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Posted on August 13, 2020 at 8:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Today we're interviewing Jasper T. Scott, a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than twenty sci-fi novels.
With over a million books sold, Scott's work has been translated into various languages and published around the world.
He writes fast-paced books with unexpected twists and flawed characters.
SADYE: How did you come to see yourself as a writer, and what inspired you to seek publication?
JASPER: I acquired a repetitive stress injury at eighteen and was forced to rest both arms and hands for extended periods of time.
In the process of looking for things I could do without using my arms, I discovered that I could write with speech recognition and a foot/head mouse.
It was slow and frustrating work, and I spent many years learning to write like that. Ultimately, I found ways to manage my injury, which is somewhat chronic to this day.
Now, fourteen years later, I can write with a keyboard and a regular mouse, but I might never have become a writer if it weren’t for the pain and struggle that started me on this path.
SADYE: Tell us something about your writing process that’s unusual or that you haven’t revealed before.
JASPER: I tend to agonize over the books that I’m writing, and in most cases I’m convinced that they’re terrible until they’re done and fully edited.
It doesn’t matter how many successes I’ve had, my current work-in-progress typically feels like a failure until it’s published.
I suspect the fact that I am so critical of my own work makes it better than it might otherwise be, and I suppose that I fall into the tortured artist stereotype.
SADYE: Which of your characters would you most and least like to trade places with?
JASPER: That’s a tough one. All of my characters have to live through some pretty trying circumstances, so I’m not sure I’d like to trade with any of them!
If I had to pick, then I would say Captain Clayton Cross, because despite the things he goes through, everything more or less works out for him in the end.
And he gets to travel to other planets, which would be an amazing experience to have.
The character I would least like to trade with is Darius Drake from my Broken Worlds series.
SADYE: What have been the most surprising and challenging parts of your writing career?
JASPER: The most surprising part of my career has been to see how it’s grown over the years; each year adds iteratively to both my readership and income.
It has been on a relatively consistent growth curve ever since the first book I published.
The most challenging part is meeting self-imposed deadlines, and keeping up with a voracious audience that can and wants to read far faster than I am able to write!
SADYE: What advice, as relates to your writing career, would you give your younger self?
JASPER: Keep at it. It’s going to work, and you’re going to become very successful. Also, write what interests you the most.
But it’s the classic time-travelers’ dilemma: even if you put aside all of the paradoxes for a moment, how do I know that changing the past in some small way won’t negatively alter the future?
Maybe telling my younger self that I’ll be successful would undo my success.
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Learn more about Jasper T. Scott on his website, where his books can also be purchased; like him on Facebook; and follow him on Twitter.
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Categories: Author Interview