Ask the Author: Steve Semler
Answered Questions (9)
Steve Semler
In the apartment next door, the noises suddenly stopped. The night was still for a long moment, and then the scratching started again on the other side of the wall.
Steve Semler
The Star Trek universe. I would visit new (to me) worlds and study the medicine, health, mental health, economics, politics, and organizational techniques that make Earth and the Federation work, so I could bring that back from the journey.
Steve Semler
*laughs*
I have been writing creatively since I was 11 years old, or possibly earlier. Fifth grade, maybe? My first real work was what we would call fan fiction these days. I read Watership Down, by Richard Adams, and wrote several short stories following up on the book's characters. I've been writing in one way or another ever since. I never did anything with those first stories, and I can't find them again, but that's where I would say I got started.
What inspires me to write these days is a "what if?" question. Here are some of those recent questions. See if you can figure out which go with which of my stories:
- "What if a young wife got superpowers and her husband didn't? What would that do to their relationship, and what would they realize about themselves and their relationship?"
- "What if a girl's superhero mother died saving the world? What would that do to her, and how would she handle the loss as she grew up?"
- "What if the new superhero feels like an impostor to the role, being so new and inexperienced? With so much riding on her decisions, and everyone looking to her for guidance, how would she handle the responsibility?"
- "What if there was a brain implant chip that gave people's rational brains an edge over the old brain 'fight, flight, or freeze' reflex? What if acceptance of that chip became a tipping point for the first viable third party in US politics in more than a century? What if it were discovered in the run-up to a presidential election that someone was hacking that chip?"
Ultimately, what inspires me is the "what if?" for a situation. I do a lot of business writing, and there is always something in those client situations that offers a host of "what if's" for me and the people in those organizations to explore. It's often just a matter of finding the most interesting or helpful "what if's" to use.
I have been writing creatively since I was 11 years old, or possibly earlier. Fifth grade, maybe? My first real work was what we would call fan fiction these days. I read Watership Down, by Richard Adams, and wrote several short stories following up on the book's characters. I've been writing in one way or another ever since. I never did anything with those first stories, and I can't find them again, but that's where I would say I got started.
What inspires me to write these days is a "what if?" question. Here are some of those recent questions. See if you can figure out which go with which of my stories:
- "What if a young wife got superpowers and her husband didn't? What would that do to their relationship, and what would they realize about themselves and their relationship?"
- "What if a girl's superhero mother died saving the world? What would that do to her, and how would she handle the loss as she grew up?"
- "What if the new superhero feels like an impostor to the role, being so new and inexperienced? With so much riding on her decisions, and everyone looking to her for guidance, how would she handle the responsibility?"
- "What if there was a brain implant chip that gave people's rational brains an edge over the old brain 'fight, flight, or freeze' reflex? What if acceptance of that chip became a tipping point for the first viable third party in US politics in more than a century? What if it were discovered in the run-up to a presidential election that someone was hacking that chip?"
Ultimately, what inspires me is the "what if?" for a situation. I do a lot of business writing, and there is always something in those client situations that offers a host of "what if's" for me and the people in those organizations to explore. It's often just a matter of finding the most interesting or helpful "what if's" to use.
Steve Semler
Do it. Write. Write and share it with others. Somewhere, there is someone who needs the story or article you have written.
Keep improving your writing skills. Read a variety of authors and look at how they do things with their writing. Remember that the skill comes through dedicated practice, even if popularity or critical acclaim is somewhat a matter of luck and fashion.
If I can write a book, so can you.
Keep improving your writing skills. Read a variety of authors and look at how they do things with their writing. Remember that the skill comes through dedicated practice, even if popularity or critical acclaim is somewhat a matter of luck and fashion.
If I can write a book, so can you.
Steve Semler
Being able to craft and tell a story that moves you, and the hope that it will move others in some way. After the creative process itself, the next best thing is when readers tell you that you succeeded and it did have some special meaning for them.
Steve Semler
I write in the speculative genres--science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy. There aren't really any mysteries in my life that would make a great plot for a book. Settings, characters, things to push into the future and explore, definitely, but not as plot.
The mysteries in my life are some of the ordinary things that make better personal interest stories: what do we do about family mental health struggles, the changing nature of work relationships, the uncertain political environment, or the geeky, science-loving, introverted nature of the family, in general.
I can see a visit to the Minnesota Science Museum as the kick-off point for a story. Or something happening at a high school basketball game or band concert. Fairly ordinary settings as a backdrop for highly unusual events. I have used that sort of thing a number of times in each of my books, in fact. The cabin in northern Wisconsin where Sheena, the main character of my Venture City stories, get the powers of an ancient pre-Sumerian goddess was taken very closely from my father's home near Hayward. That's the sort of thing from real life that I tend to use in my stories.
The mysteries in my life are some of the ordinary things that make better personal interest stories: what do we do about family mental health struggles, the changing nature of work relationships, the uncertain political environment, or the geeky, science-loving, introverted nature of the family, in general.
