Ask the Author: Richard Sutton
“Ask me a question.”
Richard Sutton
Answered Questions (12)
Sort By:

An error occurred while sorting questions for author Richard Sutton.
Richard Sutton
Crawling as fast as I could, my knees were already bloody from the rock-strewn floor of the dark tunnel. Behind me, I heard its breath getting louder, just as my right hand sank into something soft, warm and wet.
Richard Sutton
When you've lived as full a life as I have, there are relatively few mysteries remaining unanswered, but the one that I believe powers most of my ongoing questioning of almost everything has to do with my childhood. From the time I was in preschool, until I entered Junior High School, we moved every year, sometimes more than once. It was usually to a new state, and the result was that while I learned how to adapt, being the new kid all the time, I didn't really feel all that at home anywhere until I was in college. I finally got to know myself, but despite my around and about questions to my folks, I never learned, really why we had been gypsies all those years. My father made occasional excuses, having to do with jobs availability, etc. but it wasn't until long after I'd left to discover my real life in the East that they settled down and bought a home, etc. Every March, something triggers a bout of investigation as to the whys, but I never find any particular answers, so while it is no longer a daily issue for me, it does run below the surface posing questions.
Richard Sutton
Fictional? Hmmm... that makes it pretty tough. Overall... my very favorite would have to be Mr. & Mrs. Claus. They seem to have a very effective working relationship, both involved deeply in the family business and their marriage is one which has stood the test of time. They also always seem to bring a cheerful attitude to the hardest of tasks.
Richard Sutton
I've carried around "what-ifs" regarding the lost knowledge from the Library at Alexandria since college. Actually before. My eight-grade history teacher first told me of his own ideas on the subject which whetted my appetite for more study. Smart guy, he eventually turned to politics. I went down a meandering path wearing lots of different hats until I landed in the writer's chair. It still took more than ten years at the keyboard to finally get around to writing it down!
Richard Sutton
I just released a new Historic Fiction title, The Gift: Book One: Voyages which is to be a four book series, so I'll be working on sequels and returning to my long-term, WW2 Family Saga, River Traffic, as well.
Richard Sutton
Everything life dishes out for me and everybody else contains inspiration in one form or another. The biggest thing you can do to keep the muse happy, is to pay attention to everything and relish the details.
Richard Sutton
Read a lot. Write a lot. Write more. Never stop learning how. Realize there are no formulas for how your book should be written. You've just gotta do it, screw it up, re-do it, screw it up again, etc. Then, recognize when it's finished and move on to the next one.
Richard Sutton
Writing is self-therapy, self-medication and self-entertainment all rolled into one, but the real gravy is that you can share stories and discuss things that mean something with other folks.
Richard Sutton
Get up from the desk, stretch my hands, take a walk along a beach or in the woods, or work in the garden, or go sailing...
All kinds of activity away from the keyboard for a spell will result in a renewed inspiration. Even a restaurant meal, or shopping at Home Depot. LOL!
All kinds of activity away from the keyboard for a spell will result in a renewed inspiration. Even a restaurant meal, or shopping at Home Depot. LOL!
Richard Sutton
It took five days. Twice I was offered a bed in a spare room and while I didn't sleep all that soundly (watching for the door to open with my hunting knife held tightly in hand... it was a run-down gas station, no less! Looked like a future slasher film set.) it was still greatly appreciated. Both times, I got breakfast, too and was driven to the highway on-ramp and dropped with a cheery wave. Truck Drivers were good for making lots of distance. One ride ran from Nebraska all the way to Pennsylvania! Lots and lots and lots of talk, and not just an occasional snide hippie comment. I was dumped in the circle near the giant Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, where I was completely ignored for hours until a Cadillac slowed and pulled over so the blue-haired ladies in the back seat could flip me the bird, glare and drive off... probably to church. I had to walk back to the highway to get out of there. The last ride was the hairiest. It was a step-van driver who was late making his last deliveries, and stopped twice in NJ before heading over the GW Bridge. He was only able to slow down enough to drop me in the tunnel at the last Manhattan Exit. I had to step lively along the catwalk to find a fire escape to get out of there. It opened up through a rusted steel door on 125th Street. I had $42 in my pocket and a reference letter. My first view of NY felt like I had landed on a strange concrete planet, but I made my way to the nearest YMCA and a few days later, had a job and enough of a salary advance to put a deposit down for an apartment on 76th. Later that year, I met my future wife on Canal Street and my life began. I would not recommend traveling that way now for anyone. I'm a big guy, but even then I felt pretty timid and vulnerable. This is no way to travel now. Even short hops are much too scary to consider, but back then, I knew I had to make a change and I didn't own a vehicle or bus fare... so I hit the road with my backpack and thumb.
Richard Sutton
Hmmm... since I actually was working in advertising art in those days, I can best describe NYC in terms of the culture, which was undergoing a major shift on the upper West Side and Lower West Side, from areas of low-income and higher crime, to the almost sedate, friendly family-oriented neighborhoods we know them for today. It resulted in a lot of anger from those displaced and insecurity and frustration from those coming in who thought they were improving things by buying into mixed neighborhoods. By the late seventies, the polarization was fading, but by that time I had met my wife and moved to Long Island. However, despite the tension from those days, New York was a very welcoming place, where anyone would be able to find a comfortable niche, rich or poor. I remember riding the subway to work, getting on at the 72nd Street station and riding downtown with millionaires, actors, mimes, Wall Streeters and homeless, alike. We'd arrive downtown at my stop and there would be mass migrations to each of the office buildings but at 9:05AM, the sidewalks would be deserted, like someone flipped a switch. The booze for lunch crew were always in the floors above where I worked. We put in so many hours we had to remain sober to get the work done.
Richard Sutton
AE, it's hard for me to give advice based solely on my own experience. I tried KDP Select for two of my titles but didn't notice much of a bump either during or when they were removed. Since my own work is cross-genre and can be hard to classify, I like to distribute my books to the widest potential markets in the niches I write in, so I use Smashwords, typically first, then KDP, non-select (which with only three international exceptions still allows me 70% royalties followed by print through CSpace. Smashwords also distributed my eBooks to Kobo, Sony, IBooks, and several other booksellers, and since I'm running full distribution in CSpace, Barnes & Noble also sells my books in print.
On the other hand, I have friends who write in Historical Fiction and Romance who have had very good results from Select, and another who writes in Fantasy who sells books every single day! It's clear from their experiences that Amazon is a large enough seller that they really don;t need additional exposure to make money and gain recognition. Select works for them.
On the other hand, I have friends who write in Historical Fiction and Romance who have had very good results from Select, and another who writes in Fantasy who sells books every single day! It's clear from their experiences that Amazon is a large enough seller that they really don;t need additional exposure to make money and gain recognition. Select works for them.
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