Ask the Author: Jack Soren
Answered Questions (6)
Jack Soren
My job is creating something out of nothing. You create the world, set the laws--both physical and moral, populate it with people and then shove them around your construct being terrible to them. What's not to like?
Jack Soren
I'm currently working on the third (final?) book in the Monarch series, tentatively called BONA FIDE FUGAZI.
Jack Soren
The original idea for THE TOMORROW HEIST started with an idea I had to have a serial killer going around and killing the oldest people on the planet. You know, that handful of lucky soles who make it past 110. Luckily, my first idea never really ends up in the final book. But it's a starting point. Sort of like when you go online to look up a movie's review, and an hour later you find yourself watching a video of a guy juggling wombats -- that wasn't even on the menu at first, you just sort of ended up there. A lot of my plots just sort of end up on the page and I rarely start out with anything that even remotely resembles the finished product.
Jack Soren
If I waited for inspiration before I wrote, there probably wouldn't be any books up there in my profile. The way to start is to write a sentence. The way to get inspired, is to write the next sentence.
Jack Soren
Don’t give up. Tenacity is as important as ability. And never stop learning the craft. Read voraciously and widely and rip what you read apart and figure out what they’re doing. Yes, it’s okay to bend and even break some rules, but you need to know what they are first.
But above all, write. There’s only one way to learn to write in the end, and that’s to write.
But above all, write. There’s only one way to learn to write in the end, and that’s to write.
Jack Soren
I don’t really get writer’s block, if that exists (my Dad would say “Carpenters don’t get carpenter’s block”. Sometimes you just have to do the work.) There are times when it’s more difficult than others, but I think that’s more about figuring out the right path into and through a story. If I’m trying to write and it’s not coming, then there’s something wrong with what I’m doing. I may not know it consciously, but on some level I know something’s broken.
The “block” part would be stopping to figure out what it is. But I don’t believe writing is just putting words on the page. Sometimes it’s drinking a beer and staring at your navel.
The “block” part would be stopping to figure out what it is. But I don’t believe writing is just putting words on the page. Sometimes it’s drinking a beer and staring at your navel.
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