Ask the Author: D.A. Fellows
Answered Questions (6)
D.A. Fellows
Creativity does ebb and flow, and sometimes I wish that I could have some kind of filter tap installed so that the ideas don't trip over themselves as they come to me. They come so thick and fast that I actually forget some of them whilst writing the others down. And then there are other times where I don't feel like a writer at all, where I feel like the cooking instructions on a pizza box are for more interesting than anything I could come up with.
I haven't settled into one specific genre so if I do hit a roadblock on one story, I'll backbench it and think about another. If I have a day where I'm stuck on everything, I find that reading helps. Many of my ideas and twists have come from reading other books, and I've thought that I could see where the story was going. Then when it goes somewhere else entirely, I sometimes think slyly to myself, "my way would have been much better!" I do this watching TV and movies, too...I'm always thinking about how the story is unfolding, what is being laid down as a marker for later events, where the plot is heading. I find that eventually it leads back to my own ideas and gives me a little something to break through the block.
I haven't settled into one specific genre so if I do hit a roadblock on one story, I'll backbench it and think about another. If I have a day where I'm stuck on everything, I find that reading helps. Many of my ideas and twists have come from reading other books, and I've thought that I could see where the story was going. Then when it goes somewhere else entirely, I sometimes think slyly to myself, "my way would have been much better!" I do this watching TV and movies, too...I'm always thinking about how the story is unfolding, what is being laid down as a marker for later events, where the plot is heading. I find that eventually it leads back to my own ideas and gives me a little something to break through the block.
D.A. Fellows
Your world is what you make of it. There is a freedom and exhilaration in lying in bed at night and not knowing where the next day will take you. Maybe you'll be in a magical, alternate universe; maybe you'll take a trip to the past or the distant future; maybe you'll kill that major character and imagine knocking your readers' socks off with shock.
Finding out that your work has had the intended response is amazing, too. I watched my little sister reading my first book. She was about 11 or 12 at the time, and she didn't know I was watching her. She burst into tears, and I remember having this massive smile on my face, because I knew exactly which part she was reading. Reviewers have mentioned that they cried reading the book too, and it's surreal to imagine strangers out there having reactions like that to my work. As a writer, it gives you the belief that you are capable of producing memorable material, and that is a strong incentive to keep doing what you're doing.
Finding out that your work has had the intended response is amazing, too. I watched my little sister reading my first book. She was about 11 or 12 at the time, and she didn't know I was watching her. She burst into tears, and I remember having this massive smile on my face, because I knew exactly which part she was reading. Reviewers have mentioned that they cried reading the book too, and it's surreal to imagine strangers out there having reactions like that to my work. As a writer, it gives you the belief that you are capable of producing memorable material, and that is a strong incentive to keep doing what you're doing.
D.A. Fellows
Don't be scared. The fear of trying, and failing, is great; but I think that what your future self will never forgive you for is not trying at all.
Believe that the story or stories you want to tell will entertain people. The feedback I've had from a book that I only wrote for my wife has been really positive. Someone even told me it's amongst their very favourite books they've ever read, and she was a heavy reader too. I think if you try to have fun writing your book, the odds are that people out there will have fun reading it when you're finished.
Believe that the story or stories you want to tell will entertain people. The feedback I've had from a book that I only wrote for my wife has been really positive. Someone even told me it's amongst their very favourite books they've ever read, and she was a heavy reader too. I think if you try to have fun writing your book, the odds are that people out there will have fun reading it when you're finished.
D.A. Fellows
I've just written a crime thriller about a recovering alcoholic who runs a successful operation manufacturing and distributing explosives. When his wife is killed in a car explosion, suspicion naturally falls on him. His biggest problem is that he doesn't even remember if he's guilty or not.
Currently, I'm working on another thriller about an injured war veteran who returns home to the U.S. but finds that some of his missions in Afghanistan have followed him home. I also have the roots of a more literary novel spreading around in my head.
Currently, I'm working on another thriller about an injured war veteran who returns home to the U.S. but finds that some of his missions in Afghanistan have followed him home. I also have the roots of a more literary novel spreading around in my head.
D.A. Fellows
I wrote a funny poem about my grandparents when I was about seven or eight years old. I only did it to amuse myself but my mother saw it and thought it was brilliant, as a mother would. She told me to show it to my teacher, and Mr Davis then read it out in front of the entire school in assembly one morning. That was quite the thrill for a kid, and that's when the idea of being a writer took hold of me.
Within a couple of years, I had written a staggeringly terrible science-fiction short story, although to my ten year old self it was more a magnum opus. The 50-page manuscript climaxed with a fistfight on the moon, and hinged on a conveniently well-placed pair of gravity boots. It made the school library though, and I saw that as a plus.
Within a couple of years, I had written a staggeringly terrible science-fiction short story, although to my ten year old self it was more a magnum opus. The 50-page manuscript climaxed with a fistfight on the moon, and hinged on a conveniently well-placed pair of gravity boots. It made the school library though, and I saw that as a plus.
D.A. Fellows
I wrote this book as a present for my wife one Christmas. She and I were quite surprised at the completeness of the finished product, so I decided to self-publish to Amazon.
As far as where the idea came from, I really don't know. It was fun to write with freedom. In fantasy, your imagination is the only limit, so it was exciting to put my characters in the most perilous situations possible and see how they found their way out of them.
As far as where the idea came from, I really don't know. It was fun to write with freedom. In fantasy, your imagination is the only limit, so it was exciting to put my characters in the most perilous situations possible and see how they found their way out of them.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more