Big 4 with Bec: George Ivanoff

George is a Melbourne author and stay-at-home dad. He has written over 50 books for kids and teens, including novels, chapter books, school readers, reference books and even a short story collection. Gamers’ Quest, a teen, sci-fi, action/adventure set entirely within an elaborate computer game, won a 2010 Chronos award. The sequel, Gamers’ Challenge is to be published by Ford Street Publishing in September this year.

George drinks too much coffee and eats too much chocolate. Aside from that, he tries to live a balanced life. His two daughters and one wife put up with him, while his two cats constantly demand to be fed. Sometimes he wonders how he actually finds the time to write.

1. You’ve written more than 50 books (!!), some of which have appeared on the Vic & NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge booklists, and one of which (Gamers’ Quest) was awarded a 2010 Chronos Award for spec fiction. Phew! As a kid, were you always writing stories and engaging in creative pursuits? What’s the secret to maintaining those energy levels?

I was a reluctant reader during early primary school, until I discovered science fiction about mid-way through. That turned my life around as I suddenly found myself willingly diving into the world of books. I didn’t discover I enjoyed writing until somewhere during high school. And even then, I didn’t do a huge amount of it beyond schoolwork. At that stage I was much more interested in reading. It was during my final year at high school and during my university years that I really started to get into writing. I wrote a lot of stuff for amateur publications during that time… some of it during my lectures. J

I don’t know that there’s any secret to maintaining the energy levels. It’s simply a case of loving what I do. I’d be writing even if I wasn’t getting paid for it. Getting paid for it simply means that I can spend more time doing it. So, as well as writing teen novels like Gamers’ Challenge, I’m also writing school readers, chapter books and short reference books, as well as stories and articles for mags and anthologies. And I’m loving every minute of it.

2    The sequel to Gamers’ Quest, Gamers’ Challenge, is due for release in September. When you’re writing a series, how far in advance do you plan your story line? And do you prefer to plot carefully, or just take an idea and run with it?

The Gamers books weren’t originally planned as a series. I wrote Gamers’ Quest to be a stand-alone novel. It was not until Ford Street Publishing suggested that a sequel might be a good idea that I even considered I could go beyond that first book. Of course, once I started thinking about it, I couldn’t stop… to the extent that while I was writing Gamers’ Challenge, I was coming up with ideas for a third book. Now I’ve just got to hope that book two does well enough to warrant a third.

In terms of the actual writing process for the books, I did carefully plot out each of them before starting the writing. But then things evolved as I was writing them. No matter how carefully I plot, the characters will always end up doing something that surprises me.

3.   I love your concept of this computer game world. Are you a keen gamer yourself? What inspired you to create a techno universe?

I was a very keen gamer when I was a teenager — back in the days when Space Invaders was the height of sophisticated game play. 😉 These days I don’t play as often and when I do, it’s usually with my eldest daughter. Rayman Raving Rabbids is a favourite on Wii. But I suck big-time at Force Unleashed. And I do still indulge in Space Invaders Extreme on the DS every now and then. I also like watching others play — the way people get so immersed in the games is fascinating.

I wrote the Gamers novels to be the books that I would have loved reading as a 13-year-old. Full of action and adventure, of weird characters and bizarre situations — cramming in all the things that interested me as a teen. So over the course of two novels you get everything from a droll dragon to a relentless cyborg, from warrior monks to invading centurions, from a giant robot spider to a homicidal computer virus, from a space battle to combat in an enclosed light-grid. Everything that I would have wanted at that age, all wrapped up in a computer game package.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

Difficult choice! The characters I tend to love the most are those that I’m writing at any given time. But, looking back at the two Gamers books, if I absolutely had to choose…

Edgar the dragon, who is thoroughly sick of people coming along to challenge him for his bag of gold, and his wife Vera, who literally married her husband for his body (certain dragon body parts being rather valuable commodities). They were, simply, a lot of fun to write. They feature in Gamers’ Quest. I desperately wanted to include them in Gamers’ Challenge as well… but that would have been self-indulgent on my part and would not have served the story. Sometimes, no matter how much you love certain characters, it’s better for the story to not include them. But that’s okay, because I got to create a whole bunch of new characters. And really, they all burn bright in my mind — otherwise they would never have made it into the books.

Now check out the new Gamers’ Challenge & Gamers’ Quest trailers!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPQc32qn2_E

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCC-l34Fgo

Check out George’s webiste here!

Visit the official Gamers website here!