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Q: What are your ambitions for your writing career?
A: To become a multiple best-selling author who can retire to a private island. And, of course, to continue to write the best books I know how to write at the time that I write them. I want readers to have a great time with my books, eager to read the next one. I’d like to spin off into other mediums as well, getting back into comic books, and writing for TV. I’m working on it.
Q: Tell us about your latest release.
A: Love, Murder & Mayhem is a new anthology from Crazy 8 Press, with 15 stories from 15 authors. While I’m typically a novelist, I served as editor for this one, and contributed one of the stories. Each tale contains at least one act of love or romance, at least one murder, with lots of mayhem, all in various science fiction settings. We have superhero and supervillain stories. Off-world and space cruiser stories. We’ve also got A.I., private eyes, sleep surrogates, time travel, an aliens/monsters mash-up and … one DuckBob!
Q: Give us an insight into your protagonist.
Q: Give us an insight into your protagonist.
A: My story is “The Hardwicke Files: The Case of My Old New Life and the One I Never Knew.” It centers on Angela Hardwicke, a private eye in that classic Sam Spade style, fedora, pinstripe suit, knows the angles. She’s appeared in two of my books already—first as a drop-in character in Genius de Milo, and then as being more substantial in Astropalooza—and I plan to write an entire series based on her. But I wanted to experiment first, getting a better feel for who she is, and her rhythms, with her in the lead. I also know her origin story, which I’ll write at some point, and I know where her personal arc is headed. I’m really into crime fiction these days and plan to stick with it for quite a while.
Q: Where do the ideas come from?
Q: Where do the ideas come from?
A: Anywhere and everywhere. They usually just pop into my head when I least expect them. Sometimes I know the kind of story I want to write, so I’ll do some research, or just play around with the concept, but more often than not, one minute there’s no story, and the next minute there is.
Q: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?A: The longer I’m at this the more I do a lot of ‘pre-writing’ and outlining. I usually take 2-4 weeks working out the plot, and putting the basics to paper, including dialogue, setting, and key elements, and then go back when I’m done and follow my own blueprint. It allows me to write with more assertiveness, but also leaves room for inspiration—where the magic happens.
Q: Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?
Q: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?A: The longer I’m at this the more I do a lot of ‘pre-writing’ and outlining. I usually take 2-4 weeks working out the plot, and putting the basics to paper, including dialogue, setting, and key elements, and then go back when I’m done and follow my own blueprint. It allows me to write with more assertiveness, but also leaves room for inspiration—where the magic happens.
Q: Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?
A: Movement. Get up from your desk. Go into another room. Take a walk. Exercise. Just physically move around and change your physical perspective. I do some of my best writing while out walking my dog. I’m also a big believer in talking things out loud – to myself. The more I talk it through the more likely it is that I’ll figure out why I’m stuck. I’ll actually hear the problem. I’ll go through my story or scene and then go, “I really need … wait! Oh. THAT’S why it doesn’t work! I need to do this.” Motion is a remarkable catalyst.
Q: What can we expect from you down the line?
Q: What can we expect from you down the line?
A: I’ll be sitting down soon to write my first full-length Hardwicke book, and I’m currently about two-thirds done with a top secret project I can’t talk about yet. After that … I have about a half dozen projects in my queue; it’s just a matter of deciding which one to write next.
About the Editor: Russ Colchamiro
Russ Colchamiro is the author of the rollicking space adventure, Crossline, the hilarious sci-fi backpacking comedy series, Finders Keepers, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, and is editor of the new anthology, Love, Murder & Mayhem, all with Crazy 8 Press.
Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two children, and crazy dog, Simon, who may in fact be an alien himself. Russ has also contributed to several other anthologies, including Tales of the Crimson Keep, Pangaea, and Altered States of the Union, and TV Gods 2. He is now at work on a top-secret project, and a Finders Keepers spin-off.
As a matter of full disclosure, readers should not be surprised if Russ spontaneously teleports in a blast of white light followed by screaming fluorescent color and the feeling of being sucked through a tornado. It’s just how he gets around — windier than the bus, for sure, but much quicker.
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