No one will ever read my books again

1. Do you outline?
No. Would that I did! I wrote a plot synopsis for my most recent novel, though.2. Do you write straight through, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order?
Straight through. I start at page one with my name at the top, pick the title, write the book, come to the end, and quit. I go back only to put the word count at the top.

3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer?
Computer. I used to write everything out longhand, but it was inconvenient.

4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third?
No preference. If I want to spend time telling the readers a particular reaction, or if the story will be improved by limiting the camera to one point of view, I go first person.

5. Do you listen to music while you write?
Usually. Mostly j-pop from anime.

6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?
I steal them from better writers, usually ancient Greeks.

7. When you’re writing, do you ever imagine your story as a television show or movie?
No. When writing a fight scene, I choreograph the steps, or draw a map on a napkin, so I know where everyone is standing and moving.

8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn’t want him/her to do?
I try not to have personal preferences about what my characters do. Everything is driven by the plot logic, and my preferences are not consulted.

(Grammar note: Him/her is an abomination against English. I almost skipped this question out of pique. When the sex of the person is unknown or undecided, use ‘him’. Everyone except feminists knows ‘him’ refers to either sex except in the unambiguous case. See Strunk & White. End of argument.)

9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?
No. I know that comedies end with marriages and tragedies end with multiple murders.

Usually I have a sense, or I make a decision, as to what type of story it is: the type of story dictates its end point. You read the invocation at the beginning “Sing Goddess of the Wrath of Achilles!” and that tells you what the end is—not when the Trojan War is over, but when the wrath of Achilles is passed.

For example:

10. Where do you write?
On earth. The void of space is airless and cannot support life. This question was an easy one!

11. What do you do when you get writer’s block?
I don’t get writer’s block. That is a wrong model for what is happening. Writing is like fishing: you, the author, can control certain things, like the spot you stand, the bait you use, but you do not know what will rise from the unseen deep to take that bait. When you hook a fish, you examine it to see if you can use it. If not, you throw it back, and try again.

The bait is the conceit or point of your story. The place you stand is your world view. The river is the muses, or your subconscious, take your pick. The fish are the work product. If it is too short, you throw it back.

Writer’s block is what you do when the fish are not biting. You stare at the blank piece of paper without fear. Fearlessness in the face of blank paper is the whole of the writer’s craft. Anyone can be a writer who puts that fear aside.

What do you do when the fish are not biting? Me, I talk things over with my wife until she comes up with another good idea.

12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of wordcount, or as a percentage of the fic as a whole)?

I have no idea. I don’t keep track of such things. If I am on a roll, I can get a lot done in one sitting. I almost have the discipline needed to quit writing at reasonable hour, roll or no roll. Experience teaches that the muse will be waiting for me patiently the next day.

13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?
Just one. I write straight through. I rarely go back to rewrite, except at an editor’s specific suggestion.

14. Have you ever changed a character’s name midway through a draft?
Never. That would require revision.

15. Do you let anyone read your story while you’re working on it, or do you wait until you’ve completed a draft before letting someone else see it?
I show my wife each chapter as I write it.

16. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?
Start my next project.

Celebrate? I celebrate when the check for the advance comes.

17. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?
I prefer to work at one thing at a time, only because switching tends to lose my momentum.

18. Do your stories grow or shrink in revision?
I don’t revise. When an editor tells me to rewrite, I always prefer to add rather than subtract.

19. Do you have any writing or critique partners?
My wife.

20. Do you prefer drafting or revising?
I don’t revise.