Ask the Author: J.Z. Murdock
Answered Questions (12)
J.Z. Murdock
Definitely being a bodyguard as a teenager, protecting a woman from the mafia (no, true story, I wrote a screenplay (Teenage Bodyguard) about it and there's a True Crime podcast about it). :) Cheers!
J.Z. Murdock
I gathered my courage and peeked through the crack in the door. Oddly enough, I could see the knife as it exited the back of my skull through a perfectly placed set of mirrors until finally, darkness.
My first free fall from an airplane was exhilarating as the wind rushed across my face, rapidly becoming my life's most thrilling experience. If for no other reason than my not being allowed a parachute.
My first free fall from an airplane was exhilarating as the wind rushed across my face, rapidly becoming my life's most thrilling experience. If for no other reason than my not being allowed a parachute.
J.Z. Murdock
Barstool Prophets by Ethan Minsker, and I'd also suggest his other book, Rich Boy Cries For Momma. Ethan is a filmmaker and artist from Washington DC and New York I met last year (2018) at the Gorst Underground Film Festival (2nd annual was this past weekend) where I've been a judge and videographer and panel member. He's a fascinating guy who founded the Antagonist Art Movement. Check out his winning documentary, "Man in Cammo"!
J.Z. Murdock
Possibly, Harry Dresden's world, if I could be Dresden from, The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I just like that character's humor and world. Of any of my own writings and worlds... well, they aren't exactly utopias to live in.
J.Z. Murdock
That's a tough question. Because I have been with them for so long, and I hope this doesn't seem like a cop out, I'd have to say it's characters of my own.
That may be an unfair contention, but it's true. I wrote a short story for Fiction 101 at my university in 1983. It completely blew the class away. It grew into a novella and is the story "Andrew" at the end of my book "Anthology of Evil" (now working on a sequel to that book).
From that novella and another story, "Perception", grew the book "Death of heaven". Lovers separated across the span of time. A story that goes from Andrew as a five year old and the horrible trauma he experienced, to his adulthood, on to the massive event that lead to his being reunited with lost love, leading to togetherness stronger than anything anyone can experience, to then being separated for an immeasurable length of time. An epic romance in time as seen from a distance. Also a story that draws on Edgar Allen Poe and his fictional lost love, Lenore.
The poem "Lenore" by Edgar Allan Poe began as a different poem, "A Paean", was published as "Lenore" in 1843.
And so I drew on that, not just Lenore, but the origination concept and its evolution into another story\poem in that case.
As for another author's couple... hands down, I'd have to leave horror and go to the "Thin Man" (especially the films) from author Dashiell Hammett's novel. Nick and Nora, was there anything better (for me)? I don't think so.
Also from TV and film there would be Gomez and Morticia Addams (the original on TV, though I loved Raul Julia). Of course.
As authorial couples, perhaps: Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Olivia Clemens.
That may be an unfair contention, but it's true. I wrote a short story for Fiction 101 at my university in 1983. It completely blew the class away. It grew into a novella and is the story "Andrew" at the end of my book "Anthology of Evil" (now working on a sequel to that book).
From that novella and another story, "Perception", grew the book "Death of heaven". Lovers separated across the span of time. A story that goes from Andrew as a five year old and the horrible trauma he experienced, to his adulthood, on to the massive event that lead to his being reunited with lost love, leading to togetherness stronger than anything anyone can experience, to then being separated for an immeasurable length of time. An epic romance in time as seen from a distance. Also a story that draws on Edgar Allen Poe and his fictional lost love, Lenore.
The poem "Lenore" by Edgar Allan Poe began as a different poem, "A Paean", was published as "Lenore" in 1843.
And so I drew on that, not just Lenore, but the origination concept and its evolution into another story\poem in that case.
As for another author's couple... hands down, I'd have to leave horror and go to the "Thin Man" (especially the films) from author Dashiell Hammett's novel. Nick and Nora, was there anything better (for me)? I don't think so.
Also from TV and film there would be Gomez and Morticia Addams (the original on TV, though I loved Raul Julia). Of course.
As authorial couples, perhaps: Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Olivia Clemens.
J.Z. Murdock
Sorry, just saw this question. I've had a failed parachute incident. It's a good trope, tense, scary, I don't think it's too cliche, I think it is all in how you write it, if it comes off too cliche. I was a parachute rigger in the Air Force among other things and have good stories about it. I just find it hard to write into a story, you have to have a reason someone is jumping in the first place and I haven't had that come up. Every month we would sit in the boss's office and read Parachutist magazine, go right to the section about the previous month's accident and read them aloud. I had a friend who used to parachute with a partner into the North Vietnamese enemy lines, complete missions and cross back over the line. At night. So no, I don't think it's too cliche. Just another tool to use in just the right way.
J.Z. Murdock
DeathOfHeaven.com - I had a book of short stories, I cut it in half, took the stories I thought would make a good book, built a frame around it (I'm good at that as in my screenplay now a semi-finalist in the Circus Road Films Screenplay Contest - Gray and Lover The Hearth Tales Incident), and the frame took off. The rest was simply re-writing, editing and making it work and read in an interesting and enjoyable way. It is now leading me into a sequel on the book and screenplay, where both stories will meet up in both formats.
J.Z. Murdock
I was born a writer, a natural storyteller. When I see something that excites me, a good movie, book, get an interesting and unique idea, I simply want to share it with others. As many others as possible. So far, people seem to appreciate that. So I keep doing it.
J.Z. Murdock
Free writing on the fly stories. Current, having fun with "The Unwritten" which is going in directions I've never explored before.
http://www.wattpad.com/story/23126642...
http://www.wattpad.com/story/23126642...
J.Z. Murdock
Write. Re-write. Get read. Listen, re-write. Submit. Write more. Read about writing. Talk to writers. Write more.
J.Z. Murdock
Creating. Exploring. Knowing that your life is invested in your writing so that you see things in life and think, "How could I share that awesome concept with others in an entertaining or productive way?"
J.Z. Murdock
I don't deal with writer's block as I don't believe in it. Coming from a Tech Writer career, you write, you get paid. You don't tell your boss, I can't write today I have writer's block. When I'm not writing I find it's because I'm tired, frustrated, bored, so I resolve those issues and my desire to write returns. As for writer's block as a lack of options in the direction I'm writing, that doesn't happen. I just take a break, assimilate where I"m at, absorb new things and it all comes back. It depends on what kind of writer's block one is thinking of. Being lost in what direction to go is a puzzle problem, resolve it. Not having passion to write, is the previous issue, being bored, tired, etc. So basically, I write and writing isn't a block. Life tends to be. Fix what is wrong in your life and the writing and passion returns. Otherwise, it is usually an amateur issue. As I see if, if you really get writer's block, you are done as a writer. I just don't see that happening.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more