Ask the Author: Rich Shapero
Answered Questions (10)
Rich Shapero
I keep the only copy of a novel I’ve worked on for many years in the trunk of my car. I rose this morning, dressed and stepped outside, and the car was gone.
Rich Shapero
For me, understanding is paramount. Feeling that an idea has been explored, developed and expressed in a way that unfolds its complexities, its inconsistencies and its paradoxes gives me a great deal of satisfaction. It’s that reward that makes the difficult journey worthwhile.
Rich Shapero
I keep the only copy of a novel I’ve worked on for many years in the trunk of my car. I rose this morning, dressed and stepped outside, and the car was gone.
Rich Shapero
All locations, actual or imagined, have the quality of fiction for me, because I’m so used to warping reality away from the known. My imagination just works that way. I think that’s one reason why travel to foreign locales doesn’t affect me the way it does many people. I can be ten minutes from home, in highly familiar surroundings, and imagine I’m in a different time and place--a completely fictional world.
Rich Shapero
I had a close relationship with someone who I thought I knew extremely well. Then some events occurred which changed that perception. I realized that I barely knew the person, and that their real identity had been hidden from me. That was the mystery, and the desire to understand who the real person was led me on a strange, unexpected search. What I discovered was shocking. I realized, when the search was over, that it could and should be the plot for a book. I’m working on it now.
Rich Shapero
The book I’m working on right now began as a sick joke I told during a bash at a friend’s house in 1983. She felt strongly that I should develop the idea. I took a few months and did that, and then set the effort aside. I loved the core concept and the ending, but felt most of the rest of it was unworthy. My wife, at the time, hated the story, which cast a shadow over it. Many years passed. My first marriage ended and a second began. I considered tossing the manuscript on a number of occasions, but ended up hanging onto it because of the parts I valued. At the time of the completion of Arms in 2016, a fresh idea bloomed around the original concept for the manuscript. I was excited enough about that to devote myself to the project for two years. It’s in final edit now.
Rich Shapero
Perhaps! Thanks for the suggestion re: the sci-fi conventions. However, I don't really consider my books sci-fi—more literary fiction / magical realism. Good luck with the writing, A. Foster.
Rich Shapero
For me, ideas are paramount. I don’t mean intellectual constructs. I mean feelings and intuitions that take a great effort to understand and to surface into consciousness. We all have important understandings—perceptions that are acquired at high personal cost. For me, this is the reason to write. My advice would be to look for and find that idea. Let it inspire and motivate your writing. Writing is communication, so the real question is: what do you have that is so worth communicating that it merits the effort it will take to articulate it and share it?
Rich Shapero
No, I've not been to any Science Fiction Conventions. Do you have a recommendation?
Rich Shapero
I’m dividing my efforts between three projects. The first has been with me for many years. It's in final edit. The second is a newer idea, but is progressing rapidly. We have a structure, characters and about a hundred pages in draft. I say “we” because I’m working on this project with another writer—a new experience for me. A third project is also well along, as I’ve put decades of work into it. For all three of these, there is accompanying artwork and music. Lots to do.
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Jun 14, 2023 06:42PM