Ask the Author: James Walker
Answered Questions (4)
James Walker
Mostly by other stories that I think are really cool. Funnily enough, I almost never get inspired to write by other novels. It's more often films or video games that put me in the mood to write a story. I like to take the fundamental essence out of my favorite stories (e.g., "This story has really cool futuristic war machines" or "I really like how the character dynamics play out in this story" or "I love the monsters in this fantasy setting"), put my own unique spin on it, and then evolve it into a whole new story loosely inspired by that "essence" of the original, as warped through the lens of my own personality and life experiences.
James Walker
Having just finished another big novel (Berserker), I'm currently taking a break to focus on my day job and spend my free time slacking off while I think about my next novel. I have plenty of ideas, but it's much too early to talk about anything concrete yet.
James Walker
For me, there are two kinds of writer's block. One is a general malaise, "I don't feel like writing today" sort of block. In that case, the best defense is to just power through it and write anyway. If anything comes out clunky from forcing myself to write, it's easy enough to clean it up with editing. It's extremely rare that I have an "I don't know what should happen next" kind of block because I preemptively defend against that by writing outlines ahead of time, though I often fill in the details as I go.
Secondly, there's a more serious, "I'm really not liking the way this story is working out" kind of block. This cannot be simply powered through. In this case, the best solution is to sleep on it for a while to decide what needs to be different about the story. Once I arrive at a decision, I'll go all the way back to the outline and rewrite it as much as necessary, then pick up from wherever I need to reset the story, even if it means starting over from scratch from the beginning. This happened while I was writing Berserker. I got about halfway through my first draft, wasn't happy with how it was working out, then put it down for a few months before completely rewriting everything from scratch (though I did recycle all the best ideas from the first draft in the second version).
So basically, I need to distinguish between mild block which is just malaise or laziness, and severe block which indicates that my current draft is seriously flawed and needs a major rewrite.
Secondly, there's a more serious, "I'm really not liking the way this story is working out" kind of block. This cannot be simply powered through. In this case, the best solution is to sleep on it for a while to decide what needs to be different about the story. Once I arrive at a decision, I'll go all the way back to the outline and rewrite it as much as necessary, then pick up from wherever I need to reset the story, even if it means starting over from scratch from the beginning. This happened while I was writing Berserker. I got about halfway through my first draft, wasn't happy with how it was working out, then put it down for a few months before completely rewriting everything from scratch (though I did recycle all the best ideas from the first draft in the second version).
So basically, I need to distinguish between mild block which is just malaise or laziness, and severe block which indicates that my current draft is seriously flawed and needs a major rewrite.
James Walker
Practice like crazy, and don't expect your first story -- or even your first several -- to be very good. Messenger is just the first story I've made public. It isn't the first book I wrote; it's the 5th complete novel I've written, and more like the 12th if you count partially complete books. Get feedback from as many people as you can and take criticisms seriously. (That doesn't mean you have to agree with all criticism, but at least consider criticism before discarding it.)
Develop thick skin. Some people aren't going to like your work. Some people might even say nasty things about it. Get over it. When you get negative feedback, look to see if it has any relevant points and extract what's useful to improve your writing. If you don't see anything useful in a negative review, then just shrug and move on.
Once again, the key to improving as a writer is to write a LOT, and don't get so attached to any one story that you think it has to be successful or you've failed. If a story "fails" in the sense that people don't seem to like it -- and you're invested in having people like your work -- then try again with something a little different.
On the other hand, if you're writing 100% for personal satisfaction and don't care about commercial or critical success, then just do whatever you want and have fun with it.
Lastly, I think it's wise to have a policy of never responding to general reviews. Especially, resist the temptation to defend your work against negative reviews. It looks very unprofessional.
Develop thick skin. Some people aren't going to like your work. Some people might even say nasty things about it. Get over it. When you get negative feedback, look to see if it has any relevant points and extract what's useful to improve your writing. If you don't see anything useful in a negative review, then just shrug and move on.
Once again, the key to improving as a writer is to write a LOT, and don't get so attached to any one story that you think it has to be successful or you've failed. If a story "fails" in the sense that people don't seem to like it -- and you're invested in having people like your work -- then try again with something a little different.
On the other hand, if you're writing 100% for personal satisfaction and don't care about commercial or critical success, then just do whatever you want and have fun with it.
Lastly, I think it's wise to have a policy of never responding to general reviews. Especially, resist the temptation to defend your work against negative reviews. It looks very unprofessional.
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