5 Questions for Ernest Cline

Ernest Cline has been one of the hottest writers to hit the SF scene since his 2011 debut Ready Player One, a loving tribute to 1980s pop culture within a dystopian future world, became a runaway bestseller. The movie rights were quickly snapped up and the legendary Steven Spielberg has been tapped to do the film adaptation. It’s hard to get off to a more explosive start, and Ernie has finally produced a long-awaited second book, Armada, which was just released in July and is an action-packed story inspired by The Last Starfighter, Ender’s Game, and Star Wars. Ernie was kind enough to take some time out from his packed book promotion tour for Armada to answer some of my questions.

I’ve also got two hardback copies of Armada to two give to two lucky commenters! (As always, US and Canadian addresses, please.)

Stuart Starosta: You are an unabashed fan of 80s pop culture, especially movies, music, books, and TV. What makes the 80s remain so popular today in a way that the 90s, and 2000s are not? Is it just because that generation is now mature and driving popular taste, or is there something uniquely appealing about that era?

Ernest Cline

Ernest Cline: I think it’s because the 80s was something of a golden age for technology and entertainment. That was the decade when most people got their first home video game console, their first home computer, and their first VCR — all life and culture-changing pieces of technology. In retrospect, it seems as if the 80s is when humanity first stepped onto the path that led us to where we are today.

It’s been 4 years since your previous book. Have you spend most of that time conceiving and writing Armada, or were you busy with other projects like the upcoming movie version of Ready Player One? Was it hard to come up with another story idea once your first book was such a big hit?

I was busy with several other projects, too — including writing the first few drafts of the RPO screenplay, appearing at over a dozen universities that had selected the novel as a common read for their students, and promoting the release of the RPO paperback, which involved creating and running an elaborate three-part video game contest that mirrored the one in the novel. In the midst of all that, I was also writing Armada. The idea was one I’d had for years, but developing it into a full-length novel (and a screenplay) was extremely challenging — especially doing so in the midst of my first novel’s runaway success.

Armada is heavily influenced by The Last Starfighter, Ender’s Game, Star Wars, and a lot of video games. Do you still spend a lot of time playing classic video games, or do you also play modern combat games like Halo, Metal Gear Solid, etc.? Do you think readers can still enjoy Armada even if they aren’t hard-core gamers?

I still play the classics, but I also spent a lot of time playing newer games, like Portal, Half-Life 2, and EVE Valkyrie. And yes, I think readers will still enjoy Armada if they’re not die-hard gamers. That definitely seemed to be the case with Ready Player One, too. Lots of people told me it has become one of their favorite books, even though they’ve never been gamers. Which isn’t that strange — you don’t have to have a degree in archaeology to enjoy an Indiana Jones movie.

Ready Player One was a runaway hit that struck a chord with a broad range of readers, even those who don’t normally read science fiction. It’s amazing that Steven Spielberg has agreed to direct the film; that must be a surreal feeling! Were you closely involved on the screenplay with Zak Penn? If you could choose your favorite 80s actors to play major roles, who would they be?

I wrote the first two drafts of the RPO screenplay, so Zak has been rewriting my earlier drafts. Luckily I’m a huge fan of his writing, and he and I became friends during the filming of his Atari: Game Over documentary, so he’s been kind enough to consult with me occasionally while he’s been working on the script. He’s been doing an incredibly kick-ass job.

The only 80s actor I really want to get a role in the film is Wil Wheaton, who also narrates the audiobook of Ready Player One (and Armada, too). Wil is one of my favorite actors, and I know it would make a lot of RPO fans extremely happy if he made a cameo in the film — myself included.

Now that you’ve written two books whose film rights have been immediately snapped up, are you increasingly drawn to the world of Hollywood, or do you plan to stay in Austin, TX and continue writing books first and foremost, whether they get film adaptations or not? Do you plan to remain a writer, or leverage it to do something else you’ve always wanted?

Well, I actually started out as a screenwriter, and then moved into writing novels. I wrote the script for the 2009 film Fanboys, but that film took so long to get made and got so mutilated during the process that it motivated me to try writing my first novel, just to have control over my story and characters. I think I’ll continue to write novels and then adapt them for the screen, because as a writer, it gives you the best of both worlds. I’ve always wanted to be both a novelist and a screenwriter, so I’m already lucky enough to be doing what I’ve always wanted to do.

Thanks for your questions! Readers, please leave a comment below to be entered for a chance to win one of two copies of Armada.