Ask the Author: Michael Taillard
Answered Questions (8)
Michael Taillard
Consider the social wealth class you were born into. Statistically, you're stuck.
Michael Taillard
Definitely go to Tolkien's Middle Earth, head straight to Mordor with a cheap disposable camera around my neck, then die early on my way as whatever animal big enough to think I look tasty has a go for it.
Michael Taillard
I write about topics that I know nothing about, with the understanding I'm probably getting stuff wrong and other people are more qualified. It's an exercise to force my brain to think about things in new ways.
Michael Taillard
It was mostly inspired by the research of Gonzalez et al. in 2005. A study on the nature of perception utilizing fMRI scans. They used perceptions of risk and reward, which are both things that economists and financiers have already studied and quantified like crazy for centuries. So, I wrote about behavioral finance as applied to investing markets, which was very much my PhD dissertation, anyway. Then, in Chapter 7, I reversed the paradigm and used financial metrics to measure and address issues in human behavior.
Michael Taillard
People think there's no creativity involved in writing nonfiction, but quite the opposite looking at new ways to solve real world problems and help people in ways that reach readers in new ways takes a tremendous amount of creativity. Being able to see your idea reach people and get applied, watching them improve the world in real-time. Nothing can compare to that.
Michael Taillard
Carry paper and pen with you everywhere. If you're at home, get a laptop and carry it with you. Constantly be writing and save everything. Even if the writing is crap, you'll eventually feel inspired by an idea, and more than likely you'll want to reference your old writing for other ideas. The point of writing stuff that you know is garbage isn't to publish it, but just to get into the habit of writing for long periods of time and to exercise the creative part of your mind. It's work at first, and you may not have any ideas for a full story, but just getting into that daily rhythm is part of being a professional writer. Worry about where to place your articles/books after they're written. You may have amazing ideas but they're just notes. Write them all down in random order. Single sentences that you like, cool quotables, abstract plot ideas, character concepts/encounters you'd like to see, references to real events, citations to other books which inspire you with annotations, etc. Write them all down in your notebook and use them to make yourself a better writer.
Michael Taillard
A new field of research I've dubbed Financial Psychometrics. It's hinted at briefly in Chapter 7 of Market Insanity, but it's an absolutely new field with tremendous potential to revolutionize the fields of neurology and psychiatry so it definitely feels like an important project to spearhead. It's challenging because patient data is important to protect, but at the same time that limits my ability to produce robust research results. All the same I hope to reach the medical community and inspire people within it to explore the possibilities.
Michael Taillard
Well, bills and contract deadlines are great motivators. There's definitely a difference between feeling motivated and feeling inspired, though. I feel the most inspired when I learn a new bit of information, or someone challenges me in a way, and I'm able to to apply what I know in new and interesting ways. It's always exciting to see what the possibilities could be, and fun to explore how existing problems in the world could be resolved in ways people haven't thought of yet.
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