Humans are engaged in a seemingly paradoxical quest to devote a ton of intellect toward developing technologies to eliminate the need for said intellect. For example, we can have food delivered to our front door at the touch of a virtual button, which creates less incentive to cook or understand how our food is sourced. Our Dried Voices explores what happens when this quest is extended to the point when humans don’t need to think at all in order to sustain their lives.

Greg Hickey – 10 August 2018

The Back Flap

In 2153, cancer was cured. In 2189, AIDS. And in 2235, the last members of the human race traveled to a far distant planet called Pearl to begin the next chapter of humanity. Several hundred years after their arrival, the remainder of humanity lives in a utopian colony in which every want is satisfied automatically, and there is no need for human labor, struggle or thought. But when the machines that regulate the colony begin to malfunction, the colonists are faced with a test for the first time in their existence. With the lives of the colonists at stake, it is left to a young man named Samuel to repair these breakdowns and save the colony. Aided by his friend Penny, Samuel rises to meet each challenge. But he soon discovers a mysterious group of people behind each of these problems, and he must somehow find and defeat these saboteurs in order to rescue his colony.

About the book

What is the book about?

Our Dried Voices is set several hundred years in future after humans have cured all diseases, fine-tuned automated technology and migrated to a distant planet called Pearl. On Pearl, the remainder of humanity lives in a utopian colony where their every want is satisfied automatically. There are machines that feed the colonists, clean the buildings in the colony and regulate the weather. As a result, the colonists no longer have to do any work to sustain their existence and after a few generations, they lose the capacity to think for themselves and solve problems.

So when the machines that regulate the colony begin to malfunction, the colonists face a real test for the first time in their existence. One by one, a new colonist steps forward to deal with these challenges. And one by one, each of these colonists disappears. Finally, the task to repair the colony falls to a young man named Samuel and his friend Penny. But they soon discover a mysterious group of people behind each of these malfunctions, and they must somehow find and defeat these saboteurs in order to save the colony.

When did you start writing the book?

I came up with the idea for Our Dried Voices while I was in college in 2006. I started writing the novel after I graduated in 2008. I had played baseball in college, and my college coach found me a job as a player and coach for a baseball club in Sundsvall, Sweden during the summer after graduation. My baseball responsibilities were limited to coaching and participating in senior team practices two nights a week, coaching and playing in two senior team games on Saturday or Sunday and coaching the occasional practice or game for the club’s junior team. So, I had a lot of time on my hands, especially during the days, and I was able to write a good chunk of the first draft over the course of that summer.

After Sweden, I returned home to Chicago for a month, then traveled to Cape Town, South Africa to play and coach for another baseball team. I had studied abroad in Cape Town while in college and had played for a local team. After Sweden, I went back to join the team for the full season. I had a temporary office job during part of my stay in Cape Town but still found plenty of time to write. I was fortunate to have these opportunities for many reasons, including the fact that by the time I returned home from South Africa the following year, I had the first draft of Our Dried Voices.

How long did it take you to write it?

Probably about four years total. I would say it took me about a year to finish the rough draft and another year to revise it to the point where I felt comfortable sending it out to agents and publishers. One agent recommended I have a professional editor look at it, and I spent a good amount of time incorporating the editor’s feedback. I finished most of the work on Our Dried Voices in 2012 and signed the publishing contract for it in 2013.

Where did you get the idea from?

The colonists in Our Dried Voices were inspired by the Eloi in H.G. Wells’ novel, The Time Machine. In his novel, humanity diverges into two distinct species, one of which is the Eloi, who are frail and unintelligent, and live a mostly blissful life without any need for physical or mental exertion. The question raised in both Wells’ novel and Our Dried Voices is how humans evolved to this state. Wells had one answer, but I imagined a different path.

Humans are engaged in a seemingly paradoxical quest to devote a ton of intellect toward developing technologies to eliminate the need for said intellect. For example, we can have food delivered to our front door at the touch of a virtual button, which creates less incentive to cook or understand how our food is sourced. Our Dried Voices explores what happens when this quest is extended to the point when humans don’t need to think at all in order to sustain their lives.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

I changed the ending pretty significantly about halfway through my rewrites. At the end of the novel, Samuel faces a significant decision regarding the future of his colony. As I re-read what I had written, I decided his decision came too quickly. So, I added an additional chapter (the second-to-last in the novel) which informs Samuel’s decision and gives some additional insight into the circumstances of the remaining humans on Pearl.

What came easily?

I knew the beginning and the very end of the story before I started writing. So the very first chapter and last chapter didn’t change much from the first draft to the final book. It took a little more effort to fill in the details of the middle parts of the story, but crafting a pretty detailed outline before I started writing was a big help.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

The individual characters are fictitious, but the mindset of the colonists was inspired by real-world trends in society. Humans have always wanted to make life easier and more comfortable. To that end, we’ve developed agriculture, built climate-controlled shelters, and created digital calculators. Those inventions and countless others are all exceptionally important to our lives. But the logical end of the progression toward greater ease and comfort is a world in which we no longer need to solve the problems that inspired those inventions.

