Ask the Author: Steven Fox
Answered Questions (5)
Steven Fox
I was once told by a writer I look up to that he didn't believe in writer's block. And from that day forward, my problems with writing were fixed.
Haha! The truth is, I don't think it's quite that cut-and-dry. For me, the most important think to make sure I continue writing is two-pronged: I must enjoy whatever it is I'm writing, and I must habitually write in the same spot, at the same time, every day.
If I'm not obsessively thinking about my characters and my story while I'm not writing, then I can usually guess I'm not interested in what I'm writing. And if I'm not interested, how am I going to get others interested? So, loving what I'm writing about, even when I'm not in love with my writing, is a huge component.
The other component is simply a number's game. If you habitually do something at the same time every day, it eventually becomes ingrained in you. Even if you fail to meet your writing goal (we all have constipated days, or hangover days, in my case), as long as you write something, it's not a wasted day, and you keep up the habit of writing same bat-time, same bat-channel.
In other words, write what you love, and do it often. Have fun, and you won't even have time to think about writer's block.
Haha! The truth is, I don't think it's quite that cut-and-dry. For me, the most important think to make sure I continue writing is two-pronged: I must enjoy whatever it is I'm writing, and I must habitually write in the same spot, at the same time, every day.
If I'm not obsessively thinking about my characters and my story while I'm not writing, then I can usually guess I'm not interested in what I'm writing. And if I'm not interested, how am I going to get others interested? So, loving what I'm writing about, even when I'm not in love with my writing, is a huge component.
The other component is simply a number's game. If you habitually do something at the same time every day, it eventually becomes ingrained in you. Even if you fail to meet your writing goal (we all have constipated days, or hangover days, in my case), as long as you write something, it's not a wasted day, and you keep up the habit of writing same bat-time, same bat-channel.
In other words, write what you love, and do it often. Have fun, and you won't even have time to think about writer's block.
Steven Fox
Read. Write. Repeat.
Make sure you are in love with the topics you're writing about. It's a lot easier to pump out six pages a day when I love the subject. My word count would drop to nothing if I had to write about, say, the inner workings of a fridge. Unless my character is an electrician or fridge repair tech, I would be banging my head against my keyboard out of sheer boredom.
Lastly, finds what works for you. There is no one writing routine, no magic bullet that will help conquer the challenges you will face as a writer.
Make sure you are in love with the topics you're writing about. It's a lot easier to pump out six pages a day when I love the subject. My word count would drop to nothing if I had to write about, say, the inner workings of a fridge. Unless my character is an electrician or fridge repair tech, I would be banging my head against my keyboard out of sheer boredom.
Lastly, finds what works for you. There is no one writing routine, no magic bullet that will help conquer the challenges you will face as a writer.
Steven Fox
My current novel is "Of Love and Coils," where a young prince must solidify the peace treaty between two kingdoms by courting and marrying one of five brides. The problem is the brides are nagids--half-human, half-serpent hybrids that have been at war with his kingdom for over one hundred years. To make matters worse, the prince is deathly afraid of snakes.
Steven Fox
My mind, for better or worse, speeds along like a hot-rodded Charger from a Vin Diesel movie. Getting inspired, or coming up with ideas, is as simple as deciding to peek out the window and glimpse the scenery rolling by. The trick of it is focusing on ideas I find interesting, and not bowing to trends. It's like the time my wife and I got sidetracked on a trip to Chicago. We wanted to avoid toll roads, and the GPS sent us out into the boonies. Some joke the Midwest is homogenous, with only mileage markers and signs to indicate any change between one cornfield-flanked town and the next. This particular swath of Illinois not only felt like the same four-way intersection repeated twelve times over, the only markers of change were an abandoned truck stop and motel on one of the corners. And I thought to myself, "What if we got stuck out here, and there was some crazy cultists lurking around?" I laughed, because I truly didn't believe that would happen. But a part of me, the Primal part, was interested in the possibility and what it might look like.
Inspiration is everywhere. Just look out the window the next you're driving around.
Inspiration is everywhere. Just look out the window the next you're driving around.
Steven Fox
I've long been a fan of the harem-lit genre (multiple romantic interests usually revolving around a single character, usually the protagonist), but found a lot of it lacked characters who wanted more than to appease the hero.
I've also held a fear of snakes as long as I can remember.
So I thought, "What if the romantic interests are all part snake? And the hero is deathly afraid of them?"
Thus the idea for "Of Love and Coils," my current novel, rose from the murky depths of my imagination.
I've also held a fear of snakes as long as I can remember.
So I thought, "What if the romantic interests are all part snake? And the hero is deathly afraid of them?"
Thus the idea for "Of Love and Coils," my current novel, rose from the murky depths of my imagination.
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