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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

AFTER RESONANCE with AUTHOR J. SCOTT SHARP

Author Bio:  J. SCOTT SHARP has been writing for much of his considerable life, but only just now, decided to take it seriously at 47.  This makes him a little crazy.  He lives in Arizona with his wife and two dogs, where he splits his time between watching TV on DVD, working,  and writing.  He is the author of short stories, Not Even There, Three Blackbirds, and Cold-Blooded.  The List of Five is his first novella.

1.  How have role-playing games or comic books shaped or inspired your imagination as a kid, and later, the process of story or character-building?

JSS:  I already had an active imagination as a kid, and I loved anything that helped me get that imagination going.  However, role-playing helped me to realize that no one is purely evil and everyone is doing something toward a goal and because of a certain paradigm that has been nourished in them.  This is important in character-building.  Everyone has a reason that they do things. The other thing that role-playing helped me with was that I was severely introverted (and still am).  Role-playing helped me to become less shy.

2.  During the years you wouldn't allow yourself to write, how did the impulse insist on showing up or revealing itself to you? 

JSS:  I have wanted to write since I was 3.  Now I'm 47.  Over the years, I would have a story idea come to me, fully-formed, and think that I should sit down and write it.  Psychologically, I just couldn't because I was afraid that people wouldn't like it.  I am never without story ideas.  They always come to me.  It just took me a long time to decide that I wasn't going to let anyone hijack my life anymore.  I took my life back, and when I did I started doing the one thing that was always in my heart to do.