Ask the Author: Jason Fuesting
Answered Questions (6)
Jason Fuesting
Honestly, the acronyms were only a problem earlier on in my military career. Past a certain point, you stop noticing them as acronyms at all. That's largely why I joke about being fluent in aceonyms. Much like a language, as long as you keep using them, you remember them for quite some time.
As for my next project, if this writer's block would go away, I'm working on the next book in the sci-fi series. It's told from Morgan's perspective. After that, I'll be working on the sequel to Dusk Knight. Thankfully I've been able to recover what I already wrote when my hard drive crashed earlier in 2024.
As for my next project, if this writer's block would go away, I'm working on the next book in the sci-fi series. It's told from Morgan's perspective. After that, I'll be working on the sequel to Dusk Knight. Thankfully I've been able to recover what I already wrote when my hard drive crashed earlier in 2024.
Jason Fuesting
Your mileage may vary, but for me, it's the freedom to just create new things, to explore concepts and see how they might reflect on the larger world. Though, my interest in physics probably makes that unsurprising. Don't get me wrong, getting paid for it is a nice side bonus, but at this point in my writing career I'm not at "Quit your day job" levels of income yet.
Jason Fuesting
Not that I think I'm accomplished enough to make any sort of authoritative claims here, but a few things come to mind.
1. Accept that everything you write when you first start out is crap. It might not be, but that's not the point. Accepting that you have a lot to learn is the first step toward actually learning. You can't get better if you're unwilling to see the blemishes in what you've made.
2. Don't give up. As one of the guys in my shop back when I was in the Navy was fond of saying: "Life sucks. Buy a helmet." He wasn't wrong.
People will call your work crap, even if it isn't. People will assume your characters are indicative of your beliefs even when they aren't. People will read messages into your work that you never intended or flatly don't exist. People will make all sorts of assumptions about the story, about you, about your characters. People will opinions about everything, and sometimes it's hard to remember that validity does not depend on whether you like the message or not. Negative feedback can be valid and positive feedback can be invalid. Lastly, people will tell you your book needs an editor, even if you're already paying someone to do it, which is more than a little frustrating.
3. Sift the wheat from the chaff. You'll get plenty of "It's bad/good/whatever" feedback, but knowing why they see it the way they do is most important. Without the 'why' you'll never be able to isolate what you need to learn to improve.
4. Everyone has different tastes, different preferences for what they like. If only one or two of your beta readers comment on a thing, it's likely a preference issue. If half your beta readers ping on a specific thing, then you aught to pay attention.
5. Remember that it's YOUR book, not theirs. In concert with the last point, don't get intimidated into writing something you hate. It's been quite a while, so my memory isn't terribly clear, but one of my prospective editors for By Dawn's Early Light insisted I gut BDEL and Foreign Shores. IIRC, their preference would've been for me to focus on Eric's relationship with Leah and basically turn the series into something far more Space Opera. IMO, they missed the point/theme of the overall story I was trying to get at. I can't say what I published was necessarily better, but it was at the very least true to what I wanted to write.
6. Don't write things you don't want to write. That will suck the soul out of your writing, which says nothing about what it will do to you. This part is actually remarkably difficult because you're put in a position of deciding if your vision is worthwhile, or if the other person is actually correct. All I can say that you'll need a lot of introspection and the points made above.
7. Be brave. Admittedly, it's difficult to differentiate between bravery and sufficiently advanced stupidity, but if you throw in the towel because of negative feedback, you're letting them win. If you rewrite your whole book to appease the masses, you'll please none of them.
8. I don't use sensitivity readers for a reason. They make the book bland by removing all the quirks and blemishes that make characters and the universe you're writing in interesting.
No single person is purely good or purely evil in any context that exists outside of their own head. Whitewashing over character flaws turns your characters and your world into cardboard cutouts who feel sterile and lifeless. Sure, you'll get hate, but see my points above.
Several characters in my sci-fi series come from an unabashedly fascist empire. If they were purely angelic and didn't act in the least bit like what you'd expect from a place like that, they'd ring completely false. Overall, you do have to thread the needle between authenticity and blatant offensiveness, but keep in mind that no matter what you write, someone will find something to complain about. I chose to not hide the fact that my characters have their flaws, that their cultures might simply be wrong on certain topics, because that's how real people are, flawed. What you choose is up to you.
1. Accept that everything you write when you first start out is crap. It might not be, but that's not the point. Accepting that you have a lot to learn is the first step toward actually learning. You can't get better if you're unwilling to see the blemishes in what you've made.
2. Don't give up. As one of the guys in my shop back when I was in the Navy was fond of saying: "Life sucks. Buy a helmet." He wasn't wrong.
People will call your work crap, even if it isn't. People will assume your characters are indicative of your beliefs even when they aren't. People will read messages into your work that you never intended or flatly don't exist. People will make all sorts of assumptions about the story, about you, about your characters. People will opinions about everything, and sometimes it's hard to remember that validity does not depend on whether you like the message or not. Negative feedback can be valid and positive feedback can be invalid. Lastly, people will tell you your book needs an editor, even if you're already paying someone to do it, which is more than a little frustrating.
3. Sift the wheat from the chaff. You'll get plenty of "It's bad/good/whatever" feedback, but knowing why they see it the way they do is most important. Without the 'why' you'll never be able to isolate what you need to learn to improve.
