I
must warn you, my mind is a dangerous place. My friends have been
hearing that since we were teenagers but it wasn’t until I started
writing novels that they began to realize it was just a joke.
As
a writer/author one question gets asked countless times. I has many
different wordings, but it is the same question. “What lead you to
write this story?” “What was going through your mind as you wrote this
story?” “How did you come up with the idea for this story?” The
wording doesn’t matter, it is the same question no matter how it is
phrased. What they are really asking, even if they won’t admit it is
“How can I (or my readers) write a story like this?”
Most
author interviews I’ve read seems to indicate they become calloused
from this question and toss out the same response no matter how it is
phrased, like a politician with talking points. In the past I have been
innocent and tried to actually answer the way it was phrased in a
politically correct manner. Nobody wants to hear the honest answer.
The honest answer is “You can’t because I certainly didn’t.”
Shocked?
It’s true. I didn’t get a writing degree, create an outline, or follow
any rules other than grammar and spelling. The character chose to tell
its story. I wrote it down as best I could then fixed a few things.
Quite honestly, if you wish to become a writer you just need to be
adequate with spelling and grammar, able to hire professional editing
and, most importantly, listen to the character.
If
you are not a writer and reading this I fully understand if you are
shaking your head. It defies what most people are told when they are
young, but it is the truth. If you want to know how to be the kind of
author who gets some good/great reviews on their work the honest answer
is “you cannot be told.” There is no response or set of rules one can
provide you with. There is no formula to creating something nobody has
ever thought of before. There is no college course you can take or
degree you can get which will make you an author who gets good/great
reviews no matter what admissions tells you when you are handing over
your money.
You can learn all you need to know by reading two short stories in a single book. The book is Skeleton Crew. The first short story to read out of it is Ballad of the Flexible Bullet.
This simple tale explains in detail what the mind of a writer is really
like and where stories really come from. If you don’t believe that
after reading it then either switch to non-fiction writing or choose a
new line of work.
The second story you need to read (and in this order) is Word Processor of the Gods.
This one story tells you everything you need to know about every story
you will ever write. Your mind and story are both free to travel as far
as they wish if and only if they keep a tether to that subset of things
which define humanity.
Fornit Some Fornus
“John
Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars” is one big interview.
It is a transcript of a dialogue between “John Smith” (who, as the
title of the book implies is the last known survivor of the Microsoft
wars) and the interviewer for a prominent news organization.
Genre – Dystopian Fiction
Rating – PG
More details about the author
Website http://johnsmith-book.com/
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