What drives your art? What forces you, rides you, hustles you, controls you until its latest needs have been met? What really drives you to create speculative fiction art, be it words or images?

There’s tremendous satisfaction in a good story well-told. And sometimes a royalty check.

If there was the possibility of becoming any speculative fiction character ever created (except your own), would you? Who? Why?

Most of them lead sweaty, uncomfortable lives. But I wouldn’t mind being Jame Retief, intergalactic troubleshooter for the Keith Laumer’s CDT. He gets to sample the better wines and ends up on the dance floor with an intriguing babe, more often than not.

If you could only take one author’s works compressed on an e-book reader on a “one-bag-only” one-way trip to another galaxy, whose works would it be and why?

Probably the prolific Stephen King.

In the privacy of your favorite writing nook, do you act out your protagonist’s actions? Do you know how to use his weapons? Do you wear his clothes? Do you talk like him?

No, it’s more like I’m a slightly taller version of Cecil B. DeMille moving cast and scenery and props around. And I don’t even need a completion bond.

Quick: List your first thought as your answers to these questions about the future of genre fiction:

Printing Methods: Offset or Print-on-Demand?

As a Junior Rodeo Daredevil book collector, I hope offset with a nice buckram or leather binding will be around for a long time yet.

Reading Formats: Electronic or Print?

Print because I can take it in the tub without fear.

Book Tours: Physical or Virtual?

People still like to meet you in the flesh and shake hands. But a lot more of it will be virtual, because it’s more time and cost effective.

Reading Habits: Dead, Dying, Alive, Growing?

Reading is a unique, mentally active experience and good exercise for the imagination. It’ll be around for a while.

Length: Flash, Short, Novella, 1970’s novel (60k), 1980’s novel (80k), 1990’s novel (120k), 2000’s novel (150k)

I work in the 90-120k range.

Robert E. Howard, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe, Fritz Leiber, Karl Edward Wagner, Louis L’Amour, Frederick Faust, Ian Fleming, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rafael Sabatini . . . the list could go on. Some lived long lives, some flared and burned out young. All lived life hard. All wrote pulse-pounding action-adventure, often dipping into the many different genres they share, yet each eventually establishing their name within a specific one. What do you believe you have in common with these authors, and what makes you so sure speculative fiction – heroic fantasy fiction to be precise – is your genre? Or is it?

Most of them achieved mastery of a signature style that appealed and could be easily recognized, for example you wouldn’t mistake a Louis L’Amour for Raymond Chandler. I’d like to think I’m developing my own voice, and I think the highest praise I could ever get is to have someone say, “This reminds me of an E.E. Knight.”

Thanks for the chat, Eric ~ and for being such a nice guy! Congratulations on the pending birth!

E.E. Knight contributed “Storytelling”, an article compiling much of his writing advice as posted over time on his blog, Bohmenian Word Werks. Knight is the author of two successful series, the apocalyptic dark fantasy Vampire Earth, and the fantastical other-POV Age of Fire. EEK also talks movies for Black Gate magazine.

Review Praise for “Storytelling”

“For anybody with any aspirations to storytelling, no matter what the genre, it’s an invaluable piece of writing.” ~ Richard Marcus

“…an excellent article on the basics.…if you’re an aspiring writer at any level, you’ll find this well worth reading.” ~ Janice Clark

An excerpt

Storytelling is as old as human society. It goes back to our hunter-gather ancestors telling how they flushed the bear out of the cave, or outwitted the lions. How did they do it, I wonder? Did they act out the movements of the encounter? Did they shriek out imitations of the beastly cries and display scars or gory trophies? Of course today everything is comfortable and complex and story-tellers get categorized into singers and dancers and actors and journalists and playwrights and screenwriters and novelists accord-ing to whichever muse guides your tastes.

I’m in the last group, novelists.

It’s an honorable trade. Tell people you write stories for a living and suddenly your scraggy hair, cockeyed eyeglasses and uneven sideburns are the mark of an intellectual rather than a slob. At least that’s my experience.

I chose the word trade carefully. Writing is a trade, not a pro-fession. No degree can make you a novelist. Only learning and then honing the craft of storytelling will get you to a point where someone will cut a check for your work. Editors don’t care what school you went to, where you live, or who you know.

I meet a lot of people who want to be novelists. They’ve got odd ideas about the lifestyle, because the only authors they tend to see in the media are the extremely successful ones. I meet considerably fewer people who want to be storytellers…

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