Ersan
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
Michael, what kind of work did you do during your 10 year hiatus? What was life like for you when you decided to get back into writing? Were you getting antsy? Did you have some kind of a transformative breakdown? I know these are personal questions... Whatever you choose to share will be much appreciated.
Michael J. Sullivan
Hey Ersan,
I think you'll discover I'm a pretty "open person" so no worries about asking questions...even if you think they are personal.
For most of my hiatus I was channeling my creative energies into art. Specifically, art directing for high technology companies. Back during my "writing days" I had been a stay-at-home dad, and when the kids went off to school, I felt I needed to prove to myself that I could "earn a living." I was hired into a software company - and had complete freedom. That was a lot o fun. But as the company grew, so did my department. Soon I had three "bosses" and when they started "messing" with my stuff, it got frustrating. I decided I'd rather do "no work" than "bad work" (or what I perceived as "bad work"), so I quit and started up my own agency.
It became successful very quickly, mainly due to Robin (my wife) who always handles the "business side" to my "creative side." She would get the clients, and I would whip up ads, logos, websites, brochures, it was fun building a company from the ground up. At some point, though, after I had proved to myself that I wasn't a complete loser, I lost interest. Soon all the tasks were just variations on one another. It was hard to get enthusiastic about the 200th brochure or the 100th logo.
During my hiatus stories didn't stop coming to me...and the characters for those stories nettled me. They would whisper in my ear and coax me to write...but I refused. When I finally told my wife I didn't want to continue with the company we had made, she was very understanding. Especially since I told her I wanted to return to my life-long dream of writing novels...but only if I didn't publish them. It's an amazing woman who says, "Hey, if that's what would make you happy it makes me happy." So, we closed down the agency and she went back to "working for the man."
Was I antsy...yes, without question. When I started writing, it didn't just flow, it gushed. I wrote day and night, sometimes 12 - 15 hours with barely a pause for eating. The story that had been building in my head poured out of me. When I finished book one (in a month), I started on book two and it came out in about the same amount of time. After that, things started to slow down a bit and the third book took three or four months. Keep in mind that was for the first drafts of the books, and they would need a lot of editing afterward, but the story was in tact.
Robin eventually convinced me that they should be published, but I didn't want any part of that query-go-round. It's just too depressing. I was happy as long as I was writing - and that's what I did. She took it upon herself to handle the business side, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Thanks for asking!
I think you'll discover I'm a pretty "open person" so no worries about asking questions...even if you think they are personal.
For most of my hiatus I was channeling my creative energies into art. Specifically, art directing for high technology companies. Back during my "writing days" I had been a stay-at-home dad, and when the kids went off to school, I felt I needed to prove to myself that I could "earn a living." I was hired into a software company - and had complete freedom. That was a lot o fun. But as the company grew, so did my department. Soon I had three "bosses" and when they started "messing" with my stuff, it got frustrating. I decided I'd rather do "no work" than "bad work" (or what I perceived as "bad work"), so I quit and started up my own agency.
It became successful very quickly, mainly due to Robin (my wife) who always handles the "business side" to my "creative side." She would get the clients, and I would whip up ads, logos, websites, brochures, it was fun building a company from the ground up. At some point, though, after I had proved to myself that I wasn't a complete loser, I lost interest. Soon all the tasks were just variations on one another. It was hard to get enthusiastic about the 200th brochure or the 100th logo.
During my hiatus stories didn't stop coming to me...and the characters for those stories nettled me. They would whisper in my ear and coax me to write...but I refused. When I finally told my wife I didn't want to continue with the company we had made, she was very understanding. Especially since I told her I wanted to return to my life-long dream of writing novels...but only if I didn't publish them. It's an amazing woman who says, "Hey, if that's what would make you happy it makes me happy." So, we closed down the agency and she went back to "working for the man."
Was I antsy...yes, without question. When I started writing, it didn't just flow, it gushed. I wrote day and night, sometimes 12 - 15 hours with barely a pause for eating. The story that had been building in my head poured out of me. When I finished book one (in a month), I started on book two and it came out in about the same amount of time. After that, things started to slow down a bit and the third book took three or four months. Keep in mind that was for the first drafts of the books, and they would need a lot of editing afterward, but the story was in tact.
Robin eventually convinced me that they should be published, but I didn't want any part of that query-go-round. It's just too depressing. I was happy as long as I was writing - and that's what I did. She took it upon herself to handle the business side, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Thanks for asking!
More Answered Questions
Christomir Rackov
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
I really like the multiple POVs in your "Legends of the First Empire" books :) But, when you have several main characters together (sometimes for a long time, like when a group of them goes on a quest - we notably had such group quests in "Age of Swords" and "Age of Legend"), then how do you choose which one of them should be the POV character at a certain point in time?
Britt Griffin
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
Hi Michael! I just finished Revelations and I am currently on Chronicles. Unfortunately I’m not much of a reader because of my ADD, but the way you write Riyria like a movie has helped SO MUCH. Thank you for that!! One of my favorite supporting characters throughout Revelations was Wyatt. What was your thought process in writing his story specifically? Have him and Allie always been together? What happened to her mom?
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