For just about all the rest of us, you’re gonna have to have a job. That’s probably 1% of writers, and they’re very prolific. Also, I don’t know who is a full time writer, and that is their only job. KS-W: There are good things and bad things about trying to write and work at the same time. How is that process of trying to write a novel with a day job?

Many of us college students who have a desire to write for a living full time will probably have to face the reality of the modern world that we probably won’t be able to support ourselves. So speaking of the journey of cracking the novel, and writing in general, I understand that you have or had a day job as a software engineer. I pretty quickly realized that it was going to be about family and it started to suggest a novel.ĬM: Interesting how those moments kind of come out of nowhere in the most mundane time. What is this image? Where is this kid? After I asked enough questions, I started engaging. Finally I started asking questions about the image.

I’d just be staring out the window and the sharks would show up while I was washing dishes. Then I went on with my day, and it kept showing up. It showed up and I thought, that’s really interesting. In terms of Sharks in the Time of Saviors, I started in 2010 with the image of a child being saved from drowning by sharks. I really push against the initial idea and try to dig deeper to look for the second, third, or fourth idea. I think that they’ll most likely be patterns that are unconsciously influenced by other books that I’ve read. If I’m writing a character’s reaction, dialogue, a plot point, or the way something might change in the story, I almost always immediately discount the first several ideas that come into my head because I don’t trust them. Not only is it for new ideas that pop into my head that I think that way, but even in the middle of a scene.

Kawai Strong-Washburn: Yes, I agree with that, conceptually, really just in the sense of not trusting your first instinct for writing in general. Is this something you can relate to? If so, could you elaborate on how Sharks in the Time of Saviors developed over time? He finds that an image, a concept, or story ideas that are worth pursuing are something that’s going to essentially haunt you, it’ll come back to you again and again. So while I wouldn’t hold this person up as the pinnacle of who writers should aspire to, Stephen King says that he doesn’t write his ideas down. Cal MacFarland: Thank you so much for being here tonight.

Kawai strong washburn