Ask the Author: Erik Henry Vick
Answered Questions (10)
Erik Henry Vick
Yes, on Amazon. The only books not available as paperbacks are either too short to justify it (novellas) or too long for print (omnibuses and box sets).
Erik Henry Vick
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Erik Henry Vick
As of this writing (12/30/18), it's a toss-up between Demon King and Rooms of Ruin (Blood of the Isir, Book Two).
Erik Henry Vick
Red or a dark, metallic blue. Maybe. Or black. Yeah, black. Or red. :)
Erik Henry Vick
That's a good question! My reading over the years has offered many contenders: Xanth, Narnia, Ringworld, the world of the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, etc., but today, I'd pick Gilead from Stephen King's Dark Tower series (but Gilead before the fall). A close second would be the world of the Shattered Sea series by Joe Abercrombie. I also won't mind visiting the world of my upcoming series, either, but since no one but me has read that yet... Maybe after Errant Gods is released, I'll come back and edit this :)
Erik Henry Vick
The best thing about being a writer is wearing funny T-shirts. No, that's wrong.
The best thing about being a writer is getting to tour the country playing my music with... Wait, wait, wait. No. Sorry.
The best thing about being a writer is when people give me free Ferrari 488GTBs (I mean, they're only about $250,000, right?) Not that it's ever happened. You, Sir or Madame, could be the first!
Are you still here? Boy, you really want a straight answer to this question, don't you? Okay. I'll try. The best thing about being a writer is seeing the story to come to life. Or maybe that's just gas. (Look, I tried to be serious for a minute, but it really hurt my head. I'll do better next time.)
The best thing about being a writer is getting to tour the country playing my music with... Wait, wait, wait. No. Sorry.
The best thing about being a writer is when people give me free Ferrari 488GTBs (I mean, they're only about $250,000, right?) Not that it's ever happened. You, Sir or Madame, could be the first!
Are you still here? Boy, you really want a straight answer to this question, don't you? Okay. I'll try. The best thing about being a writer is seeing the story to come to life. Or maybe that's just gas. (Look, I tried to be serious for a minute, but it really hurt my head. I'll do better next time.)
Erik Henry Vick
Most of the time, I can't wait to get started. There are days, however, when I must self-immolate to get going. Sometimes I have to pay a man to chase me around the yard with a stick. Mostly, I just sit down and start and let the inspiration worry about itself.
Erik Henry Vick
Quit aspiring and start perspiring. There is no better way to learn how to write than to write. Get started and write as much as you can. Read twice that much. Read outside your preferred genre as well as inside it. Read the greats, read your favorites, read everything you can get your hands on.
Also, every how-to writing book must be subject to one rule: does this help me write? No method is good if it doesn't drive you on to write. Don't get locked into the idea that you have to have silence to write, for instance. Don't allow yourself to be trapped into only working in one particular room or place. Mix it up until you know what works best.
Keep writing. When you are tempted to quit, take an hour or a day off, but keep writing!
There are a lot of websites that can help you learn -- I prefer scribophile.com -- but beware the time sink! It's very tempting to jump on to scrib and go play in the forums or do a hundred critiques or edit your profile page to add more funny T-shirt sayings, but at the end of the day (and you might have sensed this coming) you gotta write, right?
Also, every how-to writing book must be subject to one rule: does this help me write? No method is good if it doesn't drive you on to write. Don't get locked into the idea that you have to have silence to write, for instance. Don't allow yourself to be trapped into only working in one particular room or place. Mix it up until you know what works best.
Keep writing. When you are tempted to quit, take an hour or a day off, but keep writing!
There are a lot of websites that can help you learn -- I prefer scribophile.com -- but beware the time sink! It's very tempting to jump on to scrib and go play in the forums or do a hundred critiques or edit your profile page to add more funny T-shirt sayings, but at the end of the day (and you might have sensed this coming) you gotta write, right?
Erik Henry Vick
I block it out (ha! Didn't see that one coming, didja?) and refuse to acknowledge it in any way. I don't even look at it. If it talks to me, I sing sections from the Sound of Music. I used to hit it with a hammer (I am Norwegian, after all), but I got complaints about the noise.
This may sound like a joke, but it isn't: you can't feed writer's block, because if you do, it will stick around. If I'm feeling stuck, I write something else -- a short story, a different chapter, or the beginning of a different novel -- or spend time writing notes about what I think will happen later in the book. Listening to loud music while I work helps a lot. I don't think writer's block likes the same music I do.
Sometimes I pretend to be Stephen King, but that usually just ends with Thad Beaumont calling me up and telling me to quit it.
This may sound like a joke, but it isn't: you can't feed writer's block, because if you do, it will stick around. If I'm feeling stuck, I write something else -- a short story, a different chapter, or the beginning of a different novel -- or spend time writing notes about what I think will happen later in the book. Listening to loud music while I work helps a lot. I don't think writer's block likes the same music I do.
Sometimes I pretend to be Stephen King, but that usually just ends with Thad Beaumont calling me up and telling me to quit it.
Erik Henry Vick
Scotch.
Maybe it was that blow to the head...
Sometimes, I trot on down to the local hardware store and pick up a few ideas, some Spackle, and maybe a quart of chartreuse paint.
My most recent book has changed quite a bit since I started writing it. It started as a way to regain some sanity after being disabled by a chronic illness. After 300 pages or so, the characters mutinied and and started to tell me what the book was really going to be about.
Most of my ideas came while in the shower, or in the middle of the night. Anywhere, really, as long as writing them down was tremendously inconvenient.
Maybe it was that blow to the head...
Sometimes, I trot on down to the local hardware store and pick up a few ideas, some Spackle, and maybe a quart of chartreuse paint.
My most recent book has changed quite a bit since I started writing it. It started as a way to regain some sanity after being disabled by a chronic illness. After 300 pages or so, the characters mutinied and and started to tell me what the book was really going to be about.
Most of my ideas came while in the shower, or in the middle of the night. Anywhere, really, as long as writing them down was tremendously inconvenient.
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