Ask the Author: John Bascom
Answered Questions (8)
John Bascom
One of my favorite books (and the movie as well) is 2001: A Space Odyssey If I could, I'd have traveled with HAL, the malevolent computer, to the edge of the solar system to see what was really there
John Bascom
I'm afraid my life has not been terribly dramatic. Those things that are, I've written about in my two books, Caine's Pestilence and Beneath a Hunter's Sky. My career with two mergers, a successful late-life job change, going near the top, then the bottom, and the top again could be fictionalized I supposed. My divorce in 1975 involved plenty of deception and scandal, but that's been so overdone in literature. I guess I'm pretty boring.
John Bascom
I seldom get writer's block, but often need to overcome the inertia of the lack of motivation. The best things for me is set a schedule, and write even if you have "writer's block," then fix it later if it's not up to par. It's amazing how something created even with block will turn out fine in retrospect.
John Bascom
It's fun, a good creative outlet, fairly easy if time consuming, and a way to give voice to things important to you. But don't quit your day job...
John Bascom
Based on my own impressions, the quality of writing by first-time amateur authors is horrible. My advice is to concentrate on the quality of writing and employ a professional editor when done. Make sure there are no misspellings, grammatical errors, malapropisms, repetitive use of words or phrases and the like. Try and make your writing absolutely unique, not a knockoff of some other writer you admire.
John Bascom
I'm completing a collection of my short stories called "Beneath a Hunter's Sky" due out in 2015. It is primarily stories of the outdoors or adventure created with the interests of men in mind. Some of the stories are "true experience" while most are pure fiction.
John Bascom
I write about things important to me, so there is a compulsion to speak out from within. That is all the inspiration I require.
John Bascom
Ideas for the things I write come simply from thinking about my everyday life. Each book or story has special meaning for me, and is written about something significant in my own life rather than merely to entertain.
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