Ask the Author: Jim Sanderson
Answered Questions (9)
Jim Sanderson
I think that real life events like marriages, divorces, or deaths start as mysteries, but as with a mystery novel, they become more understandable or even obvious after some time spent pondering them. As for my life, a mystery might be how I was able to get done what I did and why I didn't get it done better.
Jim Sanderson
Characters in my short story collection TRASHY BEHAVIOR sort of nagged me. I wasn't finished with them yet. I thought that I could orchestrate them into something new. I read about ironies in marijuana legalization. I remembered my hometown. I took those elements, put them in a jar so to speak, shook, and GAMBLED DREAMS came out. But I'll add, while GAMBLED DREAMS was with another publisher, it went through three very thorough drafts. I am grateful for the drafts. They showed me what was wrong.
Jim Sanderson
A publisher told me drop the characters from a series I was writing. The series didn't sell. So kill off the characters. I was devastated. What was I going to write. But within two days, I had a plot and other characters in the same local and same set up. So always be ready to twist disappointment into something else. Recognize serendipity. Study and learn the craft as I state above so that you are ready to find meaning in accidents and disappointments.
Jim Sanderson
I working on an "as told to." And as always, I've got a novel on my mind. I'm about 100 rough pages in. I'm hoping for a consistent, boring amount of time to work on it.
Jim Sanderson
I'll quote John Gardner, "Marry well." Next, "don't quit your day job." I've spent most of my life teaching writing in college. Like John Gardner, I believe that I'll spend another thousand years in hell for every year that I don't teach. So I think the best way to write is to take writing classes. It is also the cheapest and quickest way to learn the craft. Put your work in front of like minded people. When you can learn with a strict class, then you can quick taking the classes, but always look for someone to listen to or to critique you.
Jim Sanderson
I'm not sure that there is a best thing. As I say in my bio, I'm not sure that I can claim to be a writer. Writing simply "is."
Jim Sanderson
I try to write through it. Put my butt in the chair. But since I've become a minor administrator and thus have to deal with bureaucratic writing, I can't make my mind go back to fiction. In my day job, I'm paid to worry. Worrying isn't hard, but it nags at you.
Jim Sanderson
The assignment is past due.
Jim Sanderson
Rather than go to a fictional world, I'd like to visit but not live in past real world. History and humans have interested me since I started studying and writing. To quote Frost, "Earth's the right place for love." So I don't desire to escape it. The human world that we know has enough problems and questions for me to deal with.
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