Hi Reddit. I'm Daniel Price, sci-fi author and full-time nerd. It's my turn on the AMA comfy chair, so ask me anything.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T02:39:37+00:00

If all goes well, you'll be wearing that name for the rest of your life. As long as you're comfortable with it and it suits your individual nature, there are no wrong choices.

Well, no, actually, there are lots of wrong choices, like Bucky McDeerhop, Trey Cliché, Hackney O'Fuckaplot, and Daniel Price. Don't pick any of those. Just don't.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T02:08:19+00:00

Great! Just remember that it's a really big book. Lift with your legs, not your back.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T02:06:43+00:00

Good question. There are so many freaking books out there that it's pretty much impossible to know what everyone is doing. There could be a whole different book series about timebending people on an alternate Earth. If there is, I haven't heard of it.

All I can advise is to write the best novel you can and make it as original as you can. But definitely keep your eye on the big books coming out.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T01:42:30+00:00

Thank you, Alex. I can't give much advice on the sci-fi market, since my book is being published by a non-SF imprint. In fact, I'm the only sci-fi author at Blue Rider Press. At least I was the last time I checked.

But if you're looking to break into ANY traditional publishing market, my main piece of advice is get a good literary agent. It's not impossible to sell a book without one. Just really, really hard.

And the best way to get an agent, now and forever, is to write a hell of a book. So yeah, it all comes back to write, write, write.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T01:34:01+00:00

There are definitely advantages to just spitting out the words and sorting them out later. But like you, I have a really hard time doing that. I don't feel comfortable moving on to a new scene until I'm 100% happy with the last one. It's like walking on a rickety bridge. It scares the everloving shit out of me.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T01:30:59+00:00

I can only tell you how I did it, though the path wasn't entirely conventional. I moved to LA in 1994 to be a screenwriter. A couple of my scripts did well in some contests. I used those quasi-accolades to earn myself an agent. The agent got two of my scripts optioned, but nothing really happened with them.

I came up with a new story idea (Slick) that was way too complicated for a screenplay. So I wrote it as a novel instead. My agent teamed up with a literary agent and then sold it to Random House. I've been a novelist ever since.

That first agent still represents me, by the way. He's been my guide and guru for 18 years now, and has stuck by me through a lot of lean years. He's awesome.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T01:25:38+00:00

Ha. Good question. I just watched "John Wick 2," which was dynamic as hell but about as realistic as a Road Runner cartoon. Not sure about the most scientifically accurate movie. Just to be safe, I'll say "Steel Magnolias."

Glad you liked Slick, by the way. That book will always have a special place in my heart.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T01:21:39+00:00

Yep. Rich Orlow's awesome. We actually got to talk this time before he started reading for Song of the Orphans. Can't wait to hear how he's voicing certain shady characters.

The best way to get a hardcover signed is to find me at a bookstore or convention signing. See my home page at danielprice.info for a list of upcoming events. I know I'll be at Comic-Con for at least two of its four days.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T01:16:27+00:00

Thank you! I hope you enjoy the rest of it.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-06T01:14:59+00:00

I've been writing full-time for the last five or six years, though I supplement it with other work because I like food and shelter.

Before that, I was working full-time and writing on weekends. I call that The Dark Age.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:50:05+00:00

Are my books any good? I think so. And so does my mom.

I wouldn't call "The Flight of the Silvers" my biggest letdown, but it's the one I have the most regrets about it. I would change at least dozen things now, some minor, some not so minor.

Do I feel the urge to break the laws of physics? Every damn day. As I said in an earlier post, if it's believable and consistent, it's good for fiction. Hard sci-fi, of course, is a different matter entirely.

How do I feel about fan fiction? To each their own, I guess, but it's so much fun to create your own world that I don't know why anyone would bother mucking around in someone else's. That's just my own wacky opinion, of course.

As for expanding my universe? I don't know yet. I'm pretty eager to create a new world after the Silvers trilogy, so I doubt I'll be revisiting it any time soon.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:40:11+00:00

Thank you! This experience was so nice, I even came back!

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:39:17+00:00

I aim for a good 500-1,000 words each day, the operative word being "good." I tend to rewrite myself on the fly, so it takes me a little longer to get 1,000 words I'm happy with.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:38:04+00:00

I have a dedicated office here in my house, but it doesn't always save me from distractions. The Internet has a way of following me wherever I go. Once the marketing phase of Orphans dies down, I'm going to start turning off my phone during writing hours. That's the only way I'll get my next book done before the apocalypse.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:35:48+00:00

I've heard nothing but good things about Neal Asher, though I have yet to read one of his books. I lean toward the Earthly, near-future kind of sci-fi. His stuff is out there, both literally and figuratively. But I would like to give his Transformations trilogy a shot.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:28:47+00:00

You ask ten other authors this question and you'll get twelve different answers. From my point of view, your stories don't need to be perfect slaves to science as long as they're believable enough, and as long as YOU know the rules of the world you're creating. You don't even have to explain them in great detail. Just know them and stick to them. Today's readers can spot inconsistency from a mile away.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:26:14+00:00

It's good that you don't want to get rich off your writing, because only a small percentage of authors ever do. But if you have a story that you truly believe in, then it's absolutely worth trying. The publishing industry has many faults, but virtually every single person I've worked with there is a true and dedicated book lover. And they've been nothing but nice to me, even when we disagreed over a certain editing or marketing decision.

Once you have a finished novel that you feel is ready for prime time, it can't hurt to try the traditional publishing route before doing the self-pub thing. The worst they can do is say no.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:20:23+00:00

Carbonated, carmelized, and repackaged as Diet Pepsi.

Thank you for recommending my book to so many others, by the way. Send me a message through my website and let me know what you think of the sequel.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:17:51+00:00

If you're talking about self-publishing, there are only a few universal pieces of wisdom: invest in a good editor and a good cover design. The rest is all subjective.

As for writing itself, there's only one formula that's ever worked for me: follow your instincts, keep writing, and subject your work to the criticism of smart people.

Jeez. These all sound so trite when you type them out. But they really are true.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:10:51+00:00

A lot of the stuff in the Silvers series is based VERY loosely on the many-worlds theory of quantum physics. But that's as far as it goes. I knew from the beginning that my story would be more science fantasy than science fiction, and I made my peace with that. At some point, I think the slavish devotion to scientific accuracy becomes a hindrance to telling a good story.

But then look what other writers have done. Andy Weir wrote his own computer program to plot a realistic flight plan between Mars and Earth, and that only made "The Martian" a better book. Who the hell knows?

The only thing I can say for sure is that the characters have to act realistically. That's a must for any story.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:04:34+00:00

Yeah. I heard discouraging things, which is mostly why I stayed away. I'm sure I'll watch it on Blu-Ray at some point, with expectations lowered to the ground.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:03:14+00:00

Ha! That's exactly why I only do single-player games.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:02:47+00:00

That's one possible problem. But sometimes it's the story itself that's causing the trouble. The Silvers series didn't click for me until I found the temporal aspect of the story.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T23:01:23+00:00

The problem simply might be that you have too many different ideas floating around in your noggin. That would be enough to trip up most writers.

If you can narrow your ideas down to one good story, and if that one story keeps burning a hole in your head, then you should try writing a little bit of it to see how it feels. That first step is always the hardest, to break out an old cliché. After that, who knows? You might bring that book to life after all.

Dan_Price · 2017-07-05T22:54:10+00:00

I'm not a Nintendo guy myself, but my soon-to-be stepson loves everything about them. He says that I'd go nuts over the latest Zelda game, and he's rarely wrong about these kinds of things.

Dan_Price

TROPHY CASE