Ask the Author: John Wiley
Answered Questions (6)
John Wiley
Hi! The fictionalizing of locales was something that happened when I was moving the cattle around. I wanted their movement to be reasonable rather than fantastical, and found myself bending the world to suit that purpose. So, there is no such bike path and the park was an arrangement of practical details: the hill rising above the pond, the bike path passing through, the maintenance building and parking lot in relation to the pond etc. Same with details of the apartment complex. Otherwise, when characters were driving cars around, it was easy and simpler to just stick with the actual. I scouted out the TJ's on Morse Road before writing about it. The neighborhood around Farmer and Sandy's farm is pretty real--I live on a hundred acre farm just outside Johnstown. The feed mill is a loving memory as it shut down a long time ago. Thanks for asking!
John Wiley
Right now I am working on marketing my novel An Inconvenient Herd. Learning on the fly about how best to launch a book and offer it the wider audience you and a smaller circle of readers think it merits. This will make me a better writer--one cannot produce in a vacuum! By Christmas 2018 I will be working full time on another novel. It will come to me. I will update as that comes into focus.
John Wiley
So many things. For one, you can be anywhere. Also, it makes you a better reader--sharpens your sensitivities and your appreciation for successful writing.
John Wiley
Write every day, or anyway do something: sharpen pencils, clean your office, buy stuff you need at the office supply store.
Try to stop writing at a high point. When things are working, you are in a flow, having happy surprises, stop then and there...you can daydream fondly on the project as you are out in the world buying groceries or walking the dog. The next day, when your writing time comes, you can return to the project with eagerness and positivity.
Try to stop writing at a high point. When things are working, you are in a flow, having happy surprises, stop then and there...you can daydream fondly on the project as you are out in the world buying groceries or walking the dog. The next day, when your writing time comes, you can return to the project with eagerness and positivity.
John Wiley
Write about what you know. Write every day. I think it is important to write "for" or "to" an audience, even an abstract or hypothetical one. In other words: be genuine and fully present in the work, use yourself up in creating it, but make the work communal: not only available for readers but made with their partnership in mind.
John Wiley
An Inconvenient Herd is the story of runaway cows and the adventures they have while Farmer is looking for them. The inspiration? My cows getting out! There is nothing more shocking or upsetting than finding them gone...partly because you know they are in harms way and that their sense of well being is compromised. Cattle are such nervous creatures, so easily stressed. So that was the idea, kind of like Stephen King saying you should write about what frightens you the most. It provides a sharpness of focus. Plus, I have always appreciated how good a story line a quest can be: a natural and somewhat forgiving structure that lets the writer and reader focus on characters they encounter.
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