Ask the Author: David J.A. Cooper
Answered Questions (4)
David J.A. Cooper
Being able to create and explore anything. There are plenty of simulation games that let you play with narrow aspects of world building, but they cannot hope to match the expressive power you wield when you can write the rules yourself. In writing, you can explore the meaning of the subtlest body language, or zoom out to see events unfolding across galaxies and eons, and re-imagine the nature of the universe. And none of this costs you anything.
David J.A. Cooper
It's been six months since the extraordinary discovery of the singular structure in the human brain that creates true consciousness, as philosophers have debated for centuries. My children and my husband all tested negative for it.
David J.A. Cooper
I feel an emotional connection to the characters I want to write about. I want to understand what they could be, in extreme situations. The actual writing (along with the anticipation of readership) feels like a way to give the characters more reality than if they were "stuck" in my head.
It also helps to read. Taking in other authors' ideas gets me thinking about new angles on my own.
I also find inspiration in music. I can't write and listen to music at exactly the same time, but with music I find that new thoughts tend to emerge. My brain subconsciously fumbles around for elements of storytelling to fit with whatever I'm listening to.
It also helps to read. Taking in other authors' ideas gets me thinking about new angles on my own.
I also find inspiration in music. I can't write and listen to music at exactly the same time, but with music I find that new thoughts tend to emerge. My brain subconsciously fumbles around for elements of storytelling to fit with whatever I'm listening to.
David J.A. Cooper
There was a Frankenstein-esque mixture of Astro Boy and Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds bubbling away in my brain ever since childhood. This story isn't exactly either of those, but from Astro Boy I took away a fascination with the idea of robots-as-people, and War of the Worlds instills a terrifying awe of how rapidly and completely everything might come apart in some imagined future. They are seemingly at odds, but then contradictions help make a good story.
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