TGIF! I couldn't sleep as I had one of the best writing conversations today with Jim Denney. And, of course, I invited him to stay a while longer for a quick interview. (which, if you know anything about writers, nothing is ever quick ;)
Author of the Timebenders, a science
fantasy series for young readers and Writing
in Overdrive: Write Faster, Write Freely,
Write Brilliantly, Jim Denney is one of the greats and has been writing - and intensely committed to it - all his life.
Please help me give a warm BB Writers Retreat welcome to Jim Denney!
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| Jim Denney (left) with one of his writing heroes, Harlan
Ellison, at the Saroyan Writer's Conference where Jim gave a workshop on
writing for a living, and Harlan was guest of honor. |
Lia Mack: Jim, start us off by saying a little about yourself:
Jim Denney: I've been writing for as long as I can remember,
and I've been a full-time self-employed writer since 1989. I don't think I'm
defined so much by writing per se as
by what I care about and write about—meaning and purpose in life, how the
universe and life came to be, how the mind works, the nature of truth and
reality, how we achieve our full potential, and how we treat one another as
fellow members of the human family.
Lia Mack: That's wonderful that you're able to follow your passion, and successfully! Can you tell us a little about your books?
Jim Denney: I wrote a series of time travel adventures for
young readers called the Timebenders series, originally for Thomas Nelson Publishers,
and recently reissued in a revised and updated ebook edition by Greenbrier
Books. The first book in the series is
Battle
Before Time. Throughout the series I combined scientific paradoxes with
moral paradoxes. I tried to confront my characters with insoluble problems of
both science and conscience. For example, I put my protagonist—a boy genius
named Max—in an impossible position where he must choose between helping an
evil ruler kill thousands of innocent people versus allowing his three closest
friends to die. You can't read the story without asking yourself, "What
would I do in Max's place?"
I honestly believe young readers are more nimble thinkers
than most grownups, because they haven't formed a lot of biases and hard-shell
opinions. So I don't write down to kids. I write for middle grade readers using
the same vocabulary and concepts I use when writing for adult readers. If
anything, I tend to simplify more when writing for adults.
One of the writers who impacted me at an early age was
Madeleine L'Engle. I discovered A Wrinkle
in Time when I was nine years old. After reading that book, I knew I wanted
to be a writer.
A Wrinkle in Time is
filled with scientific and moral paradoxes. I remember the pleasure of trying
to wrap my brain around the Tesseract, the four-dimensional hypercube in
L'Engle's story. I remember the moral and spiritual dilemmas L'Engle threw at
her characters. I appreciated it that L'Engle didn't write down to me. She
trusted me, the young reader, to keep up. She once said, "Write the book
that wants to be written. If it's too difficult for grownups, write it for
children." I've always followed that advice.
Lia Mack: What was the most challenging aspect of writing the
Timebenders series?
Jim Denney: I suppose the biggest challenge I faced in
writing these books was the short deadline. It was a curse that turned out to be
a blessing. I asked the publishers to push the deadline out a few months, but
they wouldn't budge. So I accepted a challenge I thought was impossible, and I
met the challenge. I delivered the books to the publisher on deadline (more or
less). And in the process I learned I could write faster than I had ever
written before. I also learned that by writing faster, I could write more
freely and I was more creative than if I'd had more time to think and plan what
I was writing. That was a huge eye-opener to me as a writer.
I learned a lot about the creative process during that experience,
and I finally understood what Ray Bradbury meant when he said, "In
quickness is truth. The more swiftly you write, the more honest you are."
I eventually took the lessons I had learned, combined them with research into
the lives and creative processes of other writers, and wrote a nonfiction book
for writers, Writing in Overdrive: Write
Faster, Write Freely, Write Brilliantly. It's a distillation of everything
I've discovered about unleashing our creativity.
Lia Mack: Sounds like a book we need on the shelf here at the BB! Now, my ultimate question...Why do you write?
Jim Denney: I write because I can't imagine doing anything
else. I was writing as a child, as a teenager, as a college student. My first adult
job was writing and editing. What else can I do? What else am I suited for? I'm
not qualified for anything else, and I can't imagine doing anything else. My
mind is crammed full of stories and ideas I want to express. If I don't write
them, my head will explode.
