Frequently Asked Questions
Inspired by social media icebreakers and responses
I see a lot of social media posts created to elicit responses—clickbait, you might say—but more like icebreakers designed to help writers introduce themselves to readers and other writers. Sometimes I respond to them, but lately I’ve been seeing variations of the same questions over and over again, an inevitable consequence of being on Twitter for a number of years. I decided to put as many of the questions as I could think of in one place and respond with short (but honest and truthful) answers. Think of it as my FAQ page. Maybe I’ll start responding to questions on social media with a link to this page.
Self Interview
Q. When did you start writing?
A. First grade, but it was just individual letters and short words, like “look,” and “see.”
Q. Smartass. How old were you when you wrote your first novel?
A. 67.
Q. Are you driven to write by a compulsion that rips at your soul, claws at your heart, and yanks your anxieties from your guts until you’re forced to bleed your stories onto the page?
A. No.
Q. Then why do you write?
A. Because it’s a fun way to spend my retirement years.
Q. How long do you plan to keep writing?
A. As long as it remains fun.
Q. But… doesn’t writing provide a release for your deep-seated angst?
A. I don’t have any angst. I’m the most angst-free and stable person I know.
Q. But I heard that no one can truly be an artist unless they’ve suffered?
A. I’ve heard that, too. Sounds silly to me. Either that, or I’m not truly an artist. That’s all right. I’ll write my books anyway.
Q. How many books have you written?
A. Nine: a seven-book series, a spinoff novella, and the first book of a new series set in the same world as my first. I’m almost done with the first draft of the second book in the new series.
Q. I’ve heard that writers spend years completing their first book, agonizing over every word and niggling at it until every word is perfect. How long did it take you to write your first novel?
A. 12 weeks.
Q. How long have you been working on your current work in progress?
A. 6 months. I should have a completed first draft in a couple more weeks.
Q. What genre do you write in?
A. Noir(ish) Urban Fantasy Mystery with elements of Horror.
Q. Who is the target demographic for your books?
A. I have no idea. Anyone who likes the idea of a noirish modern setting with critters from fantasy and horror.
Q. What are the themes in your book?
A. Justice in the sense of balancing debts (paying and collecting what’s owed). Professionalism. Existential Nihilism (creating personal values and worth in a universe with no inherent purpose or meaning).
Q. Do you use an editor?
A. Not on my first book, but my wife, Rita, and I co-edited all the others. Rita has played a bigger editorial role with each successive book.
Q. How many thousands of dollars to you spend on your book covers?
A. My latest one cost a little more than $300. And, no, I didn’t use AI. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t take thousands of dollars to come up with a great cover.
Q. Where do you stand on AI?
A. AI should be curing cancer and making the economy more efficient, not writing books, making movies, or illustrating book covers. Using AI to write a book doesn’t make you a writer. Using AI to produce a book cover doesn’t make you an artist. You’re deluding yourself if you think it does.
Q. What writing software do you use?
A. Word.
Q. How many notebooks do you own?
A. None.
Q. How many cups of coffee do you drink while you’re working?
A. None.
Q. How much whiskey do you drink while you’re writing?
A. I haven’t had any whiskey in years.
Q. Wine?
A. Not since my 21st birthday.
Q. Are you an alcoholic?
A. No. These days I drink and enjoy an occasional beer: maybe one a week. I don’t miss it when I don’t.
Q. Are you addicted to anything at all?
A. Dark chocolate. I can’t get enough.
Q. What POV do you write in?
A. My first series was written in first person. My current series is a third person POV tightly focused on my lead character, so almost first person.
Q. What time of day do you do your most productive writing?
A. Between lunch and dinner.
Q. Do you listen to music while you write?
A. No. Well, Rita practices her piano while I write, but we’re in different rooms and I can barely hear her.
Q. Do you write every day?
A. No. That sounds too much like a job.
Q. How many words do you typically write in day (on days when you write)?
A. 1000-1300 early in the book, and up to 2500 when I get to the later chapters and the momentum is kicking in. I hit 2900 once.
