Below is my INTERVIEWS FROM THE VOID project, where I asked other writers about their writing and creative process.
- Episode #52 – Brian Freeman (3/23/2023)
- Why the best thrillers explore the human condition in its most dramatic form.
- Plots evolve as we continue to ask questions of our characters.
- Our process of outlining changes as we grow as writers.
- Episode #51 – Brett Abrahamson
- Ideas are more important than the writing itself.
- Flash fiction and short stories are essential mediums for ideas.
- We need ideas that haven’t been written about before.
- Episode #50 – Ani Paoletti
- How our upbringing impacts our storytelling.
- Learning what level of plotting and outlining works for each of us individually.
- The desire for our readers to escape into our story worlds.
- Episode #49 – BK Bass
- How to start a publishing company.
- Why the classics are critical for improving our writing.
- How to create new creatures and monsters for our stories.
- Episode #48 – Andy Weir
- Writing about the future can be a positive experience.
- Regular output is critical to writing.
- Finish the project you start. Don’t wander off.
- Episode #47 – Brenda Drake
- Practice is the best way to improve our craft.
- Reading is essential for great writing.
- The important of reading in our writing lives.
- Episode #46 – Victoria Griffin
- Starting a book at the right point in the story is essential.
- Tips on managing social media.
- How “fluff” can reduce the effectiveness of our prose.
- Episode #45 – Traci Ison Schafer
- Just start writing your story, even if you don’t know all the “rules”.
- The importance of book covers and editing.
- Using social media to truly connect with your readers.
- Episode #44 – Paul Bae
- Grabbing a listener’s attention.
- Developing characters that suit a particular conflict will create better stories.
- How we stumble onto truths as we write our stories.
- Episode #43 – Kayelle Allen
- The importance of regular writing and blogging to build an audience.
- Great resources for book covers and other art design.
- Writing is just as much about asking questions as it is telling the truth.
- Episode #42 – Kathy Garvey
- The difference between being distracted and writing production.
- What book reviews really mean.
- The importance of editing and knowing what to look for in an editor.
- Episode #41 – K. M. Pohlkamp
- The importance of the first sentence and scene of our books.
- More ideas on promoting our writing work.
- Switching genre and age group to meet your own prose and writing voice may help us writers succeed.
- Episode #40 – Dana L Brown
- The importance of the technical aspects of writing, beyond putting words on paper.
- How themes can be derived from our own life experiences.
- Creative marketing ideas beyond social media.
- Episode #39 – Mica Scotti Kole
- You need to be able to answer the question: “What sets your book apart?”
- The most common problems an editor sees when reviewing a manuscript.
- How to write a great first sentence of a book.
- Episode #38 – Matthew William (11/4/2018)
- Bringing a story to different formats for our audiences.
- Why writing for the audio drama is different than writing a novel.
- Why conflict is essential to our stories, no matter what the format.
- Episode #37 – Josh Hughes (10/28/2018)
- Discussing the basic outlining process for a screenplay.
- Conflict is what drives the story onward.
- How to write great dialogue.
- Episode #36 – Rick Hoffman (10/21/2018)
- Finding the right ending is often a matter of discovery.
- How writing with pen and paper makes us think of every word as we write.
- Deliberate practice and how it helps us improve our prose.
- Episode #35 – Jonathan Whitelaw (10/14/2018)
- Being creative when it comes not only to writing, but finding time to write.
- Understanding the publishing industry will create more opportunities for us writers.
- The importance of making writing a daily habit to better your success as a writer.
- Episode #34 – Reg Monroe (10/7/2018)
- Identifying our writing weaknesses and working daily to overcome them is important to improving our craft.
- Having trust and confidence in ourselves as writers is vital to our success.
- How to approach description and scenes.
- Episode #33 – Hugh Howey (9/30/2018)
- The importance of cover art.
- How we can write “remarkable” stories by pushing out of our comfort zone.
- How real-life adventures can serve as great sources of inspiration for our writing.
- Episode #32 – Kellie Parker (9/23/2018)
- Finding meaning in our lives by looking right in front of us.
- Improving our writing craft takes time, patience, and perseverance.
- An ending requires a conflict to be resolved.
- Episode #31 – Sarah Beth (9/16/2018)
- Why it’s important to finish our work before sharing it with readers.
- How being in touch with the world and our lives can help shape our writing.
- Resources for digital art and book covers.
- Episode #30 – Allison Mullinax (9/9/2018)
- How our upbringing, favorite restaurants and vacations can have influences on the settings for our stories.
- The importance of the inciting incident and why it needs to happen as soon as possible.
- How dialogue is essential to character development and relationships.
- Episode #29 – Victor Gischler (9/2/2018)
- How writing for comics differs from writing novels.
- Over-outlining is a real possibility and should be avoided.
- Writer should focus more on their writing projects rather than getting published and finding an agent.
- Episode #28 – Logan Hannen (8/26/2018)
- A different approach to editing and outlining which allows our characters more freedom.
- Watches can tell us much more than just what time it is.
- Why word count is not the most important parameter of your story.
- Episode #27 – Michael Hill (8/19/2018)
- Why writing outside our genre is essential to honing our writing skills.
- How screenwriting and short stories can have a positive impact on our writing abilities.
- More editing resources for writers.
- Episode #26 – Dave Wickenden (8/12/2018)
- Tips for helping writers promote their work.
