Welcome to the second installment of my author spotlight
series. This month, I'm interviewing Jim Moran, a Sci-Fi writer who's currently
working on an epic space opera.
When did you decide to become a writer?
Jim: Heh. I don’t think I’ve really “decided”
that. Or, maybe I’ve always been a writer. I don’t know. I write a lot, but not
professionally as of yet. Have I decided to pursue a professional career as an
author? Maybe that’s the better question, but if it is, then I don’t have a
good answer for it yet.
Life is a grand adventure, right? I’m still just making things up as I go, for the most part. Ask me again in a year.
What do you think is the hardest thing about writing?
Jim: For me, it’s everything not directly
related to the writing.
I think I’ve found a workable approach
to writing. I don’t have much of a problem coming up with ideas, building a
workable framework around those ideas, writing, revising . . . all that stuff,
I’m fairly comfortable with my efforts and abilities.
But once I have a finished product, ask
me what I’m going to do with it, and holy smokes I have no idea. A couple of
years ago, this wasn’t even a thing that had anything to do with me. Now people
are asking me stuff like “Are you going to get an agent?” and “What do you
think about self-publishing” and “What do you think about the Hugo Awards?” and
“What’s your query look like?” and I have no idea.
Okay, I have a few ideas. But “a few
ideas” is about as far as I’ve gotten. My whole writing endeavor started on a
whim, and things have basically been stumbling along towards progress ever
since.
I feel like I’ve just baked a birthday
cake for a three-year old’s birthday party, in a calm and peaceful kitchen, and
I’m quietly pleased (and a little surprised) by the results. Meanwhile, there’s
this muffled background murmur that has been present the whole time, but it’s
in the distance. It doesn’t affect me right now. Right now, it’s just me and
this cake I made.
But the cake isn’t for me, it’s for
everybody. So I open the kitchen door and AAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Now I’m being mobbed by a bunch of wildlings. Some of them
want the cake, others think the cake looks gross and immediately want me to
bake a different cake, and both groups are shouting. Some of them just want
different icing on the cake, as if that’s a reasonable request. Some are
grabbing for the cake without asking. One of them punched one of the other
ones, and they’re both crying. Somebody isn’t wearing pants. Somebody else is
trying to hang on my leg with every step I take. Everybody’s running around and
screaming and carrying on and it’s chaos. Chaos.
Part of me wants to just hurl the cake
into the room and retreat to the kitchen, where it’s quiet and sane. Part of me
wants the kids to eat the cake, because I think it’s a pretty good cake, damn
it, I worked hard on it, and I want those that might enjoy it to at least try
a slice. Part of me wants to stop belaboring this metaphor and move on to the
next question.
But yeah. The writing, I don’t have a problem with it. Everything else, on the other hand . . .
Did you come across any specific challenges in writing Focus? What would you do
differently the next time?
Jim: I would spend more time, earlier,
thinking about how I wanted my characters to progress. When I first started
knocking words together, most of my major characters had a bit of personality
but no growth. Some of that growth I backfilled, some of it I shoehorned in
later, but I didn’t really get a good handle on where I wanted these characters
to be until I was about two-thirds of the way through. Then I had to go back
and rewrite a bunch of stuff. It was a decent amount of work that could have
been avoided had I been thinking about it from the start.
Also, I wish I’d created my little wiki program sooner. It’s been a big help for remembering little details.
With respect to your writing career thus far, would you have
done anything differently?
Jim: It’s not really a “career” thing for
me, at least not at this time. And I really have no significant regrets as to
where I am now. But if I were to change something, it would be to get started
earlier. Like, at least a decade earlier.
My writing wouldn’t have started out
nearly as well (relative to where it is now, anyway) but I’d understand the
industry a lot more and I’d be more comfortable and experienced dealing with a
lot of the extracurriculars. Who knows where I’d be today? Still a
programmer, probably, because my day job is a fulfilling endeavor that I enjoy.
But, writing-wise, I’d certainly be better prepared for whatever the next step
should be.
So . . . yeah. Get started early.
Final question: which famous person, living or dead would
you like to meet and why?
Jim: Any number of folks, really. Right off
the top of my head, the first name I can think of is Theodore Roosevelt. I
would buy that man a drink. He’s gotta have all kinds of interesting
stories to tell.
***
Jim is a random guy on the Internet who accidentally fell
into this whole "writing" thing. He is terribly inexperienced in
virtually every aspect of the writing endeavor, and is currently just making
things up as he goes. What fun! He has a blog.
