Ask the Author: T.K. Arispe
Answered Questions (13)
T.K. Arispe
My big mystery right now is, why is my 3-year-old niece so terrifyingly intelligent and bossy? I can see this being a book where she's actually an adorable extraterrestrial trying to take over humanity.
T.K. Arispe
Glad you enjoyed the book, and great question! "Dolen" was actually a completely made-up word off the top of my head. I guess I wanted something that sounded mysterious and obscure--maybe it's a Shushan word? :)
However, all of Zenith's technology are named after terms in astronomical navigation!
However, all of Zenith's technology are named after terms in astronomical navigation!
T.K. Arispe
Oh, good question!
I think I can answer this in two parts:
1) The part of writing I have the most trouble with is action/combat scenes. These require a lot of detailed, meticulous choreography to make sure everything makes sense, is well-paced, and gets the plot where it needs to go while also taking relevant character development into account. There are a LOT of moving parts in an action scene that require careful consideration.
That being said, once I get the momentum going on an action scene, I can usually get into the rhythm of it. It's that initial gear shift and planning that tends to be a challenge.
2) My least favorite part about writing is actually the story editing! The story editor is the first person who sees a completed manuscript, and it's extremely nerve-wracking for me to send my painstakingly-crafted mind-baby away to someone who is being paid to find as many flaws as possible, and for whom actually liking the story is entirely optional.
The whole time they're looking at it, I'm on pins and needles. Did this character arc come across correctly? Is this setting awe-inspiring or trite? Is that one character's quirk endearing or annoying? Am I the only one who finds this worldbuilding element fascinating? And, the most pressing question of all: is the book irredeemably stupid?
I do have to say that most of the time, the editor comes back to me with more good news than bad news. Still, it's always initially disappointing to hear that something about a story isn't working, especially when it's something you thought was a good idea. Although, most of the time I end up agreeing with the editor and the story is made stronger for it.
For example, in the climax of Earthkeepers, in the first draft the main villain was dealt with pretty effortlessly. My editor pointed out that this did not make for a very satisfying conclusion to everything I had done to build up the antagonism between the villain and the main character. So I greatly expanded their final conflict, to allow the MC to have a decisive victory over someone who had been getting under her skin for the entire book, and I think the climax reads a lot better now.
So I'd say that getting that critical feedback on a first draft is always the toughest part of the whole writing process for me. The emotional roller coaster is real.
I think I can answer this in two parts:
1) The part of writing I have the most trouble with is action/combat scenes. These require a lot of detailed, meticulous choreography to make sure everything makes sense, is well-paced, and gets the plot where it needs to go while also taking relevant character development into account. There are a LOT of moving parts in an action scene that require careful consideration.
That being said, once I get the momentum going on an action scene, I can usually get into the rhythm of it. It's that initial gear shift and planning that tends to be a challenge.
2) My least favorite part about writing is actually the story editing! The story editor is the first person who sees a completed manuscript, and it's extremely nerve-wracking for me to send my painstakingly-crafted mind-baby away to someone who is being paid to find as many flaws as possible, and for whom actually liking the story is entirely optional.
The whole time they're looking at it, I'm on pins and needles. Did this character arc come across correctly? Is this setting awe-inspiring or trite? Is that one character's quirk endearing or annoying? Am I the only one who finds this worldbuilding element fascinating? And, the most pressing question of all: is the book irredeemably stupid?
I do have to say that most of the time, the editor comes back to me with more good news than bad news. Still, it's always initially disappointing to hear that something about a story isn't working, especially when it's something you thought was a good idea. Although, most of the time I end up agreeing with the editor and the story is made stronger for it.
For example, in the climax of Earthkeepers, in the first draft the main villain was dealt with pretty effortlessly. My editor pointed out that this did not make for a very satisfying conclusion to everything I had done to build up the antagonism between the villain and the main character. So I greatly expanded their final conflict, to allow the MC to have a decisive victory over someone who had been getting under her skin for the entire book, and I think the climax reads a lot better now.
So I'd say that getting that critical feedback on a first draft is always the toughest part of the whole writing process for me. The emotional roller coaster is real.
T.K. Arispe
Good question! As far as age range, I purposely wrote them without a target age in mind because I like to write things that everybody can enjoy--kids, teens, and adults. I've made up my own genre that I call "family fiction".
That being said, if you like YA, you would probably enjoy my novels because they currently all have teens or young adults as protagonists.
That being said, if you like YA, you would probably enjoy my novels because they currently all have teens or young adults as protagonists.
T.K. Arispe
Usually I develop writing ideas from my nerdy reading pursuits. I love researching science, history, engineering/technology, and mathematics, and the cool stuff I learn about our universe tends to inspire me to think "What if..." and "I should write a story about...".
Here are some examples from my books:
- The political situation on the continent of Elrath in The Voyage of the Kaus Media was inspired by the unification of China by the First Emperor Qin-shi Huangdi, as well as the unification of Japan by Nobunaga Oda. I thought it would be fun to portray a similar situation going on in a fantasy world.
