Ask the Author: Jeffrey R. DeRego
Answered Questions (2)
Jeffrey R. DeRego
Right now I am pulling together a couple of projects. One is a new Union Dues story to finally tie in and close out the Team Shikaragaki stories that will be part of a new volume of stories that I'll be publishing down the road. I am also working on a long form book called Park Place about a group of mothers of young children who hang out at a park together and have their friendship tested when head lice breaks out among their kids. It's a piece of contemporary fiction, which I sort of really like writing. I am also doing another mosaic novel biography of a fictitious rock and roller modeled told in reverse from his death to when he is a 14 year old kid who picks up a guitar for the first time. Each of the stories goes back further and further into his life and reveals the origins of all the myths about him and his music that are introduced in the first story.
Finally, pushing some older stories out through the Kindle store because it's easy, pays quickly (even if it's only pennies). I typically post things I can't land in any of the regular paying markets because their market doesn't exist anymore, or there aren't enough anthologies and contests to support them. It's also a way for me to keep interested in finishing projects and getting them into submittable shape.
Finally, pushing some older stories out through the Kindle store because it's easy, pays quickly (even if it's only pennies). I typically post things I can't land in any of the regular paying markets because their market doesn't exist anymore, or there aren't enough anthologies and contests to support them. It's also a way for me to keep interested in finishing projects and getting them into submittable shape.
Jeffrey R. DeRego
There isn't any such thing as writer's block. I power through what I can. If I am struggling with a story I usually have another story that I can work on for a while in place of the one where I have reached an impasse. If that doesn't work, I walk away for a while, read, play guitar (badly...) then go back to it.
When I was working almost exclusively on Union Dues stories I had other ideas for other stories outside of that set that I wanted to capture so I wrote story fragments, log lines, and synopsis down whenever I was looking for the right way to get over the hump in a Union Dues story. That led to all of the Pleasant Hollow stories, the Burden of Bushido stories, and all of the miscellaneous science fiction shorts I've written and published.
When I find myself at an impasse it is usually because i do not have the time to write into and around and over the problem. That is why my output is so low when I have full time work. It is very hard to serve two masters, and creative writing requires hours and hours and hours to do well. If you don't have the time to submerge in the story then it makes for very slow creation.
When I was working almost exclusively on Union Dues stories I had other ideas for other stories outside of that set that I wanted to capture so I wrote story fragments, log lines, and synopsis down whenever I was looking for the right way to get over the hump in a Union Dues story. That led to all of the Pleasant Hollow stories, the Burden of Bushido stories, and all of the miscellaneous science fiction shorts I've written and published.
When I find myself at an impasse it is usually because i do not have the time to write into and around and over the problem. That is why my output is so low when I have full time work. It is very hard to serve two masters, and creative writing requires hours and hours and hours to do well. If you don't have the time to submerge in the story then it makes for very slow creation.
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