Ask the Author: Aaron Dietz
Answered Questions (6)
Aaron Dietz
Hm, I'm not sure it would be a very good book, but I'd love to know why those two eggs exploded on me that one day, each egg from a different carton in a different store, both eggs putting literal egg on my face.
Aaron Dietz
I am speaking to a distinguished and attentive crowd of 50,000 people, in my underwear. On purpose.
Aaron Dietz
Do it because it's fun, because very few people make sufficient money at it.
Side note: If something isn't fun then you're either doing it wrong or doing the wrong thing.
Side note: If something isn't fun then you're either doing it wrong or doing the wrong thing.
Aaron Dietz
My most recent book was The Minute, a quick story about a woman who is trapped reliving the same minute over and over--like Groundhog Day, but on a shorter time scale.
I got the idea for this project from the constraints I set--I was intending to write 12 books in 12 months, and so I tried to think of projects I could complete quickly. I thought, my, it'd be easy to just copy and paste the same chunk of text over and over again.... And that's where I got the idea for the plot.
Of course, in execution, my protagonist was aware that time was repeating, so there were definitely things I had to write differently each time--it wasn't as easy as copy/paste. But it definitely helped that writing each scene was essentially just action--the setting and context were already there. I only had to determine what the protagonist would do differently, and any different results that might occur. Extremely fun!
I got the idea for this project from the constraints I set--I was intending to write 12 books in 12 months, and so I tried to think of projects I could complete quickly. I thought, my, it'd be easy to just copy and paste the same chunk of text over and over again.... And that's where I got the idea for the plot.
Of course, in execution, my protagonist was aware that time was repeating, so there were definitely things I had to write differently each time--it wasn't as easy as copy/paste. But it definitely helped that writing each scene was essentially just action--the setting and context were already there. I only had to determine what the protagonist would do differently, and any different results that might occur. Extremely fun!
Aaron Dietz
I have fun. I don't remember the last time I had writer's block, but ultimately I just write and if I stop having fun writing I change something and keep changing things until it's fun again. Sometimes this means changing the venue I'm writing in (go to a coffee shop where I can get a cayenne mocha, for example), or sometimes it's change the format of what I'm producing (transform a part of the story into a comment card filled out by one of the characters, for example).
Whatever the case, I am fortunately not too challenged by writer's block, and perhaps this is because I constantly focus instead on having fun as opposed to producing words.
Whatever the case, I am fortunately not too challenged by writer's block, and perhaps this is because I constantly focus instead on having fun as opposed to producing words.
Aaron Dietz
I'm deeply inspired to write by my awareness of the fact that I'm going to die. I don't know when but I do know that whenever it is, I'll be a little sad that I didn't finish more projects. There is so much knowledge to pass on and so many ideas to try--I want to get as many of these out as I can before I'm gone.
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