Ask the Author: J. Conrad Guest
Answered Questions (6)
J. Conrad Guest
I’ve had to deal with writer’s block once, during the writing of my second novel, One Hot January. It was shortly after my dad passed away, nearly a year after I lost Mom. I struggled with a lot of aspects of my life, but never greater as with my creativity. One Hot January takes place in New York City circa 1947. I jumped at a chance to go to the Big Apple in an effort to reconnect with my protagonist, Joe January. I visited some of the same haunts described in my novel—McSorley’s, Zabar’s, and several other places now renamed or gone. It helped tremendously to walk the same streets he did. I finally caught up with him in Central Park. When I came home I wrote a piece of flash fiction about it (A Case of Writer’s Block), a character from a novel catching up with his creator. From that point on I caught fire.
J. Conrad Guest
I enjoy the creative process the most. Crafting stories about everyday people dealing with everyday issues—love, loss, regret, death—letting my characters tell their stories, writing great dialogue or narrative; creating the perfect scene or sentence. I’ve found nothing that gives me greater pleasure. It took me nearly ten years to let go my fear of rejection. When I finally decided to simply enjoy the process, I became a writer. Perhaps not so surprisingly, publication soon followed.
J. Conrad Guest
Don’t be so quick to do an end around to learning craft by self-publishing. Learn from rejection: how you can improve your writing and storytelling techniques. Anyone can self-publish; but there is great satisfaction and validation in having a publisher accept your work.
J. Conrad Guest
Well, Forever a Philanderer was born from an edit for hire project I completed about a year ago. My client claimed it was romance with a high heat rating. I don't recall what she called it, maybe it was "fully erect." Anyway, I thought I could pen a similar novel to much greater effect. The result is my most graphic and erotic novel to date: a story about sexual addiction and obsession.
J. Conrad Guest
If I waited for inspiration I'd likely never sit down to write.
A pot of coffee, good old fashioned rock and roll blaring through my Bose speakers, and a fine cigar are part of my writing ritual. Eventually, the muse peeks over my shoulder to see what all the tapping is about.
A pot of coffee, good old fashioned rock and roll blaring through my Bose speakers, and a fine cigar are part of my writing ritual. Eventually, the muse peeks over my shoulder to see what all the tapping is about.
J. Conrad Guest
Forever a Philanderer is my new work in progress.
If you could go back in time, what would you do? Prevent the crucifixion of Christ? Maybe kill Hitler before he comes to power?
If your spouse committed the ultimate act of treason, perhaps you’d return to the past to murder their mother, thereby erasing their existence in your present. But would it erase your pain, or simply serve as the ultimate act of revenge?
For Forever a Philanderer, I once again explores the paradox of time travel: how undoing events in the past affect that past’s future, as well as how obsession can be our undoing.
If you could go back in time, what would you do? Prevent the crucifixion of Christ? Maybe kill Hitler before he comes to power?
If your spouse committed the ultimate act of treason, perhaps you’d return to the past to murder their mother, thereby erasing their existence in your present. But would it erase your pain, or simply serve as the ultimate act of revenge?
For Forever a Philanderer, I once again explores the paradox of time travel: how undoing events in the past affect that past’s future, as well as how obsession can be our undoing.
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