Today, we’re speaking with Inkubator Books’ author Aiden Bailey. Aiden is the author of The Trigger Man action thriller series.
Inkubator Books: When did you start writing?
Aiden Bailey: I’ve been writing since I was a child. At school I made movies with my friends, and even had some shown in festivals. My professional job is that of a content writer in a business setting. I have also edited anthologies and magazines, and done plenty of gaming writing too. My plan was either to become a science fiction or an action thriller author. I was better at the latter, and I enjoyed writing in that genre more, and hence why the Trigger Man series now exists in many places other than just inside my head.
IB: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?
AB: I work full time so novel writing occurs mostly in the evenings or on the weekends. I’ve trained myself to write anywhere at any time, so even if I have twenty minutes waiting for a flight at an airport, or I’m on a long trip on a train or bus, and have my laptop with me, I write then too.
IB: Do you base your characters off people you know or are they all the product of your imagination?
AB: A bit of both, but when it comes to people I know, I only borrow minor traits that could work well with other elements drawn or imagined from other sources. Because I work in an industry where I engage with people from countries from all over the world, many of them have interesting stories or insights into cultures, geopolitics and environments I can tap into, which I often do. I’ve also had the misfortune of working with too many sociopaths in my time, but they provide an endless stream of interesting and diabolical villain traits I can use in my characters.
IB: What’s the most difficult part of your writing process?
AB: It’s that moment at about 40% into the first draft that is the most difficult. It’s about this point that I realise not all the logic is working, and I have to reassess and reevaluate the story structure and go back and fix a lot of flaws that by now is slowing down my writing flow. That said, Inkubator’s Writing Room process, which Brian Lynch applied to Trigger Man 5 in a workshop setting, worked brilliantly at avoiding that difficult point in this instance.
IB: What comes first for you – plot or characters?
AB: Plot, but characters are just as important. I’m happy to have outlandish plots up there with a James Bond or a Mission Impossible movie, but the characters need to be properly motivated, with flaws, strengths, desires, agendas and fears, otherwise I feel there is no story, just things happening.
IB: Which of your books is your favorite? Why?
AB: I think this is a difficult question for an author because we learn more about the writing process with each book we produce, and so it is inevitable that older books look clunky and outdated in our eyes over time. But I do have a fondness for the first novel in the Trigger Man series, The Trigger Man, which is set almost entirely in the Sahara of West Africa, and comprises a mix of eclectic characters from CIA paramilitary operators, former French Foreign Legion mercenaries, duplicitous arms dealers, nomadic Tuareg warriors, corrupt spies, and battle wearied insurgents. I also like this book because the Sahara setting almost feels like a character in itself, and because it firmly establishes Mark Pierce, aka “The Trigger Man.” While all the novels are stand alone, I do feel it is the best place for readers to start the series.
IB: How would you describe your ideal reader?
AB: Well, if you like action-adventure movies and thriller novels with an espionage element, and lots of exotic international locations, then the Trigger Man series could be for you. I describe it as Daniel Craig’s James Bond meets the Mission Impossible movies, with a bit of Extraction and the Jason Bourne films also thrown into the mix.
IB: What are you doing when you aren’t writing?
AB: I work in the infrastructure engineering sector as a tender response writer, basically I’m a sales proposal writer in the mining, maritime, transport, building and defence industries. I cycle and bushwalk for exercise and fun, and travel locally and internationally when I can. My next overseas trip is Malaysia.
IB: What does your writing space look like?
AB: Don’t really have a set writing space yet but working towards that. As I said earlier, I’m accustomed to just writing anywhere.
IB: Have you ever traveled to research for a book?
AB: Not directly, but I’m always picking up ideas for future Trigger Man novels wherever I go. I’ve travelled extensively in Australia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South and North America, Western Europe, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and all of those places have provided me with insights and first hand experience of the world I would not have otherwise been exposed to. Planet Earth is an amazing and wonderful place, and I plan to experience much more of it in the coming years, and bring those experiences out in future Trigger Man novels.
IB: What genres do you like to read? Who are some of your favorite authors?
AB: I try to read widely, both fiction and non-fiction, but I’d say my comfort genres are modern day thrillers and adventure books, but also science fiction. Some favourite authors in the genre I write in include Ian Fleming, Mark Greaney, Tom Wood, Desmond Bagley, Simon Conway, Taylor Stevens and Terry Hayes. Some favourite authors in other genres include Suzanne Collins, JK Rowling, Iain M Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Cixin Liu, Haruki Murakami, Yuval Noah Harari, Jane Harper, Graham Greene, Philip K Dick and Brian Aldiss.
IB: How do you come up with names for your characters?
AB: Good question, as no immediate answer springs to mind on how I approach this. I do research name appropriateness to the nationalities of people I write about, so that process guides me in that area. As for other character names, sometimes I’ll change them three or four times during the writing process until I settle on a name that feels right. Some names I have fun with, such as Daniel Eloko in Deep Cover. His last name is a local name for mythological spirits of ancestors that live in the densest and darkest part of the Congo rain forest. There are other characters in my books with hidden meanings in their names as well.
