Ask the Author: D.W. McAliley
Answered Questions (6)
D.W. McAliley
Write. It doesn't matter about what. Set a daily goal to write "x" number of words, and stick to it. Even if you're writing about what you ate for dinner and what a crappy day you had at work.
Writing is like a muscle in your brain. If you suddenly cramp up, and can't write about your main project, stop trying. Write about something else. If you do that for a couple of days, it will get the gears turning and juices flowing, and you'll find you can break through and work on your main project.
Officer of the Watch, my first published book, started this way. It was a random idea I started writing on while blocked out of my main project at the time. The more I worked on it, the more it took on a life of its own, and slowly overtook my other project as my main focus.
You never know where the story's going to take you.
Writing is like a muscle in your brain. If you suddenly cramp up, and can't write about your main project, stop trying. Write about something else. If you do that for a couple of days, it will get the gears turning and juices flowing, and you'll find you can break through and work on your main project.
Officer of the Watch, my first published book, started this way. It was a random idea I started writing on while blocked out of my main project at the time. The more I worked on it, the more it took on a life of its own, and slowly overtook my other project as my main focus.
You never know where the story's going to take you.
D.W. McAliley
Connecting with the audience. Knowing that the words I have put on the page create an emotional, visceral reaction in those reading them.
That, and the freedom to let my imagination run away.... and then trying to catch it again.
That, and the freedom to let my imagination run away.... and then trying to catch it again.
D.W. McAliley
Read first. Read everything you can get your hands on. Read until your eyes feel like they will fall out of your head.
The best thing you can do for your own craft is read what has worked for other people. Pay attention to sentence structure, plot organization, character profiles and creation... really dig into the nuts and bolts of how to write, not just what to write.
And finally, write for you first. Write what you're passionate about and what gets you excited/interested. Your enthusiasm will reflect in your writing, and it is contagious to the readers.
Good luck, and God bless!
The best thing you can do for your own craft is read what has worked for other people. Pay attention to sentence structure, plot organization, character profiles and creation... really dig into the nuts and bolts of how to write, not just what to write.
And finally, write for you first. Write what you're passionate about and what gets you excited/interested. Your enthusiasm will reflect in your writing, and it is contagious to the readers.
Good luck, and God bless!
D.W. McAliley
I have two large projects going.... the Blackout series, which has one volume published already (Officer of the Watch) and another in the works.
I also have a series going that hasn't been published yet. Emergence is a story about an ebola-type filovirus that finds its way into the human population in Brazil. From there, it is introduced into the international airways, and hops from continent to continent. A long incubation period coupled with flu-like transmission rates results in a virus that infects 80% of the people that come into contact with it, and kills 90% of those infected.
This would be a worst case scenario for a viral outbreak. I have put this project on hold for the moment, and am focusing on the Blackout series for now, but Emergence is in the final editing phase, and once it is complete, I will release it as well.
I also have a series going that hasn't been published yet. Emergence is a story about an ebola-type filovirus that finds its way into the human population in Brazil. From there, it is introduced into the international airways, and hops from continent to continent. A long incubation period coupled with flu-like transmission rates results in a virus that infects 80% of the people that come into contact with it, and kills 90% of those infected.
This would be a worst case scenario for a viral outbreak. I have put this project on hold for the moment, and am focusing on the Blackout series for now, but Emergence is in the final editing phase, and once it is complete, I will release it as well.
D.W. McAliley
In 2009, my grandmother (Nanny) bought me a laptop to replace a computer that was 8 years old and failing. In the card that held the check, she wrote a note.... "Doc, write me something."
I've been trying to do as I was told since. I hope I've made her proud.
I've been trying to do as I was told since. I hope I've made her proud.
D.W. McAliley
The rapid collapse of social order in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina caught most domestic security analysts completely off guard. Four days after the storm hit, regular citizens had been reduced to killing each other over bottled water. No one was prepared for a descent into brutality that was so rapid and abrupt.
It took FEMA 7-11 days to get supplies to some of the hardest hit areas.
That moment was a wakeup call to me. If that could happen in a modern US city in the blink of an eye, then it could happen anywhere. I started researching different aspects of that disaster and what led to the rapid break down of social order, and what I found was disturbing. Modern, urbanized society is largely based on the availability of clean drinking water and our ability to import food from distant production sources. If anything were to introduce a break in the chain of supply for those two basic necessities on a nationwide scale, then we would see a post-Katrina style collapse from coast to coast.
A high-altitude EMP poses exactly that kind of threat. It would completely bring down the nation's power grid, which powers the pumps that provide clean drinking water to our cities. It could also directly impact the ability to import food by destroying computer control systems in modern vehicles, rendering most commercial shipping options useless. Given that as much as 80% of our population is urbanized (240 million people) the loss of potable water and fresh food represents a threat to the majority of US citizens.
I began writing this series for two reasons. First, I wanted to present an entertaining and engaging story for the readers. But I also wanted to find a way to spark a conversation and get the readers thinking about readiness and survival in a way that perhaps they hadn't considered before. If something like this were to actually happen, how would you survive? What would you do and what could you use to help you live another day....another week? And, most importantly, what steps can be taken now to increase your odds of survival.
If an EMP, whether natural or man-made, were to occur, the last thing people should do is rely on the federal government to provide the means of their survival.
It took FEMA 7-11 days to get supplies to some of the hardest hit areas.
That moment was a wakeup call to me. If that could happen in a modern US city in the blink of an eye, then it could happen anywhere. I started researching different aspects of that disaster and what led to the rapid break down of social order, and what I found was disturbing. Modern, urbanized society is largely based on the availability of clean drinking water and our ability to import food from distant production sources. If anything were to introduce a break in the chain of supply for those two basic necessities on a nationwide scale, then we would see a post-Katrina style collapse from coast to coast.
A high-altitude EMP poses exactly that kind of threat. It would completely bring down the nation's power grid, which powers the pumps that provide clean drinking water to our cities. It could also directly impact the ability to import food by destroying computer control systems in modern vehicles, rendering most commercial shipping options useless. Given that as much as 80% of our population is urbanized (240 million people) the loss of potable water and fresh food represents a threat to the majority of US citizens.
I began writing this series for two reasons. First, I wanted to present an entertaining and engaging story for the readers. But I also wanted to find a way to spark a conversation and get the readers thinking about readiness and survival in a way that perhaps they hadn't considered before. If something like this were to actually happen, how would you survive? What would you do and what could you use to help you live another day....another week? And, most importantly, what steps can be taken now to increase your odds of survival.
If an EMP, whether natural or man-made, were to occur, the last thing people should do is rely on the federal government to provide the means of their survival.
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