We’re beginning to see glimpses of that world even today. Why learn to cook when you can have food delivered at the push of a button? Why learn to navigate a new city when you can pull up a virtual map in the palm of your hand? Technology itself is extremely useful. But we all know people who make productive use of technology and people who use it to retreat from the real world.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

Aside from H.G. Wells, I think the mood of Our Dried Voices was influenced by some of my favorite dystopian novels like 1984 by George Orwell, The Giver by Lois Lowry and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. The plot of Our Dried Voices differs from each of those novels, but I think I drew on some of the ideas they contain, such as intelligence, creativity, issues with advancing technology, and individualism versus collectivism.

Do you have a target reader?

Definitely fans of that dystopian genre I mentioned above. One reviewer compared Our Dried Voices to the works of Ray Bradbury and H.G. Wells, in contrast to some of the newer more YA-targeted dystopias. While I wouldn’t put myself on the same level as such literary luminaries, I do think Our Dried Voices is more similar to those classic dystopias that pick out some element of society and extend it to undesirable consequences. It doesn’t have as much action as stories like The Hunger Games, and while it is YA-appropriate, that’s not my main target audience.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

My writing process has changed a lot since I wrote Our Dried Voices. When I started that novel, I was free to write for most of the day, aside from scheduled baseball practices and games. I now have a full-time day job as a forensic scientist, which leaves me with less spare time to write. Nowadays, I do most of my writing while on the bus or train to and from work, during lunch breaks and in the evenings after work. If I’m not in front of a computer, I write in a notebook or on my phone. At the end of the week, I compile everything I’ve written on a project into a single document.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

Yes, but the detail of the outline and its place in the writing process depends on what I’m writing. Our Dried Voices has a plot where elements need to happen in a specific order. Over the course of the story, Samuel faces new and increasingly difficult challenges. He learns novel ideas and additional ways of expressing his thoughts. And he continues to discover fresh clues that lead him toward the reason behind the problems in his colony. So I crafted pretty extensive outlines before I started writing Our Dried Voices to make sure that everything occurred in the proper order.

My current project is different in that it revolves around four characters and their backstories. There is a progression of events, but those events don’t need to happen in a specific order to make logical sense. When I started the first draft of this book, I had an idea of what the four characters were like and I just started writing whatever scenes came to mind. This process allowed the characters to develop organically and in a way that felt natural for the story I’m telling. Now that I’ve written most of the scenes, I’m creating an outline to make sure I arrange those scenes where they will create the most impact in the story.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I like to wait until I’ve finished a draft to start editing. Generally speaking, I like to break up any large task into smaller parts. So it’s hard for me to imagine going from a blank document to a finished novel all at once. Thinking of the process as writing a first draft, editing the first draft, editing the second draft, etc. makes it seem more manageable. I also think it helps to get some unfiltered ideas on to the page when I first start a project. If I’m constantly editing and second-guessing myself when I first start writing, I likely won’t get anywhere.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Yes, I did, and she was very helpful in getting me to remove a lot of the more flowery descriptions that were in the earlier drafts. The final version of Our Dried Voices has much simpler language that better reflects the characters in the story.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

No, I definitely prefer silence when I’m writing. The one exception is that I’ll often go for a walk outside to stimulate some creativity. When I’m outside, I’m obviously surrounded by a variety of sounds but unless they’re loud and clearly distinguishable words, they seem to fade into the background.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

Yes, I submitted Our Dried Voices to agents and publishers at the same time. I happened to find a publisher before I found an agent. I was satisfied with the contract the publisher offered, so I never ended up getting an agent.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

I knew it would be difficult for a first-time author to land a book deal with a major publisher so I targeted smaller presses from the start. I also considered self-publishing and was very close to going that route when I got an email from my eventual publisher saying “Wow – what a hauntingly beautiful, unpredictable story!  I would be thrilled to publish this book.” I couldn’t pass up that offer from a publisher who was so enthusiastic about my work.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

The cover for Our Dried Voices was created by a graphic designer working for the publisher, but I was very involved in the process. We went through several iterations before settling on a cover I felt best represented the theme and tone of the novel. I passed over a lot of cover ideas I thought were too bright and flashy. Our Dried Voices is about a simple group of people, and I wanted the cover to reflect that. The cover also depicts one of the clues found by the protagonist Samuel leading to his final showdown.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

A little of both. I have marketing strategies that work and I make it a point to stick to those and just try to do a little bit every day. For me, that consistency is key. I think it’s easy to put a lot of work into marketing when you first launch a book and then lose interest over time. But my goal is to build a sustained presence as an author and keep attracting new readers over the course of multiple books. But I’m also constantly experimenting with new marketing strategies to see if I can find better ways to reach new readers.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

First, have fun. Make sure you enjoy writing and interacting with readers. Second, consider yourself your own small business. If you enjoy the process, you probably don’t want to be someone who just wrote one book. You want to be someone who has written several books and can connect with a devoted audience of readers. To that end, you will always be your strongest advocate. Your level of investment in your work and your enthusiasm for your craft will go a long way toward determining how well you connect with readers over time. Continue to write new stories, but don’t forget your old ones. If you don’t remember them, neither will your readers.

End of Interview:

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Get your copy of Our Dried Voices from Amazon US or Amazon UK.