I would say that fan fiction was what inspired me to write, but really, I owe the bulk of it to comic books. I was trying to create my own line of comics, and writing out the stories. While I was in graphic design (in my college years), I hammered out a lot of ideas, characters and storylines. Sadly, that never panned out for me. But I decided to focus more on the writing part. I've been at this for 30 years really... but, I think only 15 years being an actual author.
I was very non-fluid in the beginning. I had a lot of mistakes, spelling problems and really needed to work on dialogue. But now, I think I'm doing much better. I find I'm improving with each book or story and figuring out the best way to bring the characters to life.
Not at all. Like I said before, I was trying to be a comic book artist/creator. The 1990's was the new golden age for creators springing up and taking on the publishing giants. A very exciting time for the industry. I wanted to have my own comic book, movie and video games associated with it. I'm hoping that dream will transition over to my literary books. *crosses fingers*
Yeah, I do. I just want to see the feedback and know if people are enjoying the worlds I create or not. I've had a number of bad ones, for sure. It is an ego bruiser that's for sure. It is true, you can learn from the constructive criticism (just not the ones who leave awful nasty comments). You'll have highs and lows from them. The best advice is to acknowledge they happen and move on. Never let one or two bad reviews dampen the ten other good ones.
My day job. I would give that up in a heartbeat if that meant I could write my books full time. Some have, but only because they're either close to retirement already, have a support system just incase it doesn't pan out or... got extremely lucky with the lottery. Come on lottery! Papa wants a full time authoring gig!
As a man, it is extremely hard to write a female character. Sure we can get some of the emotions right, but when it comes to behaviours and accidentally writing sexist character traits, it's challenging that's for sure. I've had a few women give me some much needed corrections on some of my characters. For that I'm grateful and apologetic, I never intend to come off that way with them. I'm doing much better now. Outer Red's main character is probably my most difficult to write for. She's very much a strong female with lots of attitude. Sometimes I feel like I have to correct some of my usual male thinking when putting her in action scenes.
I would tell my younger self not to be so darn stupid and think your first book will be on the bestseller's list. I was far to cocky and dumb in the beginning. When my book didn't sell, I thought it was the end of everything. Luckily, I dusted myself off and tried again. It was when I listened to Dennis E. Taylor's Bobiverse series on my way to work when I realized , "Hey, he can do it... why can't I?" So I always thank him for inspiring me or (t the very least), reigniting the fire under my butt and get back on it.
Characters, story, characters, spelling checks, characters, story and of course editing! I'm still working on the editing part my self (my hesitation in needing it led to some disasters, that's for sure), while it's hard to hear the feedback and see all the corrections, it helps... trust me, it really does.
