Ask the Author: Doug Rickaway
Answered Questions (6)
Doug Rickaway
In my college days I used to draw these stylized caricatures of my roommates and friends, and I drew one of my roommate and I and put a space background behind it. The wheels started turning and a story began to form, which I attempted to write shortly before graduating college in 2001. I carried it around in my head for years, and finally committed myself to writing it for real.
Doug Rickaway
I had great elementary, intermediate school, and high school teachers who encouraged my creative writing alongside the various essays and book analyses required for class. I was initially inspired by JK Rowling's story. I thought to myself: "Hey, I could do that!"
Then came Hugh Howey, whose wild success showed the world that self publishing is not something to be ashamed of, nor is it only for those who are not good enough to secure a deal with a publishing house.
Then came a whole slew of "adequately" written but wildly popular novels that were eventually made into movies. I figured I could write better than that, but no one would ever know, including me, unless I tried!
Then came Hugh Howey, whose wild success showed the world that self publishing is not something to be ashamed of, nor is it only for those who are not good enough to secure a deal with a publishing house.
Then came a whole slew of "adequately" written but wildly popular novels that were eventually made into movies. I figured I could write better than that, but no one would ever know, including me, unless I tried!
Doug Rickaway
I am working on the third and (currently) final novel in my "Adventures of Letho Ferron" series, working title: Last Son. I have a few ideas bumping around in my head right now that I will probably work on after I finish book 3. I started a zombie novel a while back and I might come back to that. But I also want to write about androids/robots.
Doug Rickaway
1. Write as much as you can. Try not to worry about whether or not it is good or not while you are writing it, or you'll get frozen up. Or you might be less likely to come back to it the next day, and the next, and so forth.
2. Finish your draft, Let it simmer for a few days, go back and start draft number two. Have people you trust to give you an honest opinion read your second draft. Listen to them.
3. If you are publishing independently, don't skimp on the cover. Go to amazon and look at successful book covers in your genre. Don't copy them, but at least try to get in the wheelhouse. Unless you are a graphic designer/digital artist in addition to a fledgeling author, I don't recommend doing your own cover. You can go to deviantart.com and post your job and how much you are willing to pay, and people will line up to do your art for you. Pick the one you like best and whose art style works best with your genre. Plan to spend at least $100-300 dollars.
4. Do not skimp on an editor. You can pay $300-500 dollars for a simple line edit, which means the editor goes through and fixes grammar and error, but not continuity or flow issues. Copy edit is more expensive, but will help make your end product much more polished. Have you ever read a poorly edited indie novel? It's very off-putting and rips a reader out of the story if you are constantly misspelling words, have formatting errors, or have homophone errors. This one kills me! Homophones are two words that sound the same, but have different meanings and spellings. Ex. "weather" vs. "whether". Readers have varying tolerance levels to these kinds of mistakes: some are forgiving: "Hey, I only paid 99 cents for this book and its an indie, so I'm ok with the mistakes, but try harder next time." And others are less so: "I counted a total of ten grammar issues, therefore book is terrible = 1 star review." My last novel was around 100,000 words, and it cost me a little over $2000 for a professional edit. Money well spent for polished prose and help with flow, word choice, and continuity.
5. Did you make it this far? Read Stephen King's "On Writing". You'll thank me.
2. Finish your draft, Let it simmer for a few days, go back and start draft number two. Have people you trust to give you an honest opinion read your second draft. Listen to them.
3. If you are publishing independently, don't skimp on the cover. Go to amazon and look at successful book covers in your genre. Don't copy them, but at least try to get in the wheelhouse. Unless you are a graphic designer/digital artist in addition to a fledgeling author, I don't recommend doing your own cover. You can go to deviantart.com and post your job and how much you are willing to pay, and people will line up to do your art for you. Pick the one you like best and whose art style works best with your genre. Plan to spend at least $100-300 dollars.
4. Do not skimp on an editor. You can pay $300-500 dollars for a simple line edit, which means the editor goes through and fixes grammar and error, but not continuity or flow issues. Copy edit is more expensive, but will help make your end product much more polished. Have you ever read a poorly edited indie novel? It's very off-putting and rips a reader out of the story if you are constantly misspelling words, have formatting errors, or have homophone errors. This one kills me! Homophones are two words that sound the same, but have different meanings and spellings. Ex. "weather" vs. "whether". Readers have varying tolerance levels to these kinds of mistakes: some are forgiving: "Hey, I only paid 99 cents for this book and its an indie, so I'm ok with the mistakes, but try harder next time." And others are less so: "I counted a total of ten grammar issues, therefore book is terrible = 1 star review." My last novel was around 100,000 words, and it cost me a little over $2000 for a professional edit. Money well spent for polished prose and help with flow, word choice, and continuity.
5. Did you make it this far? Read Stephen King's "On Writing". You'll thank me.
Doug Rickaway
Simply knowing that somewhere out there someone deemed your novel worth a purchase and read it (and hopefully enjoyed it). I sometimes think of it like being a guy sitting by a fire and having people gradually sit down around it, listening to the yarn you are spinning.
Doug Rickaway
So far I really haven't had to deal with writer's block. I've only written two novels so far, and they are two of three parts of a story that I've been carrying around in my head for about ten or fifteen years now. I'll let you know when I try to write a new book/series.
That being said, I try to make writing a routine when I can. Sometimes writer's block can be chipped away at if you just get started and keep going for a while. If you come back in another draft and you hate what you wrote, you can always re-write.
I suffer more with "writer's fear" than writer's block. I worry "what if it is no good?" or "am I wasting my time?"
The answer is, yes, to some people. Even if you are Stephen freaking King there are people out there who will leave you nasty reviews. Even people who love Stephen King may love one of his books, but hate another. So just keep writing, because in doing so you will make yourself a better in the process. Keep chipping away.
That being said, I try to make writing a routine when I can. Sometimes writer's block can be chipped away at if you just get started and keep going for a while. If you come back in another draft and you hate what you wrote, you can always re-write.
I suffer more with "writer's fear" than writer's block. I worry "what if it is no good?" or "am I wasting my time?"
The answer is, yes, to some people. Even if you are Stephen freaking King there are people out there who will leave you nasty reviews. Even people who love Stephen King may love one of his books, but hate another. So just keep writing, because in doing so you will make yourself a better in the process. Keep chipping away.
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