Justin Macumber – founder and host of the Dead Robots Society, host on the Hollywood Outsider podcast, and author of the newly released scifi novel “Haywire” – somehow finds a away to pull out of the literary fast-lane and join us for a delightful and informative session around the Roundtable. Justin pursues what he loves with honesty and passion, and generously shares some of his mojo as we explore some of the big (and small) questions that all writers have. (and don’t miss Justin’s Workshop Episode)
PROMO: The Parsec Awards (http://www.parsecawards.com/)
Showcase Episode: 20 Minutes with Justin Macumber
Podcast: Download (Duration: 35:53 — 32.9MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Listen to this episode on iTunes
Episode Breakdown
01:00 – Justin’s achievements (including “Haywire“)
02:45 – Why Speculative Fiction?
04:12 – Concerns over being unable to pick a single genre
05:08 – Growing up multi-genre
06:30 – Possible mash-ups
07:02 – Inception meets the Time Machine meets Ocean’s Eleven
07:25 – Don’t feel ready to handle a serious mashup
08:15 – When will you know you ARE ready?
08:57 – Looking back
09:11 – When being delighted by your work
09:42 – Scott Sigler delighting himself
09:57 – If you wait too long, do ideas over-marinate?
10:37 – Background on the idea of “Stillwater”
11:50 – Neuron collisions
12:08 – “Harbinger” (an older story) may have over-cooked, we’ll see
13:30 – After 219 Episodes of DRS, what were your “Ah-Ha” moments?
14:14 – Quoting Mur Lafferty, “It’s okay to suck”
14:50 – Perfection is a massive time sink
16:30 – PROMO: The Parsec Awards (http://www.parsecawards.com/)
18:03 – First step after finishing a first draft?
18:15 – Put it aside and work on something else
18:45 – Let your mind forget
19:14 – Passive voice, adverbs, flowery prose…
20:13 – Beta Reader Preferences
20:22 – People who read a lot
20:32 – The American Idol Problem
20:55 – Honest feedback
21:40 – Fostering the creative muse
22:07 – Epic media consumption (in all forms)
23:15 – How video games influenced “Haywire”
25:20 – Just don’t let it get in the way of writing
25:55 – Can you turn off “The Writer” when you read/watch?
26:25 – Drawn to strong dialog and serials
27:53 – What are you working on in your craft now?
28:13 – To not be so wordy
30:00 – Robert B. Parker
30:38 – Short Stories help you make every word count
30:54 – Lovin’ the Drabbles
32:05 – Tee Morris is a fire-and-forget missile
Really like the show and the interview. I hear Justin a LOT and still learned quite a bit. Good stuff, keep it going
Thanks Aaron! I couldn’t agree more… we’ve been huge fans of DRS for a while and it was a genuine delight to be able to hang out with Justin. He is a passionate and dedicated writer, but what really distinguishes for us is his generosity and desire to support the entire community, not just his own efforts.
And hey… we’re going to have Terry Mixon on in a few weeks, too, so stay tuned! In fact, it’s his story we’re workshopping and it was just workshopped on DRS. It’s going to be like a “Part II” of that episode (I LOVE it!)
Well, I personally like him better on The HO Podcast, but I could be a bit biased. 🙂 I look forward to it! DRS is a very interesting and unique podcast everyone that cares about or enjoys writing should listen to.
Aw, shucks guys. You’re making me blush. 🙂
To Justin: If you are waiting till you are a “better writer” to work on your “Time Travel/Heist Novel” then please get better quickly, because I want to read that book.