Ask the Author: Paul Calhoun
Answered Questions (5)
Paul Calhoun
I think the odds are that this answer will be true when read: Production on the current book. Editing, voice actors, audiobook. I usually spend 1 year writing and 2 years getting the thing ready to go out!
Paul Calhoun
There may be trillions of life sustaining planets in the universe, and many have civilizations with more advanced technology than us. The next oddly reflective rock might not miss.
Paul Calhoun
The world is an inspiration. Our world is an infinite spectrum, and the prism of your imagination can split it into an infinite number of possible views. I feel like I've heard that somewhere before, like "my soul's waves of grain." Maybe it's my life's version of a running gag.
The biggest scenes in my books are usually musically inspired. It can be any piece in any genre; just has to click into a part of the universe I'm building. I like to think that every piece of music that exists should be able to fit somewhere in a world or else it hasn't been put together quite right, but that's taking in the totality of a complex world's history, and we all fall short of comprehending that in the same way as we fall short in comprehending the one we're living in!
The biggest scenes in my books are usually musically inspired. It can be any piece in any genre; just has to click into a part of the universe I'm building. I like to think that every piece of music that exists should be able to fit somewhere in a world or else it hasn't been put together quite right, but that's taking in the totality of a complex world's history, and we all fall short of comprehending that in the same way as we fall short in comprehending the one we're living in!
Paul Calhoun
Probably no better than any other author, and likely exactly the same as most. Just do it. Write, and see what happens. Keep writing, even when you know it sucks, because eventually it won't. It took me years to get the junk out of my system so I could start settling down to writing some quality material. Start with what you want, move on to what you can never have, and finally end up at what you know.
Oh, and here's one most authors won't give you: Look inward at why you want to write. I know a lot of people who pursue the muse and the lucre in equal measure. If you truly, desperately, absolutely need either the adulation or the compensation, then your writing will change. This isn't a bad thing; it takes skill to write what sells and what publishers will want.
That said, I personally leave that field of battle to the professionals. They need the publishers, agents, and all that more than I do. I care only about the story, so I self-publish. If it's truly excellent, I have faith that it will spread and find its place. If not, the story is still there to be told and I need to tell it. If you're the type of writer who dreams dreams and sees visions, there really isn't much advice you need because you'll do exactly what you need to regardless of what anyone says. After that, it's just editing!
Oh, and here's one most authors won't give you: Look inward at why you want to write. I know a lot of people who pursue the muse and the lucre in equal measure. If you truly, desperately, absolutely need either the adulation or the compensation, then your writing will change. This isn't a bad thing; it takes skill to write what sells and what publishers will want.
That said, I personally leave that field of battle to the professionals. They need the publishers, agents, and all that more than I do. I care only about the story, so I self-publish. If it's truly excellent, I have faith that it will spread and find its place. If not, the story is still there to be told and I need to tell it. If you're the type of writer who dreams dreams and sees visions, there really isn't much advice you need because you'll do exactly what you need to regardless of what anyone says. After that, it's just editing!
Paul Calhoun
It sounds egotistical at first, but I just don't get writer's block. I think part of it is that I have a pretty limited time to write because of my job, so the ideas are always flowing faster than I can find time to write them down.
That said, I often struggle with phrasing once it's on the page. It can sound incredible in my mind or when I say it, but then it seems clumsy in print and I need to rephrase. One of the things that helps me most with that is recording the audiobook myself. I have to read every word and that really helps me feel out both what looks good and sounds good.
That said, I often struggle with phrasing once it's on the page. It can sound incredible in my mind or when I say it, but then it seems clumsy in print and I need to rephrase. One of the things that helps me most with that is recording the audiobook myself. I have to read every word and that really helps me feel out both what looks good and sounds good.
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