Ask the Author: Stephen T. Brophy
Answered Questions (8)
Stephen T. Brophy
Nick and Nora Charles from The Thin Man stories rank way up there, largely because they both genuinely loved and genuinely liked each other, were equally acerbically quick-witted, and of course, took unfettered pleasure in their post-Prohibition-era conspicuous consumption of adult beverages. Also, when I first started dating my wife, she was a social worker dealing with the homeless population of San Francisco, and our frequent encounters with the colorfully nicknamed and eccentric people who were her clients reminded me of when Nick and Nora would run across his old underworld pals during their adventures.
Stephen T. Brophy
Maybe I should have read it instead of listening to the piss-poor audio book. Loved the Hulu adaptation though. As I think I've mentioned.
Never read It. But you should definitely watch Stranger Things on Netflix. It's the Stephen King/John Carpenter/Steven Spielberg/David Cronenberg mashup we never quite got in the '80s, a mishmash of Stand By Me, ET, and Scanners with notes of Alien and other awesome shit.
Never read It. But you should definitely watch Stranger Things on Netflix. It's the Stephen King/John Carpenter/Steven Spielberg/David Cronenberg mashup we never quite got in the '80s, a mishmash of Stand By Me, ET, and Scanners with notes of Alien and other awesome shit.
Stephen T. Brophy
I can't say this works 100% of the time, because sometimes you're just going to be blocked, but again, the only real answer is to write through it. Put words down anyway, even if they're sucky, even if you despise every line. Just get something down on paper and the sense of accomplishment alone will steer you back to the path you want to be on. And if that's not happening, walk away for awhile. Run an errand, visit a friend, make a phone call, pay some bills, take a walk or a jog or go to the gym or whatever helps you unwind. The best ideas don't always come when you're sitting at the keyboard. It's how you wrestle with them when you are there that makes you a writer.
Stephen T. Brophy
The best thing about being a writer for me, besides how cool it still sounds to tell people "I'm a writer" (though it only sounds cool if it's true), is the world-building. Immersing myself in fictional realities is a tremendous escape from the pressures and mundanities of day-to-day existence. In these worlds, I have control (well, to a point--many times I find my characters seeming to dictate what it is they want to do and I'm just a remote delivery system--like an Amazon drone pilot--for their words and actions, which is even more incredible). I don't know of any activity, short of art, which I'm just not good at or I'd be making comics, that allows you to really become immersed in a fictitious reality that can be as wildly unpredictable as our own, but on a much grander scale. Even reading someone else's fiction is not as immersive for me as writing my own. I really live inside it when the writing is flowing. When it's not, it can be a lot like being stuck in traffic. But hey, even if you're stuck in traffic, it's because you're trying to get somewhere you want or need to be.
Stephen T. Brophy
There's really only one answer for this, and it's painfully obvious: write. Write. Write. All the time. Always be writing. Whenever you have a spare minute. Don't waste time. And don't worry about loving what you put down on the first pass (though try not to love it too much, either). Just get stuff down on paper and see it through to completion. Mistakes can always be fixed. Lapses in judgment are only that if you neglect to fix them for publication. There has never been a better time to be writing genre fiction, as thanks to Amazon and many other services, you can do an end-run around traditional publishers and get your work out to an appreciative audience if you're willing to learn a few tricks of self-marketing. But you have to do the work first. And if you are going the non-traditional self-publishing route, you have to be merciless with your own work and you need outside eyes who know as much or more about grammar as they do story. All too often, I read self-published books, even stories I like very much, but I'm distracted by the number of typos and incidental mistakes that could have easily been caught with a ruthless copyediting pass. But to reiterate--write your ass off (and read your ass off, too) because that is the number one surefire way to find your voice and become a great writer.
Stephen T. Brophy
I am currently working on the first draft of the inevitable full-length sequel to "The Villain's Sidekick." Titled "Citizen Skin," it follows the further adventures of Duke "HandCannon" LaRue, trying to live his life in the margins of the superhero world and still doing some shady (but not evil) stuff to make a living. At the same time, his story runs in parallel with that of Trista "Twiliter" Brooks. I always felt, and it's been pointed out by one or two readers, that the first book's biggest weakness was its handling of the female characters, so I thought it would be a terrific challenge to put myself, and the reader, inside Trista's head for half of the story, to have those contrasting voices guiding us through, and creating more badass women in general to fill out the tale. How well I've succeeded we'll know in a few months.
Stephen T. Brophy
Sometimes through sheer force of will, sometimes through the burning need to get an idea out of my head and see if I can make it work on paper. Sometimes it's just a sentence or image that pops up and starts evolving rapidly and just can't be contained in the confines of the skull. I'm a huge comics reader, film and TV viewer, as well as a husband, father and modern American human, so I take inspiration from all of those sources and feed it through the grinder. Seeing how many people are churning out work in this genre, to varying degrees of success, I can't help but be further inspired to throw my stuff out into the world. Having known this was what I wanted to do since second grade, I took a long and circuitous route to get to the point where I was pumping out prose and sharing it with the world. Then again, circumstances have conspired to make this one of the best times to do just that.
Stephen T. Brophy
I had the idea for "The Villain's Sidekick" when I was in the midst of writing a much more epic novel in the same genre and I got bogged down in the climax. I decided I wanted to dash off something quick and dirty and had an idea for a short story about the mundane life of a supervillain's henchman with a crummy apartment and a diabetic cat. Almost as soon as I started writing, it quickly ballooned into a story about a professional bad guy who was also something of a deadbeat dad trying to reconnect with his adoring young daughter. His arc of needing to prove himself to be better than he had been emerged from that, and the next thing I knew, three weeks later, I had the first draft of a novella that I was actually pretty pleased with. After a little beta reading from some trusted advisors and a few minor tweaks based on their suggestions, I decided to take the plunge and throw it up on Amazon and see if anyone bit. So far, so good.
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