Steven Lombardi earned a bachelor’s degree in screenwriting from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and has published short stories in Planet Magazine, Bartleby Snopes and Blood, Blade, & Thruster Magazine. For over a decade, he has been a copywriter, corporate storyteller and content strategist for world-renowned brands like Microsoft, Capital One, American Museum of Natural History, Blackstone, Blackrock and Heineken.
How long have you been writing and what got you started?
I’ve been writing ever since grade school. As the quietest member of a fairly large (and very loud) family, writing became a fun and effective way of being heard. One of my earliest forms of inspiration was the Warhammer tabletop game catalogs. They featured valiant elves and treacherous dwarves and all walks of mythical beasts, from ancient Greece to Britain’s legendary isles. I spent most of my time creating different storylines where I was a mystical hero mounted on a griffin or dragon. Only by putting words down on my family’s old computer did these ideas and creatures become real. Today, my daydreams are similar to those of when I was a child, though the themes have evolved a bit.
What is the best piece of advice you have for new writers?
Read and write more than you do any other task that’s not essential to your livelihood. When you feel the urge to turn on Netflix or play video games, don’t. That’s your new reading time. As a writer, you should also try to experience new people, places and things as much as possible—so do take breaks to explore and socialize.
If you could go back and find yourself five years ago, what advice would you give yourself?
Invest in Tesla and hold the stock—no matter what the analysts say. But in all seriousness, I think all writers would tell their past selves to write more. Writing is like a muscle, and when our performance feels like it’s reached a plateau, it’s easy to shake our fists at our past selves for being lazy.
How do you measure success when it comes to your writing?
First, I gauge whether I’m truly happy with a piece, that I edited it to completion and believe what I’ve done is functional. Next, I test the work against people I trust and respect—I have a few beta readers. A more tangible metric would be getting your stories published, which is no easy feat, given the fierce competition and the limited channels for publishing short fiction.
What tips do you have for finding time to write?
I try to sneak in writing when I can: an hour before work, during my lunch break, at night when everyone’s watching the Food Network.
What do you think the publishing industry will look like twenty-five years from now?
In a few years, some market disruptors will upend the way people consume books. This will force publishers to adapt or protect their market share by acquiring other businesses, creating a consolidation of a handful of industry players. Perhaps books will become serialized with monthly chapter releases or a “Pay Per Chapter” feature. Perhaps the energy put into producing a book would match that of a movie, with drafts passing various hands, and huge teams working behind the scenes.
Are you an outliner or discovery writer? Or somewhere in between?
I am a loose outliner who leaves room for discovery. As a screenwriting major, I’ve been convinced that plot points and character arcs are the only way to create a functional story. But as a pantser, I’m convinced that not knowing where you’re going can lead you down less traveled and more interesting paths.
How do you deal with rejections?
Rejection is inevitable. In short fiction markets, some reported rejection rates suggest that only one story is published for every hundred submitted. The odds of securing an agent are even worse. When agents only accept a handful of clients each year, with over a million books being published last year, it can seem statistically impossible to be successful. I don’t view these numbers with pessimism, but they do numb the sting of rejection. Regardless, every rejection is an opportunity to learn. If you’re lucky, and an editor is willing, they may even provide feedback into why they declined the piece at no extra cost.
Do you participate in any online or in-person critique or writing groups?
The extent of my online writing groups is hired beta readers that I source from various sites. I see them as great investments with impressive turnaround times: I had a 92k word novel critiqued within 9 days.
What book(s) are you reading right now?
I’m thumbing through a few books, including The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin, Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and Way Station by Clifford D. Simak. I consider it a nice blend of today’s commercially successful work and what could be regarded as a timeless novel.
