognize some really BAD stuff.

About age forty-five, I went back to college to get a degree in English, thinking it would help my overall writing and attitude. It didn’t. The common mantra was “read more to write better”. I was so turned off by their attitude and the kiss-ass-for-grades-politics that I quit (college, not writing) before I finished.

It’s not that I don’t read to see if what I’ve written fits in with a publisher’s editorial bent. But I cannot understand spending an inordinate amount of time reading what other writers have written when I could be writing for myself. Even Arthur C. Clark, in a February 18th interview in The Onion, declared he’s “really read no current fiction”.

Now, retired and approaching sixty, I write just what appeals to me, with only an occasional peek at the “competition”, but I’m not too old to change if needed.

Of course, you – as a writer with many royalties in the fire – may respond with read, read, read. But my questions are writer to writer, concerning science-fiction.

Is reading even necessary, if there are editors and agents hungry for work?

Is reading versus writing a fifty-fifty, seventy-thirty, or some other ratio?

How important do you think it is for writers to read?

I happened to read a commentary by Spider Robinson (The Toronto Globe and Mail) on the recent “trend” toward more fantasy and less science in our fiction. His point is the excitement of science has been replaced with… something else. Fantasy as well as movie-based sci-fi has taken over the attention of readers.

It seems that authors have taken far too much of a license to stray away from what could be pure sci-fi. At the same time, even the mainstream book and movie industry has strayed into sci-fi, be it ever so shallow. By the “old” lines drawn in the sands of Mars, not to mention the re-release of older titles, it seems there’s been such a blending of genres that even writers, much less readers, are confused.

On the other hand, Mark Oakley (about a third of the way down the page) has taken the position that such an evolution was natural. He sees the attraction to fantasy a reaction to the disappointment that there isn’t a skycar in every garage, we don’t have a lunar colony, and that readers are so overwhelmed with day-to-day life in a world of gizmos. After all, it’s been thirty-two years since we walked on the moon.

What are the best directions that these two genres – science fiction and fantasy – can go to keep growing?

Do you think science journals or places where hard-core science can be examined are valuable? In other words, should our stories be based on scientific fact?

Do you think that fiction (as opposed to non-fiction) might eventually coalesce into a single broad label that includes fantasy, sci-fi, horror, mystery, drama, etc., as sub-labels?

How influential is the movie industry with regard to fiction? Does having a certain genre attached to it, like sci-fi, affect the appeal of a project?

Would you rather write movie scripts, novels, short stories, or something else? Why?

Finally, what genre (or mix thereof) do you see yourself most attracted to, and why?

Do you have a preference regarding writing stories that are all your own versus writing stories that take place in franchise universes, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, etc? Or do they each have their unique charm?

I hadn’t realized until just now (having read so on your website) that you wrote the story for the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. That film, unfortunately, got a lot of negative reviews for being overly long and boring. What did you think of the film? Did it do your original story justice? In what format and level of detail did you write the story, since Harold Livingston is credited with writing the screenplay? Did you feel he did a good job?

I read somewhere that you felt that creating interesting, believable characters is at the core of any really successful story is. What is the process through which you create the characters in your novels?

Having travelled the world so extensively, do you write your novels on a laptop while on the road, or only from home?

Your biliography reveals that you have written an extraordinary number of novels. How do you do it? How many hours a day do you write? Could you walk us through a typical day in your life, and provide us with any insights into your writing process?

You have travelled to many exotic locales, explored archaeological sites, and presumably had quite a few adventures. Has your travelling influenced your writings in any way, either directly or indirectly? Also, have you ever written about your travels in autobiographical or travel guide format?

What ever is popular is what the public wants. Sci-fi was popular for awhile and now fantasy has become more of interest. Since authors and screenplay writers are part of the public, and have the need to make money, they write fantasy. It has nothing to do with dissapointment that one doesn’t own a robo-car or a self cleaning house. It’s just the fad that the public is going though.