Ask the Author: Andrew J. Stillman
Answered Questions (6)
Andrew J. Stillman
There's usually a lot of crying and self doubt involved. I think writer's block, for me anyway, is directly related to depression. Sometimes I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. Sometimes I feel like I'm just trapped inside of a dark room in my head. Sometimes it's because of my writing, sometimes it's not. But there's nothing as terrifying as staring at a blank page and thinking I don't have it in me anymore. Thinking things like "I've forgotten how to write" or "I'm never going to get the sequel finished" or anything related to that. It's awful. It really is. It's not like in high school or college where you have an essay you're procrastinating. When you become an author, when you make writing your life, and you get to a point where you think you've lost it -- it hurts.
Usually, I let it ride for a while. You can't force yourself to write, or it's going to be more awful than it needs to be. It oftentimes comes after I've been writing A LOT and my brain just needs a break, and its way of telling me that is to stop working. We have that kind of a relationship, me and my brain. Then I'll do something like go on a hike. Or get a random idea for a chapter, or a various other story. All of a sudden, all I'm doing is writing. I'll wake up at 8 and at 3 I'll realize I haven't moved in 7 hours. But those days, especially the first ones after a long suffering of writer's block, are some of the best days. Accomplishment trumps writer's block any day.
Usually, I let it ride for a while. You can't force yourself to write, or it's going to be more awful than it needs to be. It oftentimes comes after I've been writing A LOT and my brain just needs a break, and its way of telling me that is to stop working. We have that kind of a relationship, me and my brain. Then I'll do something like go on a hike. Or get a random idea for a chapter, or a various other story. All of a sudden, all I'm doing is writing. I'll wake up at 8 and at 3 I'll realize I haven't moved in 7 hours. But those days, especially the first ones after a long suffering of writer's block, are some of the best days. Accomplishment trumps writer's block any day.
Andrew J. Stillman
Expression. It is amazing to be able to express thoughts, emotions, ideas, anything through the written word. People oftentimes associate how you write with how you speak, but I think it's so much more. You really have to think about the word choice, the sentence structure, the everything. But it's beautiful. The written word has so much power over the readers who are enthralled with what's going on. It's very gratifying when I get text messages like, "I'm addicted to your book. Literally can't put it down but I have to eat lunch!" or "It's two o'clock in the morning. I should be sleeping. Thanks to you I'm not." That's the best thing about being a writer, I think. Keeping people awake and not eating because they're stuck in my world.
Andrew J. Stillman
Don't give up. I repeat: DO. NOT. GIVE. UP. It's cliched advice, honestly, but it's true. It's really easy to give up. REALLY easy. Especially if you choose to do a self-published route. You soon find that writing the first draft of the manuscript is the easiest part, where as at the beginning of your first novel that seems the hardest. The first draft is supposed to suck. Remember that. When it comes back annihilated by an editor, that's okay. They really are just trying to make it better. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you'll write one draft, send it to get edited, and when it comes back it'll be perfect, either. You'll be highly disappointed.
Read, and do a lot of research. About everything. Publishing, editing, target audiences, marketing -- all of it. If you choose and are accepted for a traditional publishing route, a lot of this may be easier. But no one can sell your book like you can. No one is as familiar with it as you are. Don't rush it. You want to make sure you're as proud of it as you can possibly be before you let it out into the world. The first book is the hardest to get out there, as we are the most vulnerable with it. I think, though, every writer's first book is their worst. It's the learning stage. But once you get passed it, once you get to the point where you're doing signings or getting invited to events, it suddenly all feels worth the pain it took you to get to that point.
Read, and do a lot of research. About everything. Publishing, editing, target audiences, marketing -- all of it. If you choose and are accepted for a traditional publishing route, a lot of this may be easier. But no one can sell your book like you can. No one is as familiar with it as you are. Don't rush it. You want to make sure you're as proud of it as you can possibly be before you let it out into the world. The first book is the hardest to get out there, as we are the most vulnerable with it. I think, though, every writer's first book is their worst. It's the learning stage. But once you get passed it, once you get to the point where you're doing signings or getting invited to events, it suddenly all feels worth the pain it took you to get to that point.
Andrew J. Stillman
I am currently working on the sequel to "Immortality Awaits," entitled, "Tides of Darkness." It's a much more intricate novel than "Immortality Awaits," mostly because now we've got passed all of the introductions. That was the primary function "Immortality Awaits" served, in my mind. I wanted it to be what I call an "airplane read." You see it in the airport, it looks interesting, you pick it up, and you read it on the flight. By the time you get to wherever you're going, you're either finished or you're interested enough to keep reading it after you've landed. It's all introductory. We meet the characters, we know what they're doing, where they are, and the overall plot of the series.
