The Process: Nine Essays on the Experience of Writing Fiction & "Muse," A Short Story

by Thomas Watson

Overview

Writing fiction of any length is a journey through unexplored territory, with the intention of leaving a trail behind for others to follow. In these short essays, one writer shares his view of such journeys, and how it feels to take them. It's a quick look inside one writer's way of working, and of how stories can come into being. Also included is the never before published short story "Muse." 

Product Details

BN ID:	2940156570522
Publisher:	Thomas Watson
Publication date:	05/13/2019
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	367 KB

About the Author

I am a writer, amateur astronomer, and long-time fan of science fiction living in Tucson, AZ. I'm a transplanted desert rat, having come to the Sonoran Desert of the American Southwest many years ago from my childhood home in Illinois. I have a B.S. in plant biology from the University of Arizona, and have in the past worked as a laboratory technician for that institution. Among many other things, I am also a student of history, natural history, and backyard horticulture.  I also cook a pretty good green chili pork stew.

But most of all, I'm a writer. The art of writing is one of those matters that I find difficult to trace to a single source of inspiration in my life. Instead of an "Aha! This is it!" moment, I would say my desire to write is the cumulative effect of my life-long print addiction. My parents once teased me by claiming I learned to read before I could tie my own shoelaces. Whether or not that's true, I learned to read very early in life, and have as a reader always cast a very wide net. My bookshelves are crowded and eclectic, with fiction by C.J. Cherryh, Isaac Asimov, and Tony Hillerman, and nonfiction by Annie Dillard, Stephen Jay Gould, and Ron Chernow, among many others. It's no doubt due to my eclectic reading habits that I have an equal interest in writing both fiction and nonfiction. The experience of reading, of feeling what a writer could do to my head and my heart with their words, eventually moved me to see if I could do the same thing for others. I'm still trying to answer that question.