Arthur Doweyko Interview

What does literary success look like to you?

At first I had imagined being the next Stephen King. However, he’s prolific and somewhat talented. And lucky. There are so many authors out there today, that to imagine success as becoming famous is a bit presumptuous. So, just as I had enjoyed telling stories to my classmates years ago, I continue to enjoy that feeling of shared adventure and awe by focusing on my writing skills and looking forward to feedback from my fans.

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Both. It’s definitely work, albeit enjoyable work, but it does require some discipline, especially after the first draft is finished and critiquing and editing follow. The energizing part occurs in spurts … like when a chapter is finished, or when the first draft is done, or when the first pass of editing is done, and so on, until the book is agented or published. All those bits are relatively short-lived, but well worth the effort getting to them.

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?

I belong to a couple of critiquing groups, the best of which are composed of seasoned authors who are unflinching in their opinions of my writing. If you are surrounded by folks that like your writing, understand your genre, and want to make you happy, you’re in the wrong group. In order to improve, you must expose your writing to the most critical readers. Although not everything they point out as needing a rewrite is always accurate, that they point something out that bothers them is GOLD, for that is exactly what a writer needs to know … when or where a reader becomes confused.

Is there anything you want the reading public to know about you?

I am a scientist and artist, and I write. My technical background serves me well in providing realistic details that I can infuse into my science fiction stories. My artistic proclivities paint the images that I share with the reader. In the end, I enjoy telling a story that gives the reader a unique insight into our mysterious world, such insight that might even change their view of our place in this universe. For fans of Twilight Zone, which inspired my writing life, I have published a collection of some of my award-winning shorts. They can be found via my website http://www.arthurmdoweyko.com/. I am currently shopping my latest novel, Wind-In-Trees, a story about the last human, a Lakota Sioux cyborg, and a brutal alien invasion.