I was inspired by the old 1930s pulp detective novels and wanted to try a similar style in a sci-fi setting. Bubbles Marlowe is my take on Raymond Chandler’s famous detective, Philip Marlowe.

S.C. Jensen – 10 December 2021

The Back Flap

HoloCity’s only cyborg detective really sucks at her job. Bubbles Marlowe is broke, newly sober, and hating her life. All she wants to do is find a girl and deliver a message. It’s supposed to be an easy gig. It’s supposed to pay her bills. It’s supposed to be exactly what she needs.

Instead, the easy job devolves into a gruesome murder. Bubbles has to solve the case or take the fall, and a HoloCity prison sentence might be the only thing worse than her current apartment.

But when she uncovers a conspiracy that threatens the entire city Bubbles has to get her act together quickly, or there will be more than one person’s blood on her hands…

About the book

What is the book about?

Tropical Punch (Bubbles in Space #1) is about a cyborg detective who is down on her luck. She’s broke, newly sober, and not very good at her job. When a seemingly straightforward case takes a bizarre turn, she flees the city for safety. With an unhinged police chief on her trail, a nefarious megacorporation watching her every move, and a mysterious drug killing her contacts, Bubbles doesn’t know which way to turn. But when the action hits a little too close to home, threatening the people Bubbles cares about, she vows to reveal the city’s dirty secrets. Even if it kills her.

When did you start writing the book?

I started planning in December of 2020 and drafted it in January of 2021.

How long did it take you to write it?

Start to finish, including editing and revisions, it took about 2 months.

Where did you get the idea from?

I was inspired by the old 1930s pulp detective novels and wanted to try a similar style in a sci-fi setting. Bubbles Marlowe is my take on Raymond Chandler’s famous detective, Philip Marlowe.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

It was a challenge to write a fully contained mystery story that also had plot branches that would continue into the rest of the series. The later books in the series are more of a thriller style than a traditional mystery for this reason.

What came easily?

The setting and characters almost seemed to write themselves for me! The only challenge was getting them to follow my plot, haha.

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

My characters are most often based on different aspects of my own personality, especially Bubbles. But sometimes I gain inspiration from other fictional characters. Hammett, an artificially intelligent pig, was based a bit on the character of Watson from Sherlock Holmes. Cosmo Régale is kind of a mix of the Goblin King from The Labyrinth and Ruby Rhode from The 5th Element.

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?

Margaret Atwood is the author who really made me want to become an author. She’s the one who showed me the power and possibility in Speculative Fiction. Stylistically, I have studied Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Hemingway for their sparse prose and ability to zero in on critical details. I also greatly admire Octavia E. Butler and N.K. Jemisin for their characters and world building.

Do you have a target reader?

When I was writing these books, I thought I was writing for readers like me: women in their mid-late 30s who love sci-fi, adventure stories, and noir pulp, but who wanted to see themselves in the main characters. Imperfect but resilient female characters with a sense of humor, and no need for romance.

But it turns out this is a really hard demographic to target, and while I do well with these readers when I can find them, I’ve found a surprising sub-category of readers: older male sci-fi readers with a nostalgia for the pulps and who get a kick out of a strong but flawed female lead.

About Writing

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

My process is pretty simple. Sit down, write until it’s done. When I’m drafting, I have a daily word count goal of 3000. I get the kids off to school, and sit at my computer until I’m done. The only time I don’t make my goal is if I’m literally too sick to sit at the computer. But I’ve worked up to this pace. When I first started, my goal was 500 words a day and that was a struggle. Once it got easy, I increased it to 1000, and so on. I hope to be able to do 5000 a day by the end of next year!

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

I do outline. I usually read a craft book as I’m outlining, and do a beat sheet first. Sometimes that’s all I use, and sometimes I write a short paragraph for each major plot point. That’s usually where I start drafting. If I get stuck, I will do short scene outlines for the coming chapters to work through any sticky bits.

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

When I first started working increasing my daily word count, I did not allow myself to edit at all. I even turned off my spell check! It’s easier to edit a bad rough draft than to write from scratch, for me. But over the years, my drafts have gotten cleaner even as I’ve gotten faster. I tweak a little bit here and there, but I don’t allow myself too much fiddling or I can’t make my daily goal! I do a single pass once the draft is done and then send it to my editor.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Yes! I think this is the best money an indie author can spend. When I was first learning how to write novels, I hired development editors to help me with the big picture story elements and pacing. Now I don’t need the development edits, but I always use a copy editor. Ideally, I would also hire a professional proofreader, but due to the expense I usually rely on volunteers for this stage in the process.

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

Absolutely! Different stories require different soundtracks, but I can’t listen to anything with lyrics. I get too distracted. I like movie and scores for moody scenes, aggressive electronica for action scenes, and I listen to a lot of classical music.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

I did shop my first novel around to agents and publishers. I never landed an agent, but I did get a solid mid-range publisher.

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 had originally planned to keep my first series traditional (a dystopian sci-fi trilogy), and I was going to go indie for the next books. I really wanted more creative control, and I wanted the ability to run ads with a higher return on investment. It’s hard enough to make money on a $3 product without having to split royalties with a publisher. So, Bubbles in Space was always going to be indie published, it was my experimental series. Then, early in 2021, the owner of my publishing company passed away and the business went under. So, I will be re-publishing my original series independently as well.

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

Yes, I have a wonderful designer. I would never attempt to create my own covers. I don’t have the skill.

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

I use a variety of paid newsletter ads, and am experimenting with Facebook and Amazon ads. But my focus is always on writing the next book. It’s hard to promote an incomplete series! Now that the first arc of Bubbles in Space (#1-5) is finished, I’ll be starting all over again with the next books.

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

Join some professional author groups like 20BooksTo50K and Self Publishing Formula on Facebook and learn as much as you can from the people who have been successful. There is a wealth of knowledge out there, and almost every situation you come up against has been handled before.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in the far north of Saskatchewan! We moved south when I was in 4^th grade, but I’m a northerner at heart.

Where do you live now?

After I graduated from high school, I moved out to the West Coast and went to university out there. But I’m back in Saskatchewan again, and I dragged my poor husband out here to freeze with me!

What would you like readers to know about you?

One aspect of Bubbles Marlowe’s character that is very close to my heart is that she’s sober. I am also an ex-drinker, and her recovery is an important B-story in the series. I based a lot of her character traits on the challenges I had repairing relationships and relearning who I was when I quit drinking. So, while Bubbles in Space is a fun, fast-paced action series, it’s also very grounded in real human struggles.

What are you working on now?

I have a couple more novellas to write in the HoloCity Case Files series. This is a standalone mystery series of Bubbles Marlowe’s first cases. Once those are finished, I’ll be starting a technothriller series set in the same world, but with an all new cast of characters. Bubbles and her crew will be back with another five book arc, too, probably later in 2022.

End of Interview:

Get your copy of Tropical Punch from Amazon US or Amazon UK.