Ask the Author: J.M.J. Williamson
Answered Questions (6)
J.M.J. Williamson
There are some writers who will tell you to write everyday. I'm not one of them. For me, developing a story is a long process and I need time to think so thinking time is just as important as writing time. I plan as much of the story as I can, but even with all the planning in the world new ideas will pop up during the writing process that need evaluating and building into the process. Editing and re-writing too is something I enjoy. It's seeing the final story emerge that is so satisfying.
J.M.J. Williamson
The story is set in the near future. A world where corporations are replacing their workers with androids and this is causing social unrest. Law and order is swift with dead or alive bounties used by the justice system to bring the most heinous crimes to justice. Our hero is special marshal hunting down the killers of a prominent cyber billionaire and a CEO of a new park for the super rich to play out their fantasies with androids. No it's not a Westworld derivative, and it's not Blade Runner or Ex Machina.
J.M.J. Williamson
Writing... That's the simple answer. I enjoy creating something new and unique. Also when you get to the end of the process, you realise that the final product is so much better than you ever imagined. Why? Because writing is about refining and editing -- each time you polish the story it becomes better. It's like a cleaning up a greasy semi-precious stone and finding a diamond.
J.M.J. Williamson
If you're passionate about writing, then write, read all you can, learn from the best, and study your craft. It's hard work, but enormously satisfying to see your first novel published. If you're not passionate about writing, then find something else to do; you won't have the drive to see it through.
J.M.J. Williamson
I wrote a blog on my website not to long ago entitled "There's no such thing as writers block". It was meant to be a little provocative. Personally, I don't have a problem about finding ideas for stories to write about. The difficulty is finding and developing the right ones before I start writing. I find there are so many ideas to choose from, but which one is best? And how do you know a story works unless you've thought through the main points? This can create a kind of paralysis. Unlike some 'organic' writers (or 'pantsers') I have to know the direction the story is going and where it will end before I start to write.
If a real block exists, it's a psychological fear about the quality of what we write. One writer wrote to me saying they had been initially very successful, but now had difficulty living up to that standard and this was blocking them. It's easy to forget that polished final drafts are very different from out initial attempts and to get disheartened with what we write. Writers who have this type of block may have too much of a perfectionist streak. It's therefore important to remember that story writing is a complex process; the quality comes from re-writing, editing and polishing.
If a real block exists, it's a psychological fear about the quality of what we write. One writer wrote to me saying they had been initially very successful, but now had difficulty living up to that standard and this was blocking them. It's easy to forget that polished final drafts are very different from out initial attempts and to get disheartened with what we write. Writers who have this type of block may have too much of a perfectionist streak. It's therefore important to remember that story writing is a complex process; the quality comes from re-writing, editing and polishing.
J.M.J. Williamson
The original idea came out of a fun creative writing session that I attended some years ago. (The only creative writing session I have ever attended.) In the session we had to write with pen and paper for five minutes continuously whether it was gibberish or not. I wrote about someone running along the beach at night, when a UFO flies over them and crashes further up the beach. The idea from the session became the catalyst for the beach scene in my debut novel. It just shows that an idea can remain dormant for some time only to be re-discovered at a later time.
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