Ask the Author: Caleb Wachter
Answered Questions (6)
Caleb Wachter
A story about an assassin who's actually employed by the voting public. The voters request, via a covert and basically untraceable system, that he investigate and, if necessary, execute various public officials who have abused their power and cost society an unacceptable amount of productivity, which amounts quite literally to wasted lives.
It's basically another take on the USA's Second Amendment.
It's basically another take on the USA's Second Amendment.
Caleb Wachter
Skyrim. Lots and lots of Skyrim. If I binge hard enough on it, I end up hitting my writing reset button and I can get back to work in just a couple days of insomniac dragon-slashing.
Caleb Wachter
Setting one's own hours. Your office can be anywhere if you use a laptop computer, and that's another huge bonus. I love to sail (as in, across oceans without stopping until I get to my destination) so writing is a natural thing I can do while I'm engaged in that hobby/lifestyle.
I'd say a close second is the opportunity to share the stories and ideas in your head with the world and see what they think about them. It's always exciting when people respond to an idea that's been rolling around between my ears for years before I finally put it into some consumable form or other, like a book/ebook.
I'd say a close second is the opportunity to share the stories and ideas in your head with the world and see what they think about them. It's always exciting when people respond to an idea that's been rolling around between my ears for years before I finally put it into some consumable form or other, like a book/ebook.
Caleb Wachter
Somewhere it's said that you have to write about a million words of finished product before you've worked most of the kinks out of your style. I'd say this is pretty accurate - but that DOESN'T mean you write a million words and shove them in a box somewhere they'll never see the light of day.
The writing process is as much about incorporating negative feedback as it is about minimizing it. Everyone has their strengths as weaknesses, and you need to discover what those are. You may think you're great at romance, but really what you do well is tightly-written dialogue. You may have a penchant for military science fiction but it turns out your readers prefer your fantasy stories. Setting off down a given path without stopping to ask for directions (receiving criticism/feedback from your audience) is a pretty sure recipe for disaster.
So I'd say this: write something, make it short-ish if you can (a small novella) so you keep the narrative tight and focused. Then show it off and understand when you do so that you're not the next Stephen King, or Dan Abnett, or J.K. Rawlings, or whoever. At least, you aren't that *yet* but the only way to possibly get there is by exposing your work to the target audience and seeing how they like it.
The writing process is as much about incorporating negative feedback as it is about minimizing it. Everyone has their strengths as weaknesses, and you need to discover what those are. You may think you're great at romance, but really what you do well is tightly-written dialogue. You may have a penchant for military science fiction but it turns out your readers prefer your fantasy stories. Setting off down a given path without stopping to ask for directions (receiving criticism/feedback from your audience) is a pretty sure recipe for disaster.
So I'd say this: write something, make it short-ish if you can (a small novella) so you keep the narrative tight and focused. Then show it off and understand when you do so that you're not the next Stephen King, or Dan Abnett, or J.K. Rawlings, or whoever. At least, you aren't that *yet* but the only way to possibly get there is by exposing your work to the target audience and seeing how they like it.
Caleb Wachter
Music is hugely inspirational, probably because it doesn't interfere with the physical act of writing (at least...not until I start using voice transcription software!).
Playing video games with deep, rich story-lines is also a big positive force. It allows my brain to disengage from daily activities and I've actually found that I play my best chess, go, sudoku, and solitary-card-games after a few hours of playing Final Fantasy, Skyrim, Mass Effect, or a similar game.
Playing video games with deep, rich story-lines is also a big positive force. It allows my brain to disengage from daily activities and I've actually found that I play my best chess, go, sudoku, and solitary-card-games after a few hours of playing Final Fantasy, Skyrim, Mass Effect, or a similar game.
Caleb Wachter
The expanding role of government in people's lives made me wonder how the USA's Second Amendment (and its originally intended scope and purpose) might actually look in the future if a society used a similar law as its first principle. It's a pretty interesting, if fantastic, take on the situation.
I've also been thinking a lot about the USA's Civil War and how it might look from a given vantage point if a similar even took place in the far off future.
I've also been thinking a lot about the USA's Civil War and how it might look from a given vantage point if a similar even took place in the far off future.
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