Mark gave me a list of thirty five questions, in seven groups of five. Wow—that’s a lot of questions! I think what I’ll do is choose a couple from each group, and answer them more fully. In what genre(s) do you write?
Science Fiction. There are two subgenres that claim my brain the most: The ‘hard’ SF category, where the science must be correct and true. To me, ‘McGyvering’ my way out of a jam is the most satisfying solution, and I believe, the one that appeals the most to my fans. Of course, I’m not going to have someone with two paperclips and a piece of string saw through a steel girder, (the TV show did run off the rails after a while) but I endeavor to make sure that the main action is something that can occur in real life. What’s the favorite book you’ve written?
Dead Men Flying. Hands down. Oh, the Family of Grifters works (TLC and Ownership) were a blast, too, but DMF takes the prize as my favorite book.
Tell me your views on the dreaded Writers’ Block.
Well, I get almost mystical, sometimes, about my process of writing. I believe that I have a subconscious that is frantically working away, thinking up the story and crafting it down deep, out of reach. The ‘ideas’ I get are just the subconscious tossing them up from below. Writer’s Block, to me, means that the subconscious hasn’t really worked out what it wants done with the book yet. So I have to prioritize things for it, usually by telling it I have a deadline to meet. This comes most sharply into focus during 3 Day Novel. You just don’t time to fiddle around. One year (this will be my eighth) I had done my usual trumpeting about how I was going to do this 30k in 72 hour thing, and I consciously had nothing—just a title and some vague direction. Sat down Friday night, wrote a bit, Saturday, got through Act 1, and Sunday…nothing. Woke up Monday, needing 17k to make the 30. In nine hours. And it all blossomed out in my head. It was so amazing.
Thank you for reading this far. If you haven’t read Riddled Space yet, here’s a free prequel.
Thanks, Bill. We'll be hearing more from him in a few weeks.
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