IB: What was your favorite childhood book?
AB: I remember reading Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels as a teenager, and particularly remember Dr No, From Russia with Love, and You Only Live Twice. All were grounded in a brutal reality and set in exotic locations from across the world I was only just starting to learn about, but I was also drawn to them because of their fantastical and vivid scenes. Fleming, along with several science fiction authors I was also reading at the time such as Iain M Banks, Isaac Asimov and Larry Niven, all inspired me to write as vividly and with as much excitement as the books they wrote.
IB: Have you ever abandoned a book you were writing? How did you know it was the right thing to do?
AB: Constantly, in the past. Now I have a process where I’m concurrently writing one Trigger Man book, while plotting out and scene-building the next book in my mind, while simultaneously progressing through edits for the book I have already submitted to my editor. This process, where I’m working closely with my editor Alice Latchford at all stages, means I’m abandoning ideas that won’t work quickly before I’ve invested too much time into them. I should also mention that at any one time, I’m planning out three to five Trigger Man books in advance, and have plans on when and how I’m going to reveal secrets I’ve only hinted at in the current releases.
IB: Do you have any tips for first-time authors?
AB: All writers start off as awful writers. You need to practice and practice, and if you stick with it long enough, you’ll get good. As for creativity, I have no idea if this is something that is innate to an individual or something you can learn. I’ve thought about this a lot and still don’t have an answer there. But if you love the process of writing, just enjoy the journey, and who knows where you will end up. Oh, and lastly, if you want to make money doing this, write what you love but write to market expectations.
IB: Who inspires you?
AB: I get inspiration from all parts of my life. But my first thought went to my girlfriend who is trained as an environmental scientist, and she works in sustainability and reducing global carbon emissions. I’m inspired by her dedicated passion and determination to make the world a better place for everyone. The world needs more people like her.
IB: How do you approach your genre in a unique way?
AB: One approach I try with every book (to varying degrees of success) is a layering of twists and reveals as the story progresses. And then when I think I’ve got all the twists worked out and properly foreshadowed, I try to throw another one in that is hopefully unexpected. I also try to start every book off in a tense situation, with the dangers and stakes escalating chapter upon chapter, until I reach a dramatic showdown at the end where hopefully readers remain uncertain as to how everything will work out until the last few pages. I try to write in a way that readers hopefully feel they don’t have a moment to breathe waiting to find out what happens next, and next, and so on.
IB: How do you manage the “whodunit” aspects of your story as far as clues and revelations? Do you outline?
AB: Misdirection is the best approach I’ve found here, and what I mean is structuring a story, so readers hopefully think the narrative is heading towards a certain conclusion or reveal, but then throwing something in that is completely unexpected to mix things up. Another approach I try is to run a scene from a particular character’s point of view who is not aware of everything that is going on, but then have reveals from other characters later on that then frame that scene in a completely different light. Some readers have said to me that they feel it is important to pay attention to every detail in my books, because later when some other reveal is made, that earlier detail could be important. For example, the Trigger Man’s mysterious past that I still haven’t revealed in the books I’ve written so far, well, I’ve already sprinkled telling clues as to what that is throughout those first five books already.
IB: How do you relax?
AB: I find that just walking really relaxes, destresses and focuses my mind. Sometimes my girlfriend and I will walk for an hour or so somewhere, and I come back ready to go again with my writing, and many of the structural problems I had encountered in a plot, have suddenly resolved themselves.
IB: Who are your first readers when you write a new book?
AB: My editor Alice Latchford, and a select group of advanced readers from India, Pakistan, the United States and Germany who provide me with all kinds of plot, character, cultural, geographical and other insights into the book. I also have individuals who help me get the guns right, which is an important detail for readers in this genre, but that doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes on occasion in this area.
IB: What’s one thing you wish your readers knew about you?
AB: That I’m very grateful for every person who has read and enjoyed the Trigger Man series. You keep me wanting to continue writing them.
IB: Which do you enjoy writing more: dialogue or internal thoughts?
AB: Dialogue. Take two scenarios. You can have a scene where it’s a lot of exposition about a character, who they are and what their situation is without much context other than it being thoughts in their head. Or you can have the same information come out in dialogue as one character explains the same situation to the other, but to spice it up, the talker has a gun, and she’s pointing it at the other character, our hero, and they are on a bullet train speeding its way to Tokyo, and the hero knows there is a bomb about to go off somewhere in the train any minute now. I know what scene I’d rather read.
Thanks to Aiden for sitting down with us today.
Want to read Aiden’s books? Check out his titles here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSZW6ZZX
You can find him at the following places:
Website: www.aidenlbailey.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aidenlbailey/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aidenlbailey/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidenlbaileyauthor/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ1WYQTXAEbBdgym9XJlc1g
