Member Spotlight: Steve Anderson

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing allows me to experience other worlds and periods that intrigue me. I love the process, and am still amazed when my characters start driving the story as I write them. If they need to do something, I let them and see where it takes me and the story. I often learn from that. Writing is an important medium for the world because it reveals truths about people and the world in unique ways. Reading as an experience is less passive than other entertainment — your brain imagines and sees the story people and worlds slightly differently than another reader’s. All this helps the reader arrive at the truths in the story in their own way.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I just keep going, trying out different things. This could be freewriting, or research, or working on a different story, or even staring out the window or cleaning. We’re still writing when we’re thinking about what we’re writing, and those thoughts come out later in ways that we don’t always realize.

What is your favorite time to write? The morning, first thing. Definitely. My brain has the most energy then.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? All the good writing, and joy from writing, comes in the rewriting. When you finish that first draft, you’re just getting started. This is a good thing! The experience will become all the more fulfilling as you rewrite and revise and use feedback in ways that work for you.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Writers are expected to do a ton of work outside the actual writing these days, from social media to newsletters and on and on. There’s a lot of noise. I try to only do what I can and like to do and not worry about doing it all. But the exciting part about today is there are also more possibilities than ever for finding readers, for reaching them more directly, and I expect (hope) that will only improve, whether it’s self-publishing or serialized fiction or whatever’s coming next. There’s a huge opportunity for publishers to engage directly with readers if they seize it. Meanwhile, I just write that best story I can and enjoy the ride as best as I can.

Steve Anderson’s Lines of Deception is out now.