Ask the Author: Daniel Ferguson
Answered Questions (8)
Daniel Ferguson
I'm going to say David and Megan in Steelheart/Firefight/Calamity, just because he's 14 and a nerd and she's a bit older and looks down on him from the first moment (and is already resistance fighter). But they develop something real anyway. And he brings her back from her demons.
Daniel Ferguson
I sucked at everything, I hated everything, I was bored by everything for those reasons. I was a 7 year old kid already frustrated by life, and I was only in the second grade.
Then, I discovered something about myself, something that changed everything. Something clicked when I put words onto paper. I still can't write with a pen for shit, though it's much tidier now that I'm 30. My handwriting indicates my mental condition. But honed over many years, it is remarkable neat. Not just as someone with my disorder... but actually NEAT. Legible. I can't write cursive, I didn't get a pen license, that I can recall.
None of that really matters, honestly. No one takes that license seriously, and the thing about cursive is, it's not efficient writing. It's fast. But it costs legibility. I am insanely jealous of people, girls particularly, who can write cursive and make it look amazing, when mine looks... kinda awful.
But. I never cared about that, not if I'm honest with myself. What I cared about was the fact that I'd found something I LIKED. With that realisation, and with life against me - many, many people with my disorder turn to crime, alcohol, drugs, dangerous sex, and even suicide - I finally found something to cling to.
People with Down Syndrome never hugged something as hard as I hugged writing.
And it hugged me back.
Then, I discovered something about myself, something that changed everything. Something clicked when I put words onto paper. I still can't write with a pen for shit, though it's much tidier now that I'm 30. My handwriting indicates my mental condition. But honed over many years, it is remarkable neat. Not just as someone with my disorder... but actually NEAT. Legible. I can't write cursive, I didn't get a pen license, that I can recall.
None of that really matters, honestly. No one takes that license seriously, and the thing about cursive is, it's not efficient writing. It's fast. But it costs legibility. I am insanely jealous of people, girls particularly, who can write cursive and make it look amazing, when mine looks... kinda awful.
But. I never cared about that, not if I'm honest with myself. What I cared about was the fact that I'd found something I LIKED. With that realisation, and with life against me - many, many people with my disorder turn to crime, alcohol, drugs, dangerous sex, and even suicide - I finally found something to cling to.
People with Down Syndrome never hugged something as hard as I hugged writing.
And it hugged me back.
Daniel Ferguson
Usually by reading something awesome and wanting to copy it.
Daniel Ferguson
It's either going to be book 2, or a steampunk novella with zombies.
Daniel Ferguson
With an ice pick.
Daniel Ferguson
I had characters from a series I was done with, but loved the characters so much that when I realised I wanted to write an apocalypse story, I had them move house to this new setting. The setting was apocalyptic, and the characters had powers that matched an urban fantasy or superhero setting, so the weird, experimental idea to marry apocalypse and urban fantasy came about.
Also Terry Brooks published Armageddon's Children around that time, which inspired me further. That series was proof that you could blend genres, mom.
Also Terry Brooks published Armageddon's Children around that time, which inspired me further. That series was proof that you could blend genres, mom.
Daniel Ferguson
Learn how to write, grow a thick skin, never give up.
Daniel Ferguson
Going to work in literally whatever you're wearing - or not wearing.
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