Guest Author Interview - Scott Skipper

Today Scott Skipper joins us for the guest author interview, you can rea what he has to say below:

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
My name is Scott Skipper, yes, that's my real name in that order. I'm a retired entrepreneur. I spent thirty-some years in the metal fabrication business which I'm sure is of almost no interest to the readers.

What first inspired you to start writing?
A fertile adolescent mind. The stories of Burroughs, Haggard, Conan Doyle and Heinlein convinced me that I could do that too. I received my first acceptance letter at fifteen then the publisher got a better offer and reneged. I decided to make money in a less duplicitous industry. Now I have a slightly more liberated perspective on writing.

Are you planner? Or do you prefer to write off the cuff?
I'm a planner. I do research, make outlines and notes for the characters' development. If you don't have reference material it's too easy to make errors and amateurish contradictions.

If you could wr ite the biography of anyone from history, who would it be?
Well, I did write a biography of an historical character in the form of historical fiction. It was my great-great-grandfather. That is "In the Blood" and I did it because I had unusual access to information about a truly unique historical person.

You've written a few books now, have you found that the process gets easier?
Actually, my latest was the most challenging. Perhaps it was because I thought about the others for several years before getting started. The third occurred to me while doing research for "In the Blood" and I finished it in less than a year.

What advice would you give new or aspiring writers?
Self publish and be militant about it. Unless you are a celebrity or were on the team that killed Bin Laden, don't beat your head against the wall of traditional publishing. Now, that I said that, don't be slipshod about it. Get help proofreading and be brutally honest when you look into the mirror of your manuscript. Self publishing is a bold new industry. We owe it to ourselves to improve it.

What are you working on at the moment?
Research on Josef Mengele's life in South America for another fictionalized biography.

Tell us about your latest work and how we can find out more.
"The Hundred Years Farce" is an alternative history that postulates what might have happened if an obscure piece of American history had gone differently. That's on the surface. The heart of the story is an allegorical examination of modern society and its politics. I'm confident it has something to offend everyone. My website has links to it and the blurbs at Smashwords, Amazon and other retailers.

https://sites.google.com/site/swskipperauthorpage/home

Thanks to Scott for sharing his thoughts, on Friday we welcome Kristen Stone to the hot seat.