It's impossible to explain creativity. It's like asking a bird, 'How do you fly?' You just do.
I want those young whipper-snappers to know that in days past we actually used to kill trees and make those things called books.
As a writer, I challenge myself not to tell the same story - to tackle different characters with different issues.
I'm just trying to write a good story, strictly from imagination. People just think it's random, they don't see the rewriting, phrasing of characters, choosing the words, bringing the world to light in which the characters live in. That creates an illusion that this is real.
For a lot of people, becoming an author is a change in occupation... they are coming from something that totally has nothing to do with this. If they are expecting to come into a room full of people praising them, then they are in the wrong place.
Some people are just so happy to get published to, they sign anything. Next thing you know, they've signed over the rights to their book.
When you start a new job or a particular journey, you really don't know what to expect. I mean, you hear about your name being on the bestsellers list, but it doesn't really mean anything. Like, really, what does that translate to?
