Ask the Author: Forrest Aguirre
Answered Questions (10)
Forrest Aguirre
Choosing the title was easy. One of my formative "discoveries" was writing the story "Downstream Flow: A Fugue". XXIX is the Roman numeral 29, which is the number of stories in the collection. As to what it means to me, I am very proud of that collection. In hindsight, there are a few stories among those 29 that were "not my best work," but they demonstrate that one must spill out a lot of writing volume to get their best work. I'm very grateful that Raw Dog Screaming took a chance on publishing it and did such a bang up good job with the production, as well. I've written a lot since then, and some of those early "experiments" have informed my writing today, so Fugue XXIX was seminal in me finding and establishing my writerly voice.
Forrest Aguirre
Hello, Kessa, and thank you! I'm glad to have helped in some small way. I apologize for taking so long to get to your question - life has been frantic the last year, to say the least, and I frankly just missed it. So, I'm repenting and answering now. As far as don'ts go:
1. Don't listen to writer's advice. If every writer had the magic bullet . . . well, if any one of them had the magic bullet, there wouldn't be a need for all the writer's advice books out there . . .
2. That includes me. Take whatever I say (or don't) with a grain of salt.
3. Always have a notebook with you, no matter where you go. Inspiration strikes at the most inconvenient times. I've had to stop in the middle of the grocery store, pull of the side of the highway (no, really), and jump out of the shower to make notes when my brain has caught fire. Seriously, don't fool yourself into thinking that you'll remember "it" later - you won't. Catch the fire in a bottle before it dissipates in any way. You can shape it later.
4. Don't try to get by without an outside editor. If you need to pay them, pay what you need to. Trust me - as both an author and an editor, I can tell you, it's worth it!
5. Don't give up when your writing gets to the stage where it feels like grinding gears. Yes, you can take a side project for a moment, but don't completely lose touch with that initial piece. When you come back off your side project, if you just can't seem to get back into the original, maybe it's time to rethink the original. Is it too long? Too short? Too focused? Too diffuse? Focused on the wrong person or problem? Your piece of writing is an experiment. Keep poking it, cutting it, burning it, and observing the results. If it's not viable, it will just plain die, but if it is viable, or if pieces of it are viable, they will react to all your poking and prodding and turn into something brilliant. Writing is a discovery.
6. Don't read in the genre you're writing in while you're writing. If I'm writing Science Fiction, for example, I am not reading Science Fiction or watching it on TV or movies. I'm reading, I don't know, Edwardian humor and a book about the history of West Africa. If I'm writing horror, guess how much horror I'm reading or watching? None. You don't want to be influenced, even subliminally, by the tropes of the genre you're writing in. You want the work to be yours and yours alone, as much as possible. Plus you'll want to steal techniques from outside your genre to experiment with inside your genre. The best books are uncategorizable, in my limited opinion.
7. Again, don't take my advice. I hate writing advice.
1. Don't listen to writer's advice. If every writer had the magic bullet . . . well, if any one of them had the magic bullet, there wouldn't be a need for all the writer's advice books out there . . .
2. That includes me. Take whatever I say (or don't) with a grain of salt.
3. Always have a notebook with you, no matter where you go. Inspiration strikes at the most inconvenient times. I've had to stop in the middle of the grocery store, pull of the side of the highway (no, really), and jump out of the shower to make notes when my brain has caught fire. Seriously, don't fool yourself into thinking that you'll remember "it" later - you won't. Catch the fire in a bottle before it dissipates in any way. You can shape it later.
4. Don't try to get by without an outside editor. If you need to pay them, pay what you need to. Trust me - as both an author and an editor, I can tell you, it's worth it!
5. Don't give up when your writing gets to the stage where it feels like grinding gears. Yes, you can take a side project for a moment, but don't completely lose touch with that initial piece. When you come back off your side project, if you just can't seem to get back into the original, maybe it's time to rethink the original. Is it too long? Too short? Too focused? Too diffuse? Focused on the wrong person or problem? Your piece of writing is an experiment. Keep poking it, cutting it, burning it, and observing the results. If it's not viable, it will just plain die, but if it is viable, or if pieces of it are viable, they will react to all your poking and prodding and turn into something brilliant. Writing is a discovery.
