Jude Conlee is a person who puts words together and makes stories and poems of them. Sometimes these words appear in online and literary venues, such as and/or, The Fast-Forward Festival, and Smashed Cat Magazine. Apart from these, Conlee plays ukulele recreationally, seeks out interesting information only to usually forget it, and likes to make other people’s days more surreal.
1. How long have you been writing and what got you started?
I can’t remember how long I’ve been writing, but family members tell me that I was putting words together to make stories ever since I was capable of doing so (so it would have been roughly around first grade that I started writing – for a given definition of “writing”, anyway). I was one of those kids who was always reading, and the response that I had to reading a good story was to try to write one of my own, which led me to writing stories pretty consistently ever since.
2. What is the best piece of advice you have for new writers?
Try to understand what you’re good at writing – in terms of subject, genre, theme, and the other things that go into literature – and find a way to use those strengths as much as possible without turning them into cliches.
3. Are there any writing resources, such as books or websites, you’d like to recommend?
I was using the website Duotrope before it had to become a subscription-based service, and frankly I’m willing to pay most any amount to keep using it due to how helpful it is. Would definitely recommend if one has the money.
4. What is your favorite type of fiction and who are your favorite authors?
The best way to describe my favorite kind of fiction is either “speculative with preferably surreal leanings” or “20th century classics”. Favorite writers include H.P. Lovecraft, Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, and Neil Gaiman.
5. What tips do you have for finding time to write?
For me, “finding time to write” usually looks like “staying up at ungodly hours taking some weird idea that hit me at 1 AM and turning it into a semi-coherent piece of writing”. Whether this constitutes advice is debatable, but it is how I do things.
6. Do you prefer to outline a story in advance or write on the fly? Why?
I write on the fly, the two main reasons being that 1. heavy outlining ends up distracting me from the actual story aspect of whatever I’m writing, and 2. it’s far more exciting and fun for me to see the story unfold as I write it.
7. How do you deal with rejections?
By going, “Well, that happened”, and then sending the piece to another market.
8. What are your writing goals for the next twelve months?
To keep putting words together and see where that takes me.
9. For the next five years?
Same answer as the question before.
10. Is there anything you’d like to plug? Feel free to share a link.
Nothing currently that I’m promoting; thank you for the opportunity to do so, though.