I can see a visit to the Minnesota Science Museum as the kick-off point for a story. Or something happening at a high school basketball game or band concert. Fairly ordinary settings as a backdrop for highly unusual events. I have used that sort of thing a number of times in each of my books, in fact. The cabin in northern Wisconsin where Sheena, the main character of my Venture City stories, get the powers of an ancient pre-Sumerian goddess was taken very closely from my father's home near Hayward. That's the sort of thing from real life that I tend to use in my stories.
Steve Semler
Gamergate. Actually, it was the media and Twitter streams and blogs and comments about competing ways of thinking and being underneath the Gamergate issue. That sparked the underlying subplot in "A Wing and a Prayer" that explores what happens to a husband and wife pair when the wife gains superpowers, the husband doesn't, and they both have to deal with the changes. The superheroic adventure story over the top of that isn't all that unique, but I hope it's engaging and enjoyable. The relationship subtext is what drove the story in the direction it went. Oh, and it helped inform the unusual ending, too!
Steve Semler
In priority order:
1. "All Forests are One" - A sequel to "A Wing and a Prayer" that is shaping up a lot like "War for the Oaks" meets "City of Heroes."
2. "Land Grant" - A short story for submission to a curated anthology about fighting women in practical armor. This involves the catling characters I've used before, but may be a little too... weird... for some audiences. To be determined.
3. "The Tranquility Chip" - What if people implanted chips in their brains that gave them the ability to control the amygdala's fight-flight-freeze reflex? (This is only 30 years out, at most.) Who might find this threatening? Who might support it? What happens when an individual finds himself caught between those forces, especially if the detractors found a way to remotely hack the chips?
4. "CHESS Squad" - Very rough working title for a teens/young reader's series set in Venture City. Inspired by my daughters.
1. "All Forests are One" - A sequel to "A Wing and a Prayer" that is shaping up a lot like "War for the Oaks" meets "City of Heroes."
2. "Land Grant" - A short story for submission to a curated anthology about fighting women in practical armor. This involves the catling characters I've used before, but may be a little too... weird... for some audiences. To be determined.
3. "The Tranquility Chip" - What if people implanted chips in their brains that gave them the ability to control the amygdala's fight-flight-freeze reflex? (This is only 30 years out, at most.) Who might find this threatening? Who might support it? What happens when an individual finds himself caught between those forces, especially if the detractors found a way to remotely hack the chips?
4. "CHESS Squad" - Very rough working title for a teens/young reader's series set in Venture City. Inspired by my daughters.
Steve Semler
Writer's block? I have several strategies, including one I got from a wonderful creative writing teacher in high school, Roman Borgerding.
1. Work on a different level of the same story. In other words, if I'm working on something in a chapter and the right words or dialogue aren't coming, then I might diagram out what I want to happen more generally in blocks. This looks like... Sheena: Doesn't want to hear the suggestion. Gayle: Tries several times, getting more frustrated each time. Sheena: Gets it, but is just not accepting. Etc.
2. Brute force it. It's okay if most of one's writing is garbage. In my case, I have the time (in most circumstances) to edit. Just write. Put words on paper or to the screen. Switch modes, if that helps--go to paper if you've been sitting in front of the keyboard stuck, for example. Give it a half an hour of trying, then stop, take a break, come back. Keep writing through the garbage, as Roman used to say, and there will eventually be something good in there. Writers write, as a number of authors have said.
3. Switch stories. Work on a different story, or a different "What if?" This can be easier in science fiction where the whole genre is based on asking those "What if?" questions about humanity's reactions to different possibilities or situations. I have more story ideas than time to write them out. I think many authors are in that same boat. There is always something else to noodle with.
4. Go do research. If I'm stuck on how to describe or say something, I might go and do focused surfing to learn more, see pictures, get some ideas. Talking to supportive friends and posing questions to them can help in the same way.
1. Work on a different level of the same story. In other words, if I'm working on something in a chapter and the right words or dialogue aren't coming, then I might diagram out what I want to happen more generally in blocks. This looks like... Sheena: Doesn't want to hear the suggestion. Gayle: Tries several times, getting more frustrated each time. Sheena: Gets it, but is just not accepting. Etc.
2. Brute force it. It's okay if most of one's writing is garbage. In my case, I have the time (in most circumstances) to edit. Just write. Put words on paper or to the screen. Switch modes, if that helps--go to paper if you've been sitting in front of the keyboard stuck, for example. Give it a half an hour of trying, then stop, take a break, come back. Keep writing through the garbage, as Roman used to say, and there will eventually be something good in there. Writers write, as a number of authors have said.
3. Switch stories. Work on a different story, or a different "What if?" This can be easier in science fiction where the whole genre is based on asking those "What if?" questions about humanity's reactions to different possibilities or situations. I have more story ideas than time to write them out. I think many authors are in that same boat. There is always something else to noodle with.
4. Go do research. If I'm stuck on how to describe or say something, I might go and do focused surfing to learn more, see pictures, get some ideas. Talking to supportive friends and posing questions to them can help in the same way.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more