REM

#1 Slacker

"So Sheldon, just between you and me, what have you been doing with the REM series lately?"

I sigh. "To be honest, I haven't been doing anything with it lately. The last story I wrote was back on September 2nd, and since then I have been too busy with my trilogy and other things in life to get back on the horse. This interview is the first story I have written as a way to just sit down and relax without the pressure of fans bugging me for a new chapter."

"Do you enjoy interacting with your fans online?"

"Of course I do, but when it comes to my writing, I need to do what I believe in. If I'm not passionate about what I'm writing, then what's the point?"

"That is a very good question. So in regards to the title of this piece, why is it called #1 Slacker?"

"I figured it was pretty obvious," I laugh. "I have been neglecting the REM series for nearly seven months now. Sure, I've been living my life and making new experiences, but I miss the short stories where I am free to create little moments to indulge in, just like this one."

"What is it that you like most about writing short stories?"

"The ability to write something new and unique really allows me to test my brain. I need to keep the creative juices flowing, so when I hunker down in my room and stick to a goal of writing a manuscript of 50k words for example, I focus on the project for an entire month with no real breaks. It can be very demanding but also very rewarding, so it is bittersweet to get through something much larger in scale."

"The trilogy that you wrote, was it bittersweet as well?"

"Yes," I nod. "The trilogy started off as one single manuscript for the NaNoWriMo competition in November of last year. When I finished it I had one fan leave a comment telling me they were sad to see how things ended. I had multiple endings to choose from, ranging from cliffhanger to very closed book. What I did was think about the future of those characters and I slowly began to realize the story had a lot more potential. I ended up writing the sequel, and then wrote a third manuscript to complete the trilogy. When I finished writing it, I honestly felt empty. During the process I wasn't exactly stressed, but I was longing to finish the second manuscript because I was so excited while writing it. The third however, that was the difficult one. I think I struggled the most with that one in terms of staying focused. In the end though, it definitely was bittersweet."

"Sounds like there is a lot that goes into your work. How challenging is it for you to have fresh ideas and follow through with them?"

"New ideas are always easy to come by," I confess. "Following through with them however is definitely the hard part. When I get an idea, I generally come up with a concept for the story line, jot down a few points, key characters, whatever comes to mind so that I can potentially write the story later on without wondering what the heck I was even talking about. Doing that is key to me starting up a project, and then so long as I am passionate about the story and I can get behind it, I write it."

"Do you set specific goals for each story, or base your next project on anything?"

"No, not really," shaking my head. "Each story has that freedom to become whatever it is meant to become. For example, if I am inspired to write something based on a news article, movie I watched, or even a personal experience, I just let my fingers lead the way. I try to get a sense of the potential of course, but usually I know the purpose of the story and how long it can be before I begin."

"In regards to word count, is it solely based on that feeling or sense that you have, or do you try to dictate at all?"

"When it comes to the REM series, or my AIM series, those are specifically for short stories with no intention of them amassing novel status. That being said, I do from time to time dictate what I would like my word count to be. So if I start a project because it has lots of potential, I generally will aim for 40k to 50k words, especially if it is for NaNoWriMo. Some of my stories with lots of potential fizzle out early and there's not much I can do about that. I just let them be and move on. I don't worry too much about coming up short, but generally when I set a goal for a large project and I am determined, I get it done."