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| Credit Jan Tik under Creative Commons |
How long have you been writing and what got you started?
I’ve been writing for almost my entire life. As soon as I
learned how to wield a word, I was writing little stories, and by
first grade I was writing short books. Everything I was writing then
was very derivative of the cartoons or sci-fi shows I was hooked on
at the time, so it wasn’t sale-able by any stretch of the
imagination, but it was good practice and I loved doing it. I think I
gravitated toward writing initially because I had a lot of images
trapped in my imagination that I needed to get out on paper, and
since I couldn’t draw (or at least, didn’t have the patience to
learn how to do it) and didn’t have my own movie crew or studio to
make movies with, I settled for the art form that gave me the
leverage to do the most that I could with the simplest tools. I
learned the power of words very early on, and have always delighted
in using simple constructions of letters and sound to cause
explosions of color and imagery within the minds of my readers.
What is the best piece of advice you have for new writers?
Never give up. In my opinion, that’s the single most important
piece of advice one writer can ever give another. Don’t write for
the success. Write what you love because you love it. There is no
magic bullet or magic way or one true means of “making it as a
writer,” so toss aside your ideas of writing something you hate
because you think you might be able to ride Stephenie Meyer’s or
E.L James’s fanbases to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
The act of writing itself must be the reward, or you’ll never make
it as a writer. The path is long and full of heartbreak, but it’s
worth it in the end, no matter how many people you reach. I think the
most satisfying thing about being a writer myself is not the checks
that come in the mail, but rather the letters. My favorites, the ones
that make the journey most worthwhile, are those that come from
people who say that my books literally saved their lives by giving
them something to live for in their darkest hours.
What is your favorite type of fiction and who are your favorite
authors?
I would say that every author (and writer) I’ve ever read has
influenced my work, so it's hard to pick a favorite. Everything I
read (and as the chief editor of seven online journals, I read a lot)
I study and dissect in my mind, laying it out so I can understand the
patterns, the math and music behind every line that moves me. My
favorite authors to read and absorb are probably Cormac McCarthy,
Storm Constantine, Peter Grandbois and Robert A. Heinlein, but I also
have a lot of fun seeking out and reading obscure and/or little known
independent sci-fi writers from the late seventies, eighties and
early nineties. That, to me, is the most perfect era of science
fiction– the point where intellectual sci-fi was beginning to
become more action-oriented, darker and more real, but before it
yielded entirely to modern pulp “syfy”.
What tips do you have for finding time to write?
You have to be willing to make the time. That's really all there
is to it. You have to write every day. Keep a small notebook on your
person at all times, and use those little ten minute waiting periods
when you’re standing in line or sitting in traffic to get ideas
down on paper. Always have ideas brewing in your mind, and when you
finally sit down at the keyboard to write, the blank page won’t
seem so intimidating because you’ll have already done all the hard
work of coming up with concepts, first lines, etc.
Do you prefer to outline a story in advance or write on the fly?
Why?
Honestly, it depends on the story. Most of the stories and books
I've done I have penned on the fly, but here and there I'll write up
an outline (or part of an outline) to plan a piece. Sometimes I'll
also start in the middle of a piece or write it in chunks and then
fill in the gaps until the whole thing is done.
How do you deal with rejections?
Politely. As an editor, I've handed out quite a few rejection
letters in my time and I've received some really vicious responses in
return. The trick is to remember that when an editor rejects your
work, they aren't attacking you, slighting you or telling you that
your story “sucks.” They're just telling you that your story
doesn't work for their venue (and sometimes the reason it “doesn't
work” is as simple as a lack of room in the schedule.) Keep
shopping your pieces around until you find a home for them. Also, it
doesn't hurt to give your stories a read-through after every
rejection, just in case you've missed some typos. Editors like clean
copy– the cleaner the better.
What are your writing goals for the next twelve months?
I'm in the process of relocating to another state at the moment,
so I'm mostly just picking up shorter projects. I've got a whole list
of magazines, anthology calls and contracts I've been working
through, and I'll probably continue with that for a while to keep
myself flexible during the transition.
For the next five years?
Eventually, I'll probably dive back into the longer works again
(books, etc.) With fifty-seven books in my name (and one more in the
pipe right now,) I'm not in a hurry to get back to the big projects
anytime soon, but we'll see what the future holds. It's nice to be
able to work at a more leisurely pace again (1k / day instead of
4k-5k / day.)
Is there anything you'd like to plug? Feel free to share a link.
The best thing to plug would probably be my main author blog at
www.eswynn.com. From there, you can find links to pretty much
everything I do on the left-hand side of the main page. I’m also on
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Deviant Art, and pretty much every other
social site out there.
You can read Kevin's short story Seconds Full of Years at Theme of Absence: An Online Magazine of Speculative Flash Fiction
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