Ask the Author: Stephen Salaka
Answered Questions (10)
Stephen Salaka
You don't.
Can't figure out what to write, but know what might come later or before? Add in some placeholder text {FILL THIS OUT WITH SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF DOING THIS}
This way you can keep your flow going, get to the good parts, and then, when things settle down, you can always go back and try and figure out those pieces later. However, if you write enough, most of the time you'll end up cutting those pieces out, so don't stress trying to flesh them out when the skeletons aren't even there in the first place.
Can't figure out what to write, but know what might come later or before? Add in some placeholder text {FILL THIS OUT WITH SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF DOING THIS}
This way you can keep your flow going, get to the good parts, and then, when things settle down, you can always go back and try and figure out those pieces later. However, if you write enough, most of the time you'll end up cutting those pieces out, so don't stress trying to flesh them out when the skeletons aren't even there in the first place.
Stephen Salaka
Writing.
Just letting your mind wander as your fingers do the talking, then going back and realizing you're no better than a room full of monkeys banging on a keyboard.
But even them, sometimes Shakespeare might break through.
Just letting your mind wander as your fingers do the talking, then going back and realizing you're no better than a room full of monkeys banging on a keyboard.
But even them, sometimes Shakespeare might break through.
Stephen Salaka
Just write it.
Sometimes you get into a flow state and can bust out 100 chapters in a single sitting.
Other times it takes you a year just to figure out the next sentence.
Regardless, just go out there, write, let your juices flow all over the page, then sort it out and put it out there for folks to enjoy (or be horrified).
Sometimes you get into a flow state and can bust out 100 chapters in a single sitting.
Other times it takes you a year just to figure out the next sentence.
Regardless, just go out there, write, let your juices flow all over the page, then sort it out and put it out there for folks to enjoy (or be horrified).
Stephen Salaka
It came from the ATS.
It's a collection of stories (all true), that have happened to me during this abysmal job search during 2024. Fun things like getting ghosted in the middle of an interview, having offers rescinded and then getting 8 laptops shipped to me for some reason, or the most impressive - finding a role, going to my first meeting, only for it to be an exit interview because the company was downsizing.
It's a collection of stories (all true), that have happened to me during this abysmal job search during 2024. Fun things like getting ghosted in the middle of an interview, having offers rescinded and then getting 8 laptops shipped to me for some reason, or the most impressive - finding a role, going to my first meeting, only for it to be an exit interview because the company was downsizing.
Stephen Salaka
I've got elephants running around in my head looking for an escape. Writing helps give them an outlet and prevent them from crushing my skull.
I tend to see the absurdity in things, connections people overlook, and wonder what that would be like if what I was perceiving were actually true. Otherwise (like during my 100 days of 100 stories last year), I relied heavily on Reedsy prompts to help me pick topics to write about.
I tend to see the absurdity in things, connections people overlook, and wonder what that would be like if what I was perceiving were actually true. Otherwise (like during my 100 days of 100 stories last year), I relied heavily on Reedsy prompts to help me pick topics to write about.
Stephen Salaka
I've been cursed with lucid dreaming, and always have remembered my dreams since I was a tiny child (back then they were more like night terrors than anything).
So, I wanted to leverage both my affinity for dreaming, my studies of the occult, along with all the crazy elephants running around in my head to help flesh out a story that's been percolating in my brain for almost 20 years.
I've always been fascinated by sci-fi, but wondered what would happen if those things actually came true? How would you go about dealing with all the power and promise, or would things just collapse in on itself.
So, I wanted to leverage both my affinity for dreaming, my studies of the occult, along with all the crazy elephants running around in my head to help flesh out a story that's been percolating in my brain for almost 20 years.
I've always been fascinated by sci-fi, but wondered what would happen if those things actually came true? How would you go about dealing with all the power and promise, or would things just collapse in on itself.
Stephen Salaka
If I'm so psychic, why can't I predict the lottery, the stock market, or anything that would make me actual money? Who cares if I can tell the exact time and method of someone dying - there's no money in that....
Stephen Salaka
According to the MCU canonical timeline, we are already living on Earth-1218. So I guess, figuring out how to use my ERB portals (from Elysium Rising) to break through the veil and escape into another variant.
Stephen Salaka
Right now (Feb 2025), my TBR includes the full Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, and the Metro Series by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
Stephen Salaka
I pushed my cart down the fluorescent-lit aisle, idly debating between two brands of pasta sauce as the hum of long-dead refrigerators filled the silence. Then, just as I reached for a jar, the overhead speaker crackled to life for the first time in decades, and a voice, ragged, unfamiliar, whispered: "Hello... is anyone else out here?"
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