Austin Answers Your Questions

"Do you ever look back on something you've written and wish you had done it differently?"

Oh gods and devils, yes! I often spot embarrassing mistakes, poor stylistic choices and egregious, inexcusable violations of My Personal Rules for Storytelling . It's mortifying.

Most of it is explained by simple, stupid goofs caused by some combination of laziness and absent-mindedness. On the other hand, I would like to believe that my horror at things I've written in the past is at least somewhat due to the fact that I'm getting better, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

I'm not sure any writer or other artist is ever completely satisfied with any piece of work. You've heard the saying, "A novel is never completed, it's just abandoned." The exception to that, naturally, is those writers who coast through life with robust self-esteem and an unshakable faith in their own infallible genius. I'm not one of those.

"Why don't you review books you don't like?"

First of all, writing is hard. Publishing a book is a big deal. It's a major accomplishment. I feel a lot of empathy for anyone who has successfully navigated that process all the way to the end. It's hard for me to harshly condemn anyone who has done that, even if I hate the result. You are really putting yourself out there when you write a book. It's like you're going up on stage naked for people to throw rotten vegetables at you. So I can't bring myself to review a book I didn't like.

Also, what I call "destructive criticism" is not helpful. It's both easy and useless to give someone a cruel, insulting review. It's not cute, and it's not clever. (Unless you're Dorothy Parker, but — and I cannot stress this too strongly — you are not Dorothy Parker.) If I like a book but I think I might have an observation or suggestion that could actually be of some value to the author, I will try to offer it in the most positive way I can. For instance, I might point out that a certain underutilized secondary character was extremely interesting, and express the hope that she will feature more prominently in future books in the series. It's completely pointless to say, for example, "this Regency-era romance sucks because I hate Regency-era romances." Then why the hell were you reading it? That is neither useful to the reader looking for her next book nor useful to the author looking to write her next book.

Finally, just because I didn't like a book, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't good. I'm just not the right reader. Maybe it's a book about the history of soccer, and I'm not a soccer fan. Or maybe it's a book that spends a disproportionate amount of time describing car engines instead of getting on with the story or developing the characters. I would avoid rating or reviewing those books, because I am clearly not the intended audience. If pressed for my opinion, I would probably say something like, "this book would be ideal for anyone interested in the history of soccer" or "if you like to read ten consecutive paragraphs about adjusting the spark advance to deliver peak combustion pressures, this just might be the perfect book for you."

"How do I become a writer?"

That depends upon what kind of writer you want to become. Bear with me; I will answer this question in four ways.

(1) If you want to become a writer of high-quality, award-winning prose, the kind that gets studied in graduate-level workshops, then read, read, read, read, read, read, read. Seek out great literature across a wide range of styles and time periods and consume it ravenously. Read literary criticism. Read books on writing. Read books that criticize books on writing. Read, read, read.

(2) If you want to be a bestselling novelist, focus on reading what's selling right now. Do lots of market research. What are people buying? What are publishers looking for? What are the industry trends? To make money as a novelist, you have to produce something in a familiar, easy-to-categorize genre that has a well-defined audience. If dystopian erotic paranormal mysteries about vampire detectives are hot right now, then you will need to write a dystopian erotic paranormal mystery about vampire detectives.

(3) If you have a strong, clear, personal vision for a story that you want to tell, and you want to tell it your way and for your own reasons, then don't let anyone stop you. Publish it yourself if you have to. Maybe you are a total nutcase. That's fine. Publish it anyway. Lots of really interesting books have been written by crazy people.

If your grasp of spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation and style is weak, you would be wise to invest in a very good editor who will work with you to clean up your manuscript before you show it to an agent or a publisher. Be aware that the world might not beat a path to your door if what you write is different. It could be absolutely brilliant, but no matter how passionately you believe in it, if it's not what your typical mainstream reader is looking for, you may struggle to get noticed. Be prepared to dedicate yourself to promoting your work and finding your audience, and accept that fact that there is a very, very, very small chance that your experimental project will be the next big thing in the book world.

(4) If you want to write for fun and personal pleasure, then just do it. Don't worry if it sucks. Just write what you want to write. Keep a journal. Write poems on napkins. Feel no shame. You never have to show it to anybody. Writing is a perfectly legitimate creative hobby. If you want to switch over to (1), (2) or (3) later, you can, but no one says you ever have to.

What inspires you to write?

Basically anything other than sitting in front of the computer.

(For more Q&A with Austin, read his interview with H.M. Jones of Elite Indie Reads .)