Stephen Harrison On Books And Writing

For my latest books and writing discussion, I turned to Stephen Harrison. He’s based in Dallas and his new book will be released on August 13.

This interview has been edited lightly.

What does everybody need to know about your forthcoming book?

The logline of my novel “The Editors” is “a thriller inspired by Wikipedia.” I recognize that premise might sound . . . peculiar to some readers. Volunteering for an online encyclopedia might not initially strike everyone as thrilling. But to me, the world of Wikipedia (or Infopendium as it’s referred to in my book) has always been the perfect setting for a suspense novel.

The free internet encyclopedia is an invaluable public resource, distributing its knowledge with every Google search. Information from the site fuels the “minds” of new AI applications like ChatGPT.

Wikipedia’s impact on society is undeniable, yet most people rarely consider the human beings who work on the project. Hidden behind their usernames and shrouded in anonymity, they are the unsung heroes of this virtual world. The book explores how this process really works, and what can go wrong. One of the characters is a “hired gun” who tries to manipulate the information for his clients, while governments like China attempt to control the online narrative.

So in my humble opinion, it’s the ideal set-up for a suspense novel because there are clear stakes and intrinsically interesting ingredients — an influential yet contested resource, concealed identities, and international intrigue.

How worried are you about the spread of mis-and disinformation in the U.S. and beyond? Would you highlight one or two trends that a general reader may not be aware of?

From a macro perspective, I am concerned about the dissemination of accurate knowledge. We have historically relied on professional expertise and strong institutions to ensure checks and balances on what information is distributed. For better or worse, those gatekeeping mechanisms are no longer in place.

Today’s online platforms allow anyone to spread their message without prior vetting. However, Wikipedia is an exception since it’s not a free-for-all. The editors try to ensure that only information that is supported by reliable sources appears on the site. Editors are also empowered to delete content that doesn’t abide by the site’s policies.

On that point, here are two trends the general reader might not know about:

Trend 1: Wikipedia is far more widely respected by academics than it once was, partly because there are now so many eyes on the project. In recent years, even medical doctors are giving Wikipedia the thumbs up.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Wikipedia can be trusted blindly — it’s still better to go to the underlying sources linked in the article than to rely solely on the encyclopedic summary. But the paradigm has definitely shifted. I had high school teachers tell me I should avoid Wikipedia like the plague. These days, elite university professors are singing the site’s praises. As Cambridge University professor John Naughton put it, “In a hysterical world, Wikipedia is a ray of light — and that’s the truth.”

Trend 2: There are far, far fewer Wikipedia editors than you would suspect for such an important website. Technically, anybody can register a username and start editing articles, but only a small percentage takes the initiative. By some estimates, there are only about 1,500 active contributors to English Wikipedia. (For context, TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users.) So even though Wikipedia is extremely important, very few people choose to “do the work” and start curating public knowledge.

How long did it take to complete your manuscript?

Before I started working on my novel manuscript, I covered Wikipedia as a freelance journalist for Slate, The Washington Post, and other newspapers. I began this journalism in 2018 and for the next two years, the seeds of the novel started to take root in my mind.

It wasn’t until February 2020 that I officially began drafting it. At first I struggled with identifying the central conflict and how it would impact these characters scattered across the globe. Then the pandemic hit, the world came to a standstill, and suddenly I had real-life inspiration for the scary but unifying event for all these characters. (The book takes place from December 2019 through May 2020 during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

From there, I devoted much of my time during lockdown to getting words on the page and completed the first draft in October 2020. But it wasn’t quite ready for publication yet. I worked with my developmental editor, Noah Broyles at Inkshares, over the course of several more drafts and years before we felt it had reached its highest potential. In December 2023, we finally set a publication date for August 2024.

So all in all, it took about four years to complete the manuscript, with varying levels of intensity along the way.

Do you have a writing routine?

I do indeed. I prefer to write in the early morning hours because that’s when my mind feels freshest and most receptive to creative work. I don’t always succeed, but I try to avoid checking my phone first thing in the morning since emails and social media can quickly direct my energy in the wrong direction. My personal mantra is “pay yourself first,” and for me that means dedicating the first part of my day to my creative pursuits.

To begin my writing routine, I like to spend 15 minutes reading either a short story or a novel. This serves as a tune-up session for my mind, and I keep an eye out for any synchronistic connection between what I’m reading and what I plan to work on next. Sometimes it clicks, sometimes it doesn’t. But it’s always a pleasant warm-up while I drink a cup of coffee.

Once the timer goes off, I start writing. In the early stages of drafting, I prefer to handwrite with Muji pens (specifically their 0.5 mm black gel ink ballpoint pens). They write so smoothly and effortlessly, and the fact that they are transparent allows me to easily see when they are running out of ink. I promise I’m not a secret Muji influencer, but having good quality pens has made a difference to my writing process.

Sometimes after writing just a paragraph or two by hand, my thoughts get too far ahead and I switch to typing on my computer. Other times, I enjoy the rhythmic flow of handwriting and continue until the end of the scene. Anything written out by hand then gets revised as I type it out, and I make further revisions over the course of several drafts.

Ideally, I aim for 1–2 hours of writing per day before my day job begins, although this is not always possible. I tend to measure progress not by the daily word count but by the time I dedicate to my writing, which might be an echo from my past experience working at a law firm. When my second timer goes off, I leave my computer, jump in the shower, and begin preparing for my job as a commercial lawyer at an ecommerce company.

How did you go about getting the book published?

Back in 2020 when I was still writing my first draft, I stumbled upon a notice for a contest hosted by Inkshares. The premise was intriguing–authors could post a few chapters online and then their work would be judged by a combination of community engagement and the Inkshares story board for a potential publication deal.

During the contest, readers showed interest in the early pages of my novel, then titled “Infodemic,” and it was ultimately chosen as one of the winning submissions. As an aspiring author, I was pleased by Inkshares’ track record of publishing critically-acclaimed books that have been adapted into film and TV projects.

But securing the book deal was only the beginning. Over the course of three years, I worked closely with the team at Inkshares to further develop my characters, fine-tune the pacing, and ultimately make “The Editors” the very best it could be.

Are you a regular reader of novels?

Absolutely. I love novels because they engage both hemispheres of my brain. It’s not simply a matter of ingesting information but simulating the lived experience of the character.

While writing my own novel, I revisited Dave Eggers’s “The Circle” to study how he effectively depicted relatable technology struggles, such as being bombarded with chat messages. This past year, I read Alduous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” a highly relevant classic that I somehow missed during my high school years. Most recently, I read Lily Meyer’s “Short War,” a brilliant historical novel set in the leadup to Chile’s military dictatorship.

Any big projects in the works?

On the nonfiction side, I am continuing to write for my personal newsletter Source Notes, which focuses on books, tech, AI, and Wikipedia.

And I recently began working on my next novel! It’s still in its early stages and I don’t want to give too much away at this point. But what I can reveal is that the main character is an economist and I have been immersing myself in the world of banking for research purposes.

As William Faulkner once said, “The best fiction is far more true than any journalism.” While I agree with that sentiment, I also enjoy crafting stories that engage with contemporary issues. In fact, “The Editors” even includes the line “[t]his is a reported work of fiction” on the epigraph page. Ultimately, I hope to be known for producing smart and well-researched stories throughout my career.