Ask the Author: McKenzie Austin
Answered Questions (9)
McKenzie Austin
The mystery of why I wake up with so much back pain. I'm sleeping! What aggressive, physical activity could I possibly be doing to have aggrieved my spine so much? I'd write it off as getting old, but maybe it's some Moon Knight kind of shit, and I'm actually a hero in my sleep ... or a villain. 😬 Oh, dear.
I bet my dogs help by burying the bodies. Is that why there are so many holes in my yard?
I bet my dogs help by burying the bodies. Is that why there are so many holes in my yard?
McKenzie Austin
I'm very excited for Michele Quirke's release of The Fires of Treason, although that's set for October and not summer (I may have answered this question too late). In any case, bring it on for the fall reading list!
McKenzie Austin
I would absolutely go to the Shire and gorge myself on seed cakes, cheeses, and various breads with Merry and Pippin. Bonus points if they had a little pipe-weed on them.
McKenzie Austin
Honestly, I just write. And it's never good. Writing with writer's block is... wow, it's something else entirely, isn't it? (Me write words. Words look bad. Bad words are bad.)
You just have to power through. There's no limit to how many times you can go back and revise, but the longer you stare at that glaring, blank page... the harder it becomes to make anything. I find it's less disappointing to make something bad than to make nothing at all.
You just have to power through. There's no limit to how many times you can go back and revise, but the longer you stare at that glaring, blank page... the harder it becomes to make anything. I find it's less disappointing to make something bad than to make nothing at all.
McKenzie Austin
For me, it's less about inspiration and more about necessity. I have a full-time job as a tattoo artist. I'm a wife. I'm a mom. On the rare occasion that I have a spare minute to put words to digital paper, I have to make a decision: Am I going to use this time to write?
This is not to discredit my muse. I can tell when s/he is present, because my words either sound like fluid poetry or like they've been dragged from the bottom of a polluted lake, thrown in a food processor, and spread across moldy bread. Thank the gods for editing, am I right?
This is not to discredit my muse. I can tell when s/he is present, because my words either sound like fluid poetry or like they've been dragged from the bottom of a polluted lake, thrown in a food processor, and spread across moldy bread. Thank the gods for editing, am I right?
McKenzie Austin
Don't do it for money.
(I can actually hear some of my other indie author companions chuckling, muttering under their breath, "Money? What money?")
Some people are incredibly successful. And they have every last, genuine 'congratulations' that I have in my body. They are amazing, and they deserve their success.
But sometimes, amazing authors think they're unsuccessful because numbers on a computer screen aren't as good as 'so and so'.
Success should not be measured in dollar signs, my friend. Measure your success in smiles. In tears. In gasps. They don't even have to be the reactions of your readers. Move yourself. Love your characters. Tell their stories. The real success is that you saw something from start to finish. You took an abstract idea and turned it into product concocted of sleepless nights, sacrifices, and raw, good, old-fashioned hard work.
I applaud you for that. You are a success.
(I can actually hear some of my other indie author companions chuckling, muttering under their breath, "Money? What money?")
Some people are incredibly successful. And they have every last, genuine 'congratulations' that I have in my body. They are amazing, and they deserve their success.
But sometimes, amazing authors think they're unsuccessful because numbers on a computer screen aren't as good as 'so and so'.
Success should not be measured in dollar signs, my friend. Measure your success in smiles. In tears. In gasps. They don't even have to be the reactions of your readers. Move yourself. Love your characters. Tell their stories. The real success is that you saw something from start to finish. You took an abstract idea and turned it into product concocted of sleepless nights, sacrifices, and raw, good, old-fashioned hard work.
I applaud you for that. You are a success.
McKenzie Austin
I used to participate in informal creative writing exercises with Kazuaki and Bermuda when I was sixteen years old. Nicholai was born in an Introduction to Creative Writing class in college. I was intimately familiar with them and wanted to dive back into writing... so they seemed like safe bets to test the waters. I knew how they thought. How they'd react to certain things. Their back stories.
I had no outline. I only took what I knew about the characters, and the story developed organically, one chapter at a time. I owe a lot to Kazuaki, Bermuda, and Nicholai. They gave me the confidence to publish, and though it was terrifying putting this vulnerable piece of myself out for the world to judge, I had to... because I loved them so much, it seemed like an injustice to keep them imprisoned in my brain alone.
I had no outline. I only took what I knew about the characters, and the story developed organically, one chapter at a time. I owe a lot to Kazuaki, Bermuda, and Nicholai. They gave me the confidence to publish, and though it was terrifying putting this vulnerable piece of myself out for the world to judge, I had to... because I loved them so much, it seemed like an injustice to keep them imprisoned in my brain alone.
McKenzie Austin
I think the best thing about being a writer is exploring psychological traits in people. When you craft your own characters, you're essentially saying, "This person would react this way, because this is what they experienced in their nature/nurture environment".
You really bond with these fictitious people. It's almost as if they're tangible beings, which I also find fascinating, since, essentially, they're different parts of yourself. I guess, what I'm trying to say, is writing is a unique way to get to know yourself better... from your best qualities to your worst.
You really bond with these fictitious people. It's almost as if they're tangible beings, which I also find fascinating, since, essentially, they're different parts of yourself. I guess, what I'm trying to say, is writing is a unique way to get to know yourself better... from your best qualities to your worst.
McKenzie Austin
I'm currently working on book two of The Panagea Tales. For all of those who enjoyed 'The Tree That Grew Through Iron', I hope you enjoy reconnecting with the characters again in 'The Gods Who Harvested Men'.
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