Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Paul Vasey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Paul thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Everyone thinks they have a book in them, and I was no different. I wrote short stories as a child, and as an adolescent I devoured science fiction, books, TV and films. I always knew that science was going to be my career, but wondered if I could ever mix the two fields. I went to University and became a doctor, and then a medical specialist and researcher in cancer medicine. Being an academic taught me how to write, as I had to author clinical trials and write papers and book chapters. But none of this was ‘creative’ in the sense that I was laying out facts and drawing conclusions, but not ‘making things up’!, My job was hectic, involved a lot of travel, and there was no time to do anything else, especially writing that elusive book. But then, on a cycling trip in France, I had a bad accident which resulted in an enforced and prolonged layoff for recovery. So I decided to start writing my sci-fi novel. My scientific background was essential in grounding the technology and world-building [a sci-fi story has to exist within its own rules] but I had no formal training in writing – apart from high school. So I self taught by reading text books on the art of story-telling, and dialogue etc and read more classical works to see how the ‘best’ did it. I figured that as I was always good at studying, this was just another subject. I soon realised how difficult it was, and wished that, in retrospect, I had the time to take some classes in composition and creative writing.

Paul, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a full time cancer physician (Oncologist), born in Newcastle, UK and moved to Brisbane, Australia in 2004. My professional writing credits include over 200 publications including peer-reviewed research papers, journals, book chapters, conference contributions and electronic outputs in the field of Cancer Research.

I’ve always loved sci-fi and dreamed about being an author in this genre as long as I can remember. My reading faves include ‘old school’ legends such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Dan Simmons and Frank Herbert, but I devour almost everything by Alastair Reynolds, Neal Stephenson and Kim Stanley Robinson. Recently I’ve gotten into Richard Morgan and Ann Leckie, and try really, really hard to like Peter F. Hamilton. Also, every time Lee Child brings out a new Reacher I set aside a weekend to just immerse myself in that fabulous character’s mind and world.

It may be a cliché, but yes, I am a Star Wars, Marvel and Tolkien tragic, so if not working or reading or writing, you’ll find me rewatching these movies … and trying to out-quote my two daughters (I usually don’t win).

I keep fit by cycling as much as I can. I travel to Europe every year to ride the iconic climbs and routes of the three Grand Tours. When I’m not working or writing or cycling, I meditate to stay sane and keep everything in perspective and balanced. I live with my long suffering but wonderfully supportive wife, Andrea, and our chocolate spoodle, Luna. My eldest daughter is in the creative arts, being an advertising account director, whilst my other daughter is a newly qualified lawyer.

I have now written four sci-fi novels. The first three, the ‘Trinity Trilogy’ [‘Trinity’s Legacy’, ‘Trinity’s Fall’, ‘Trinity: Evolution’] were self published and achieved Amazon #1 Bestseller status and won multiple awards. My fourth novel, ‘Harbinger’, was published last year by Mascot Books, and has already won a BookExcellence Award, and Global Book Award.

I don’t have an agent, and so I am very proud of being able to get this far on my own as an independent author. However, I think the next step will be to try and get representation … can’t do everything myself!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I was working in Scotland as the director of the second largest cancer research unit in the UK and the chairperson of a cancer clinical trials group. This academic job was shared with patient care, so I had two ‘masters’ – the public health system [the NHS in UK] and the University. Work entailed long hours caring for patients, teaching, writing papers and running cancer clinical trials … and so much traveling. I was probably over in Europe or USA at least 2-3 time a month. I was at risk of missing my children growing up, becoming estranged from my wife, and running myself into the ground both physically [I had reached nearly 100kg in weight and pre-diabetic] and mentally. There was no ‘balance in the force’ …

In 2004 I made the decision to not only leave academia, but to move from the UK completely and emigrate to Australia. I moved my wife and young family 8000km into a new city, with no friends, and took a public job which had to be supervised until I could be deemed ‘sufficiently skilled to practice in Australia.

This was a huge pivot not only professionally, but personally. However, we thrived down under. I soon moved into private practice and was able to start writing science-fiction in my spare time. My children were supporting Australian sports teams in no time at all, and their Scottish accents soon flattened out into Australian. What was a huge risk for all of us, became the best decision we had ever made.

I am now financially secure, fit [weigh 82kg], and happier than at any time in my life. If I have any message for anyone, if I can inspire anyone by my life, it is that sometimes you need to take chances, and take a leap of faith. Trust in yourself. But … have a back up plan!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Writing lets me express myself in ways I cannot speak aloud and helps me escape reality. I enjoy writing because it allows me to express observations about nature, feelings, knowledge and reflect on life experiences that I have personally encountered. Whether writing fiction or nonfiction [in my case, scientific papers], the process of turning out well-written pages is highly satisfying. There’s an essential sense of peace and satisfaction from getting a decent number of words and ideas in the bag. An immense amount of pride and self-satisfaction follows a completed, perfected, edited, and published novel as well. People look at you with a different set of eyes. They see me as something more than “just” a doctor. I have readers asking, “When’s your book coming out?” And hearing that question puts a smile on my face. Holding a physical copy of your book in your own hands for the first time, you instantly know that all the hard work of writing it has been worth all the sacrifices and time taken.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.pavasey.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/PAVasey
• Twitter: @pavasey