Author Q&A with John Japuntich *This post contains affiliate links* I am a registered nurse and project manager for the information systems department in a community hospital. I also have a degree in Anthropology from the University of Georgia, and as such have a profound interest in how people and culture have changed from the past to the present, which heavily influences my writing. I often combine my medical knowledge with my anthropology background when creating new visions of the future. I prefer to write positive stories, for the most part, where humans have achieved at least some level of homeostasis with technology and ecology. 1. Have I always wanted to write? Absolutely, I’ve wanted to write since I was in high school and started reading science fiction. I wrote my first short story in high school and I’ve written short stories and poetry ever since. I didn’t decide on writing a novel until about six years ago…   2. What advice would I give to someone wanting to write their first book? Figure out the premise and start writing! Don’t wait until you have it all figured out or you’ll never start. Write scenes you want to write, write chapters you want to write, just write! Once you have enough chapters written, things will come together. Sure, you may not use everything you write but that’s not important. The plot points might change, but what’s important is that you get to know your characters. You can flesh out the plot later. When I wrote my first novel Atropos, a major plot twist didn’t occur to me until the novel was over half completed.   3. Do you do research for your writing? Yes, I did a ton of research on my novel. Atropos is science-heavy and I’m not a scientist, so I did a lot of research on orbital mechanics, space elevators, genetics and, physics. Not to mention just research on all the different locations my novel visits. 4. How do I fit writing into everyday life? This is an excellent question as a new novelist, I have a full-time job and had to work around my work schedule and everyday life as well. I outlined chapters during the week and generally wrote my chapters over the weekend. It’s tough sitting in front of a computer all weekend pounding out a chapter, especially when I spend every day in front of a computer, but it’s worth it. Generally, I can crank out a chapter (3-5000 words) in a weekend but I can’t write a chapter every weekend. 5. How to you approach ‘world building’? I handle world-building by slowly working it into the story as I go. I think it’s okay for the reader to not fully understand the world for the first few chapters as long as they understand what’s happening to the MC. You won’t find any big world-building info dumps in my novel. You learn about the world of Atropos as the story develops and as the characters experience it. 6. How do I handle criticism? Another excellent question! I handle constructive criticism by examining what was criticized and then determining if I agree with the criticizer. If I agree with them, I immediately make changes. If I don’t agree with them, then I ask other readers what they think about the criticism. If enough people agree, then I go with the majority; unless it’s something I really feel strongly about, then I go with my gut. If the criticism isn’t constructive and just denigrating then I simply ignore it altogether.   Where to find John Japuntich? Twitter.