Ask the Author: Jonathan Alan Cortez
Answered Questions (6)
Jonathan Alan Cortez
Know your ending before you begin.
Having an ultimate goal in mind, no matter what path(s) you take your characters on to get there, the ending should be set in stone.
This will help you and your characters make the proper, necessary choices to get them to their destination.
Having an ultimate goal in mind, no matter what path(s) you take your characters on to get there, the ending should be set in stone.
This will help you and your characters make the proper, necessary choices to get them to their destination.
Jonathan Alan Cortez
First and foremost- SLEEP WELL. A well-rested mind is key to creating, no matter the art form.
Second- Routine exercise. Even if it's only a few times a week, the body being in shape helps the mind to stay in shape, as well. You don't have to work toward looking like Thor or be in marathon runner shape for your body and mind to appreciate the hard work you're doing to be the best version of yourself possible.
Third, and finally- No matter what, just do it. It doesn't matter if you churn out 8,000 words of dog crap that ends up getting scrapped the next day, the simple act of creating will help the mind work past the invisible, creative roadblock and get you back on track.
Second- Routine exercise. Even if it's only a few times a week, the body being in shape helps the mind to stay in shape, as well. You don't have to work toward looking like Thor or be in marathon runner shape for your body and mind to appreciate the hard work you're doing to be the best version of yourself possible.
Third, and finally- No matter what, just do it. It doesn't matter if you churn out 8,000 words of dog crap that ends up getting scrapped the next day, the simple act of creating will help the mind work past the invisible, creative roadblock and get you back on track.
Jonathan Alan Cortez
Short answer: Playing God.
Long answer: The best thing about being an author is building a believable world with realistic characters. Writing in Third Person Deep, I'm able to jump into the minds of the characters I've created, and I experience everything through their eyes and emotions. There have been many times I've wept with my characters, laughed with my characters...
In my experiences writing them and sharing their minds for a spell, my characters are as real as you or me.
Long answer: The best thing about being an author is building a believable world with realistic characters. Writing in Third Person Deep, I'm able to jump into the minds of the characters I've created, and I experience everything through their eyes and emotions. There have been many times I've wept with my characters, laughed with my characters...
In my experiences writing them and sharing their minds for a spell, my characters are as real as you or me.
Jonathan Alan Cortez
I'm currently building a fantasy world for a series that will play out side-by-side with a hard-edged science-fiction world I created many years ago for a separate mini-series, and I'm also working on a horror novel set in the Viking Age.
Jonathan Alan Cortez
I find the majority of my inspiration through music, and depending on the mood of the scene or character, I bounce between listening to film scores [Ramin Djawadi & Hans Zimmer] and instrumental progressive rock [Animals As Leaders, Plini, Their Dogs Were Astronauts,The Samuel Jackson Five].
After the music sets the tone, and the creative wheels start up in slow-motion, I take a few swigs of Reign [energy drink] and get crackin'.
After the music sets the tone, and the creative wheels start up in slow-motion, I take a few swigs of Reign [energy drink] and get crackin'.
Jonathan Alan Cortez
Working an overnight security job in a hospital ER when the Coronavirus Pandemic broke out in March of 2020, the idea for Mr. Hypochondriac hit me out of the blue. I grabbed a pen and jotted down the entire, initial outline over the course of the next half hour, and when I was done, I had the outline for all four parts of the novel, as well as the prologue and epilogue. Though some minor changes occurred to the original outline as the story was being written, the book is almost exactly how I initially imagined it.
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