Ask the Author: Mark Eisenzimmer
Answered Questions (6)
Mark Eisenzimmer
Well, my novel that's just been published--THE GOD-HONEST TRUTH, began from an anecdote that an acquaintance told me. It was something that happened to him when he was young and stupid and got passed-out drunk one night.
Quite a few years later, this anecdote just popped into my head and I started playing the what-if game with his anecdote, and it soon evolved into a story.
Quite a few years later, this anecdote just popped into my head and I started playing the what-if game with his anecdote, and it soon evolved into a story.
Mark Eisenzimmer
I keep an idea log/journal. Everything that crosses my mind (believe me, it's not as often as I'd like it to be), that sounds like a good idea, or even a mediocre idea, I write in my idea log.
Then, I go over the log every so often, and if something jumps out at me, I start playing the what-if game. What if this happens, or this, or this?
Then, I go over the log every so often, and if something jumps out at me, I start playing the what-if game. What if this happens, or this, or this?
Mark Eisenzimmer
A comic thriller about government surveillance.
Mark Eisenzimmer
Just the other day I read that Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart each wrote hundreds (perhaps thousands) of pieces of music. Yet, out of those hundreds of pieces of music, each of them has maybe a couple of dozen that critics and ordinary music lovers consider works of genius.
The point is: these geniuses wrote a lot of crap before the good stuff came out, or maybe the good stuff was jammed here and there between the crap.
Maybe none of us will ever write a story that's on par with Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, or Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, but each of us will probably write a lot of crap before we get good enough to write something outstanding.
There's this idea out there that to get good at something, you have to do that something for about 10,000 hours. I don't know how many words that would add up to, but I don't think I'm there yet. What about you?
The point is: these geniuses wrote a lot of crap before the good stuff came out, or maybe the good stuff was jammed here and there between the crap.
Maybe none of us will ever write a story that's on par with Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, or Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, but each of us will probably write a lot of crap before we get good enough to write something outstanding.
There's this idea out there that to get good at something, you have to do that something for about 10,000 hours. I don't know how many words that would add up to, but I don't think I'm there yet. What about you?
Mark Eisenzimmer
The same thing that appealed to me many years ago, when, as a kid, I first started reading other people's books: the idea that some writer somewhere created a world that never existed before, a world of interesting people and situations. It was something that I wanted to do.
So, when I complete a draft and read it over and feel I've succeeded in creating a world peopled with interesting characters who are struggling with something, characters that I find myself hoping for or against, well, I don't know if there's anything more satisfying than this. ...Even if I'm the only one who likes the story...
So, when I complete a draft and read it over and feel I've succeeded in creating a world peopled with interesting characters who are struggling with something, characters that I find myself hoping for or against, well, I don't know if there's anything more satisfying than this. ...Even if I'm the only one who likes the story...
Mark Eisenzimmer
I tend to do what Hemingway suggested: start a new chapter (or a new scene) and then stop. Then, the next day, I edit what I wrote the day previous and carry on with the new chapter or scene.
If something drags me away from writing for a few days, then it's harder to re-start, but I basically do the same thing; it just takes me longer to get back into the flow of what was happening in my story.
If something drags me away from writing for a few days, then it's harder to re-start, but I basically do the same thing; it just takes me longer to get back into the flow of what was happening in my story.
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