- You have dipped your toes into multiple genres, from epic fantasy to paranormal in addition to your success in the comic industry. What genre is closest your heart? Which genre have you not worked in that you would like to?
AS: I was inspired by Marvel and DC, and Tolkien and Star Wars, but I was actually writing before then. Picking one closer to my heart is like trying to pick your favorite child. I think it’s different at different times. I’m not sure there’s a genre I haven’t worked in that I have any interest in, but two that I haven’t published in (yet) are Steampunk and Mystery – and I have projects nearing completion in both of those genres.
2. As a reader, what are some of your favorite works of fiction?
AS: Well, ranging from classics like To Kill A Mockingbird and Tale of Two Cities to more modern fiction like The Alienist by Caleb Carr (if we can still call that modern), and of course as I was growing up, plenty of epic fantasy from Tolkien to Terry Brooks to Patricia McKillip’s Riddle-Master series (not nearly as well-known as it should be, it’s a great story, but it’s a bit rough. I think it was early for her). One that I love a lot is the Roger Zelazny Amber series. It’s got such diversity in worlds, characters, and plot twists. If I include comics, I have to say Alan Moore’s The Watchmen has always blown my mind.
3. After working with Marvel, you have recently released SPI’s Among Us as an independent product. Can you tell us a little about it?
AS: I had this idea about 30 years ago, and most of the characters have been coming to life over that period of time. As a writer, and not an artist, it took all these years to be able to hire a team and start putting actual issues out. But it’s what I call an epic superhero mystery. The world of Super Powered Individuals (SPIs) is basically our own – except that there is a branch off from the neanderthal or whatever early man that developed heightened strength, endurance, speed, and agility to varying degrees, and some with a little extra something more. Aside from historical myth, they have managed to exist Among Us in secret, a thing which became increasingly more difficult in the era of mass media. That’s when a SPI named Dr. Anonymous emerged, and his awe-inspiring power was an ability to appear almost immediately and undo any event which threatened to expose SPIs to the public. But we enter the story in a chaotic world shortly after Dr. Anonymous has mysteriously vanished, leaving SPIs exposed and the public in an uproar. SPIs are forming factions, trying to control damage, and one group decides to try to find Dr. Anonymous. How did he do what he did? Where is he? Was it foul play? Can he undo the public’s knowledge of SPI existence after so much time? The answers are going to be unexpected.
4. Can you tell us a little about your creative process?
AS: I suffer from severe ADD, so my creative process is a bit warped. It’s hard for me to remain focused, so I have to develop ways of doing that. Comics are easier, because you work as a team and constantly have people coming back to you to keep you in the game. With novels, it’s more challenging, because you’re working in a void. My problem is that the ADD brain generates so many ideas, and good ones, but that I will never be able to develop all of them. Sometimes just picking what to work on next is difficult. I try to surround myself with enough things that inspire me – art, action figures, books, etc. – but not so much that it’s distracting. It’s a fine line. And I have a massive volume of film score and classical music that I listen to while I work. It’s also great to interact as much as possible with other creative types, and that of course has been a real problem during the pandemic. Online is the option, but it’s just not the same – and I say this as a guy who has serious problems socializing! But I’m realizing that it holds value even for me.
5. Please tell us about your writer’s journey. Did you always want to be a writer? How did you find your way to the craft?
AS: I never had a choice. One of my earliest memories is when I was about 5, and I was sitting there creating a story I called “Trash Can Man.” I was drawing a stick figure with an inverted trash can for armor, the lid for a shield, and a sword. His arch enemy was this anthropomorphized evil garbage truck with big teeth. Anyway, I started reading a lot when I was very young, and I also had a lot of action figures and stuff. I would make up long, intricate storylines for my toys, and I would even write them down or make notes about them. In grade school, I loved creative writing. I would write stories when assigned, but I was often late turning in my work (or last-minute). But when the teachers would choose a few stories to read out loud, my story was almost always one of the ones chosen. I wasn’t good at much else (lol!), but I saw that I apparently could please people with stories, and I liked that. In my early 20s, I got a job at a publishing company processing subscription requests. I made it known I was interested in writing and editing, and they gave me a shot when an opening came up. I tried out, and I bested all the other candidates who came in with degrees (I didn’t have one). They hired me. I was shared by 2 or 3 magazines, and within a month, they were fighting for my time, so I was promoted to Associate editor on one of them. But I was really into Marvel Comics at the time, and there was this column by Mark Gruenwald called Mark’s Remarks. He was doing a series in there about people who wanted to break into comics, and he basically told you how to do it. I followed the advice, and it led me to a job on the editorial staff at Marvel. The process would never work today, but that was pretty amazing.
6. Who are some of your influences in your own writing?
AS: I would have to say Tolkien, of course, because that was a big eye-opener for me as a kid. And Star Wars changed my world (and the whole world, in my opinion). In comics, Alan Moore did things in The Watchmen that changed how I looked at the genre. But really, I think influence is a thing that’s hard to pin down. Every author you read and enjoy influences you, I think. But you get influence from movies, TV shows, life, people, events…
7. What advice would you give to a new writer that you wished you had when you began?
AS: Work consistently. Probably because of my ADD, I would start projects and then stop them all of my life. And then it might be years before I went back to them. I also had a tendency (still do) to have too many projects going at once. I recommend steady work on no more than 2 or 3 projects at a time. But try to write some words most days. Even a few will add up over time, rather than missing years and then having to try to make up what could have been a lot of work if you just focused on the baby steps rather than thinking you have to dump a whole novel in one sitting.
8. Having experienced both the traditional and independent publishing process, what do you think the advantages of each are? The disadvantages?
AS: Most of my experience with traditional publishing comes from comics. When you do Marvel stories, you’re using characters they own, and that’s going to limit what you can do with them. You have no ownership of the characters, and the ideas you develop become the property of Marvel as well. But when you do your own thing, the only limits are the ones you impose on yourself, and it belongs to you. As far as traditionally published novels, I think you get into having to cave on parts of your story you might not want to in order to please the publisher. Self-publishing, not so much – though (and I say this as an editor) you should get a good editor and listen to your editor to at least some degree. That applies to novels AND comics.
9. Tell us about your experience with the independent writing community. What do you think indie authors can do to improve it?
AS: Interaction and networking is great. This is incredibly difficult for me, so I can’t tell for sure if it’s just me, or if it’s the community at large, but I think anything that helps make that easier is a good thing. I know there is a lot of that happening, so I think the indies get it. One thing that drives me crazy though is when I like (or buy) something from someone and get spammed to death as a result. For example, I back Kickstarter projects all the time. When I used Kickstarter, I sent maybe 12 updates during the course of my whole project. I back some projects where I have gotten updates into triple digits! Don’t spam your readers! I probably lean too far the other way. I have a newsletter, but I think I average about one per year. There’s a middle ground, and my advice is to find it.
10. If you could ask one person in history a single question, what would it be and to whom?
AS: Tesla. “Can I copy your notes, please?”
Alin’s novels can be found on Amazon as well as his own website. Stop by and check out his work:
https://www.alinsilverwood.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Alin-Silverwood/e/B0782YVSRV%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share