Derrick
Ferguson: Who is H.H. Neville?
H.H.
Neville: I am a Seattle native that refuses to leave
(except for routine trips to Yokohama), a volleyball-playing fiend and an Earl
Grey enthusiast. I run a makeshift book orphanage where books just tend to show
up, and I take good care of them. Sometimes I even write words, but am a bit
uncomfortable with the term “writer.” I tend to prefer “fictionista.”
DF:
What do you do to keep yourself in cheese and crackers?
HHN:
I am a web and graphic designer. You have probably received an email with
something I’ve done. Or at least your spam folder did. We’re tight like that.
DF:
In the interest of full disclosure we should inform the good folks reading this
that we’ve known each other for a while. Would you care to elaborate?
HHN:
Heh, yes we have. This might seem a little creepier for you than me, but you’ve
known me since I was fourteen. That’s when I crawled onto the internet,
sheepishly posting fiction to a website that by some stroke of good fortune you
stumbled across. You graciously reviewed some fiction on that website.
Eventually you got around to something I wrote. You weren’t that impressed. You
said it was more a history lesson than a story. You were, of course, right, and
to this day (some fourteen years later) I still remember that!
DF:
How long have you been writing?
HHN:
It will sound rote, or trite, but forever? I remember being in early grade
school and folding notebook paper into little books where I wrote stories about
sword-fighting foxes that I would then illustrate. I’ve always had a pretty
intense imagination, and writing seemed like the best way to relieve some of
that pressure.
Seriously writing? Even though I got published once
in my preteens, I never really started taking it seriously until a little bit a
go. It was just something I did because I enjoyed it. I had no goals other than
share things I’d written. Sharing is big for me.
DF:
What writers have influenced you?
HHN:
Above all else, Lewis Carroll. Without him, I’d have no imagination at all. I
warn you that as a book snob, this list will get long: Verne, Frank L. Baum,
ERB, Chabon, Raymond Chandler, Dostoevesky, William Gibson, Huxley, Ishiguro,
Jacques, Melville, Millhauser, Murakami (Haruki and Ryu), Orwell, Christopher
Priest, Salinger, Steinbeck, Wilde, Vonnegut (and all the Beat Generation),
and, yeah, give me the hook already!
I’m a literary guy. I read everything from pulps, to
alt. lit., YA to classic, and even though I write a lot of superheroes, I tend
not to be influenced by too many comic book writers. Almost none, actually
(except Japanese dudes like Shirow, Otomo, Tezuka, etc.). I try to take a very
literary approach to capes and cowls.
DF:
You were very active in what we called the Heroes Community of fan fiction.
What would you say was your major contributions during that period?
HHN:
Strife and consternation? I don’t know, really. A majority of my works have
been wiped away. I think above all else, I challenged the status quo. A lot of
the guys who are comic book guys didn’t get a lot of what I was trying to do. I
never wanted to tell a story that left a character in a holding pattern; if I
couldn’t push the characters to uncomfortable places, I didn’t want to do it.
Beyond that, I’m known for my stylistic prose; it’s
dense and florid, and a lot of the times, very abstract. You can thank my love
of The Beat Generation for that.
What I’m most proud of though, is as I got older, I
tried to turn around and give advice to the younger generation like so many did
for me. I loved to help spitball and world build, which I guess makes sense now
that I’m doing that with The Generation Project.
DF:
Why fan fiction at all? Why not just start out writing your own original
superhero characters?
HHN:
There’s a real beautiful agility with fan fiction. The people reading your work
already have a pretty vast knowledge of the characters, their motivations,
physical appearance, what have you. It allows you to work with that; skimp on
certain aspects of storytelling that are usually necessary, and focus on the
things you want to, either because you enjoy them, or because you want to get
better. It’s the quickest way to write (especially when you’re learning),
because you can just do it, almost reflexively, and the audience will follow. The
readers will also be able to pick out weak spots in your skill sets because
they know how things should be.
There’s no guesswork.
