Sunday, January 26, 2020

Interview with Richard Leach-Steffens, writer (Interviews with Writers)

Tell me about yourself:
Growing up, back when I was in high school, I started writing short fiction at the urging of my Gifted Ed teacher, Linda Knoll. I actually submitted to a local community college's creative arts contest. I actually got a couple of stories -- I think I got a second and a first. I did okay, but I didn't feel like my writing was good enough that I could become a writer for a living. Since then, my writing's been mostly professional -- I have a ten-year career as a technical writer. I haven't really done much creative writing since becoming a technical writer, because it's hard to get in front of a computer after you've been in front of a computer for eight hours at work.

More recently, at the encouragement of my spouse, who is also a writer, I have written one novella, one novel, and one short story. The novella is set in my spouse's universe and shares some of the characters, while the novel, which I wrote for NaNoWriMo, is based on an idea I had back in high school. I would like to submit the novel for a developmental edit.

What do you like to write about?
Early on, I wrote apocalyptic fiction. I grew up in the 80's and 90's; one of my fears, of course, was nuclear war. What I'm finding is that I've moved past that, and my latest ideas tend to be creative with a twist. Think a "what if?" with a "where will it lead?". 

What is your novel about?
The NaNo novel deals with the idea of musicians traveling from town to town for gigs. What happens if humanity gets into space and finds out we're technologically behind other races in terms of trade? What would humanity have to offer? Humanity discovers that what it does have to offer is artistic culture -- music, art, even classic tv shows. As part of that, it's a way of introducing humanity into other cultures. My protagonists are a jazz combo, and what they find out is that, in the history of this one planet, there is a cultural taboo against sung music. The remainder of the novel deals with solving the mystery: Why did this happen?

What is your advice to writers?
Don't stop and think that your writing is good enough in its rough form, because there's always room for improvement.

Thank you for being my guinea pig, Richard.
Oink.

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