Ask the Author: James Van Pelt
Answered Questions (14)
James Van Pelt
My dad was a mystery to me, or at least a complicated figure. He was a bit OCD, I think. He had strict rules about how his tools should be arranged, and he was a list-keeper: how and when the mattresses where flipped, number of putts on a round of golf, gas and mileage on the car at each fillup, etc. He also was logical and mathematical, but he had odd obsessions: like the location of Noah's Ark, Immanuel Velikovsky's theories about Venus, the existence of UFOs. He told me that when he was a young aeronautical engineer working for Goodyear in New Mexico in the 50s that he and some other engineers were drinking one night and decided to visit the site of the first nuclear test. They wanted to collect some a-bomb glass (heat-fused sand at ground zero), so they piled into a jeep and drove into the desert. Fortunately, Dad said, they were too drunk to climb the fence. I think a guy like that might be worthy of a novel.
James Van Pelt
When I read Ray Bradbury as a youngster, I was blown away by how emotional he could make me. I've tried to do the same for other readers ever since.
James Van Pelt
We've granted your wish for eternal life. Your permanent sessions of chemotherapy will begin immediately, but I'm afraid the anti-nausea drugs and pain pills aren't very effective.
James Van Pelt
I have a backlog of Connie Willis titles I want to read: Crosstalk, Blackout, All Clear. Also, I'm looking forward to the best-of collections of fiction from 2019.
James Van Pelt
I'd like to live in the future pictured in the movie, TOMORROWLAND. I love the quote, "Come on! We saved a seat just for you." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWLJ1...
James Van Pelt
Hi, Danielle. I have written other heroic Fantasies. "Nine Fingers on the Flute" was the first in '97. "Once They were Monarchs" in ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE in '00 was heroic fantasy transplanted to modern times. "The Road's End" was in REALMS OF FANTASY in Feb. '06. "This Gray Rock, Standing Tall," was sort of a post-heroic fantasy in the June 2014 JOURNAL OF UNLIKELY CARTOGRAPHY. "Ghost Ship," in the 2015 Australian anthology, WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY AND HORROR was a pirate story. "The Silk Silvered Skull of Mirren Mir" in the 2016 Triangulation: Beneath the Surface anthology. "The Sword Imperial" in 2017 in SWORD AND SORCERY magazine. And "Apprentice" in 2016 in FANTASY SCROLL MAGAZINE.
Thanks for asking.
Thanks for asking.
James Van Pelt
Hi, Interesting question. When I first became interested in science fiction, I loved the relationship between John Carter and Dejah Thoris from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books. What wasn't to love? She was a princess! But I think I liked what she looked like on the cover more than how deeply the relationship was developed in the books. Later, I really liked Sam and Mary in Robert Heinlein's THE PUPPET MASTERS. Both characters were competent, smart and there was a lot of banter between them.
James Van Pelt
Hi, Robert. Thanks for the note. I've never tried the Goodreads giveaway before. Hopefully more people who might like the book will hear about it through this promotion. In the meantime, I'll keep writing.
James Van Pelt
My most recent book in PANDORA'S GUN, which will come out in August, 2015. On the morning of November 1, 2013, I made a joke to our high school librarian, who is also a writer, about doing NaNoWriMo. He said he would if I would, so that afternoon I started the novel. I had no clear idea at all, except I liked the thought of a high school kid finding something truly, awesomely powerful, and then having to deal with that discovery. After that I swung for the fences everyday until I finished the book at the end of that month. The editing took much longer to do than the writing of the first draft.
James Van Pelt
This is an interesting and weird question because I've been writing for a long time, and there are multiple ways to answer.
- When I started writing, I was inspired by reading stuff that was so great, that impacted me so thoroughly, that I wanted to be able to do the same thing myself for other people. I blame Ray Bradbury for most of that inspiration. I read THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and FAHRENHEIT 451 back to back in 5th or 6th grade. I started writing stories then.
- Girls inspired me to write when I was in high school. I mean, I felt I had things to say, and I really liked cool language, but I think some of the inspiration to write came from wanting to look like a writer, to have other people perceive me as a writer, and those other people in high schools were girls. I thought if girls saw me as sensitive and romantic (I wrote a lot of poetry in high school), that I would get more dates. It didn't really work out that way.
- Now, all kinds of things inspire me. Connie Willis says getting angry often inspires her. She sees something she considers stupid, and she has to write a response to it. Sometimes anger is an inspiration, but mostly now I'm inspired to write because I see myself as a writer. I'm thinking about the story I'm working on and the next story all the time.
