From living out of a shopping cart to being a self-published Giant
David Simpson left his teaching career to become a full-time author. He is the writer of one of the best-selling fiction series in the world, the Post-Human Series – Sub-Human, Post-Human, Trans-Human, and Human Plus.
[01:00] Where Ideas Come From
- In 2005, David recalls being interested in the concept of immortality and he talks about Cyberspace.
- David is actually doing a movie right now where he only had a concept of what he wanted to do while creating your own constraints.
- Even at a young age, he always knew he wanted to be a writer. What he loves about being a writer is having that control over everything.
[08:45] Creating a Beautiful Story Out of the Darkest Moments
- Living in a family that was falling apart, David never lost the faith that he was going to be a writer. But he was going through a series of dropping out due to his living situation. Despite that, he was still writing continuously.
- Understand that some of your greatest writing comes from those dark moments. David didn’t give up on it and so that’s where he found his truth and his character. This is where the resilience comes from in his scripts. He had a lot to lose but he had everything to gain.
[11:50] Writing His First Book
- David started writing his first book when he was 19 and finished it two years after.
- It was like a fictional journal about a kid with a family that’s falling apart. Then he raised the romance of it and added monsters.
- Having sent out this manuscript to 11-12 publishers, all he got were rejections. Taking upon great feedback from this, he took a creative writing program at a university.
[15:39] Deciding to Become a Full-Time Writer
- After putting his book on Kindle, he got to sell 100 copies in a month. Then after the next month, he sold a little over a thousand!
- He was actually making enough money after having written three books that he could have lived off of it, but he still continued teaching.
- After a year, a publisher took notice of him after a year, that turned into the book, Dawn of the Singularity. After which, he had to leave teaching and go on as a full-time writer.
[19:40] Living the Dream Until Getting to the Ultimate Dream
- David shares with us his ultimate dream of his Post-Human Series, which consist of 7 books, to turn into 7 films. He also wants to get involved with making them as well.
- Currently, he’s making a film, thanks to the power of technology. He’s practically doing everything, including acting for the movie which happened by accident.
[26:35] Finding that Balance
- David only recently learned doing writing and editing at the same time.
- Initially, he felt both projects suffered from that having had to switching back and forth. He as just scrambling creatively.
- He figured separating his day into two huge blogs, focusing one project at a time.
- David shares how he finds that balance between research and writing.
[32:54] Some Books and Authors David Reads
- Find out what kinds of books David actually reads. You’d be surprised at how much non-fiction books he’s reading where he gets inspiration from in creating better fiction.
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Episode Resources:
Post-Human Series – Sub-Human, Post-Human, Trans-Human, and Human Plus
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