Ask the Author: Robert Alexander Swanson
Answered Questions (4)
Robert Alexander Swanson
Mystery as in crime or unexplainable, none, but mystery in the sense of supernatural, many.
* Walking with a stranger leading me back to town in deep snow. I had tracks in the snow, he did not.
* In a group overnight with people all over the floor and in bunk beds, a kid on the far side of the room fell out of the top bunk. It was pitch dark and all I remember is waking up and then being next to the kid. One of the others turned on the light. The kid had fallen in the only place he could have without hitting anyone, and there was no way for me to get from my bunk to him without stepping on people. And I stepped on no one.
* Drowning in the ocean and out of nowhere a log floats up to me.
* Countless other examples.
All my life (and all of yours) God has been looking out for me, even when I was a dumb teenager and didn't believe in him.
* Walking with a stranger leading me back to town in deep snow. I had tracks in the snow, he did not.
* In a group overnight with people all over the floor and in bunk beds, a kid on the far side of the room fell out of the top bunk. It was pitch dark and all I remember is waking up and then being next to the kid. One of the others turned on the light. The kid had fallen in the only place he could have without hitting anyone, and there was no way for me to get from my bunk to him without stepping on people. And I stepped on no one.
* Drowning in the ocean and out of nowhere a log floats up to me.
* Countless other examples.
All my life (and all of yours) God has been looking out for me, even when I was a dumb teenager and didn't believe in him.
Robert Alexander Swanson
People say write, write, write... 10,000 pages and you'll learn your craft. This isn't true. Write, get edited, rewrite, get edited, write some more.
I've been employed in a lot of writing jobs. My degrees taught me story, but it was as a resume writer that I really learned to write well. In a resume, you have to tell a long story in as few words as possible. My editor marked up my pages, demanding more concise writing. He taught me what to look for, how to weed out verbosity and paint a clear picture. For what it's worth, I made more per word writing resumes than any other form I've work in.
Editing is necessary. Writing a lot without it is just typing.
I've been employed in a lot of writing jobs. My degrees taught me story, but it was as a resume writer that I really learned to write well. In a resume, you have to tell a long story in as few words as possible. My editor marked up my pages, demanding more concise writing. He taught me what to look for, how to weed out verbosity and paint a clear picture. For what it's worth, I made more per word writing resumes than any other form I've work in.
Editing is necessary. Writing a lot without it is just typing.
Robert Alexander Swanson
A non-fiction book on creativity. I've read a lot of books that talk about what to do with creativity, but none explore what it is. I do. :)
Robert Alexander Swanson
I love coming-of-age stories, and while Me and the Maniac in Outer Space didn't start out that way, it eventually revealed itself to be just that. It was supposed to be an adventure...
Typically ideas bubble up from unknown sources, but in this case the references were clear. A boyhood favorite was Mutiny on the Time Machine. Mix that with the unique friendship I had as a boy with my own maniac, a trip to Mammoth caves, and a good deal of heavenly inspiration and I was off and running. It originally went one way, but my computer fried and I only had a partial back up. Starting from there, it went a completely different direction. Two boys find a Personal Space Transportation Device and start jaunting through space. What could possibly go wrong? Read it and find out!
Typically ideas bubble up from unknown sources, but in this case the references were clear. A boyhood favorite was Mutiny on the Time Machine. Mix that with the unique friendship I had as a boy with my own maniac, a trip to Mammoth caves, and a good deal of heavenly inspiration and I was off and running. It originally went one way, but my computer fried and I only had a partial back up. Starting from there, it went a completely different direction. Two boys find a Personal Space Transportation Device and start jaunting through space. What could possibly go wrong? Read it and find out!
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