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Taking Out of This World Risks with Author Andy Weir
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Sandra and Sandy are excited to welcome Andy Weir, renowned author of Project Hail Mary and, more famously, The Martian, to the podcast. Before he became a self-published, best-selling author, Weir spent two decades working as a software engineer, and it wasn’t until he was laid off that he actually got to pursue writing as more than just a hobby. And so The Martian was born. After creating weekly blog posts to share his work, thousands of his fans requested he publish it on Amazon - and the rest, as they say, is history.
In no time, The Martian was a bestseller, and on its way to becoming a massively popular movie. Since completing The Martian, Weir has kept his eyes trained on worlds beyond ours. Project Hail Mary and Artemis really hone in on space as a character, and Weir acknowledges as much when he talks about his books’ structure. As a beloved author in the world of science fiction, the pressure is on now that he’s writing his next book. His advice for himself? He’s taking the same tip he gives to budding writers: Just put pen to paper. After all, you actually need to write to consider yourself a writer.
The Finer Details of This Episode:
- Andy’s experience writing gaming software
- Starting his blog
- The onset of the internet and self-publishing
- Closing quick book and film deals
- The writing process for the The Martian and Artemis
- Advice for budding writers
Quotes:
“Many people don't think of writing as risky. But those who have tried to get the attention of editors and publishers know the crushing disappointment from endless rejections and unflattering critiques.”
“I just started writing on the side for fun, you know, I would write short stories, or I made web comics and stuff like that. And that was my hobby. And then as the internet got more and more prevalent, I ended up with more and more readers. And eventually, I wrote the Martian.”
“It's very easy to self publish with Amazon, and I did that. And then it started really selling on Amazon and became a Kindle best seller, and then kind of a best seller in books in general.”
“So I had 3000, expert fact checkers; all of them would check every claim I made. If I made any mistakes, they were on it right away, which was great so that The Martian came out being extremely accurate, except for a few violations of physics that I did on purpose for narrative purposes.”
“The film deal and the book deal came together four days apart.”
“So I was basically told by everyone, ‘Don't get excited. They're not actually going to make the movie, but enjoy the money that you get…’ So I zeroed in on the book and just did not even pay attention to the movie process.”
“Once they start shooting a film, they won't cancel in the middle, except for extreme circumstances, because it's cheaper. Even if they regret starting the process. It's cheaper for them to finish the film.”
“I have to tell you that The Martian, that movie is the only one that made me feel homesick for space.”
“I got 70,000 words in… before I realized that it sucked. It was just this meandering plot that wasn't going anywhere… It was painful to shut that down.”
“It's easy to think a story is perfect when it's in your head. But when you start putting it on paper, that's when you start running into the problems and that's when you start solving the problems.”
Links:
The Adrenaline Zone on Instagram
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