- Performing research for our stories and how our life experiences inspire our writing.
- Specific tools that read our writing to us to assist writers in the editing process.
- Episode #25 – S. P. Stevens (8/5/2018)
- Describing the use of magic and point of view in the fantasy genre.
- Worldbuilding, creating maps, and immersing ourselves in our own universes.
- Creating a world where our readers feel the emotion of our characters.
- Episode #24 – Katherine Karch (7/29/2018)
- How we can use “change” language to engage our readers.
- Writing young adult fiction and garnering more readers for our work.
- How to make our writing stand out from the crowd.
- Episode #23 – Benjamin Hope (7/22/2018)
- Performing research to finding the balance between mood, theme, and story.
- Upholding our writing craft and storytelling methods in the modern world.
- Deciding on point-of-view (POV) and striking a balance between the character arcs.
- Episode #22 – Michael Ronson (7/15/2018)
- The three-minute approach to naming in our stories.
- Writing humorous science fiction and how a well-rounded individual makes a better writer.
- For self-published writers, the only impetus to keep going is self-generated.
- Episode #21 – Kevin Mooseles (7/8/2018)
- Deciding what points of view to cover in a story.
- Character development and where we find inspiration for how our characters behave.
- Lessons learned in traditional publishing and editing.
- Episode #20 – Joseph Patrick Pascale (7/1/2018)
- The history of a writer’s first draft.
- Pen and notebook geekery.
- Different mediums for writing (notebooks, computers and typewriters) and their effects on our writing.
- Episode #19 – Amy Duboff (6/24/2018)
- Why writing science fiction allows us to explore the human experience.
- Self-publishing and being part of the entire publishing process.
- There’s a new way to watch television which can help us improve our writing.
- Episode #18 – Bill Ricardi (6/17/2018)
- Developing maps and world building for fantasy stories.
- The importance of a book’s first line and how it is a promise to the reader of what’s to come.
- Our writing space and setting rules to free ourselves from distraction.
- Episode #17 – Colette Tozer (6/10/2018)
- Strategies for promoting our own books as self-published writers.
- Learning through life experiences and expressing ourselves through our writing.
- Editing and editing resources for self-publishing writers.
- Episode #16 – K. M. Weiland (6/3/2018)
- Writing a lot is the only thing that will improve our writing.
- The importance of outlining and the time it takes to write a great novel.
- Writing novels takes several years.
- Episode #15 – Sean Stone (5/27/2018)
- Why outlining your story is critical to efficient writing.
- Writing dialogue in a way so all your characters don’t sound the same.
- How positioning our writing desks can improve our writing productivity.
- Episode #14 – Manuel Arbanassi (5/20/2018)
- How characters are the principle part of moving the story along.
- It’s more important to tell the story you want to tell than trying to cater to a specific audience.
- Writing with English as a second language.
- Episode #13 – Claire Luana (5/13/2018)
- That there’s no substitute for just doing the work of writing.
- Finding time to write while maintaining a demanding full-time job.
- Editing and the self-publishing process.
- Episode #12 – Kristina Mahr (5/6/2018)
- Pursuing our dreams as writers.
- The traditional publishing process.
- The importance of writing weekly short stories to improve our writing craft.
- Episode #11 – Benjamin Shelor (4/29/2018)
- The magic of the first draft.
- Finding time to write when we have a family and a full-time job.
- Experimenting with our prose to find our own voice.
- Episode #10 – Adam Inglis (4/22/2018)
- There are no hard rules to writing.
- Managing all the tasks associated with being a writer.
- Strategies for our writing productivity when we only have 20-30 free minutes per day.
- Episode #9 – Bryan Aiello (4/15/2018)
- Why we need to write more than one novel to improve as writers.
- Being brief in our prose while keeping the flow of the story interesting.
- The importance of setting goals for ourselves and doing what we say we’re going to do.
- Episode #8 – Paul Huxley (4/8/2018)
- How we learn the writing craft.
- Starting a publishing company and building a writing business.
- Writing tools and self-publishing.
- Episode #7 – Eric Lahti (4/1/2018)
- How we make time for the things we want to pursue.
- The type of experiences we are hoping to create for our readers.
- How listening to people talk helps us write great dialogue.
- Episode #6 – A. F. Stewart (3/25/2018)
- Using maps and world-building for our stories.
- Cover design and self-publishing.
- How being part of a writing group is a great way for us to get feedback as writers.
- Episode #5 – Christopher Ryan (3/18/2018)
- Why failure is not only normal, but necessary.
- Charting our own paths as writers instead of following the crowd.
- Why being a writer is worth our time, even when it seems difficult to continue.
- Episode #4 – Tobias Klausmann (3/11/2018)
- The use of names in our stories and their importance to the story’s world.
- Strategies for self-publishing.
- Why writing daily is important.
- Episode #3 – Andrew Hope (3/4/2018)
- Story mechanics and the importance of character-driven stories.
- Setting a goal each time we sit down to write will help us increase our productivity.
- What inspires us to write weird fiction.
- Episode #2 – Avrin Kelly (2/25/2018)
- The benefits to regularly writing short stories.
- Writing horror helps us understand fear, our strongest emotion as human beings.
- Various strategies for overcoming writers block.
- Episode #1 – S. P. Carter (2/18/2018)
- Where do we find inspiration for our horror stories?
- It’s never too late to start writing.
- As writers, we need to know when to listen, but also when to trust ourselves.