When you experience a setback during a project, what do you do?
When I experience a setback, I usually analyze the best possible solution to continue moving forward towards my goal, rather than dwell on the problem itself. Setbacks can happen for a multitude of reasons, but the reasons behind why they happen don't actually matter in the grand scheme of things. Marching towards getting the project done, and maintaining the quality of it, is always the most important objective.
What do you draw inspiration from?
I draw inspiration from a multitude of sources. Characters from books, movies, video games. I also get a ton of inspiration from my wife, my sister, and my parents. Ever since going off to college, I had to deal with the world without knowing a lot of things, and remembering the things that they taught me, and continue to teach me, help me grow into a somewhat functional human being.
How do you recognize that you need to take a break and recover mentally?
I can usually recognize when I need to take a break and recover mentally when I find myself working on and being pulled into a million different directions. The first thing that usually suffers is the quality of whatever I'm doing, and once quality slips, that's when things have gone too far and I usually need to take a step back and recover mentally.
What about fantasy appeals to you?
Fantasy is incredibly appealing because while most of its themes are very much based on real-world ideas and events, the concepts from within fantasy are just...superhuman. Being heroes, battling against fantastical entities, and seeing bits of yourself in these characters is a truly incredible feeling since the things that they usually do are not something that I could even ever do.
In your opinion, what makes a great book?
A great book has within it many things, but most of all, it has to rapture me and keep my attention. Pacing in many books is the most important element, as pacing keeps my attention. Epic moments, big reveals, incredible monologues. Those pieces are really what makes a truly great book.