An Interview with J Richard Jacobs

J Richard Jacobs is a published science fiction author. His career began as a technical writer and he has written lots of articles about design, applied mathematics in design, and engineering. Before he retired J Richard Jacobs worked as a naval architect and yacht designer.

How did you get into writing? At what age did you know you wanted to be a writer?

First, let's say that I never 'knew' I wanted to be a writer. At about the same time I discovered the alphabet I have been writing and reading. The reading is what alerted me to the insane notion that there was such a thing as writing in an organized manner and that words could be strung together to create stories. With that there came an odd, ethereal satisfaction - intoxicating and visceral. So, the more I read, the more I wrote...the two were intertwined as inextricably as Medusa's serpentine hair. I grew into writing...if that makes any sense. There came no catharsis, no blinding revelation.

As to 'how' I got into writing and being paid for it, that is another story with a definite beginning. At the age of 16 I found myself locked in a wire cage in the bowels of a company, Butler Publications, in West Los Angeles. I wore a big plastic badge clipped to my pocket with my picture on it that declared I possessed a top security clearance and that my title was 'Technical Illustrator and Writer'. Where I went from there is much too complicated and boring to relate.

I had the advantage of having a stepfather, Bill Olofson, who was a songwriter, copywriter, and creative writer in Hollywood and I followed his lead. We worked together a lot and I learned much from him. An endless string of ad agencies, record labels, magazines and songs slipped by until I had obtained the education needed to move into a 'real' career that brought with it a semi-reliable paycheck as a naval architect in 1968. Did I give up writing? No way! That would have been like snipping all the fibers that connect me to life.

What was your first book or story that you completed? Did you ever get it published?

I've written thousands of short stories. The majority of them have never been published but those that were not consumed in a storage shed fire in 1972 along with hundreds of drawings and a mountain of irreplaceable photographs serve as weight (hmm...paperweight) to hold down my little office when the wind blows with some fury. Where I live it huffs and puffs with unwelcome regularity. They have not been twister tested - yet. I can tell you this much: I have never written anything that I didn't finish - for better or for worse. Not completing a project to me is one of those unthinkable horrors. I wonder what would have happened if Dr. Frankenstein had given up in the middle of his little project or Count Dracula had been defanged in childhood?

The first short story I can recall with any clarity involved a little, freckle-faced boy living in one of the first Martian colonies and was titled 'Growing up where Chickens can Soar'. No, it was never published. My first book of some length (100,000 + words) was finished in 1964. It was subsequently rewritten umpty-ump times. Oddly, it is currently undergoing its ????th rewrite and when I finish it (again) I may pursue publication. It is titled 'MT Promise'. I think it may earn the Eternal WIP Award...!

How did you finally get published? When were you able to write on a full time basis? Please explain your success story?

I think the only thing that exceeds my piles of stories is a mound of rejection slips frowning at me from a dark corner. I believe I'll relegate them to the trash soon. They've done their job. My first publication successes were magazine articles, most of them non-fiction (some bordered on fiction, all were creative). How I first got published was nothing more than persistence and a desire to be published for my work on its own merit.

I have never written on a full-time basis. Not being independently wealthy and having a family to support precluded that luxury. The day job went on right up to the moment I retired in 2005. The income took more than a substantial hit but I kept pecking away on the old QWERTY.

How do you stay motivated to finish a novel? How do you stay focused?

There's a huge difference between being motivated and remaining focused. Motivation is easy. Being focused is hard. Motivation is a natural outgrowth of loving to write. If I didn't love what I do my motivation would drain quickly. Imagine someone who loves to teach. If the love for what they do is quenched for any reason, the fire in that person will soon be no more than a smoldering pile of ash to be blown away on the slightest breeze. They would either become a lump of flesh sitting behind a desk waiting for their tenure to play out and undeserved retirement to begin, or another unemployed teacher wandering the streets in search of a job - any job. Still a teacher, just no longer able to work at it.

Focus is self-discipline. It demands conscious effort and a knack for organization that most creative types don't have in fair measure and must dredge up from somewhere.

What is your writing schedule like? Do you write in the mornings, evenings, and for how long?

Schedule? Schedule? You're asking if I have a schedule? I used to have what could be called a schedule. I would come home from the day job and spend the evening with my family until they had all gone to sleep, then I'd go to my writing room, usually around 10pm and work through to about 3am. Now? Health problems dictate and I write whenever I can. I am desperately behind on three projects and two of them should have been in the publisher's hands 6 months ago. What to do? What to do?

How do you get your ideas? What is your method for remembering them?

Ideas are the least of my problems. They surround me and taunt me. If I were to act on all of them I wouldn't be able to keep up and they would inundate me in a torrent of unwritten stories. They come from personal experience, people who pass or have passed through my life, articles I read in magazines and journals, the news and myriad other sources.

I have no 'method' for remembering them. Some I scribble down on anything I have available, like napkins in restaurants, my checkbook, scraps of paper scrounged from the trash - anything I find lying around, you know. I file them in my pockets until I get home and have the time to sort through them. Some are worth keeping, others are not. The keepers I log into a file in the computer. Other than that, I have a phenomenal memory when the pre-Alzheimers doesn't bite me in the butt.

How do you get over writer's block?

What piece of advice would you give to someone thinking of becoming a writer? What is a good starting point for them?

First, don't think of becoming a writer. Pick up a pencil, a pen or sit down at a keyboard and begin writing. You will soon know if you're a writer or not. I can tell you that it pays to be an avid reader in the beginning and you can get a lot from copying a book you loved and rewriting it into your own voice - just don't try to publish it. Think of it as an exercise only and dispose of it as soon as you have finished.

You can try workshops if you think that will help. There are tons of those available on the Internet and many are free. You can learn a lot from them and the time spent there will be worth the effort. Don't become a workshop groupy. Get in, get what you can and get out.

To find out more about J Richard Jacobs, or his work check out the J Richard Jacobs website.