Richard Smith: Writing About Your Passion Makes the Process a Dream

Dr. Richard Smith, a British award-winning underwater photographer, author, and marine conservationist, aspires to promote an appreciation for the ocean’s inhabitants and raise awareness of marine conservation issues through his images. A marine biologist by training, Richard’s pioneering research on the biology and conservation of pygmy seahorses, led to the first PhD on these enigmatic fishes. Richard is a member of the IUCN Seahorse, Pipefish and Seadragon Specialist Group. He has named the two most recent pygmy seahorse discoveries from Japan, Hippocampus japapigu, and South Africa, H. nalu. Richard organizes and leads marine life expeditions where the aim is for participants to get more from their diving and photography by learning about the marine environment. Learn more at OceanRealmImages.com, and follow him on X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.

In this interview, Richard discusses the often-overlooked creatures he hopes to bring to the light with the new edition of his natural history book, The World Beneath, what he’s learned about the writing process, and more.

Name: Dr. Richard Smith
Book title: The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs, Enhanced Edition
Publisher: Apollo Publishers
Release date: November 19, 2024
Genre/category: Natural History/Popular Science
Elevator pitch: The World Beneath takes you on an underwater adventure, where quirky sea creatures and colorful reefs around the world’s oceans share their secrets and stories.

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The book brings together my great passions: nature, conservation, adventure, scuba diving, underwater photography, and storytelling. Through my work as a marine biologist I am fortunate enough to explore the world’s shallow seas in search of little-known creatures. To be honest, I felt I owed it to the fishes to share their tales and to educate people about these often-overlooked creatures.

I had been making notes for a few years on the book that I wanted to write. Most people have ideas in the shower, I have my best ideas underwater, so I always carry a slate on my arm when I’m diving to make notes. I had worked out most of the content, so my new year’s resolution had been to pitch the idea to some publishers. Of course, I didn’t get round to it in January, but on the February 2, I received an email out of the blue from Apollo Publishers and the rest is history. I suppose I now believe in manifestation.

Initially, the publisher asked about a book on seahorses, which are the subject of my scientific research. I had a slightly different book in mind, which they were happy to accommodate, but which also included a chapter on my diminutive research subjects. Somewhere along the way, I mentioned that I would like to add a few of my images in the book to illustrate my prose. When I submitted the manuscript, I included some. The publishers hadn’t realized that I took nice underwater images, and the idea developed. There are more than 350 images throughout the text in the new version. They span from unique behaviors that I shot on slide film 20 years ago to some that I took on my most recent trip to Papua New Guinea. There are images of the several new species that I have named through my scientific work, and many images of species and behaviors never-before photographed. I think this creates something quite unique in The World Beneath.

The process took longer than I naïvely imagined, but it was wonderful working with the publishers in putting the book together. They allowed me a great deal of freedom with which images and content to include and I really appreciated that. The first edition of the book was released in late 2019 and the response has been overwhelming. I never imagined it would be so well received. I think it initially brought some access to the ocean for those of us that were land-locked during the covid lockdowns around the world. It has since grown in readership around the world.

I suppose I surprised myself in the amount of writing I could do in a short space of time. I had lengthy travel commitments for work, which drastically cut down the available time I had to write the book. I returned from a month in New Guinea and had to hit the ground running. I wrote 2,000 words a day Monday to Friday until a chapter was done. Then I would send them off to my friend and fellow biologist, Christina, to proofread what I had written. We’ve been friends for 25 years, and I can always trust her to give her honest opinion, which I find extremely valuable in my writing process. I didn’t miss a day and managed to write the whole book this way before my next travels. Reading other author’s answers to this question in “Author Spotlight,” you realize that everyone is different and the healthiest approach to writing a book is to do what works for you.

My PhD research was the first of its kind on the biology and conservation of pygmy seahorses, which are tiny seahorses that are so small they barely stretch across a dime. Spending hundreds of hours on the coral reefs of Indonesia watching the lives of these animals play out like a soap opera filled me with absolute awe. With The World Beneath, I wanted to share some of the wonderful moments I have been lucky enough to spend with creatures on coral reefs around the world. I know that few people are as fortunate as I am to travel to the places that coral reefs flourish, but I wanted to give people a taster of what we could lose if we don’t take steps to reduce our impact on the planet.

I think writing about your passion makes the process a dream. I had done the background work before putting pen to paper, so it never felt like a chore. It seems like a daunting process, but you’ll never know if it’s for you unless you try.