"Tides of Darkness" takes that a little to the next level. We get into the minds of all eight contenders for the Powers. We get some questions answered, and we get some more questions raised. It's definitely a dark book, and the writing process for it has been pretty intensive so far. The characters are facing their fears, overcoming challenges presented to them, and they all have their own separate issues and their own ways of dealing with things. No one is the same in book two as they were in book one, and they're on a constant plane of change.
"Tides of Darkness" takes that a little to the next level. We get into the minds of all eight contenders for the Powers. We get some questions answered, and we get some more questions raised. It's definitely a dark book, and the writing process for it has been pretty intensive so far. The characters are facing their fears, overcoming challenges presented to them, and they all have their own separate issues and their own ways of dealing with things. No one is the same in book two as they were in book one, and they're on a constant plane of change.
Andrew J. Stillman
I'm a big nature buff. I grew up in the foothills of Yosemite, and we didn't have too many neighbors where I grew up. The closest houses were vacation homes, and the closest people who lived there too were my parent's friends. I used to do my homework in school, so when I came home, I could just run around in our acre's-worth of forest in my backyard. That was where I always came up with story ideas, when it was just me and the trees.
Nowadays, I just go on hikes. Adulthood certainly comes with a lot more responsibilities than childhood, and I don't have homework I can just finish at school. I have to carve out time to get back into nature, but I think it's totally worth it. There's something about the silence, the peace that a forest brings that I find truly inspirational. There's even a subtle sense of danger. We've all seen horror movies in the forest. You never know what lays just around the corner....
Nowadays, I just go on hikes. Adulthood certainly comes with a lot more responsibilities than childhood, and I don't have homework I can just finish at school. I have to carve out time to get back into nature, but I think it's totally worth it. There's something about the silence, the peace that a forest brings that I find truly inspirational. There's even a subtle sense of danger. We've all seen horror movies in the forest. You never know what lays just around the corner....
Andrew J. Stillman
Technically, my most recent book, "Tides of Darkness" is the sequel to "Immortality Awaits," but the answers kind of go hand in hand together.
I started writing "Immortality Awaits" in the summer of 2007, right after I graduated high school. The months between graduation and the start of college were, for some reason, highly inspirational for me. I just wanted to write all the time.
At the time, being 18 years old, I was a relatively lazy writer. I didn't want to focus on character development, or setting, or any of the other factors that go into writing besides a general plot line. I just saw a shadow in my mind -- a shadow that was floating above characters who were running in fear from it. (And if you've read the book, that shadow became two shadows known as Varnio and Xandio.) I saw a flash of lightning illuminate the shadow as it chased them. And I decided to figure out what the shadow was all about.
Originally, this idea started out as a Harry Potter fan fiction. I'll be honest about it. It was right before the last book came out, and in a sense it was my idea for an ending. Voldemort was going for the Horcruxes, but they were ruled by the Powers of Inwit, and Harry decided to go after them himself. I got about 33,000 words into the fic, and I had only covered "fire." With three elements still in mind, I decided to venture out and make it into my own book. (Just one. Just one book was all I wanted out of this.)
I sat down and wrote the first sentence of the series, "The night air was cold against his flesh." (Which now no longer exists, but that's a whole different story.) I spent the remaining month of my summer working out the story of Jonathan and Isabelle, as well as introducing Donovan, Logan, Gabrielle, and Kaylee. It took me about a year and a half to write the first draft, and the rest (after a really intensive editing process) is history.
I started writing "Immortality Awaits" in the summer of 2007, right after I graduated high school. The months between graduation and the start of college were, for some reason, highly inspirational for me. I just wanted to write all the time.
At the time, being 18 years old, I was a relatively lazy writer. I didn't want to focus on character development, or setting, or any of the other factors that go into writing besides a general plot line. I just saw a shadow in my mind -- a shadow that was floating above characters who were running in fear from it. (And if you've read the book, that shadow became two shadows known as Varnio and Xandio.) I saw a flash of lightning illuminate the shadow as it chased them. And I decided to figure out what the shadow was all about.
Originally, this idea started out as a Harry Potter fan fiction. I'll be honest about it. It was right before the last book came out, and in a sense it was my idea for an ending. Voldemort was going for the Horcruxes, but they were ruled by the Powers of Inwit, and Harry decided to go after them himself. I got about 33,000 words into the fic, and I had only covered "fire." With three elements still in mind, I decided to venture out and make it into my own book. (Just one. Just one book was all I wanted out of this.)
I sat down and wrote the first sentence of the series, "The night air was cold against his flesh." (Which now no longer exists, but that's a whole different story.) I spent the remaining month of my summer working out the story of Jonathan and Isabelle, as well as introducing Donovan, Logan, Gabrielle, and Kaylee. It took me about a year and a half to write the first draft, and the rest (after a really intensive editing process) is history.
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