Hi amazing readers,
Who loves Halloween and things that go bump in the night? How about a thrilling Sci-Fi/Fantasy during this phenomenal month? That’s what this stellar author’s new book is all about.
Check out my latest interview with author Steve Soderquist. His latest book The Mor is available now!
- Tell me a bit about one of your favorites that you wrote.
I have to say my most recent book ‘The Mor’ has hit many soft spots regarding favorite characters and moments. I’ve always loved the sci-fi genre but never felt compelled to write anything of it myself, preferring to stay in fan-boy status. However, when I was helping to remove some dead shrubs from our front yard area to keep from strangling the live ones, I kept running across these little pod-like red blisters on the dead branches. They looked almost alien to me, which isn’t saying anything mind-blowing as I have a zero green thumb. Still, it was the catalyst to the idea that eventually made its way to becoming a book.
I had many intimidating factors, such as: Will I need to write about spaceships? Will I need people to visit different planets? Will there be gooey aliens or things that are so far-fetched I’ll find myself sorely out-matched by a lack of imagination or ability to explain my vision of what I see?
I am very much a character author. Meaning, I write about people responding to circumstances, not circumstances dictating what people will do. If you take three different personalities and put them in a stressful scene, they will all respond differently. This is the meat and potatoes to my writing style. I enjoy writing real people in unreal, or dangerous, or strange situations, then having them realistically and depending on their own talents and abilities, find a way out. ‘The Mor’ was able to do that as even though the two opposing alien races in the book were as night and day as we are, they still had to coexist in the same dynamics of our world. It allowed for some great setups and situations.
2. Writing is a difficult endeavor. What makes you continue to write?
I love the challenge of figuring out how to get from point A to point B and beyond. If a writer can tell the story in a way that’s interesting and that clicks with the reader – so they’re along for the ride – so much the better. For me, writing is only difficult if nothing in the story is going on. I always need to remind myself to slow down at times and get a little back-story, in the story. If I don’t, I tend to 90-to-Nothing the whole book.
A good book should be like a roller coaster ride with building tension, followed by stomach-rolling drops and turns. It’s a writing process that can takes years (if ever) for a writer to get. I don’t know how many times I had to slow down ‘The Mor.’ Too many to count. Often it was like a car with no brakes on a steep hill. But, thanks to careful editing, re-writes, and beta-readers who are about as subtle as surgeons operating with baseball bats, I found a happy balance.
3. What do you look forward to every day?
As I edit, format, review submissions, and handle other day to day operations for Foundations, I’ve been incredibly blessed that I still love what I do. I can work 12 or 14 hours in a day,
unplug, then sit up and read in bed for an hour…lol. I’m really in love with the written word that much. The more I read, the more I learn—both the good and the bad. I’ve learned just as much from a badly written book as I have from a great one. What I MOST look forward to, however, is spending some quiet time with Laura, my fiancé, business partner, and best friend. Not many people can take my level of intensity except in small doses, but she has a way of winding through those roads without needing any headlights. Catch us late at night, and you’ll most likely find us vegging and binge watching a Netflix or Hulu original. We have the same tastes in entertainment, so that’s one of our mutual happy places.
4. How do you define success? What makes you successful?
There was a time when success for me circled around monetary wealth and possessions. After being humbled time and again, I now gauge success by how much you enrich the lives of those you encounter. It’s the basis of how I live my life and how I treat others. The smallest pebble thrown in water makes ripples that spread all around it. I am a pebble.
5. Any tips for a newbie writer?
Read and write, write and read. Do both every day. Push yourself to learn the mechanics. A mediocre story that’s well-written will sell, and often sell very well… a great story that’s badly written won’t. Proper English isn’t something anyone is born with. It’s a learned subject that needs to turn into a habit as natural as breathing. Take courses, go to classes, and study. Most of all, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re wasting your time. No one can write like you. Not the trillions of people who lived before you or the trillions after. Just you.
And have fun!
Social Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.soderquist.3
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/SteveSoderquistAuthor/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/stevesoderquist
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6626657.Steve_Soderquist
Google+: https://plus.google.com/116546158818053309346
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skirascal – @skirascal
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesoderquist/
Email: https://steves@foundationsbooks.net
Website: http://www.SteveSoderquist.com/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV55b1YWTrqw5ihuBMBfcnw
Foundations: https://www.FoundationsBooks.net
TK Lawyer 