Ask the Author: A.D. Stranik
Answered Questions (9)
A.D. Stranik
The one about the forces of chance that decreed that I find myself in Nashville, sleeping under a tree outside the old high school of the very woman I had just spent two months writing about in Florida? And who was the man I met who was my exact double, later that same day?
A.D. Stranik
Ivan Turgenev – Fathers and Sons, James M. Cain – The Cocktail Waitress, Blacktop Wasteland - S. A. Cosby and William J. Mann’s The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando, among others…
A.D. Stranik
Doctor Raminez examined the scans and muttered, ‘Well, the good news is, we have successfully removed the reason for your headaches. The bad news: she’s just laid her eggs.’
A.D. Stranik
As I’ve said before, get your story straight from the get-go. You don’t have to completely ruin it for yourself by working out every detail – we all love it when one of our characters does something that even we didn’t know they were going to do – but at least be clear as to where you are going.
A.D. Stranik
Mmmmm, not sure about that one… The thing that always attracted me to the idea of being a writer was the anonymity it supposedly promised. But the order of our day dictates you foster the cult of personality and ‘put yourself out there’. I would prefer to remain obscure, and my work be wildly successful.
A.D. Stranik
Having only completed one novel so far, I’m hardly in a position to advise others, but if I was forced at gun point, I might say this… GET YOUR STORY STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU BEGIN. This will eliminate writer’s block, painting yourself into corners and having to backtrack, painfully.
A.D. Stranik
Apart from looking for new ways to promote my current book, I’m outlining a Ted Lewis-esque gangster story set against the backdrop of the golden age of British wrestling; and a couple of SF stories, both of which, incidentally, have their origins in Monomania, Mon Amour. (All my stories are connected somehow).
I had no intention of doing a direct sequel to Monomania, Mon Amour, but a few people have asked about it, so I’ve come up with some pretty good ideas about where it could go.
I had no intention of doing a direct sequel to Monomania, Mon Amour, but a few people have asked about it, so I’ve come up with some pretty good ideas about where it could go.
A.D. Stranik
Guilt, mainly. I get antsy if I don’t create something every day: whether it’s writing or creating a piece of art. I am a catholic in everything but religion.
A.D. Stranik
Monomania, Mon Amour started out as a screenplay that I wrote back in 1995. It was inspired by the disappearance of the 50s Pin-up, Bettie Page. She had become something of a cult icon by that time, but no-one knew what had happened to her and so, of course, there were all these theories as to her fate.
My screenplay had her going on a kill crazy rampage in her old age, hunting down fans who were responsible for her rising cult in an attempt to remain ‘un-famous’.
I sent it out to a few production companies, one of which, felt that the idea of an old woman going around stabbing people was farfetched. Then shortly afterwards Richard Foster’s explosive expose ‘The Real Bettie Page’ revealed that she had been put in a mental asylum for pretty much just that! It would not be the first weird coincidence in my development of this idea.
Also, there are a million heist stories where the bad guys never get away with their big score. I wanted to write a story about what happens when the bad guy does get away with his ill-gotten gains: what does the successful crook do with his life? now that he can do anything!
My screenplay had her going on a kill crazy rampage in her old age, hunting down fans who were responsible for her rising cult in an attempt to remain ‘un-famous’.
I sent it out to a few production companies, one of which, felt that the idea of an old woman going around stabbing people was farfetched. Then shortly afterwards Richard Foster’s explosive expose ‘The Real Bettie Page’ revealed that she had been put in a mental asylum for pretty much just that! It would not be the first weird coincidence in my development of this idea.
Also, there are a million heist stories where the bad guys never get away with their big score. I wanted to write a story about what happens when the bad guy does get away with his ill-gotten gains: what does the successful crook do with his life? now that he can do anything!
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