Ask the Author: Adam J. Smith
Answered Questions (9)
Adam J. Smith
Ha - no, but I did watch that last year after the fact - and enjoyed it!
Adam J. Smith
Thanks for asking! It's a continuation - the Neon series as a whole will be 3 trilogies: Neon Sands, Neon City & Neon Driver. The cliched rule of 3 is going into exponential overdrive. The idea is that each will be thematically slightly different, exploring a wide cast of characters, some that will drop in and out, all building towards a Neon X conclusion!
Adam J. Smith
Thanks for the comment! Part of this is answered in parts 2 and 3 - while I'm working on a prequel right now that will answer more...
Adam J. Smith
Good writing and being moved by other work. Sometimes a line can do it, like:
"A half-eaten sandwich sat atop the landing where someone had felt too sad to finish it." - Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides
Or sometimes it can be something really bland and boring which has made it to print and leaves you wondering, how can I be worse than this?
Ultimately, of course - not to understate it - life inspires; love and hate (because as we learned from Donnie Darko, that's all that matters).
"A half-eaten sandwich sat atop the landing where someone had felt too sad to finish it." - Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides
Or sometimes it can be something really bland and boring which has made it to print and leaves you wondering, how can I be worse than this?
Ultimately, of course - not to understate it - life inspires; love and hate (because as we learned from Donnie Darko, that's all that matters).
Adam J. Smith
I have 2 longer projects I'm working on: 'Frontier Dawn' and 'Neon Driver'.
'Frontier Dawn' is a continuation of a University dissertation piece I did for my Creative Writing class, but it needs a lot of work to expand it and bring it into the kind of style and ability I have now. It's also a difficult one to write, as the narrator is a place, not a person or all-knowing god.
'Neon Driver' is in the planning stage (yes, this one will be planned out!) It's set in an alternate future world; will be dark, will be creative with language and be neo-80s, whatever that is. I just made that up. I'll be going for a certain vibe is all I know, and the narrator here will be a bit of a bad guy, but hopefully sympathetically so.
There will also likely be a stream of short stories, as I continue to enter competitions with the hope of one day hitting the right note in some judge's head. Rather than perservere with failed winners though, these will be posted as free eBooks and stories on Kindle and Smashwords, and perhaps even collated in the future into a paid collection - so read them while they're free!
'Frontier Dawn' is a continuation of a University dissertation piece I did for my Creative Writing class, but it needs a lot of work to expand it and bring it into the kind of style and ability I have now. It's also a difficult one to write, as the narrator is a place, not a person or all-knowing god.
'Neon Driver' is in the planning stage (yes, this one will be planned out!) It's set in an alternate future world; will be dark, will be creative with language and be neo-80s, whatever that is. I just made that up. I'll be going for a certain vibe is all I know, and the narrator here will be a bit of a bad guy, but hopefully sympathetically so.
There will also likely be a stream of short stories, as I continue to enter competitions with the hope of one day hitting the right note in some judge's head. Rather than perservere with failed winners though, these will be posted as free eBooks and stories on Kindle and Smashwords, and perhaps even collated in the future into a paid collection - so read them while they're free!
Adam J. Smith
The best thing? Hitting that perfect, beautiful note; when you know the sentence you just crafted was good. One good sentence after another is what you aim for. It's about the most personal, insular profession you can have, so while you may enjoy the plaudits and praise, and the narcisist in you enjoys the attention, or the greedy bastard in you enjoys the cheques, or you just like being able to say to people "I'm a writer" and hearing them reply "Wow, kudos, I don't know how you do it. I've been meaning to do something for years": it all boils down to the you-and-the-blank-screen relationship, fishing for pearls and knowing when you get it right.
Adam J. Smith
Inspiration for The Risen is a combination of my love for horror, videogames (The Last of Us), coming-of-age stories, and Nanowrimo. Nanowrimo inspired me to write for quantity over quality; knowing what my aim was, I was able to draw upon collected ideas (who knows from where) and focus them into an adventure, road-trip-esque, horror. Writing for Nanowrimo has to be fast-paced, so I made the story fast-paced (or at least in places) - it was able to lend a quality of speed and adventure which suited the writing style.
I answered another question saying you should always plan. Well, I didn't really plan with The Risen. I had the general world, a character, and a rule for the 'monsters' in the story, but not a lot else. I wanted to see if I could let a story find its own way, much as I've read the likes of Stephen King do. I paid the price in the editing stage, BUT, it really wasn't as bad as it could have been. You are inspired at the end by what you have already accomplished. So I can't recommend Nanowrimo enough.
I answered another question saying you should always plan. Well, I didn't really plan with The Risen. I had the general world, a character, and a rule for the 'monsters' in the story, but not a lot else. I wanted to see if I could let a story find its own way, much as I've read the likes of Stephen King do. I paid the price in the editing stage, BUT, it really wasn't as bad as it could have been. You are inspired at the end by what you have already accomplished. So I can't recommend Nanowrimo enough.
Adam J. Smith
Read as much as you can so you understand not only what makes a compelling story, or an interesting character, but also how they are presented. Great writing can elevate a simple story, adding flesh to the back bone of the narrative or beating heart of the protagonist. It's important to recognise that both the what and the how are equally important; no-one wants to read a poorly written, lazily structured sci-fi / Hobbitan-cross if they can't make it through a paragraph without having to stop and figure out what's going on. Likewise, the most colourful language in the world can only ascribe a certain amount of interest to a freshly painted wall.
Beyond this, understand your personal motives and realise how difficult it is. Write what you want to write, not what you think you should write (if you don't enjoy the process or the story, then you'll never get motivation). If you don't read sci-fi, don't write sci-fi. If you think erotica will make you money, make sure you do your research first. Find niches, aspire to originality, keep a notebook, and plan. The more you plan, the less editing you will need to do. Decide if this is a passion, or a job. Aspire for it to be both.
Beyond this, understand your personal motives and realise how difficult it is. Write what you want to write, not what you think you should write (if you don't enjoy the process or the story, then you'll never get motivation). If you don't read sci-fi, don't write sci-fi. If you think erotica will make you money, make sure you do your research first. Find niches, aspire to originality, keep a notebook, and plan. The more you plan, the less editing you will need to do. Decide if this is a passion, or a job. Aspire for it to be both.
Adam J. Smith
This is a difficult one to answer usefully as I'm not sure I've ever really had writer's block. For me, the closest analogy would be procrastination and being easily distracted. I've always had the ideas, the problem has been sitting at the computer and developing them. But there comes a point when you realise these things just don't write themselves!
Some advice that might help (though it's a pretty standard reply): the act of writing in itself is a release, is practice. I can see how you might have ideas but have trouble formulating the sentences so they sound how you want, or just struggle knowing what to say. But that can be remedied through writing, writing, writing, and reading, reading, reading. The bigger problem is if you don't have an idea to begin with. Even with this problem though, I would suggest that the act of writing itself could unleash something; start with one line and see where that takes you. Everything can be edited afterwards.
Some advice that might help (though it's a pretty standard reply): the act of writing in itself is a release, is practice. I can see how you might have ideas but have trouble formulating the sentences so they sound how you want, or just struggle knowing what to say. But that can be remedied through writing, writing, writing, and reading, reading, reading. The bigger problem is if you don't have an idea to begin with. Even with this problem though, I would suggest that the act of writing itself could unleash something; start with one line and see where that takes you. Everything can be edited afterwards.
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