6. Don't read in the genre you're writing in while you're writing. If I'm writing Science Fiction, for example, I am not reading Science Fiction or watching it on TV or movies. I'm reading, I don't know, Edwardian humor and a book about the history of West Africa. If I'm writing horror, guess how much horror I'm reading or watching? None. You don't want to be influenced, even subliminally, by the tropes of the genre you're writing in. You want the work to be yours and yours alone, as much as possible. Plus you'll want to steal techniques from outside your genre to experiment with inside your genre. The best books are uncategorizable, in my limited opinion.
7. Again, don't take my advice. I hate writing advice.
Forrest Aguirre
I am well. Did you get my direct message to you?
Forrest Aguirre
Big author? But . . . but I've been losing weight!
I've sent you a message, Michael. Good to hear from you!
I've sent you a message, Michael. Good to hear from you!
Forrest Aguirre
I like to reserve Facebook for internal family arguments with in-laws, for the most part. My blog is at forrestaguirre.blogspot.Com, I can be found on Google+ at +ForrestAguirre, and on twitter @forrestaguirre. On tumblr, I am "A Window in the Forrest".
Forrest Aguirre
Well, I've changed my profile picture since you asked the question, but it's my son's father: "Me". Me is sad because his son was supposed to sit with him for a picture but was too busy arguing with siblings. Me looks perplexed because he is trying to listen and hear what the heck is going on down the hall between his children. The photographer snapped the picture at that moment, and we both thought it spoke volumes. No children were harmed in the making of this picture.
Forrest Aguirre
My answer would be the same regardless of genre:
1. Don't follow trends; make your own trends. Know what's happening in your genre, but don't let it infect your work. Note: this is not as easy as it sounds.
2. Craft your story, but not to the point where you bleed out all the raw creativity with which you began. When (not if) your story is rejected, you need an anchor, and that anchor is the kernel of an idea with which you began. You can dress it up different ways, but if you deny that creative kernel for the sake of pleasing some editor, you are denying your inner self.
3. Don't follow advice for writers. You are you, and because they are not you, they are probably wrong. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm wrong, though these answers are right for me.
:)
1. Don't follow trends; make your own trends. Know what's happening in your genre, but don't let it infect your work. Note: this is not as easy as it sounds.
2. Craft your story, but not to the point where you bleed out all the raw creativity with which you began. When (not if) your story is rejected, you need an anchor, and that anchor is the kernel of an idea with which you began. You can dress it up different ways, but if you deny that creative kernel for the sake of pleasing some editor, you are denying your inner self.
3. Don't follow advice for writers. You are you, and because they are not you, they are probably wrong. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm wrong, though these answers are right for me.
:)
Forrest Aguirre
My answer would be the same regardless of genre:
1. Don't follow trends; make your own trends. Know what's happening in your genre, but don't let it infect your work. Note: this is not as easy as it sounds.
2. Craft your story, but not to the point where you bleed out all the raw creativity with which you began. When (not if) your story is rejected, you need an anchor, and that anchor is the kernel of an idea with which you began. You can dress it up different ways, but if you deny that creative kernel for the sake of pleasing some editor, you are denying your inner self.
3. Don't follow advice for writers. You are you, and because they are not you, they are probably wrong. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm wrong, though these answers are right for me.
:)
1. Don't follow trends; make your own trends. Know what's happening in your genre, but don't let it infect your work. Note: this is not as easy as it sounds.
2. Craft your story, but not to the point where you bleed out all the raw creativity with which you began. When (not if) your story is rejected, you need an anchor, and that anchor is the kernel of an idea with which you began. You can dress it up different ways, but if you deny that creative kernel for the sake of pleasing some editor, you are denying your inner self.
3. Don't follow advice for writers. You are you, and because they are not you, they are probably wrong. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm wrong, though these answers are right for me.
:)
Forrest Aguirre
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a cat hater. I can't stand the things. And I'm allergic to them. That said, I'm not cruel. That said, I love experimentation. But I'm also lactose intolerant, so too much butter makes my tummy rumbly. And I'm pretty hungry, so I'd be tempted to eat the remainder of the butter, which would end in digestive disaster. Now, I'm not nearly as smart as the guy in this video about how cats always land on their feet. I bet he'd know!
Forrest Aguirre
I like surreal, self-referential questions that lead to philosophical existentialism. Questions like"What's a good question?" are good questions. Unless, of course, you are ruminating on the nature of good and evil, in which a "good" question might be thought of as a question asked by a good person or a question for the betterment of mankind. Or perhaps the interlocutor is trying to formulate a question that is to be directed to good itself, as an entity, rather than as a quality of some other entity, person, or circumstance. Then who or what do you turn to for an answer without the whole of reality collapsing in on itself? That's a good question . . .
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