Ask the Author: Scott Michael Stenwick
Answered Questions (8)
Scott Michael Stenwick
Bob bought a shiny new hat. It ate his face.
Scott Michael Stenwick
I'd either be a wizard in the Guild universe or a scientist in some future universe like Pathless Void. Oddly enough, those are exactly what most of my protagonists do in their respective stories.
Scott Michael Stenwick
I would say that the best thing about being a fiction writer is being able to create my own worlds and characters and play around with them. I think that answer is a pretty common one among writers, but it is how I feel.
On the non-fiction side, I enjoy being able to share my knowledge with others and save them a lot of the time-wasting and messing around that I did in order to teach myself how magick really works. There's a whole lot of misinformation out there that isn't particularly helpful to students, in my opinion, and much of what I write aims to correct that.
On the non-fiction side, I enjoy being able to share my knowledge with others and save them a lot of the time-wasting and messing around that I did in order to teach myself how magick really works. There's a whole lot of misinformation out there that isn't particularly helpful to students, in my opinion, and much of what I write aims to correct that.
Scott Michael Stenwick
Right now I'm in the middle of a bunch of production work. I have one more self-published novel on the way that will have a CreateSpace print edition, and I have two more novels that are in-process with Moonfire Publishing.
The first of those is Ipswich, a sequel to my debut novel Arcana, and the second is Written in Blood, a paranormal vampire novel set in northern Minnesota. That second one was my first collaboration with another author, Sheila Marshall, and I think that it worked out well.
On the non-fiction side, I'm working on the third book in my Enochian magick series, Mastering the Thirty Aires. That one has been way more work than the others, but I'm getting there. I'll be submitting it to Pendraig Publishing once the manuscript is complete, and then we'll go from there with editing and so forth.
The first of those is Ipswich, a sequel to my debut novel Arcana, and the second is Written in Blood, a paranormal vampire novel set in northern Minnesota. That second one was my first collaboration with another author, Sheila Marshall, and I think that it worked out well.
On the non-fiction side, I'm working on the third book in my Enochian magick series, Mastering the Thirty Aires. That one has been way more work than the others, but I'm getting there. I'll be submitting it to Pendraig Publishing once the manuscript is complete, and then we'll go from there with editing and so forth.
Scott Michael Stenwick
For me, once I was able to train myself to write with or without feeling particularly inspired, writer's block stopped being a problem. I'm convinced that the two are related. If you feel like you need to be "more inspired than x" to write, you'll have writer's block whenever you don't feel that way.
Blogging has been helpful for me in that area as well. If you have an audience that is expecting you to post stuff, it helps motivate you to sit down and do it day in and day out - not necessarily every day, but every couple of days.
Blogging has been helpful for me in that area as well. If you have an audience that is expecting you to post stuff, it helps motivate you to sit down and do it day in and day out - not necessarily every day, but every couple of days.
Scott Michael Stenwick
You have to do it because you love it. If you don't, you'll get discouraged very quickly. You are not going to make tons of money when you publish a book, and you may not even sell a thousand copies. That's the reality. The current market for books is very hard on writers, and you have to be very lucky to have something of yours "break through" all the noise.
I still do it because as Werner Herzog put it, "I love it against my better judgment." But if you don't love it, you'll do a lot better spending your time on other things. I'm fortunate enough to have a good job in the IT industry, because if I had to live off my writing I would be a lot worse off.
I still do it because as Werner Herzog put it, "I love it against my better judgment." But if you don't love it, you'll do a lot better spending your time on other things. I'm fortunate enough to have a good job in the IT industry, because if I had to live off my writing I would be a lot worse off.
Scott Michael Stenwick
I don't rely on inspiration because in my experience if you do, you'll never get anything done. Towards the end of a project, even the most interesting and amazing book starts to feel tedious. But you have to push on if you want to get it across the finish line, so to speak.
My first novel Arcana was a rewrite of a manuscript from 1988-89, when I was in college. It was published in 2009. Trying to rely on inspiration for twenty years was why it took that long to get done. Once you develop the ability to push yourself to write regardless of inspiration, you'll find that you can be more productive and prolific than you previously imagined.
My first novel Arcana was a rewrite of a manuscript from 1988-89, when I was in college. It was published in 2009. Trying to rely on inspiration for twenty years was why it took that long to get done. Once you develop the ability to push yourself to write regardless of inspiration, you'll find that you can be more productive and prolific than you previously imagined.
Scott Michael Stenwick
The Pathless Void, my most recent ebook, was inspired by the old-school "Golden Age" science fiction that I read when I was younger. Part of the fun of writing it was extrapolating all the future technology from today, rather than back in the 1950's. Obviously, a lot has changed since then.
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