You can’t do that when every bit of a character and
the stories they’re in are new. You’ve got responsibilities as a writer to tell
a story as completely as you can, and when readers don’t have that existing
knowledge, it requires a lot more maturity and effort.
DF:
Tell us about THE GENERATION PROJECT
HHN:
The Generation Project is a shared-continuity superhero universe. It will span
the website, and print and e-book anthologies and individual novels. All the
characters on the website are free for any writer to pick up and write. I have
about 200+ characters ready to insert into the continuity (with about fifty
bios on the site) currently. Writers are of course allowed to introduce their
own.
However, some writers struggle with world-building,
which I certainly do not. Anyone who has seen one of my 100+ page character or
plot bibles knows this. So, I can take care of that part for them.
Sharing is also really important to me. I like
writers to share ideas, concepts, characters. I love co-writing. So this was
key to doing The Generation. Sharing can be rough though, so we’ve installed
some great tools to make it easier, like the bios, the world bible and a
sliding scale timeline where anyone can pick up a character at any time in
their life and write a story. That character might get introduced by one writer
one week and the next, killed by another writer. Ownership is democratic in the
purest sense.
DF:
Name your three favorite characters and tell us why they are your favorites.
HHN:
That’s like picking favorite kids, man! Which, by the way, if anyone tells you
they can’t: they’re lying.
Paper Tiger (Page Turner) easily at the top. She’s
somewhat autobiographical. She’s freakishly in love with books. Nothing else
really matters to her. She’s got this Marlowe meets Thoroughly Modern Millie
demeanor; she’s intelligent yet aloof, totally self-confident, despite glaring
flaws her mother loves to point and just really complex. Plus, her powers are
only limited by her vast imagination, and making sure she has enough paper to
transmute!
The Ouroboros because he’s the kind of
self-indulgent I think a lot of us would be if we were hanging out with the
world’s greatest Capes. He’s the ultimate self-promoter, and showman and
actually won’t help anybody unless there’s either a news reporter or a movie
starlet within an earshot. He fancies himself a ladie’s man, even if he’s kind
of repulsive. He’s Houdini meets Chaplin and a whole bunch of Snidely Whiplash.
Plus, I just love escapists. That’s not a “superpower” per se, but it’s
certainly superhuman.
Man From Mars. It’s a shameless ode to Blondie. He’s
the quintessential stuck in the 80s guy. I know a lot of people like that; they
just won’t let that decade go. He was a fixture at CBGBs and isn’t quite
willing to move on. He’s part of the main team after The Generation destroys
itself, and he’s clinging to nostalgia like a lot of folks are. He’ll be a good
cipher for readers even if his nostalgia has nothing to do with The Generation.
His power set is fun. Whatever he eats, he absorbs into his body. It might be a
guitar, or lettuce. Who knows. Maybe something useful.
DF:
Is it safe to say that superhero prose fiction has arrived and is here to stay?
HHN:
Definitely. Superhero prose has always been around. I have countless of them
from when I was a kid, but no slight on Greg Cox, Christopher Golden, Dean
Wesley Smith and some of those guys, but it just wasn’t gonna happen for them.
They weren’t going to make superhero prose a “thing.” They peaked at the wrong
time. Now with a new superhero movie every two weeks, they’re part of the “pop
creature” as I like to call it. Audiences crave it in all mediums, devour it.
They’re not quite the new zombie (or paranormal romance), but as I spend a lot
of time in bookstores, I get to see they’re right there in a comfortable third.
You’ve got the stuff by Adam Christopher, Michael
Carroll, and a bunch of folks in all arenas, and even now a She-Hulk book that
is one part Peter David and another Sex and the City. X-Men novels are coming
back. Everybody’s doing them. When the YA shelves are saturated with a trend,
it’s big. Fourteen year-olds are the ultimate tastemakers. What they want,
everyone does.
It actually made me resist doing this site for a
split second. Did I want to devote so much effort to a saturated market? Yeah,
because it’s fun, and people are eating it up for that reason.
