Ask the Author: Daniel B. Hunt
Answered Questions (5)
Daniel B. Hunt
It changes. Sometimes an idea will just hit me and a story will come out. At other times, I might have a scrap of an idea in my files and I will watch, hear, or read something that suggests a full story. Then I get the occasional request. For example, a friend of mine said his daughter was having a rough time and she loves reading. Could I possibly put her into a story to cheer her up? Editors also make requests. "I need an adventure story with space combat". All of these inspire me to work.
Daniel B. Hunt
I am going through the editing process of my new collection of stories for the Dryden Universe, "The Dark Abyss". I expect the editor to get back with me shortly. Then I will go into the dungeon and work through each suggested edit (structure, pacing, logic, and the more obvious typing errors) before turning it over to the line editor. After the collection is returned, I will edit it a final time to get it ready for publication. If I am very lucky, it will be ready just before Christmas!
Daniel B. Hunt
Your editing process needs to be brutal. Be brave and delete those cute phrases you are so proud of when they distract from, or slow the story. It is not as easy as it sounds. But it is necessary.
Daniel B. Hunt
Writer's block for me is typically happens around a logical or progressional scene. I know where I am in the narrative and where I want to be, but I can't figure out a way to get from here to there while being realistic. I have a rough outline of the story which keeps me focussed. I will force myself to write a bad scene just to get to the next part of the story. Writing the next part in the narrative often helps me work through the logical progression for the critical scene I just wrote so poorly. It gives me the writer's insight I need that allows me to go back later and clean the scene up. If I have to, I just skip the critical scene and move to the next part of the story. Then I go back and fill in the critical scene later - two similar ways I get over writer's block.
Daniel B. Hunt
I had just completed platoon live fire drills at Ft. Benning. I went out on the porch to relax and clean my boots (muddy) and a female Lieutenant also stepped outside. She was two doors down on a common porch or landing. We exchanged a quick glance and then I went back into my room and typed the introduction to Eclipsing. Then fast forward twenty years or so and Dryden House owner asked me to write a story in the Dryden Universe. It hit me that I had this little opening to a story that I had started all those years ago. So I sat down and the full story just started appearing on the page. I hit a few logic walls and snags so it took a little while. Funny how snippets of stories can sit in your head for years and suddenly a request like the one from Dryden House is the catalyst to finish the story.
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