Ask the Author: Mike Duke
Answered Questions (6)
Mike Duke
Interacting with people who read my work and discovering how my words and stories impacted them, how it made them feel, and what they experienced. That's the best part for me. Impacting other egos. (And if you've watched the movie The Addiction with Lili Taylor and Christopher Walken, you'll know exactly what I mean. ;) )
Mike Duke
If I'm having a hard time getting into writing, if I'm in the middle of a project, then I'll go back to the beginning and start reading through and editing and tweaking little things. Often, by the time I get to where I left off, my brain is primed to continue on. If its really blocking me bad, either i'll take a break and watch movies that are in the same vein as what I'm writing or even play games that are in the same genre etc. Basically immerse myself in things similar to what I'm writing. Lastly, music is huge for me. I rely greatly on music to help me get in that zen writing zone and stay there. When I start writing I pick music that goes with what I'm writing or something that I know generally helps with getting into the zone. Sometimes I'll pick one song and put it on repeat for hours. Whatever it takes.
Mike Duke
Fear the Gods was initially inspired by the movie The Conspiracy. I work with a similar premise in my book but I incorporate cosmic horror and hungry god-like entities along with my cult.
Mike Duke
Honestly, most of the time ideas just coming to me, often when I'm riding down the road listening to music. Sometimes an image or scene in a movie or a concept I see or hear somewhere may spur an idea that later develops into something as well. Once I get an idea, I write it down in a note on my phone then continue to revisit and add to it and refine it until I'm ready to start actually writing it.
Mike Duke
Write when you can, as much as you can. Learn more. Read or listen to books on story creation, structure, etc and character development and arcs, inner and outer conflicts and much more. Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey and Michael Hauge's Writing Screenplays That Sell (much of which is just as helpful for regular fiction writers) are two I believe have been of great help to me as well as their seminar, available on audible titled The Heroes 2 Journeys.
Mike Duke
A trilogy of scifi horror short novels entitled AMALGAM. Book One: Contact. Book One: Retrieval. Book Three: Incursion. Elevator Pitch: Imagine if Alien, The Thing, and The Blob had a ravenous love child on a mining colony light years away.
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