- The alternate-history background for Thunder Girl was inspired by my research into the history of computing and Charles Babbage's work. I thought it would be a lot of fun to speculate on how Victorian engineering might have evolved under the influence of a fully-functional Analytical Engine.
- My upcoming novel Earthkeepers (the sequel to Skydwellers) has a plot partly inspired by my love of mathematics and my research into theoretical mathematics. I wanted to write a story where the main character is a mathematician - and so is one of the main antagonists - and about their attempts to outwit one another in a battle of minds.
Here are some examples from my books:
- The political situation on the continent of Elrath in The Voyage of the Kaus Media was inspired by the unification of China by the First Emperor Qin-shi Huangdi, as well as the unification of Japan by Nobunaga Oda. I thought it would be fun to portray a similar situation going on in a fantasy world.
- The alternate-history background for Thunder Girl was inspired by my research into the history of computing and Charles Babbage's work. I thought it would be a lot of fun to speculate on how Victorian engineering might have evolved under the influence of a fully-functional Analytical Engine.
- My upcoming novel Earthkeepers (the sequel to Skydwellers) has a plot partly inspired by my love of mathematics and my research into theoretical mathematics. I wanted to write a story where the main character is a mathematician - and so is one of the main antagonists - and about their attempts to outwit one another in a battle of minds.
T.K. Arispe
Now that I've finished Pixedust, I am putting together plans for a sequel to Skydwellers! I'm super excited about it. I'd been wanting to write a story about a teenage Miette and Kieri and Fraa, because they were clearly the breakout characters in Skydwellers. The sequel will also feature a nerdy teenage Graling, a cute robot with the uploaded personality of a folk hero, and a dysfunctional government institution dedicated to keeping geniuses under its thumb.
Also, if you thought I'd answered all the questions about the world of Skydwellers, think again! Where exactly does the aether come from? What's the origin of the civilization that created Mathchis? What secrets lurk in the Aether Sea? Only one way to find out!
Also, if you thought I'd answered all the questions about the world of Skydwellers, think again! Where exactly does the aether come from? What's the origin of the civilization that created Mathchis? What secrets lurk in the Aether Sea? Only one way to find out!
T.K. Arispe
Like most of my books, Pixeldust came together from multiple ideas that I realized would work really well interwoven into a single plot.
The original seed for the novel as a whole was the idea of a gamer accidentally befriending an end boss. I tend to feel really bad for video game villains, and dislike boss fights on an emotional level (even if they're fun on a technical level) because I just want everybody to get along and be friends. When that villain poofs away so you can get your end credits, I'm just left feeling sad, like "he was such a cool character, he would have made a great good guy, it didn't have to end like this". So I thought it would be really great to write a story that would give an end boss - and his host of minor bosses and enemies - a chance to turn things around.
The whole idea of Shargothi and the chaos beasts was from an old novel idea I'd rejected for being too dark and unpleasant. I thought I'd never actually use Shargothi for anything, but she ended up working really well in this story as a) a motivation for Zaragoz's villainy that would explain his actions in a way that didn't make him really terrible personality-wise, and thus more apt to befriend Quinny, and b) an added layer of depth and interest, giving the Caed Dhraians a conflict of their own that is arguably more interesting and sympathetic than Noggerath's cliche invasion of Avonell.
It just goes to show that sometimes, ideas that you thought you'd need to throw away can actually end up working really well with a little revamping. (Rin is also actually an example of this; I made her up as my character for a tabletop roleplaying campaign before I found out there were no minotaurs in the campaign world, but I just couldn't ditch the idea of an epic battleaxe-wielding minotauress and really wanted to work her into a story somehow.)
Also, I really wanted to write a fantasy novel with a main character who was Latina and/or a (female) dwarf, two demographics that I feel are woefully underrepresented as fantasy protagonists. It was fun weaving the Gutierrez family's culture into the storyline. A lot of the things they do are based off of my own family.
The original seed for the novel as a whole was the idea of a gamer accidentally befriending an end boss. I tend to feel really bad for video game villains, and dislike boss fights on an emotional level (even if they're fun on a technical level) because I just want everybody to get along and be friends. When that villain poofs away so you can get your end credits, I'm just left feeling sad, like "he was such a cool character, he would have made a great good guy, it didn't have to end like this". So I thought it would be really great to write a story that would give an end boss - and his host of minor bosses and enemies - a chance to turn things around.
The whole idea of Shargothi and the chaos beasts was from an old novel idea I'd rejected for being too dark and unpleasant. I thought I'd never actually use Shargothi for anything, but she ended up working really well in this story as a) a motivation for Zaragoz's villainy that would explain his actions in a way that didn't make him really terrible personality-wise, and thus more apt to befriend Quinny, and b) an added layer of depth and interest, giving the Caed Dhraians a conflict of their own that is arguably more interesting and sympathetic than Noggerath's cliche invasion of Avonell.
