Autumn
asked
Michael Grant:
I loved all your books so much. Do you have any advice for an aspiring author?
Michael Grant
Sure, but bear in mind that this is just what works for me, you're you.
1) Treat it as a job. Get up, drink some coffee, start typing. Don't buy into all the quasi-mystical bullshit you hear from authors trying to sound important, it's your job, same as if you were stocking shelves at Wal-Mart.
2) Don't set the bar so high you can't clear it. Don't write THE book, write A book. You're probably not Shakespeare, just tell your story as well as you know how.
3) Don't start thinking you're special, stay in touch with reality.
4) Likewise don't let anyone tell you you can't make it. Maybe you can, maybe you can't, but that's your decision not anyone else's.
5) Practice the virtues of any employment: do your best work, every time, don't blow deadlines, deliver what you said you'd deliver on-time and on-spec. Be as reliable as gravity - I've gotten a lot of work based largely on the fact that I get it done.
6) Personally I avoid writer groups, critique groups, etc... The opinion that matters is the opinion of your editor and to a lesser extent your agent.
7) Never let an agent negotiate a contract without running in past an experienced intellectual property lawyer.
8) This is more esoteric, but people ask me where I get my ideas. Well, there's a silent conversation going on in my head all the time. I see things, think about them, discuss it with myself, and this goes on pretty much all the time. It's a lifestyle in which you are always looking for story.
9) Finally, have a life. Seriously. Put me in a room with 100 other writers, I'll be the only one with neither a high school diploma nor college; the only one who has spent serious time in shitty jobs being looked down on; the only one who has ever been homeless; the only one with a criminal past; the only one who has lived in more than 50 homes in 14 states and three foreign countries. This is NOT to suggest that you do those things, that's my life, but having a life - doomed love affairs, stupid decisions, passions that burn hot then burn out, being praised and betrayed, being loved and hated, being poor and desperate and other times on top of the world, all that human shit becomes story. The people you meet help form characters. Live a life.
1) Treat it as a job. Get up, drink some coffee, start typing. Don't buy into all the quasi-mystical bullshit you hear from authors trying to sound important, it's your job, same as if you were stocking shelves at Wal-Mart.
2) Don't set the bar so high you can't clear it. Don't write THE book, write A book. You're probably not Shakespeare, just tell your story as well as you know how.
3) Don't start thinking you're special, stay in touch with reality.
4) Likewise don't let anyone tell you you can't make it. Maybe you can, maybe you can't, but that's your decision not anyone else's.
5) Practice the virtues of any employment: do your best work, every time, don't blow deadlines, deliver what you said you'd deliver on-time and on-spec. Be as reliable as gravity - I've gotten a lot of work based largely on the fact that I get it done.
6) Personally I avoid writer groups, critique groups, etc... The opinion that matters is the opinion of your editor and to a lesser extent your agent.
7) Never let an agent negotiate a contract without running in past an experienced intellectual property lawyer.
8) This is more esoteric, but people ask me where I get my ideas. Well, there's a silent conversation going on in my head all the time. I see things, think about them, discuss it with myself, and this goes on pretty much all the time. It's a lifestyle in which you are always looking for story.
9) Finally, have a life. Seriously. Put me in a room with 100 other writers, I'll be the only one with neither a high school diploma nor college; the only one who has spent serious time in shitty jobs being looked down on; the only one who has ever been homeless; the only one with a criminal past; the only one who has lived in more than 50 homes in 14 states and three foreign countries. This is NOT to suggest that you do those things, that's my life, but having a life - doomed love affairs, stupid decisions, passions that burn hot then burn out, being praised and betrayed, being loved and hated, being poor and desperate and other times on top of the world, all that human shit becomes story. The people you meet help form characters. Live a life.
More Answered Questions
Kirstin Morrell
asked
Michael Grant:
So Michael, thanks for the review like! Just so you know, I updated it to reflect that I found more information to show that you were right! The LA Times had an article confirming your use of "Gold Star Family" was correct for the time. Super cool. Thanks for the amazing detail in Front Lines. It was a great book. I look forward to more. When will #2, Silver Stars, be out in paperback?
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