Brad Kelechava was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and has a degree in anthropology and environmental studies from New York University. His short fiction has appeared in Aphelion, Bewildering Stories, Utopia Science Fiction, Sunshine Superhighway, and The Night’s End. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and their cat.
How long have you been writing and what got you started?
I’ve probably been writing since my early teens, with my work at the time being remarkably incoherent. I’ve always had strange ideas appear to me and felt inclined enough back then to put them into writing. However, I do feel that I have only been “seriously” writing, as in habitually following the practice and completing work that feels “finished,” for about five years.
What is the best piece of advice you have for new writers?
Keep writing, read when you don’t write, and accept that your early work is, by default, garbage.
Are there any writing resources, such as books or websites, you’d like to recommend?
Stephen King’s On Writing gives his relatively pragmatic approach to writing that can be invaluable when trying to finish your work. Also, pick up a dictionary of old or unusual words. Even if you don’t use any of them, being exposed to a wider vocabulary can be incredibly helpful.
What is your favorite type of fiction and who are your favorite authors?
Historically, I’ve leaned toward fantasy, and George R.R. Martin always stood out to me. However, I’ve recently developed an unending passion for horror and have burned through Stephen King’s entire bibliography over the past few years.
How do you measure success when it comes to your writing?
Landing an acceptance is an obvious victory, but it’s such a rarity that keeping it as your primary goal is unsustainable and may lead to plenty of misery. On a more incremental scale, I can sleep well when I’ve finished a section or a whole story that I set out to complete that day.
What tips do you have for finding time to write?
Spend less time watching TV / playing video games / whatever time consuming distractions you turn to at the end of the day and devote that time to writing. Unfortunately, since the hobby of writing can be supremely fulfilling or torturous, depending on what kind of day you’re having, it can be a challenge to strip away your few means of recharging to write instead.
Are you an outliner or discovery writer? Or somewhere in between?
Definitely somewhere in between. While I rarely write out my outlines, I typically have a clear picture of the main events of anything I plan to write. But I am by no means averse to allowing a story to follow its natural progression, even if I didn’t anticipate it.
How do you deal with rejections?
I find them easy to accept and don’t let any rejection get to me, but that understanding largely came from dealing with so many rejections over the years. Besides, each publication has their own specific taste and a finite amount that they can publish, so it’s never something I take personally. Whenever I receive feedback from a rejected story, I absolutely take that information to heart and try to find specific components of my work that I can adjust to address that criticism.
What are your writing goals for the next twelve months?
I developed better writing habits in 2020, and I’d like to continue that moving forward. Specifically, I want to complete all writing that I have started or have at least partially developed in my mind and would like to focus my energy toward starting and, hopefully, completing something more long-form.
What book are you reading right now?
I’m currently breezing through William Gibson’s Neuromancer but will soon catch up on the major speculative fiction books that seemed to be praised everywhere last year, including This is How You Lose The Time War, Mexican Gothic, The Only Good Indians, Ring Shout, and A Memory Called Empire.
