Ask the Author: Michael J. Gajda
Answered Questions (8)
Michael J. Gajda
It might be the world of Richard Brautigan. I would probably remain lost there for a long while. While having fun doing it.
Michael J. Gajda
To be honest, I don't think I have one. No one comes to the front of the line in my mind anyway. I seem to be able to move from one story's characters to the next. They all seem to blend together after a while. Each story has its own life, its own flow, and its own transformation over time: before, during, and after I read it. Each story's characters (or any book's meaning for that matter) seems to change over time as my own life story changes over time. Some stories that I've read for a second time around, years later, are completely transformed in how I absorb them and their characters. Sometimes I ask myself, "How come this story and its people seemed so meaningful to me the first time around and now it doesn't ring a very convincing bell of interest at all? How come I thought these people in this story were so interesting back then and now they seem kind of boring?". All stories and characters and any book's meaning changes over time. If they didn't, then I'd be worried that maybe my own life story got stuck somewhere in some either/or universe along the line where everything and everyone remains the same forever and where battles are fought to defend these things to the death no matter what. Kind of sounds like the politics and wars that continue to languish in the so-called real world with their ongoing back and forth battles of opposing stucknesses (if that's a word).
Aren't you glad you asked the question?
Aren't you glad you asked the question?
Michael J. Gajda
From a single idea that popped into my head, which is this: What would happen if everybody woke up tomorrow morning wearing someone else's face. And then it went into a direction that I never would have predicted.
But I never asked for that idea to pop up in the first place.
But I never asked for that idea to pop up in the first place.
Michael J. Gajda
Generally, by a thread of an idea that begins to take on a life of its own, and then somehow gets me to follow it for awhile, until I become its partner in whatever crime it's trying to commit.
Michael J. Gajda
An old (new) work of fiction. Mainly.
Michael J. Gajda
Read every day. Write every day. Trust yourself. Listen well. Pay attention. Never lie.
Michael J. Gajda
I like not knowing what's going to turn up on the page (or on the screen). I like the mystery of it. And the fun of the mystery. I also like what I can get into sometimes when I'm pretty much caught into a flow when and where time seems to disappear...and after what seems like about 10 minutes of writing or trying to rework something, it's suddenly 3-4 hours later...and there I am, late again for something that's not real important (most of the time).
I also like the odd, funny, strange, and throwaway stuff. I like the whole dance.
I also like the odd, funny, strange, and throwaway stuff. I like the whole dance.
Michael J. Gajda
I've been lucky enough so far. Since I'm mostly an organic writer, meaning that I start with an idea and let it go wherever it seems to want to go...I don't seem to get blocked too much from things coming out onto the page (or the screen). I just try to follow the muse and work with it...or give it a rest when it needs a rest. I figure that I can always go back and toss stuff out that either took a wrong turn or didn't fit or didn't make any sense or for whatever reason. I like the playground of words. So if something doesn't seem to be flowing in the direction I thought it should, I just go with the flow and climb the monkey bars of whatever comes out and let it run its course. It usually leads back to the path of whatever's trying to come alive in there. And it often surprises me. And since I like surprises, I never get too disappointed.
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