The Week of the Writer Guest Post: “How to Shake the World”

 

Welcome to The Week of the Writer!

Please join me in welcoming J.C. Fiske, author of The Renegade Series, to the blog. I’m incredibly happy he was able to join us this week.

In the spirit of The Week of the Writer, he’s chosen to give us a bit of writing advice as well as share a little about his writing process – which reminds me of Stephen King’s ‘boys in the basement’. So, thanks J.C. for visiting with us today and sharing a bit about how you shake the world!  

 

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First of all, I would like to thank Ms. Melinda Collins for giving me the honor of writing for this event! Now, let’s get down to writing about writing.

I think, as the rest of my bunch will tell you, we really have no idea what drives us. Possibly, it may be an undiagnosed mental disorder but even if the mystery were solved, we could never explain what gave us the motivation to sit down on our ass one day and write in the first place. To that I’d ask, why bother explaining anyway? Things that are mysterious are usually beautiful or magical. As soon as things are explained, the magic leaves so I say lets look beyond and just accept.

For those of you who think you could be a writer or want to be, I’ll give you this advice: Don’t you ever, and I mean ever, write what’s popular just to make a name for yourself.

Instead, write about what makes you come alive more than anything. Look at what you’re reading right now and it will give you a hint on where to start. It could be a fantasy book, a young adult series, a crime thriller, etc. Chances are that you probably know a good deal about the genre you’re reading about, which is great, because now you’ll be able to know firsthand what’s been done before and what hasn’t. There is a market for everything out there and whether you choose to self-publish like myself or go the route of an agent, do what you would most enjoy! I love the fact of doing everything on my own and can be a bit of a control freak when it comes to my creative works so I can’t see myself doing anything other than self-publish, but you might be different!

As for what I do to write?

There are many ways to go about this. It is best to find what works best for you. Some people like sitting in a dark room and blaring music while they write. I’m one of these people. I just do better work in the basement. One of my literary professors worked the same way and he told me that only those who work underground can shake the earth with their writing. Neat, huh? Also, in the dark I have less distractions and the music, the louder the better, surrounds me and makes me forget about the outside world for the time being. Luckily I don’t write horror. If you do, I probably wouldn’t recommend this. That is just one way I write but there is another. It’s always good to mix it up and sometimes however, this just doesn’t do it for me because my thoughts keep wandering to my Xbox upstairs. When this happens, I pack up and drive to my local Starbucks and Barnes and Nobles. By doing this, in my head I’ve found the resolve to get my lazy ass out of my house and now that I’m here, it’s time to work! Plus I find that coffee is a great motivator, especially while iced so you can drink it fast. Then, look out world!

Anyway, if you have any questions I’d love to hear from you! I myself write in the area of Young Adult Fantasy and I have my debut novel listed on my blog site, http://www.jcfiske.com/, along with other heartfelt blog entries.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this and best of luck to all of you!

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J.C. Fiske is an American author born in Manchester, New Hampshire. He is an avid reader, martial artist, and metal fan. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Southern New Hampshire University in 2008. The first book in his Young Adult Fantasy series, Renegade Rising, was published through Tenacity Books in 2011.

Currently, he resides in New Hampshire and will be putting the final touches on the next book in the Renegade series due out early 2012.

You can order a copy of his book, Renegade Rising, at Amazon and Barnes and Noble and follow him on his blog, JCFiske.com, and on Twitter.