Epic Fantasy with Michael J Sullivan

Creative Writing Career

Michael J. Sullivan joins Justin to talk writing epic fantasy, world building, and his adventures in both indie and traditional publishing.

After finding a manual typewriter in the basement of a friend's house, Michael J. Sullivan inserted a blank piece of paper and typed: It was a dark and stormy night. He was just ten years old and mimicking the only writer he knew at the time...Snoopy. That spark ignited a flame and Michael's desire to fill blank pages would become a life-long obsession. As an adult, Michael spent more than ten years developing his craft by studying authors such as Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway, and John Steinbeck. During that time, he wrote thirteen novels without finding any traction in publishing. Since insanity is repeating the same act but expecting a different result, he did the only sane thing he could think of and quit, vowing never to write creatively again.

Never turned out to be too long for Michael and after a decade he returned to the keyboard in his forties...but with one condition: he wouldn't seek publication. Instead, he wrote a series of books that had been building in his head during his hiatus. His first reading love was fantasy, and his hope was to help foster a love of reading in his then thirteen-year-old daughter, who struggled due to severe dyslexia. After reading the third book of this series, his wife insisted the novels needed to "get out there." When Michael refused to jump back onto the query-go-round, she took over the publication tasks and has run "the business side" of his writing ever since.

Michael is one of the few authors who has successfully published through all three routes: small press, self, and big five.

FIND HIS BOOKS ON AMAZON.

Also on such sites as B&N :)

From Justin: I'm listening to Michael's THEFT OF SWORDS audiobook right now and loving it. Give it a try.