I think as long as we’re willing to explore what it
means to put on that Cape from every angle, it’s a plenty big sandbox. That’s
the goal with The Generation. I want to look at these characters from every
angle, from every genre. If someone wants to do a romcom, let’s do it; if
somebody wants an alt. lit. story about the collateral damage people suffer
indulging these heroes, cool and of course, the old school four colour type of
story doesn’t hurt either.
DF:
Unlike their comic book/graphic novel cousins, superhero prose doesn’t have the
benefit of artwork to help tell the story. But what can a writer do in prose
that he can’t in a comic book?
HHN:
I don’t think it’s a matter of what one can do over the other. I think it just
takes a lot of imagination and ingenuity to do things in one over the other.
Comic books are awfully kinetic. It takes a lot of work (and a lot of panels)
to deliver depth, though. One well written paragraph can handle a forty-eight
comic book spread a lot of the times when it comes to earnest character
development. Can a novel be kinetic, though? Sure, and a lot of comic books can
be deep, too.
I think the greatest advantage to prose is the
investment factor: reading prose usually takes a greater investment on the
reader’s behalf, so accordingly, writers will likely have to find ways to give
that investment a payoff. We often think of that as a gift to the reader, but
it is just as much to writer.
One of my biggest pet peeves with superhero prose
writers is when they try to emulate comic books. A simple 'Dangeruss punched
him, he flew across the room and hit a wall' is really just an action line in a
comic script. It doesn’t make good prose. Use the medium for what it is. Color
in the lines, don’t just draw ‘em.
DF:
So why should people check out THE GENERATION PROJECT?
HHN:
I’d say they should check it out if they like superheroes, of all different
walks. We’re going to explore them every way we know how, and some we don’t
just quite yet. We’re trying some exciting new things within the realm of
shared-continuity universes which requires very little effort from writers, but
a lot from its editors. We’re dedicated to making that work, and in turn making
it a great place for readers and writers to just sit down and do what they
love: create and read stories about superheroes.
Another goal of mine is to make this a safe place
for all writers of all walks. I’ve got submissions being worked on by
screenwriters, English professors, and aspiring writers. People who want so
desperately to write a fun superhero story, even if they never have. We’re
dedicated to equipping people to have fun both reading and writing. If you’re a
screenwriter and hammer out a great screenplay, I’m a prose monster and we’ll
work it out. If you’re a solid writer, but not a world builder, just plug in
some of the characters from the site. I’m all about massaging something until
the writer and reader have a product they can both be proud of.
DF:
Where do you see THE GENERATION PROJECT in five years?
HHN:
The definitive stop for superhero prose, and I mean that, earnestly. I want to
be a force to be reckoned with, getting not just huge numbers of fans, but
releases: individual novels, anthologies, continual free content on the
website. I want to release YA books where the proceeds go to help Autism
research. Perhaps that doesn’t mean we rival those comic book guys with their
summer blockbusters, but I want to be at the forefront when people think about
great superhero prose.
DF:
What’s a typical Day In The Life Of H.H. Neville?
HHN:
Wake up. Drink tea. Shower. Drink tea. Design some stuff. Drink tea. Make
amazing food. Drink tea. Read. Drink tea. Write. Drink Tea. Sleep. Yeah, sounds
about right.
Derrick
Ferguson: Anything else we should know?
H.H.
Neville: That Derrick Ferguson is a great, great man.
Seriously, and not because of this interview. You’ve helped nudge me along to
be a real-boy writer so many times, even if you never intended. So, cheers.
Oh, and that The Generation Project would love to
have you all, both readers and writers, so come check us out, you hear?
H.H.
Neville
Calling
H.H. Neville a real writer–like his genre of choice–would be fiction. At the
rare points that he does manage to write, he fashions his work with visceral
visuals, razorblade sharp style and shotgun brutality. He draws equal
inspiration from Victorian Era literature, classic fables, Japanese
pop-violence, steampunk, anime, grindhouse genres, hip-hop, neon-flavored pop
culture, fashion-trends and really cool sneakers. He is, if anything a
proponent of style over substance. Who needs plot if it’s pretty?