4. Everyone has different tastes, different preferences for what they like. If only one or two of your beta readers comment on a thing, it's likely a preference issue. If half your beta readers ping on a specific thing, then you aught to pay attention.
5. Remember that it's YOUR book, not theirs. In concert with the last point, don't get intimidated into writing something you hate. It's been quite a while, so my memory isn't terribly clear, but one of my prospective editors for By Dawn's Early Light insisted I gut BDEL and Foreign Shores. IIRC, their preference would've been for me to focus on Eric's relationship with Leah and basically turn the series into something far more Space Opera. IMO, they missed the point/theme of the overall story I was trying to get at. I can't say what I published was necessarily better, but it was at the very least true to what I wanted to write.
6. Don't write things you don't want to write. That will suck the soul out of your writing, which says nothing about what it will do to you. This part is actually remarkably difficult because you're put in a position of deciding if your vision is worthwhile, or if the other person is actually correct. All I can say that you'll need a lot of introspection and the points made above.
7. Be brave. Admittedly, it's difficult to differentiate between bravery and sufficiently advanced stupidity, but if you throw in the towel because of negative feedback, you're letting them win. If you rewrite your whole book to appease the masses, you'll please none of them.
8. I don't use sensitivity readers for a reason. They make the book bland by removing all the quirks and blemishes that make characters and the universe you're writing in interesting.
No single person is purely good or purely evil in any context that exists outside of their own head. Whitewashing over character flaws turns your characters and your world into cardboard cutouts who feel sterile and lifeless. Sure, you'll get hate, but see my points above.
Several characters in my sci-fi series come from an unabashedly fascist empire. If they were purely angelic and didn't act in the least bit like what you'd expect from a place like that, they'd ring completely false. Overall, you do have to thread the needle between authenticity and blatant offensiveness, but keep in mind that no matter what you write, someone will find something to complain about. I chose to not hide the fact that my characters have their flaws, that their cultures might simply be wrong on certain topics, because that's how real people are, flawed. What you choose is up to you.
Jason Fuesting
Other than trying to find a day job? I'm in the last stretch of beta reader feedback and editing for the third book in my sci-fi series, This We'll Defend.
Otherwise, in terms of new content, I've got two works in progress:
1. Chrysalis is a side-story in the sci-fi series told from a different character's perspective. Thematically, it's far more cloak and dagger than the main series and takes place in the British Systems instead of Pershing. Per one reader's feedback, it's closer to the older James Bond novels in a lot of respects. Otherwise, it will chronologically overlap the ending of book 3 and the beginning of book 4 while heavily rounding out a character first introduced in Foreign Shores. I've got about ~125k words written currently.
2. Midnight Sun (tentative title) is the sequel to Dusk Knight. Only have ~30k words done for this one, and when I get back to it I'll have to chainsaw out the majority of the last scene I was working on because I realized the writer's block I hit was because I'd written it in the wrong direction.
Otherwise, in terms of new content, I've got two works in progress:
1. Chrysalis is a side-story in the sci-fi series told from a different character's perspective. Thematically, it's far more cloak and dagger than the main series and takes place in the British Systems instead of Pershing. Per one reader's feedback, it's closer to the older James Bond novels in a lot of respects. Otherwise, it will chronologically overlap the ending of book 3 and the beginning of book 4 while heavily rounding out a character first introduced in Foreign Shores. I've got about ~125k words written currently.
2. Midnight Sun (tentative title) is the sequel to Dusk Knight. Only have ~30k words done for this one, and when I get back to it I'll have to chainsaw out the majority of the last scene I was working on because I realized the writer's block I hit was because I'd written it in the wrong direction.
Jason Fuesting
Growing up in the 80s/90s, I was an avid reader. Sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction, it didn't really matter so long as it was entertaining. I did a fair bit of scribbling before high school, but I knew it was all trash so it went nowhere. I developed an AD&D habit around then that carried over into high school and my time in the Navy. Developed a campaign world with the help of some friends that I still ran games in up until a few years ago, when getting my physics degree started demanding all of my time, not just a bit of it.
All that time, I liked writing, but was convinced I'd never be able to make any money at it so I never did more than use my inspirations to expand my campaign world.
Then I got sleep apnea and all the lovely cognitive side effects that came with it. Life got remarkably stressful in a very short amount of time and I developed a fair amount of depression because I didn't understand why I was suddenly having so many issues. My wife, who was part of the last gaming group I DMed, suggested I actually start writing to help deal with things. I picked up an old, incomplete draft of a story I'd started set in that campaign world, and started filling it in. It's still not published due to needing a lot of TLC, but that's what got the ball rolling.
All that time, I liked writing, but was convinced I'd never be able to make any money at it so I never did more than use my inspirations to expand my campaign world.
Then I got sleep apnea and all the lovely cognitive side effects that came with it. Life got remarkably stressful in a very short amount of time and I developed a fair amount of depression because I didn't understand why I was suddenly having so many issues. My wife, who was part of the last gaming group I DMed, suggested I actually start writing to help deal with things. I picked up an old, incomplete draft of a story I'd started set in that campaign world, and started filling it in. It's still not published due to needing a lot of TLC, but that's what got the ball rolling.
Jason Fuesting
That's a good question. I'm not sure where my muse came up with Dusk Knight from, and I'm not sure I should ask. Much like the "I didn't want cats, but the wife did, so we got cats" meme, I wanted to edit and get Foreign Shores out the door, she wanted me to focus on this new idea she had... so I wrote new content.
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