Ask the Author: Jeff Cottrill
Answered Questions (7)
Jeff Cottrill
You get to "play" as a grownup. It's a perfect outlet for all of your crazy or silly thoughts and ideas, or a way to vent about what's bothering you about the world.
Jeff Cottrill
Usually it's when something makes me laugh, or when something makes me angry or sad. Often, it's both.
Jeff Cottrill
Write what YOU would want to read if you were the audience.
Find your own style. Accept influence from writers you love, but don't mimic them. (Unless it's a deliberate parody or homage, of course)
And don't listen to the jerks who tell you you can't do it.
Find your own style. Accept influence from writers you love, but don't mimic them. (Unless it's a deliberate parody or homage, of course)
And don't listen to the jerks who tell you you can't do it.
Jeff Cottrill
The pandemic never ends. Then Donald Trump gets reelected.
Jeff Cottrill
Many things. Trying to get going on a second novel, but having trouble finding the time outside of the day job and other things. Also writing the occasional poem or monologue and performing them at Zoom events, while planning ways to promote my current book.
Jeff Cottrill
Initially, I visualized a parody of the movie "Citizen Kane" in which the subject was not a millionaire tycoon, but a loser whom everybody hates. I later decided to adapt the idea into a satire of social-media shaming and mobbing, inspired in part by the infamous "S----Y MEDIA MEN" list.
Jeff Cottrill
I suck it up and work through it. Always remember that a first draft doesn't have to be "good" -- it's more important to get it down on the page and worry about revision later. My experience in improv has actually helped me with writing first drafts: onstage, there's no time to worry about whether your decision is "right" or not, you have to make a decision.
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