- I'm partly inspired by guilt, like a jogger who goes on a run because he knows he'll feel badly about himself if he doesn't. I'm like that with writing.
- I'm inspired by good writing. I can't read Stephen Crane, or Edgar Allen Poe, or Jane Austen without thinking I'd like to give that writing thing a try.
- When I started writing, I was inspired by reading stuff that was so great, that impacted me so thoroughly, that I wanted to be able to do the same thing myself for other people. I blame Ray Bradbury for most of that inspiration. I read THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and FAHRENHEIT 451 back to back in 5th or 6th grade. I started writing stories then.
- Girls inspired me to write when I was in high school. I mean, I felt I had things to say, and I really liked cool language, but I think some of the inspiration to write came from wanting to look like a writer, to have other people perceive me as a writer, and those other people in high schools were girls. I thought if girls saw me as sensitive and romantic (I wrote a lot of poetry in high school), that I would get more dates. It didn't really work out that way.
- Now, all kinds of things inspire me. Connie Willis says getting angry often inspires her. She sees something she considers stupid, and she has to write a response to it. Sometimes anger is an inspiration, but mostly now I'm inspired to write because I see myself as a writer. I'm thinking about the story I'm working on and the next story all the time.
- I'm partly inspired by guilt, like a jogger who goes on a run because he knows he'll feel badly about himself if he doesn't. I'm like that with writing.
- I'm inspired by good writing. I can't read Stephen Crane, or Edgar Allen Poe, or Jane Austen without thinking I'd like to give that writing thing a try.
James Van Pelt
Right now I'm nine weeks into a write-a-story-a-week challenge to myself. This comes from both Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein who suggested it as a good strategy for a beginning writer. Bradbury said, "it's impossible to write 52 bad stories in a row," which I thought was pretty funny.
I'm not a beginner. I've been selling fiction since 1990, but I've recently retired, and I can do whatever I want. What I want is to get better. Giving myself challenges is a good way to do this, I figure. Besides, it's fun.
And it IS fun. I like this quicker pace. I like the idea that I'll be doing something new next week. I like that I'll finish something this week.
Other than that, I have a YA novel coming out in August, PANDORA'S GUN. If the book does even moderately, I'll be working on the sequel.
I'm not a beginner. I've been selling fiction since 1990, but I've recently retired, and I can do whatever I want. What I want is to get better. Giving myself challenges is a good way to do this, I figure. Besides, it's fun.
And it IS fun. I like this quicker pace. I like the idea that I'll be doing something new next week. I like that I'll finish something this week.
Other than that, I have a YA novel coming out in August, PANDORA'S GUN. If the book does even moderately, I'll be working on the sequel.
James Van Pelt
This is an interesting question. I'm doing a 45-minute presentation at a local comicon that's entitled, "Becoming a Writer." It's an intimidating topic for only 45 minutes! I think that I have to start with a rock-solid basic to answer the question, which is to read, read, read and write, write, write. I know, it sounds unhelpful and stupid, but that's actually the formula. You read to get story and language running in the back of your head, and you write because most of us have a lot of crummy writing to get through before we start getting to the better stuff. Writing is like any other art: you progress. Almost no one starts as a genius from the get go. They start crummier than they're going to end up, and the only way to get from the beginning to the better is to wade through the crummy.
You read a lot to find your influences, and you write a lot to find your voice. It's that simple. Being simple doesn't make it easy, by the way. If you want easy, inherit a lot of money.
You read a lot to find your influences, and you write a lot to find your voice. It's that simple. Being simple doesn't make it easy, by the way. If you want easy, inherit a lot of money.
James Van Pelt
Well, it's certainly not the groupies. What I like best is that I get to be imaginative. I can do anything on the page, which isn't all that different from being six and being able to make anything in the sandbox. I like starting stories and finishing them. I like seeing my name on the back of my books.
James Van Pelt
I don't have much trouble with writer's block, or I'm always dealing with it and I can't tell the difference. Occasionally I'll get into a "zone," where hundreds of words will appear at once, but mostly I compose in short bursts with pauses in between. Sometimes, if I don't know what to do in the pause, I'll take a shower or go on a walk. If I purposefully ruminate over what has caused the pause, I almost always come up with a solution. I'm a firm believer in the BIC method to handle writing blocks, which is "Butt In Chair." I can write my way out of problems quicker than I can wait for the problem to solve itself.
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