Ask the Author: T.P. Archie
Answered Questions (6)
T.P. Archie
If your life experience is limited, read books. Read them anyway.
Practise unfamiliar genres.
Know your topic; if you don't, research. You may not want to be an expert in your field, but you need to know who is, and what they have to say.
Practise. Get Feedback. Practise again.
A writing group can be a great help; being able to read out your work focuses you and can do much to expose weaknesses in your work. Practise patience; hone your work as well as you can before seeking feedback; few will be interested in listening through a piece more than once.
If you need a break from your Magnum Opus, take it. You'll know it when you do; if the urge to write is strong, it will withstand any break.
Practise unfamiliar genres.
Know your topic; if you don't, research. You may not want to be an expert in your field, but you need to know who is, and what they have to say.
Practise. Get Feedback. Practise again.
A writing group can be a great help; being able to read out your work focuses you and can do much to expose weaknesses in your work. Practise patience; hone your work as well as you can before seeking feedback; few will be interested in listening through a piece more than once.
If you need a break from your Magnum Opus, take it. You'll know it when you do; if the urge to write is strong, it will withstand any break.
T.P. Archie
There is a difference between inspiration to write and feeding your current project. The former comes from seeing something interesting in what's things about you. The latter requires distance - for me, this is usually a walk. Once away from my desk, I can mull things over without being too analytical.
How did this work on Guide? My answer to this isn't very helpful, I'm afraid. The best I can say is: as I wrote and rewrote, the book changed. It merged thoughts and words, while I worked out my writing strategies. This means that a retrospective view is of a gestalt. My self-observations (on what inspires me) are based on the writing I've done since... however, it's fair to say I'm doing nothing new; just taking what processes worked from my novel, and putting them through their paces.
Gee, I sure hope that made sense.
How did this work on Guide? My answer to this isn't very helpful, I'm afraid. The best I can say is: as I wrote and rewrote, the book changed. It merged thoughts and words, while I worked out my writing strategies. This means that a retrospective view is of a gestalt. My self-observations (on what inspires me) are based on the writing I've done since... however, it's fair to say I'm doing nothing new; just taking what processes worked from my novel, and putting them through their paces.
Gee, I sure hope that made sense.
T.P. Archie
I've just finished working on a series of collected works that go under the collective title: Unfinished Tales. There are four volumes; each genre themed which will appear on POD, and hopefully on Kindle.
Vol 1 is SF Life on Earth and other fictions
Vol 2 is Fantasy Brant and other fantasies
Vol 3 is Fiction The Wrong Lane and other detours
Vol 4 is Crime + Historical Real Fiction
I'm currently working on a pice called The P'Nong. This germinated as follows:
Six months ago I was sat in my car, waiting for a meeting to end. I had my lap-top with me and had an hour to kill. I was also testing Tree Sheets and I needed something straightforward to test it on; I sketched a standard science fiction scenario.
Occasionally, a path suggests itself to you, and you follow. In this case, I decided to do a little homage to Philip K Dick and Andre Norton.
Why that pairing? Phil had a great way with words that sounded meaningless (and yet entirely science-fictiony). He built amazing stories around them. That was part of his talent and I loved it. Andre Norton compiled a great overlapping scheme of space. In her space, humanity pretty much ruled the roost but there was plenty of interaction with other aliens. I got that. She worked out what to add to give her stories interest: lost civilisations, galactic war, characters living on the edge, whether explorers, traders, refugees, ex-military / survivalists.
You take bits, process them and then say what you were going to say anyway :-)
Vol 1 is SF Life on Earth and other fictions
Vol 2 is Fantasy Brant and other fantasies
Vol 3 is Fiction The Wrong Lane and other detours
Vol 4 is Crime + Historical Real Fiction
I'm currently working on a pice called The P'Nong. This germinated as follows:
Six months ago I was sat in my car, waiting for a meeting to end. I had my lap-top with me and had an hour to kill. I was also testing Tree Sheets and I needed something straightforward to test it on; I sketched a standard science fiction scenario.
Occasionally, a path suggests itself to you, and you follow. In this case, I decided to do a little homage to Philip K Dick and Andre Norton.
