Ask the Author: Stephen Shaiken
Answered Questions (6)
Stephen Shaiken
If you sit down and write every day, this problem will resolve itself. If there is no new idea gushing forth, then it's time to review and rewrite what you have done. As you rewrite and edit, new ideas will surely spring forth. The only way to end writer's block is to write!
Stephen Shaiken
Knowing that I am doing what I want. Pride in finishing a work. Joy in creating characters and watching them come to life and drive the story.
Stephen Shaiken
That's an easy one: just write! Pick a regular place to work, and if possible, a regular time. Set a reasonable output goal and reach it. Write about what you want to write and base it on what you know about people and life. Don't write what you think someone else wants to see. Write every day (well, give yourself one day off) whether you feel like it or not. Above all, don't get straightjacketed by rules dictated by others. If you write every day, and write what you understand and can put down on the page, everything will work out just fine.
Stephen Shaiken
I have started to write new novel featuring Glenn and his friends from the NJA Club. It is not a sequel, as either novel can be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone work. However, those who have read Bangkok Shadows will get deeper meaning from the references to that work in the new book, and will enjoy seeing how the characters evolve as a result of their experiences. I am also slowing researching the history of Tampa for a future novel set there in the nineteen thirties, and am scribbling a few short stories when I have time.
Stephen Shaiken
As a young boy, I was forever fantasizing and creating stories in my head. I always did exceptionally well in any class that required writing. In college I started as a history major but added an English minor and took some creative writing courses. As for what specifically inspired me, I would have to say it was reading Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as a sixth grader. I went on to devour everything Mark Twain wrote, moved on to Edgar Allen Poe, and have never looked back. I guess the short answer is that reading great writers has always inspired me.
Stephen Shaiken
I was a criminal defense lawyer for over three decades, starting in Brooklyn, N.Y. and then on to San Francisco, cA. When I retired over two years ago, I decided to write fiction, seeing as I had earned an MA in Creative Writing and burned with ambition. After two years in thailand, learning much of the language and culture, I felt that I was the perfect author two write a novel about a burned-out criminal defense lawyer from San Francisco who moves to Thailand under some very questionable circumstances. the CIA stuff I just made up!
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