365 Interviews

Interview 69: blixjason

1. Can you tell me a bit about yourself?

Damn, that's a lot of questions *_*

Anyways, 1. Well, Jason Blix is my pen name which I took up simply because it was shorter, easier and sounded much more cool than my real name. I'm currently in college (you know, the place where they suck the life outta you) in my first year. Like all people who appear silent, I don't interact much with strangers but around my close friends I'm fairly open.

2. What inspired you to write?

When I was in school, one of my classmates was already into writing her own novel. So in one of our telephonic conversations I state how I'm too bored to human, and she just hits out with "Why don't you try writing, like me?" I dismissed it as a wildly idiotic idea. The next week I had to go countryside where the net connectivity's terrible so I thought "Da hell". I cooked a small time scene in my mind. A roleplay game I used to play in my childhood, a hyper stealth game I play all the time, and the peculiar knowledge base built by watching Discovery channel transformed into an intruiging and slightly weird story. I wrote up the first seven chapters and sent it to her, to which she said something on the lines on "I think I'm getting a complex; your story's far better than mine".

3.Do you have a specific writing style?

Ah, well actually I do. There's a couple of things that the readers on Wattpad and elsewhere have found both refreshing and irritating. First, I change the scene pretty often, so at the same moment, five or six different locations each with its own story is displayed simultaneously. Secondly, in spite of writing in third person (where the narrator should be neutral), I drop in a joke or two and comment as a narrator on what's going on. I can't help it really; even when my friends ask me something, I usually make a stupid comment with the answer. Its the way I'm hardwired, I guess.

4. How did you come up with the titles of your stories?

Oh boy, this one's a real bummer since I'm always undecided on the names. I'v only written half a book so far changed its name like six times, and I'm still undecided. The most recent name comes from a type of network scan for vulnerable computers, since the central plot involves hackers and advanced tech, and also because the literal meaning relates to the protagonists' attempts to escape the plot.

5. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Not a direct message as such, but there's little notes that urge the readers to use their own discretion and not follow anyone blindly. Also, it raises an issue over what "good" and "bad" really stand for and what do they really mean.(So much controversy; its definitely a bestseller ;) )

6. How much of your book is realistic?

Well, actually a lot of the stuff shown in the book in realistic. Definitely, the futuristic tech is imaginary, but the basis of all that is actually research that has actually been accomplished. I'v been a science student for too long now. I don't stand mesmerized by the idea of a lightsabre, I need a scientific basis of how it would work (MIT guys have actually created one, by the way). Its the same with my story. After showing a sci-fi technology, I give a justification of how it is based on actual facts. And pretty much all the "hacking" shown in the books is real, and applicable to low security systems.

7. Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Yes, almost all half of the important characters are based on people I know. And a lot of the places and events described are also based on life experiences from the 19 years I'v spent going around the sun.

8.Imagine your characters are on survivor.  Who will they vote out of the book?

That's seriously very difficult to say. I mean all the characters are successfully dangerous and lethally intelligent in their own way. They would probably cook up some strategy to maximize their wins. So I really have no idea who'll go down and who will win.

9. What job did you want to be as a kid?

A hacker. I mean seriously, I'm obsessed with computers. That's also the reason my story contains so much of it.

10. What is your main goal with writing?

.Its an outlet for me. I can't think of any other reason. When I write, I can say things that I really feel, instead of what is deemed acceptable by society. I can be the person I really want to be, not the one everyone else wants me to be.

11.Do you ever experience writer’s block?

Not really. It has only happened to me when I stay away from writing for some time, like during exams. If I'm continuous, the story just keeps flowing on its own

12. Do you work with an outline, or just write?

A bit of both. As in, I have a skeletal makeup of the story in my head, but I don't know how the final scene will work out. Something like: A person will go from A to B, which involves crossing a road, snowy streets and sidewalk. But I let the scene flow naturally, like the person walks slowly, thinks about something, farts when no one's around, stuff like that.

13. Imagine your main character dies on page one.  Everything else remains the same.  Describe the new plot to your book.

Oops. Well, I guess the plot can pretty remain pretty much the same. Just that some guys who were to die a peaceful death later on would be tortured beyond bearing by the dead character's best friend and lover.

14.  What do you do when you are not writing?

Nothing really. My interest in Facebook, Twitter, and porn has waned over the years.

15.  Do you see writing as a career or a hobby?

It can be both. What's better than having you hobby as your career?

16.  Is there any book are you ashamed to have read? Why are you ashamed you read it?

.Not really. Why should anyone be ashamed of reading? I'v read Twilight and 50 shades just because I was curious about their success. But I'm not ashamed.

17. What is the weirdest thing that has ever been said or done to you by a fan?

."Fan"...I haven't really encountered a "fan" as such. But the girl that I described before, the one who inspired me to write, once took a pencil and drew up a small banner praising my book on my desk, while I was out of the class. That was weird. Really.

18.Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

Yep. I learnt that my grammer was not as good as I had always thought. And I learnt that there is a much darker and sadistic side to me. Let's just leave it at that.

19.Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Don't do drugs unless its NZT. That's it, I guess

20. Do you have any advice for other writers?

Well, proper spelling and grammer is a must. I'v encountered many a books on Wattpad in which the plot and everything is fantastic, but typos ruin the flow. Um, nothing else.

Phew, lot of typing.