About Edward J Schneider:
I was born in 1941 in a little town in Southeastern Wyoming called Wheatland and am the middle of six children. I graduated from Torrington High School in 1941 and moved to the Los Angeles area when I was twenty-one years old and spent the next fifteen years going to night school, working as a chemistry lab assistant, a data control clerk, and a computer operator.
Missing the sunsets, beautiful clouds, and the breathtaking views of far horizons—and the good people—I eventually moved back to Cheyenne, Wyoming. I worked for the state as a programmer analyst for the next eleven years. Making a move to Idaho Falls, Idaho I went to work for INEL. I also meet and married my wonderful wife Judy while there. In 1993 we moved to the Salt Lake Valley where I finished my career for the State of Utah and retired in 2006. After retirement we homestead in Bridger Valley, Wyoming for a number of years. Due to health issues and the need for nearby doctors, regretfully, we moved back to Utah to a city called Tooele where I presently live with my wife, Judy.
I’ve wanted to write novels for years but life kept getting in the way. I wish I’d started sooner but feel fortunate I still have time to do so. I might add, my children, grandchildren and even my dear mother-in-law, Luella love reading my books and that is one of the great joys of my life.
What inspires you to write?
I’ve wanted to write novels ever since high school. I had been a voracious reader even as a child and my wonderful mother dropped me off at the local library on Saturday afternoons while grocery shopping. This was in a small town in Southeastern Wyoming. Additionally, my mother’s mother, my wise old grandmother, occasionally gave me books she thought would stimulate my interest whenever I attained a certain age. For instance, she gave me “Lochinvar Luck”, a story about a collie by Albert Payson Terhune when I was ten that made me a fan of dog stories. She gave me “The Black Stallion” and “My Friend Flicka” at the same time which led me to read all the horse stories I could find. Then she gave me “Tom Sawyer” at age twelve which made me a life-long fan of Mark Twain. My wise old grandmother knew what she was doing!
It wasn’t until my senior year at high school taking English literature that I became aware of the world’s great classic literature. I wrote a thesis about Milton’s “Paradise Lost” that caused my English teacher to suggest I take up novel writing when I became older and more experienced with life. She thought I had the gift for writing.
However, at that time, my interest in science and astronomy consumed me and I chased that for many, many years. Two marriages, children and life in general distracted me until, at the beginning of my third marriage in 1992, and with the encouragement of my new wife, I tried co-writing with a friend. We completed quite a bit of it before the process broke down due to disagreements. This discouraged me and I didn’t try it again until after retiring. In 2011, my wife encouraged me to try novel writing again, because she knew I desired it and it would, as she put it, give me a purpose to fulfill my retirement years.
Tell us about your writing process.
I don’t, at first, completely outline a novel and then rigidly follow that outline. I get an idea that inspires me. Like any writer, I try to write about that which I know. When the idea comes to me, I start writing without an outline. Once I establish the main characters and the beginning, then I brainstorm and create notes to guide me for the first part of the novel. When I reach the end of those notes, I do the same for the next part. I don’t know where the novel will take me and I sometimes revisit and rewrite earlier parts to fit ideas I hadn’t thought of in the beginning.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I recall conversations and interactions I actually had and substitute my characters for the real people. Of course, I make up scenes and actions I’ve never actually experienced, as well.
The strange and wonderful aspect of creating characters is the way they seem to take on a life of their own almost independent of me!
What advice would you give other writers?
I’ve learned I can do much more than I realized when it comes to creativity. My writing experience brings forth and clarifies unrealized aspects of myself. The reactions of my loved ones and friends to my efforts are particularly gratifying. Even if my books aren’t successful and don’t sell, It humbles me to realize I’ve left a legacy for my children and grandchildren.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I spent a year putting together my first book in 2010-2011. At the time, I was unaware of being able to electronically self-publish. I naively submitted copies of my printed manuscript to several east coast established publishers and never heard back from them. My older sister suggested I try to publish with Amazon and Barnes and Noble to their Kindle and Nook. I did so. Now I need to master marketing those books because probably a half million books a year are self-published. I’m one voice shouting in a stadium filled with hundreds of thousands of competing voices.
I advise new authors to not only get acquainted with electronic self-publishing but to familiarize themselves with techniques for getting their books reviewed and advertised through the creation and use of internet websites as ways to communicate with fans.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
The entertainment field is ever-expanding and there’s a crying need for stories to fill the vacuum. Usually, not always, movies, television comedies and dramas spring originally from novels. Everywhere I go, I see people reading books on Kindles, Nooks and other electronic gadgets. They do so because these gadgets can hold hundreds, if not thousands, of books. They carry whole libraries around with them that are almost instantly accessible and convenient to read. This amazing development can only expand the need for electronic publishing. I can’t predict what changes will come to the electronic gadgets but I’d say they’ll continually increase their capacity for storage and convenience of accessing them. I predict the future of publishing to be bright and permanent for the foreseeable future.
What genres do you write?: Romance, historical fiction, time travel, western, sci-fi
What formats are your books in?: eBook
Website(s)
Edward J Schneider Home Page Link
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
