20 Minutes with Justin Macumber

Literary Alchemist: Justin Macumber
Justin Macumber

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

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

 

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Comments (5)

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.

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