10 Questions
I was recently asked 10 questions by the website Books Go Social and thought the outcome was interesting enough to post as a blog:
1) Tell us something unexpected about yourself.
I'm the guy you pass every day on the way home from work holding the sign that reads: "Will write for food."
2) What kind of books do you write?
First and foremost, I write the kind of books I’d be interested in reading, mostly thrillers, horror and science-fiction. As a writer, I put ordinary characters in extraordinary situations. I grew up on Stephen King novels, Marvel comics, and the films of Spielberg and John Hughes. Their work can’t help but bleed into the worlds of my characters.
3) What inspired you to write?
I grew up reading and drawing my own versions of comic books. Eventually, I graduated to reading mainstream fiction and gravitated to King, Bradbury and Asimov. It seemed only natural that I start telling my own tales.
Coming from an Acadian heritage (dat’s Cajun, Sha), the storytelling gene infected me early on. All of you have to do is listen to some our music to know the truth of that statement. (For the uninitiated who may be interested in a gateway drug, try some of the new generation, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys and Pine Leaf Boys. Then try the bayou-masters like Nathan Abshire and Lawrence Walker.)
4) What makes your writing stand out from the crowd?
Once again, my childhood revolved around the works of Stephen King and Isaac Asimov—if you read THE MALL, a story about a fully automated shopping complex that goes dark during an EMP, trapping a single mother and her two children, that much would be obvious. Together, the pair is the yin and yang of my literary universe. King is all gut, while Asimov is all head. Therein lay each writer’s greatest strength and weakness. I try to inject all of my work with a balance of both logic and emotion and satisfy both parts of the reader’s nature. In addition, I love testing the boundaries of genres, until I get something like a haunted shopping mall overrun with killer robots.
5) What is the hardest part of writing for you?
With a six-year-old son and a wife with health issues, time is my greatest enemy. But with any passion worth pursuing, writing is a compulsion for me and I take every opportunity to create new worlds.
6) Where do you like to write - what is your routine?
I write anywhere and everywhere from Metrolink trains to the waiting rooms of doctor’s offices. I happen to prefer to write either early in the morning or late at night. My muse seems to speak to me all the more clearly during this twilight zone.
7) What do you do when you are not writing - do you have a day job?
Yes. Unless you’re the aforementioned King or Asimov, we all have to put food on the table. And remember, both King and Asimov were college professors until they hit it big.
8) Do you work with an outline or just write?
When I put pen to paper, I’ve already mapped out a route in my head, but I give myself enough flexibility for the characters to move in any direction that seems natural to them once they’ve developed sufficiently to dictate to me. When a character has enough flesh on them, they organically start calling the shots. The best thing a writer can do when his character becomes that real is to hoist up his ego and get out of the way of the story.
9) How important is marketing and social media for you?
For an e-published author, social media is everything. It took me a while to realize that this is the new world of the 21st century writer. I’m still acclimating to this new reality and services like Books Go Social really help the struggling author who barely has enough time to write, much less promote.
10) What advice would you have for other writers?
Write at least a little something every day (even when you don't feel up to the task) and support other up-and-coming authors as you gain popularity. I love hearing anecdotes about the Golden Age of science-fiction when still unknown authors like Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein all seemed to know each other. That sort of camaraderie would be a welcome change to the all-for-one attitude we seem to have these days.
1) Tell us something unexpected about yourself.
I'm the guy you pass every day on the way home from work holding the sign that reads: "Will write for food."
2) What kind of books do you write?
First and foremost, I write the kind of books I’d be interested in reading, mostly thrillers, horror and science-fiction. As a writer, I put ordinary characters in extraordinary situations. I grew up on Stephen King novels, Marvel comics, and the films of Spielberg and John Hughes. Their work can’t help but bleed into the worlds of my characters.
3) What inspired you to write?
I grew up reading and drawing my own versions of comic books. Eventually, I graduated to reading mainstream fiction and gravitated to King, Bradbury and Asimov. It seemed only natural that I start telling my own tales.
Coming from an Acadian heritage (dat’s Cajun, Sha), the storytelling gene infected me early on. All of you have to do is listen to some our music to know the truth of that statement. (For the uninitiated who may be interested in a gateway drug, try some of the new generation, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys and Pine Leaf Boys. Then try the bayou-masters like Nathan Abshire and Lawrence Walker.)
4) What makes your writing stand out from the crowd?
Once again, my childhood revolved around the works of Stephen King and Isaac Asimov—if you read THE MALL, a story about a fully automated shopping complex that goes dark during an EMP, trapping a single mother and her two children, that much would be obvious. Together, the pair is the yin and yang of my literary universe. King is all gut, while Asimov is all head. Therein lay each writer’s greatest strength and weakness. I try to inject all of my work with a balance of both logic and emotion and satisfy both parts of the reader’s nature. In addition, I love testing the boundaries of genres, until I get something like a haunted shopping mall overrun with killer robots.
5) What is the hardest part of writing for you?
With a six-year-old son and a wife with health issues, time is my greatest enemy. But with any passion worth pursuing, writing is a compulsion for me and I take every opportunity to create new worlds.
6) Where do you like to write - what is your routine?
I write anywhere and everywhere from Metrolink trains to the waiting rooms of doctor’s offices. I happen to prefer to write either early in the morning or late at night. My muse seems to speak to me all the more clearly during this twilight zone.
7) What do you do when you are not writing - do you have a day job?
Yes. Unless you’re the aforementioned King or Asimov, we all have to put food on the table. And remember, both King and Asimov were college professors until they hit it big.
8) Do you work with an outline or just write?
When I put pen to paper, I’ve already mapped out a route in my head, but I give myself enough flexibility for the characters to move in any direction that seems natural to them once they’ve developed sufficiently to dictate to me. When a character has enough flesh on them, they organically start calling the shots. The best thing a writer can do when his character becomes that real is to hoist up his ego and get out of the way of the story.
9) How important is marketing and social media for you?
For an e-published author, social media is everything. It took me a while to realize that this is the new world of the 21st century writer. I’m still acclimating to this new reality and services like Books Go Social really help the struggling author who barely has enough time to write, much less promote.
10) What advice would you have for other writers?
Write at least a little something every day (even when you don't feel up to the task) and support other up-and-coming authors as you gain popularity. I love hearing anecdotes about the Golden Age of science-fiction when still unknown authors like Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein all seemed to know each other. That sort of camaraderie would be a welcome change to the all-for-one attitude we seem to have these days.
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