It just goes to show that sometimes, ideas that you thought you'd need to throw away can actually end up working really well with a little revamping. (Rin is also actually an example of this; I made her up as my character for a tabletop roleplaying campaign before I found out there were no minotaurs in the campaign world, but I just couldn't ditch the idea of an epic battleaxe-wielding minotauress and really wanted to work her into a story somehow.)
Also, I really wanted to write a fantasy novel with a main character who was Latina and/or a (female) dwarf, two demographics that I feel are woefully underrepresented as fantasy protagonists. It was fun weaving the Gutierrez family's culture into the storyline. A lot of the things they do are based off of my own family.
T.K. Arispe
My first bit of advice is to write for the good of your audience. I firmly believe one's books should not be a replacement for a therapist. Remember, people are reading what you write. People need good, hopeful, uplifting things to put in their heads. They don't need to be exposed to your problems. It's none of their business. Be sensitive to your readers' feelings. I honestly think a writer should never create something that leaves someone feeling worse about life. Nobody needs that.
My second bit of advice is to write about what you like, and find a lot of things to like. The more you learn about and know about, the more you can put in your books and give them much more depth and richness. It's said that you should do your research when writing, but I think it's also important to already have an interest in what you're writing so you can go into it better-informed and enthusiastic about your subject. For example, one of my inspirations for Thunder Girl was recreational research about computing history and Charles Babbage's engineering. And I was already a big dinosaur geek. So I thought it would be really fun to somehow find a way to mash those two things together. And add a werewolf.
My second bit of advice is to write about what you like, and find a lot of things to like. The more you learn about and know about, the more you can put in your books and give them much more depth and richness. It's said that you should do your research when writing, but I think it's also important to already have an interest in what you're writing so you can go into it better-informed and enthusiastic about your subject. For example, one of my inspirations for Thunder Girl was recreational research about computing history and Charles Babbage's engineering. And I was already a big dinosaur geek. So I thought it would be really fun to somehow find a way to mash those two things together. And add a werewolf.
T.K. Arispe
The joy of creating something that makes others' lives better and contributes to the net amount of good in the world. :)
T.K. Arispe
My foremost strategy for preventing writer's block is to have my stories planned out as much as possible beforehand. It's always helped me immensely to know what I'm supposed to be writing, and already have established where the plot is going before I put words down. Since starting to do that, I've only very rarely encountered writer's block. Before even starting a story, I will have the entire thing outlined from beginning to end. Granted, I may not have worked out the details of some parts yet, but as I'm writing, I'm simultaneously planning ahead, and I can't even remember the last time I got to a plot point and didn't know what was going to happen.
So yes, planning ahead is my friend.
On the off chance that I still get writer's block, it's usually because something is fundamentally wrong with the writing, and I need to take a closer look at it and change something. This happened once when I was starting to write a story, was establishing the main character's personality a certain way, and suddenly found myself utterly blanked mid-dialogue. I finally realized it was because that wasn't her personality at all, and once I changed things around and let her be who she wanted to be, the entire story just poured out nonstop.
So yes, planning ahead is my friend.
On the off chance that I still get writer's block, it's usually because something is fundamentally wrong with the writing, and I need to take a closer look at it and change something. This happened once when I was starting to write a story, was establishing the main character's personality a certain way, and suddenly found myself utterly blanked mid-dialogue. I finally realized it was because that wasn't her personality at all, and once I changed things around and let her be who she wanted to be, the entire story just poured out nonstop.
T.K. Arispe
I opened the fridge. The pizza was gone.
T.K. Arispe
Is it just me, or are most fictional book worlds terrifying? I feel like any fictional world with enough danger in it to make for a high-adrenaline novel would be a really, really stressful place to attempt to travel in.
I'd definitely go to Dinotopia. Prehistoric critters, a peaceful atmosphere, and gorgeous architecture and landscapes--now that's a sensible vacation. I would totally just go explore all the things and be friends with all the critters. Also the food looks really good.
I'd definitely go to Dinotopia. Prehistoric critters, a peaceful atmosphere, and gorgeous architecture and landscapes--now that's a sensible vacation. I would totally just go explore all the things and be friends with all the critters. Also the food looks really good.
T.K. Arispe
I will be completely honest, I have very boring reading habits. I'm usually more likely reading online articles about, say, theoretical physics, computing history, and/or invertebrate paleontology than books.
That being said, I do have a few cookbooks that I've been slowly working my way through and gleaning recipes from. And I'm hoping to take some trips to the library at some point and see if I can find anything good in the math and physics sections.
But also this summer is probably going to be pretty busy for me, because I'll likely be hanging out with my toddler niece most of the time. And as anybody who's had a toddler knows, they don't leave much time for anything else. :)
That being said, I do have a few cookbooks that I've been slowly working my way through and gleaning recipes from. And I'm hoping to take some trips to the library at some point and see if I can find anything good in the math and physics sections.
But also this summer is probably going to be pretty busy for me, because I'll likely be hanging out with my toddler niece most of the time. And as anybody who's had a toddler knows, they don't leave much time for anything else. :)
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