Interview: Ted Weber

[Gary Oswald]

Discuss this interview here

 

[RyanF]

Some good starting points for characterisation in the interview.

 

[Charles EP M.]

I recommend that writers write what they want—what moves them—rather than worry about what’s selling. Trends come and go, often quicker than it takes to complete a novel.

This is a good advice in part because the feeling "what is selling and can I write it really fast to cash in" is wearying. Your brain ends up dwelling on "I should write a reverse-harem killer shark YA OGN" and kicking yourself instead of writing something

 

[Coiler]

This is a good advice in part because the feeling "what is selling and can I write it really fast to cash in" is wearying. Your brain ends up dwelling on "I should write a reverse-harem killer shark YA OGN" and kicking yourself instead of writing something

I can personally attest to this. Writing what I want is so much more satisfying.

 

[Jared]

This is a good advice in part because the feeling "what is selling and can I write it really fast to cash in" is wearying. Your brain ends up dwelling on "I should write a reverse-harem killer shark YA OGN" and kicking yourself instead of writing something

It is good advice, though I'd add a caveat that if your aim from writing is to make more than coffee money, it does help to think about potential markets for your work. That doesn't mean go "this trend is hot, I can only write this next', but have a more general look at what kind of books readers have liked for an extended timeframe, and whether the potential market is more than three people including the author's in-laws. That's more of a question about "of all the writing ideas I actually have and want to write, which one(s) would likely have the biggest market?"

Of course, if you're just writing something because it's the story you want to tell, then the potential market is largely irrelevant.

 

[Talwar]

There was some good advice there.

Also seemed to be more self-promotion than I guess I'm accustomed to in these articles.

 

[RyanF]

Also seemed to be more self-promotion than I guess I'm accustomed to in these articles.

And that's saying something.

 

[Gary Oswald]

Literally every question I have asked any author can be summarised as 'so you wrote this thing which I am linking to here, tell me about it'.

I am not exactly Paxman.

 

[Thande]

Literally every question I have asked any author can be summarised as 'so you wrote this thing which I am linking to here, tell me about it'.

I am not exactly Paxman.

"Did you threaten to shift the POD back from 1759 to 1727?"

 

[RyanF]

 

[Alexander Rooksmoor]

As I know I have and I imagine quite a few people on here have been told in the past that our alternate history writing was 'wrong' or did not provide a firm answer, it was certainly heartening to read him say:

'... the writer should challenge, to present alternatives, to raise a mirror with many facets, so that the reader can question dogma and their place in the universe. The fiction writer should beware being overly preachy in their prose; rather, through the thoughts, speech, and actions of their characters, they should present alternatives and let the reader decide for themselves.'

It would be good if more AH readers would take on that challenge rather than complain if we fail to do it for them, even though we do provide many of the materials for them to make their own conclusions.