Why that pairing? Phil had a great way with words that sounded meaningless (and yet entirely science-fictiony). He built amazing stories around them. That was part of his talent and I loved it. Andre Norton compiled a great overlapping scheme of space. In her space, humanity pretty much ruled the roost but there was plenty of interaction with other aliens. I got that. She worked out what to add to give her stories interest: lost civilisations, galactic war, characters living on the edge, whether explorers, traders, refugees, ex-military / survivalists.
You take bits, process them and then say what you were going to say anyway :-)
T.P. Archie
Hi Chris
Long answer first.
I'm afraid I took the long route in working out alien motivations; I went and studied philosophy. Thankfully, I'd already done a good bit of groundwork in that area because I've always had an interest in that kind of thing.
When I began to read SF, I took the liberty of reading anthologies and even guides to the genre. This includes works such as Billion Year Spree and A Visual Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction. Stuff like that stuck with me and I formed a view of the kind of story I felt comfortable with. I ended up with different imperatives. there are no truly bad guys / entities, but some are put in the position of making hard decisions. Paths cross; each follows his / her nature; at times they try to break free; not always with success.
An easy answer (without spending half a life time on research) would be to select a short list of novels with decent antagonists - and see if anything there takes your fancy.
Long answer first.
I'm afraid I took the long route in working out alien motivations; I went and studied philosophy. Thankfully, I'd already done a good bit of groundwork in that area because I've always had an interest in that kind of thing.
When I began to read SF, I took the liberty of reading anthologies and even guides to the genre. This includes works such as Billion Year Spree and A Visual Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction. Stuff like that stuck with me and I formed a view of the kind of story I felt comfortable with. I ended up with different imperatives. there are no truly bad guys / entities, but some are put in the position of making hard decisions. Paths cross; each follows his / her nature; at times they try to break free; not always with success.
An easy answer (without spending half a life time on research) would be to select a short list of novels with decent antagonists - and see if anything there takes your fancy.
T.P. Archie
This is a good question. I think each writer has a different experience. Common problems for me are the writing environment isn't suitable, or there's insufficient time to make a good fist of it.
Very early on I got blocks. I couldn't express an idea; I didn't know where the story was going... I needed a way to deal with them. I went for walks to think things over; sometimes I would drive and listen to music that matched the tone I wanted. Fortunately for me, these methods helped. Another tactic is to appropriate from experience - things heard, events witnessed
A problem that I guess many self publishers will encounter is lack of feedback; you start writing but your style is all over the place. Do you plough on or get that feedback and fix the broken bits. Back in 2010 I thought I was getting there on spelling and punctuation. I couldn't write though because, not only was my English was a fail at school, deep down I knew it had got worse. I practised by doing rewrites and restructures on my first draft. In the end I hired a copy-editor who helped by marking up the many broken bits.
As a self-publisher, I'm fortunate in not needing to write formulaically (to satisfy the contract). The flip side to this is not having beta readers, restructure / editors / proof readers on call. Self-editing is a grind.
Goodsides / Downsides, enjoy your freedom while it lasts.
Very early on I got blocks. I couldn't express an idea; I didn't know where the story was going... I needed a way to deal with them. I went for walks to think things over; sometimes I would drive and listen to music that matched the tone I wanted. Fortunately for me, these methods helped. Another tactic is to appropriate from experience - things heard, events witnessed
A problem that I guess many self publishers will encounter is lack of feedback; you start writing but your style is all over the place. Do you plough on or get that feedback and fix the broken bits. Back in 2010 I thought I was getting there on spelling and punctuation. I couldn't write though because, not only was my English was a fail at school, deep down I knew it had got worse. I practised by doing rewrites and restructures on my first draft. In the end I hired a copy-editor who helped by marking up the many broken bits.
As a self-publisher, I'm fortunate in not needing to write formulaically (to satisfy the contract). The flip side to this is not having beta readers, restructure / editors / proof readers on call. Self-editing is a grind.
Goodsides / Downsides, enjoy your freedom while it lasts.
T.P. Archie
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more