Goodreads asked Joseph Cillo Jr.:

How do you get inspired to write?

Joseph Cillo Jr. In the fifth grade, I decided I wanted to be a writer. Our assignments at the time included writing creative stories, rather than book reports and literature critiques, which was the kind of writing I liked to do. There was a girl in my class who was a good writer, and we had a sort of unofficial competition going on. Of course, she was a better writer than I was, but I felt I often came up with better things to write. My strength was more in the story creation than in story telling.

Well, I have no doubt that that girl grew up to be a much better writer than I am. In fact, I was very easily talked out of writing as a career, because, well, I was good at math. Who would suffer as a writer when he could solve problems and get paid well as an engineer? Of course, I never became an engineer, since that was what everybody wanted me to do, and I ended up majoring in Economics and Music, and since I was probably the worst musician ever to major in Music, I ended up underwriting insurance, and later moved into computer programming, while I wrote songs and played bass in a band for a while.

So when did I get back to writing? Well, at one point I did give it a go, and began a still unfinished novel called, The Son Of A Madman. I put the work aside when I had trouble getting from the beginning to an ending. And, now I'm in a very different place, so I probably will never finish it. I changed my focus, and started writing songs for a while.

But, a turning point came when I saw an interview with a Hollywood Producer who said something along the lines of, "If you don't like the movies Hollywood is making, write your own." So, I did. And, having written 3 screenplays that Hollywood would never attempt, and knowing that if they did attempt one, they would screw it all up, I decided to make one into a graphic novel, and I am converting another into a novel.

As I still believe my strength is in story creation versus story telling, I think I am better suited to writing for the screen. But, Hollywood is a nightmare, especially for people writing from my perspective. I actually had someone advise me that the key to making money as a screenwriter is not to care when the completely change your script! Why work so hard to get something right when they will completely change it? For a paycheck. That's not why I write. So, since a screenplay is a blueprint and not really a final product, and no one will make the movie as I envisioned it, I am left to convert my ideas as best I can to more consumable forms, like novels and graphic novels.

So, that I guess covers how I got inspired to write, but how do I get inspired to write? Like, each day? Writing for me is a calling. It is my work, in a day filled with prayer and work. It is what I do.

I recently heard an author answer a question about how she decides what to write about. And, I agree with her answer, that the question is all wrong. Writing for me is about having a story you have to tell, and that is why you write. It's not about wanting to write and rooting around looking for something to write about. If I did not have a story to tell, or at least, something I wanted to say, to build a story around to say it, I would not write. I'd solve computer programming or data management problems, make a good living, and have less worries.

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