Ask the Author: Richard I. Levine
Answered Questions (6)
Richard I. Levine
When I write, I am writing to create and to entertain myself. For me, that is the foundation that helps unleash my imagination. Also, knowing that I can change anything during the process allows me to explore with reckless abandon. Nothing is off limits. So, when I sit at the computer I have no expectations other than to continue the journey that I started. Let the detours come. That's what makes this fun. Some nights I write a sentence. Some nights I write a paragraph, some nights, I write several pages. Sometimes I reread pages of dialogue that I wrote the night before and because I was so deep in a zone, It was as if the characters themselves took control of the story. And then there are some nights there's nothing traveling from the deep recesses of my mind through the nerve pathways that make my finger tips dance across the keyboard. I accept whatever is available to me that particular night as a gift and celebrate the new addition with the knowledge that it can always be added to, edited, or deleted just the same. Since I write for my own entertainment, if there is little or nothing on any given night, I don't force the issue. At the risk of sounding arrogant and/or ignorant, I have never understood those who say they suffer for their art. Except for a contractual obligation with time constraints, I have never understood why someone would mentally torture themselves by staring at a blank piece of paper or a computer monitor for hours/days on end. To me, creating has always been my escape, my entertainment, and my pleasure. I'm not going to treat it any other way.
Richard I. Levine
Being able to create a world that has never existed before.
Richard I. Levine
A few years ago I got into acting and began taking classes with a well known acting coach who has worked with some of the industry's best actors. He once said to the class: "If you're here to become a star, you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here to learn and to master this craft, if you're here because you want to be an actor--with time and discipline you'll become an actor and you might even get work." I think the same applies to writing.
Someone once said: "Don't tell people what you're working on, just show them the results." Over the years I've known artists who've specialized in many forms of creative expression; from the written word and worlds that come to life on canvas, to acting, dance, and music. While a critique for a student can be constructive and help one to perfect a technique, those who've sought positive feedback from friends, relatives, and coworkers during the creative process were often disappointed, frustrated, and disillusioned because those opinions were far from the encouragement they had hoped would come. Let your passion be your pat on the back. Don't write for anyone else but yourself. Don't show your WIP to anyone. Don't let anyone deter you from the journey that your imagination is taking you on. That's your private world until you're ready to publish. It's a world and an adventure, a romance, a mystery that has never existed before. When you write to entertain yourself, not for the approval of others, your imagination is free to explore the vast reaches of the universe; it knows no limits. Enjoy that journey. And when it's done, let the chips fall where they may.
Someone once said: "Don't tell people what you're working on, just show them the results." Over the years I've known artists who've specialized in many forms of creative expression; from the written word and worlds that come to life on canvas, to acting, dance, and music. While a critique for a student can be constructive and help one to perfect a technique, those who've sought positive feedback from friends, relatives, and coworkers during the creative process were often disappointed, frustrated, and disillusioned because those opinions were far from the encouragement they had hoped would come. Let your passion be your pat on the back. Don't write for anyone else but yourself. Don't show your WIP to anyone. Don't let anyone deter you from the journey that your imagination is taking you on. That's your private world until you're ready to publish. It's a world and an adventure, a romance, a mystery that has never existed before. When you write to entertain yourself, not for the approval of others, your imagination is free to explore the vast reaches of the universe; it knows no limits. Enjoy that journey. And when it's done, let the chips fall where they may.
Richard I. Levine
As I write this, I have just reviewed the final galleys for my fifth novel (all new characters), To Catch The Setting Sun.
Richard I. Levine
When I wrote my first novel, Eye of The Redeemer, in 2011, It was because I had become bored with television. At the time I found sitting in front of the television to be a mind-numbing waste of time. I picked up a few novels (I like historical fiction) which stimulated the imagination, but wanted to use my imagination to create my own adventures. That's not to say there aren't great story tellers out there, I simply decided one night that I would begin writing as an outlet for myself. Once started, I couldn't stop. Each night I returned to the sentence, the paragraph, or the page I penned the night before and continue where I left off. If I was in the zone I pounded the keyboard for hours. If nothing was there, I didn't force it and stepped away. After several months I realized I had a decent WIP and continued it until completion. I liked my protagonist so much that he became my inspiration to continue his journey in the three novels that followed.
Richard I. Levine
The original idea for my latest novel, To Catch The Setting Sun (C) 2022, first came to me in a dream many years ago. I set it on the back-burner because other story ideas were evolving. Those other stories became the four novels I indy-published. Then shortly after I moved to Hawaii in 2017 and got an inside and detailed look into the local political scene and life beyond the manufactured world of the resorts, the major premise, as well as the characters, began to come to life.
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