Rob Hart and Alex Segura on Writing 'Dark Space'

What's the best way to collaborate on a novel?

Espionage is the world’s second-oldest profession, as the saying goes. It’ll also prove one of the most enduring, at least if you believe in the vision presented by Alex Segura and Rob Hart in their new sci-fi/spy novel “Dark Space,” released by Blackstone Publishing in October.

“Dark Space” takes place in a dystopian future where mankind’s colonies throughout the solar system are collapsing due to a combination of neglect, lack of resources, and stupidity. A colonist ship (the “Mosaic”) is dispatched to a new world several light-years away that could provide a fresh start for the species. But when an unexplained mishap wrecks the ship’s systems, it’s quickly apparent to the ship’s pilot, Carriles, as well as a spy back on the lunar colony, a burnout named Timony, that a massive and mysterious conspiracy is underway.

In my Q&A with Segura and Hart for CrimeReads, we talked about how the book mashes up the classic sci-fi of Asimov and Bradbury with the spycraft of John le Carré’s Smiley novels. I’ll include the link once it drops Here’s the link to that, but I wanted to tease out one part that digs into the respective thematics of classic sci-fi and spy novels, and whether those are inherently in conflict:

Q: Your influences for this project included “Star Trek” and some Golden Age speculative-fiction writers. Many of those writers had an optimistic view on the future of technology and humanity. 

But you’re also blending in a lot of spy-fiction elements here, and many of those writers—such as le Carré—take a cynical approach to humanity and morality. When you two were writing, did you ever find the speculative-fiction elements in philosophical tension with the spy elements?

Rob Hart: That’s a really great question—I hadn’t thought of it like that! I think those two things can be in conflict, but also complementary. No one’s putting their life on the line for anything unless, deep down, they dream of something better. But I do think there was a lot of cynicism that I wanted to cut through, because I think this kind of story, and sci-fi in general, is very good at doing that. 

Alex Segura: I wouldn't say they were in conflict—I think that conflict made it all feel more real, you know? It’s very relevant. I try to stay positive and optimistic today despite the terrors I experience while reading the news. I think you have to strive to have a basic belief in the goodness of humanity, even if we're being bombarded by examples of how bad things are. It makes the good stand out, when you reflect to readers a dark, complicated world that feels a bit bleak.

I also asked them some questions that weren’t included in the CrimeReads piece, with the explicit intention of including them here (it’s always good to give people more reasons to subscribe to the newsletter aside from my buttery-smooth prose style). Writing is often such a solitary profession that I’m intrigued when two authors collaborate on a novel and survive the process. Or to dig into it a bit more:  

Q: I’m always fascinated by the process of two authors co-writing a novel. I think people envision the default as the authors alternating chapters, but different teams have different methods—for example, Stephen King once said that he and Peter Straub sometimes alternated sentences while working on “The Talisman” and “Black House.” What kind of writerly flow did the two of you adopt for this, and did it change as time went on?

RH: The thing I love about this is all the people who've tried to guess which one of us wrote what part, and so far, no one’s gotten it right. To be honest, there are parts, during the editorial process, where I couldn't remember if I had written something, or if it was Alex. I think that’s a testament to the book, and how we were able to make it feel like a cohesive work, and not something that was cobbled together. 

AS: We were pretty disciplined. Rob would write two chapters—usually a Timony and Carriles chapter each—then I'd read what he wrote, mark it up, and write two more. After a few months, we had a draft, and we handled editing about the same. It felt very democratic and productive, and if we deviated from the outline in a meaningful way, we texted. It felt like we were in constant contact while writing.

Then I had the inevitable question for two guys who’ve collaborated a bunch across different mediums:

Q: You two have collaborated (so far) on a number of projects, including a comic series and a novella. What made you decide to do this one as a novel as opposed to, say, a comic or even a TV/movie script?

AS: Maybe Rob has more insight into this, but I never thought of it as anything else. I envisioned it as a pulpy sci-fi espionage novel with a cool, kind of retro cover that pops on the shelf. I hope we get to write the TV or movie version of this someday, though!

RH: I think my brain always goes to novel because that’s what I have access to do. Doing a comic book or a TV show requires so many more people, and all these different levels and ladders to climb. But I do think something like this works in a multimedia format, and it would be incredibly exciting to expand this universe in different ways. 

From a Writing 101 perspective, I think the lesson here is pretty clear: if you’re going to collaborate on a massive creative project, do it with someone who, to borrow a sci-fi term, you have something of a mind-meld (and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a friend—in fact, working with friends can sometimes come with its own set of issues). Of course, things could still go bad—I say that as someone with my share of creative run-ins. But at least you’ll have a solid shot at a collaboration that’s deeply rewarding.

Oh yeah, and “Dark Space” is really good, especially if you’re intrigued by the idea of spies in the context of spaceflight and moon colonies.