I recently had the pleasure of meeting (via the WWW) Canadian author, Jamieson Wolf.
Jamieson is incredibly busy, with several websites, blogs and books going on all at the same time! His upcoming book, The Ghost Mirror, will be available soon online and in paperback this June.
He took a moment out of his crazy schedule to answer a few questions for me:
Your next book, "Garden City: Exposed", comes out in June. How did this series get started? How did the "Electric" series begin?
I originally started writing with short stories. There has always been something about the short story genre that has appealed to me. I love Alice Munro, short stories by Stephen King and Charles de Lint. So it seemed a natural place to start.
GARDEN CITY, my first book of short stories, actually took about six years to write. I didn't realize in the beginning that I was setting all the stories in the same location but the stories were linked through a couple characters.
When I was thinking of a book of short stories, I realized I already had everything written. I just needed to find a name for the city. The Goddess of Time names it in her story Times Malaise. It seems that the city wanted to form itself from the beginning.
GARDEN CITY: Exposed is a little more different because all the stories are connected to each other. It's more a novel than a book of stories, but I'll just call it collected fiction.
The Electric Series was a little different. I am not a diligent novel writer. I find the writing of novels to be tedious and I can get bored easily. So I took a page from the old style of novels and decided to write a serial novel.
Stephen King and Armistead Maupin wrote serial novels. I figured it would be a good way to keep myself interested if I didn't know how the book was going to end.
When I started Electric Pink (the first in the series) I didn't know that I had started a series. By the time the book was over, it was clear that not everything had been answered. So I wrote Electric Blue. Electric Red, which I'm currently writing, should be the last book.
But one never knows!
You publish an online magazine, "Musings". What is the focus of this magazine? Where can people find it?
MUSINGS is a magazine devoted to the written word. I've long wanted to work on a literary magazine and MUSINGS is the result of that dream.
Anything having to do with the written word is accepted: book reviews, movie reviews, short stories, flash fiction, poetry. Anything with the written word!
You can find MUSINGS
http://jamiesonwolf.tripod.com/musings/
There you'll find the new April issue available for free download and all the back issue. Also listed is info for submissions, a bio for each of our contributors and much more!
You have two non-fiction books aimed at aspiring readers – what tip could you offer an author hopeful right here & now?
The best tip I can offer an aspiring writer is, simply, to write and read.
That might seem like redundant advice, but it's the best piece of advice you'll ever get. Anyone can write; but it does take practice.
You need to write to find out what you like to write, what style of writing you are most attracted to, what kinds of characters you find yourself creating. Writing is a craft or a trade like any other; without practice, it becomes stagnant.
You also need to read, a lot. If you don't read, how can you possibly write? You'd be surprised at the number of writers I've met who hate to read. I never understand it myself. How can you write if you hate reading?
Read to your hearts content. Reading gives you good guidelines for dialogue, structure, punctuation, vocabulary. If you don't read, you can't write.
Also, follow your instincts. You will know in your heart that you want to be a writer. Follow your dream and anything is possible.
What is it like teaching an online course on writing?
It's different but also very thrilling. I currently teach an online course called The Muse for The Long Story Short School of Writing. You can find that course here:
http://www.lsswritingschool.com/TheMuse.html
I'm also going to be teaching at the Muse Online Writers Conference about how to write a serial novel. You can find more info about that here:
http://www.freewebs.com/themuseonlinewritersconference/
Teaching an online course if different as you can't see your students, you can't talk to them face to face, so you have to adapt your course to be taught over the computer.
For me, I have to figure out how to teach others how to write as simply, and as clearly, as possible.
It's also thrilling because it's a different way to be creative, a different way to inspire others. Even though you're teaching online, you still get to watch your students grow and bloom into writers. It's wonderful and exciting.
You have so much going on – how do you keep up with it all? Where do you intend to go next?
I honestly have no idea. *grin* I have a daytimer, but I don't often use it.
Mostly, I try to write something once a day. Whether it be a blog post, a chapter, a poem, at least I'm writing. I run five different blogs, so I try to scatter posts so I'm not posting for all five once a day.
I write my novels or my works in progress in the evening and a lot on the weekend. Mostly, I'm always writing.
But then again, that's when I'm happiest.
Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Diane!
Please visit his sites at:
Author web site: http://www.jamiesonwolf.co.nr/
Author Blog: http://www.jamiesonwolf.blogspot.com/
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