Ask the Author: Ken L. Gould
Answered Questions (6)
Ken L. Gould
I really can't find where my car fob went. Actually, I lost all my keys, though the keys were replaced easily enough. I lost it in the snow over the winter. Now, while this would not make for a very exciting book, I might replace the fob with something else, far more intense. Maybe it's a girl's number, a beautiful girl and I am in the 9th grade, though I suppose I could Facebook stalk her these days. Maybe it also had her name on it, and I can't remember her name. Maybe it's the key to a locker with money I owe a drug dealer or the money I was going to pay to the kidnappers of my kid (sound too much like the plot to a movie you've seen?) The point is I think all fictional plots contain some bits and pieces of us and our experiences. You just have to spice them up so you don't bore the hell out of people. The greatest sin an author can make is to be boring.
Ken L. Gould
I read a lot of Scientific American and have since college, which has kept me up on science, which I would certainly have forgotten had I not read that magazine every month for over 20 years. Anyway, I read an article about these rodents and an experiment where these cool researchers put them into hibernation. Don't worry, the rodents turned out fine, though some pigs didn't fare so well. I always wanted to work it into a story, so I did, though my first attempts were clumsy and amateurish at best. The stem cells were simply a way of healing someone and perhaps doing something which is on the horizon but not yet realized. That is, growing whole organs. Then I realized stem cells had some very interesting uses, if one had no ethical boundaries. And hence, Death's Grip was born. Throw all that together, plumb it's depths, as it were, and it made for one interesting tale. Enjoy!
Ken L. Gould
Don't give up. I did when I was younger and came to regret it. I didn't realize that the frustrations I was experiencing were what most amateurs go through. I wrote in circles. Everything came out sounding like someone else, etc. etc. I suppose at some point you have to give up on the idea of writing a blockbuster We all want the world to love our children as much as we do. Just like real children, the truth is they don't. When it comes to books, unlike our real children, we have to be honest with ourselves. Let's face it, some children are just ugly. If you aren't honest with yourself, you'll never break through to that next level of writing something people really want to read on a mass scale or that agents or editors will recognize as true quality story-telling. Or you may just be content to write niche stuff that only appeals to a small submarket. That's ok, too. You have to ask yourself who you want to be as a writer and what kind of stories you want to tell. Becoming good at that is hard as hell, but then finding stories worth telling that people really want to read and will pay to read is even harder. Stephen King, just to use one example, became a brand that people just had to have. That's your goal should you choose to accept it. Become your own unique brand. You can't write what others are writing. Become unique. That ain't easy.
Ken L. Gould
All readers are fundamentally curious. It's what unites us. That's even more true of writers. We get to explore things, whether they be settings or my character's minds. I get to explore fascinating ideas and discover their interesting and sometimes dark depths and do all that through someone else's eyes. And I do it through words, which is the other great part of story-telling. I love to wander through the landscape given us by the English language. I love to weave words into a colorful tapestry that casts a spell and haunts the reader long after they left my pages for less-satisfying destinations. I love haunting my reader's mind. I'm sick, I know.
Ken L. Gould
Heathcliff and Catherine. A lot of readers want the dreamy version of life, where everything works out and the guy gets the girl (or the girl gets the guy.) I don't. There's something very real, sad and poetic about a couple kept apart due to circumstances they can't control. That's how life happens. And yes, literature should mirror life in this respect. Otherwise, it's soap operish and stupid. I prefer stories like Gone Girl, where the couple is trapped in a loveless marriage that they can't get out of, something with a darkness and sadness to it. All stories should be a bit poetic if an author wants to strive for something great and timeless, rather than garden variety and cookie cutter. So my vote goes to Catherine and Heathcliff, the bitterness of a love denied.
Ken L. Gould
Don't stare at the page for endless hours. Don't fight it. Don't try and force your way through it. You're liable to get nowhere. Go away for awhile. Live your life. Walk the dog, do the dishes, get out of the house, go on vacation, whatever. Take a break. Twain said he thought he ran out of ideas when writing Huckleberry Fin. So he went away, slept and came back. The creative well was filled again and he finished it (though the ending of that great American novel leaves something to desired.) Don't fight writer's block. You'll lose. Just wait and let the ideas come.
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