Saul Bellow once said, "A writer is a reader moved to
emulation." That's certainly true in my case. My three great writing role
models, the writers who most influenced me and motivated me to become a writer,
were the ones whose work impacted me in my youth and teenage years—Madeleine
L'Engle, Ray Bradbury, and Harlan Ellison.
Lia Mack: Well said. Can you describe a bit how your venture into
writing looked like?
Jim Denney: I started out writing nonfiction, working mostly
as a writing partner for celebrities and authorities in various fields. I got
to work with a lot of fascinating people, and I learned a lot from each of
them. I worked with Pat Williams, the founder of the Orlando Magic, on many kinds
of books ranging from sports and leadership to a biography of Walt Disney. I
worked with Super Bowl champions Reggie White and Bob Griese, and learned a lot
about determination, perseverance, and work ethic. I worked with actress Grace
Lee Whitney on her Star Trek memoir,
with supermodel Kim Alexis, and many others. It's been a fascinating journey.
Whether I'm writing fiction or nonfiction, every book I write is a learning and
growing experience.
Lia Mack: If you don't mind me asking, what are you working
on now?
Jim Denney: I'll just say that my current work-in-progress
is science fiction on a grand scale.
Lia Mack: What does your typical writing day look like?
Jim Denney: My typical writing day for the past twenty-five
years or so is pretty simple. Get out of bed and start writing. Knock out five
hundred words or so first thing, then grab breakfast and coffee. Then it's writing
and coffee pretty much all day long, interwoven with my day-to-day "real
life"—family time, relaxation, household chores, and so forth. But both
consciously and unconsciously, I'm writing all day long. I end the day with a
long stretch of uninterrupted writing. Nighttime is prime time for writing, because
the phone never rings.
Lia Mack: During your "real life" time, do you read while you write? What are you reading
now?
Jim Denney: I have writer friends who say they won't read
while they are engaged in a writing project. I suppose that's so that they
won't be influenced by what they read. But I'm always writing. If I can't read during
a writing project, I'd never get to read—and I can't go a day without reading
for pleasure. Currently, I have two books open. I'm reading The Stars My Destination, a classic
science fiction novel by Alfred Bester, and the definitive Harlan Ellison
collection, The Essential Ellison.
Lia Mack: Seeing you love science fiction... if you could go back in time, what advice would
you give yourself if you could speak to the aspiring writer you once were?
Jim Denney: In my early days, I lacked focus, motivation,
and discipline. I thought writing success would come easily. I'd love to go
back in time and give my younger self a kick in the pants and a Vince
Lombardi-style motivational speech. I'd say, "Writing isn't something you
do when you feel like it. Writing is a discipline, a daily habit, an intense
commitment. You have to be a writer with every fiber of your being. You have to
be intense, focused, and sold out to your work. You have to crave writing. You
have to want it so much that you think about writing when you wake up, think
about writing throughout the day, think about writing when you go to bed, and
dream about writing through the night."
I'd also tell my younger self to get a copy of Dorothea
Brande's Becoming a Writer. If you
want to understand the creative process and how to tap into the power of the
unconscious mind to unleash your imagination and creativity, you must read that
book. I learned much of what Brande teaches through trial and error, but I
could have greatly accelerated my growth as a writer if I had discovered that
book at an early age. It was written in 1934, but I only read it for the first
time within the past few years. Every serious fiction writer should read Becoming a Writer without delay.
Lia Mack: Another great book for the shelf. And I'm going to post your spoken advice on the wall of every writer's room here at the BB. And also tattoo it on my arm.
"Writing isn't something you
do when you feel like it. Writing is a discipline, a daily habit, an intense
commitment."
You said it perfectly.
Well, Jim...it's been fun! I hope you can stop by the BB again some day. In the meantime, where can BB readers go online to find you and
your work?
Thank you, Lia, for giving me a soapbox to talk about
writing. Wishing you and all your readers at the BB B&B an inspired writing
adventure!
Lia Mack: It was my pleasure. Come back any time!
:)
