Ask the Author: Brian Cato
Answered Questions (3)
Brian Cato
I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my new novel, Candidate Spectrum, due out September 15th. It's about a real-world superhero who grows frustrated with the limited ways he can help people using his superpowers, and decides he can do more good as a politician and runs for office.
Brian Cato
The publishing world is full of rejection and heartbreak, and the path toward making a living from your writing is much narrower and more fraught than people commonly understand. In addition, with apologies to all the people who love genre fiction, I think there are far too many books and works of art being produced that aren't compelling and don't have a powerful rationale for their creation. My advice is to think long and hard about what you want to say to the world that no one else can say. If you can't find that message whose force you simply can't deny, I'd recommend exploring a more profitable career, or finding a more certain path towards leaving your mark on the world.
Brian Cato
If, by writer's block, you mean a state where I can't think of anything that I want to write, I've never had writer's block. On the other hand, I do frequently sit staring at a page where words need to be written and hesitate to commit to anything. When I'm in this state, I generally give myself three to five minutes to try to work out whatever issues I'm having with the ideas in my head. Then, telling myself they don't need to be perfect, they can always be revised later, I force myself to put them on the page. A good portion of the time, those words do need heavy revision, or even to be excised entirely, but by starting the process, I can often get myself in the flow and find a state where I'm writing productively.
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