Q. How does a writing session start?
A. I usually read and revise what I wrote the previous session before moving on. I revise as I go so that my completed first draft is pretty close to my finished work.
Q. Do you plan your stories ahead of time?
A. Never. I’m a chaotic pantser (I write by the seat of my pants). I start with a setting and a character or two, and I see where they take me, jotting down potential ideas and going back and revising as I go. I usually don’t know how the story is going to end until I’m at least two-thirds of the way done. Often I don’t know how it’s going to end until the day I write the ending.
Q. What is your favorite genre to read?
A. I’ve been an extremely eclectic reader over the years, but I’ve always been drawn most to fantasy and crime novels. So, naturally, my favorite book ever, Catch-22, is neither.
Q. What writers were you most inspired or influenced by?
A. Joseph Heller, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Roger Zelazny, and Ray Bradbury. Bradbury changed my life, probably because I encountered him at a very young and impressionable age.
Q. What are your five favorite books you’ve read for the first time over the past five years?
A. The Green Bone Saga, by Fonda Lee; Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby; The Devil Takes You Home, by Gabino Iglesias; The Tainted Dominion series, by Krystle Matar; The Gunmetal Gods series, by Zamil Akhtar; 36 Streets, by T.R. Napper.
Q. That’s six books, even if we count a series as one book.
A. Deal with it.
Q. What’s the best writing advice you ever received?
A. Write the story you want to read.
Q. What’s the worst writing advice you ever received?
A. Write every day.
Q. How do you overcome writer’s block?
A. I’ve never had writer’s block.
Q. Where do you get your ideas?
A. My best ideas come to me when I’m running or walking outdoors. I run in the mornings three days a week, usually four miles per run, and I like to walk on days I don’t run. Something about being outdoors and moving stimulates my creativity like nothing else does.
Q. What’s the biggest challenge you face as a writer?
A. I’d say finding the time, but now that I’m retired it’s no longer a problem. I don’t know how anyone working full-time finds the time to write. I didn’t start writing until I quit working.
Q. Do you enjoy marketing?
A. Not nearly as much as I enjoy writing, but I don’t mind it. I like promoting my books. I’m proud of them, and I don’t care who knows it.
Q. Are you upset by 1-Star reviews?
A. Not at all. 1-Star reviews are far better than no reviews at all. I like all my reviews. Bring ‘em on!
Q. But doesn’t it bother you when a reader criticizes your books?
A. Nope. My books aren’t for everyone. There are 8 billion people living in the world. It only takes a tiny fraction of them to enjoy my stories in order for me to be successful.
Q. Extrovert or introvert?
A. Somewhere in the middle. My lifestyle is slower paced now in my 70s than it was when I was younger.
Q. Are your books available on audio?
A. Yes. Producer/Narrator/Voice Actor Duffy Weber has done all my books, and he does a terrific job bringing my characters and stories to life.
Q. Do audiobooks count as reading?
A. What difference does it make? Don’t know. Don’t care. (Same answer applies to “Is a hotdog a sandwich?” and a lot of too-frequently-asked questions like it.)
Q. You’re a self-published author. Are you querying for an agent who could hook you up with a traditional publisher?
A. No. Hard pass. I’d rather be self-published.
Q. Aren’t you worried about the stigma attached to self-publishing? That self-published works are inferior to traditionally published books, and that writers only self-publish because a real publisher won’t publish them?
A. None of that bothers me in the least. People can believe what they want about self-publishing, and it doesn’t make any difference to me. We live in a golden age of reading because of the large number of high-quality independently-published books that are available to us now. No longer can a small oligarchy of publishing corporations who care about nothing except profit margins dictate what will be accessible to the reading public. I self-publish because I like having complete control over my work. I don’t want to be subject to the whims of a bunch of bosses. And I’m doing fine, thank you very much.
I think I'm going to steal your Qs (seriously, I will unless you tell me "don't damn you!"), not the As, although I find myself nodding at your answers!
Please keep on writing.
That's all.
Thank you.