Every Friday, we meet a member of the BFS and peer deep into their soul (or, at least, a form they filled out). Want to be featured? Email us: online@britishfantasysociety.org
Name:
David H. McTaggart (he/him)
Which region are you based in?
Live and work in Scotland, just outside Glasgow
If you write, which genre:
Fantasy, but also working on a modern gothic supernatural novella.
Your influences
Tell us about the book/film/thing that got you into SFFH: What was it? How old were you? What impact did it have on you?
I used to watch the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies and read a few of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories as a teenager, but I always loved watching sci-fi and fantasy movies or TV shows. I read 2000AD well into my twenties, and the spin off Crisis comic that awakened me to more political awareness, as I was still pretty naïve and had just left school at 16 in the mid-eighties which were pretty bleak without many prospects. The misery of not being able to find any work or training led me to trying to find a way out of reality; thankfully I never went down the road of drugs or alcohol but I did read sci-fi and fantasy books like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams.
I then found, after reading The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy, that fantasy was more my thing, which led me to Piers Anthony, Raymond Feist, leading to Steven Erikson and Ian C Esslemont and the Malazan world. Recently I have started to venture back into sci-fi though with Chris Fox and Craig Alanson books, and some zombie end of the world stuff.
How does that early influence show up for you?
From Tolkien’s work, he shows that the most irrelevant and unlikely can be the hero, and with determination any of us can change the world even if it is in a small way. Many stories show us how power corrupts, how those with power and privilege should never be held up as our betters, and that all of us have a worthwhile role to serve in society, even if it is a humble cleaner.
Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
My grandparents were storytellers, even if it was telling of their own past, or making a short ghost story to frighten us before bed. Life experience, and the movies and books I have seen and read, even some of the bad ones.
Who do you look to as a genre hero? Why?
Tolkein, and the world he created, making a pathway for fantasy that had complex themes and showed fantasy was more than kids’ books. Raymond Feist, Steven Erikson and Ian C Esslemont, all also created complex world systems that, while alien to ours, have relevance to the ambitiousness and ruthlessness of people.
Your Work
You’re stuck in an elevator for 60 seconds with that hero, and they want you to describe your work. Give us the pitch.
Nefir is my central character, a commoner who is the sole survivor from a failed raid on a village in a neighbouring land. He deserts his ruthless king’s army, determined to get away and start a new life. As he journeys, demons are summoned to track him down and kill him, as his desertion will take him into the neighbouring land which his king is set to invade. Just before the demons attack, the god of fire and justice, Jarok, saves him and chooses him to serve as his aspect on his world. The attack by the king is a ruse to get an artefact that can open a portal for the demon lord Nerlok to take over Shilan, resulting in an epic battle that will determine the fate of the world.
What are you working on right now?
Book two in the series ‘Paths to Redemption’, title as yet unknown. Also, I have a novella that is written but is rough about the edges; I need to tidy that up before going to edit.
Thinking about all the stories/work you’ve done, what sticks out most in your mind? Why?
I have found that the characters are alive to me. While writing book two, one of the characters dies in a horrible way. I had a tear in my eye while writing it and felt miserable that I had killed them off. Also, the way sometimes I can have a scene play back in my mind like a movie as I sketch the story out, and how I never forget it, despite my memory being terrible at any other time. Plus, the buzz of having a good writing experience and you manage to have a productive writing session.
Where and when do you create/are you at your most creative?
I live in a town house, and outside my bedroom there is a small area in the eaves—that is where I do my writing mainly (pictured). But while at work driving the truck around, I sometimes have sparks of ideas that I pursue when I get home.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
Never give up, even if you can only write two hundred words in a session it was two hundred words you did not have before. Take plenty of breaks if your mind is fogging up and try to set a word count/ research target in your mind.
What’s your writing soundtrack?
Usually ambient, but if I need to get into a battle mood something grittier, like Heilung, Wardruna, Martin Sturtzer, Dream State Logic, Carbon Based Lifeforms, S1gns of L1fe, Madis, Stellardrone. There are also plenty of dark ambient artists on YouTube that I listen to, as well as the odd bit of classic rock.
The Quick-Fire Round
Sci-fi, fantasy or horror?
Fantasy, then sci-fi
Quiet or loud?
Loud
Dark or light?
Light, with a tinge of darkness
Strict lines or genre blend?
Blend
Fiction or non-fiction?
Fiction
Plotter or pantser?
Pantser
Reading or listening?
95% listener 5% reading; a good audiobook passes the miles away while I drive trucks around the country.
Notebook or computer?
Computer
Favourite SFFH book of all time?
Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series (pictured).
Last book you read?
Critical Mass, book 10 in Craig Alanson’s Expeditionary Force series.
Favourite podcast?
The Fantasy Writers Toolshed, and The Newsagents.
The Home Stretch
What’s the best thing about being part of the SFFH community?
It’s a friendly and supportive community. I have not had much experience, though, as I was secluded in isolation for seven years writing my first story. I found an editor who saw something in the story and mentored and taught me how to write to a higher standard, guiding me through editorial stages until the book was ready. (I had never written anything before the spark of this story entered my mind). I’m only just now venturing out into the world of the fantasy community, now that the book is published.
Time to plug your stuff! Where can we find you and your work? What have you got coming up? Consider this your advertising space.
My website is www.davidhmctaggart.com
My first published book is Aspects of the Gods (A Paths to Redemption novel), and is available on Amazon as print on demand or e-book.
The Lure of Brotherhood is a prequel novella, set fifteen years before Aspects of the Gods, and is currently a free giveaway if you sign up to my mailing list. Follow sign up page on website: www.davidhmctaggart.com. It may be released on Amazon as an e-book in a month or two.
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