Jason Offutt is the brilliant author of So You Had to Build a Time Machine, a fun sci-fi adventure that is well worth your time! Jason is a fellow author at CamCat books. He wrote numerous works before SYHTBATM, as the cool kids call it!

Can you tell us a little about your backstory?

I grew up on a farm in a rural county six miles outside a town with a population of 883. I was more interested in science fiction, horror, monster movies, fantasy books, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus than I was learning how to farm. So I went to college and earned a mass media degree because I was tired of smelling like pig shit. I spent 17 years as a print journalist, returned to school to earn an advanced degree, and have taught journalism at a university the past 16 years.

Can you pinpoint when in your life you decided to be a writer?

Absolutely. At 10, I read THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, and became enamored with the thought of creating stories like that. I was sitting on a branch of our apple tree conjuring a Tom Sawyer story when I made the decision to write novels. I climbed down, walked into the house, and announced to my parents I was going to be a writer. They thought it was adorable. I’m happy at least one of them lived long enough to see it happen.

Who are your favorite authors?

An eclectic bunch. Rod Serling, Douglas Adams, Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Tana French, H.P. Lovecraft, Carl Hiaasen, Hunter S. Thompson, P. J. O’Rourke. The list could go on. Like most writers, I read quite a bit. Growing up, my favorites were Tolkien (I first read THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS at 12, and still read them every two years or so), Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard.

What was your path to publishing for this book?

I read about this fresh new publisher in a writing magazine and tried them out. CamCat has been a fantastic company to be a part of.

What’s a piece of advice you’d give to aspiring authors?

Jason Offutt’s Seven Steps to Becoming an Author

1) Read.

2) Write every day. We only get better with practice.

3) Don’t write only what you know. Ray Bradbury wouldn’t have gotten to Mars with that attitude.

4) Leave your ego at the door. Assuming you’re already a good writer will only hold back your progress into becoming one.

5) Learn the language. Passive voice, misspellings, poor punctuation, and adverbs won’t do you any favors.

6) Research, research, research. If a character’s hand is chopped off, discover what happens to a human body when it loses an appendage. If you’re discussing military weapons, consult a person in the military. If you want to know the at-work life of a busboy, either get a job as one, or simply spend an afternoon sitting and watching. If not, someone will know you’re wrong and you’ll lose a reader. It’s not that hard to get things right.

7) Stop talking about writing, stop tweeting, stop drinking coffee and staring thoughtfully into the distance, and finish the damn book.

What inspired you to write this book?

I have no idea. I’m a dedicated pantser. I may know what I think the ending will be, and probably a few scenes, but every story I write is an adventure. I start with a character, in this case a 30ish woman raised by a frugal father who owns a traveling circus. From that point I simply start writing to see what the characters do. It sounds questionable to non-writers, but my characters have a life of their own, and I simply put my fingers on the keyboard and follow them around, writing down what happens. Most of the time this method works, sometimes it doesn’t. I have a folder of some stories I started but the characters wouldn’t play nice. With SO YOU HAD TO BUILD A TIME MACHINE, my main character Skid started noticing things she knew were right were now wrong and went from there.

What is your pitch for this book?

Circus brat Skid and muffin shop owner Brick notice something odd—indisputable facts are now different. When physicist Bud Light Dave tells them why, they grab him and the unwilling haunted house owner Court, and ride temporal waves from dimension-to-dimension, time-to-time in an attempt to put the multiple universes back in order.

What makes your book different from others in your genre?

As much as my work is science fiction, it’s also a satire of the tired tropes of science fiction. It goes from sci-fi, to fantasy, to horror, back to sci-fi, and is infused with lots and lots of humor.

Which character(s) is/are your favorite(s)?

That’s difficult, because each of them are little bits of me, except the main character Skid. She’s modeled after my sister Jodie who was the most bad-assed woman I’ve ever met.

Describe your main character(s) in three words.

Skid: No-nonsense hero.

Brick: Big (literally) nerd.

Bud Light Dave: Drunk-ass genius.

Court: Semi-likable conman.

Karl: Villain, total douche.

What is the central message you hope readers take away from the novel?

That even muffin chefs can kill orcs? I don’t know. I don’t write books with hidden messages. I write for people to escape reality. I’m all about reading for fun.

What’s your favorite scene in the book?

When the crew attacks a giant radioactive dinosaur. I still laugh at that one.

Do you hide any secrets in the book that only a few people will find?

I wrote SO YOU HAD TO BUILD A TIME MACHINE as a lovefest for nerds, of which I am one. I filled it with references to Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, Die Hard, Dr Who, and lots of other nerd lore. Some references are obscure, which makes finding one more satisfying.

What is your writing process?

I write every day whether I feel like it or not. I shut the door to my office (a little room in the basement), turn on the app Cold Turkey (that won’t let me on any social media sites), grab a beverage, and pound the keys until I reach between 1,000 to 2,000 words. I try not to go over, because if I write until I’m spent, it’s so hard to get started the next day. I stop while I’m still in a rhythm. That way I’m ready to go.

What are you working on now?

I’m revising a novel I can’t decide a genre for called JOURNEY TO PIVERALL’S, and am about 30,000 words into a dystopian YA.

What’s one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a pretty damn good cook.

What’s your favorite personal quote or motto?

The secret to success is to never give up.

Where can our readers purchase your published work?

My website, www.jasonoffutt.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the publisher’s website, and from that guy with a van who hangs out downtown. I think he sells watches, too.

What’s your official author bio?

Jason Offutt writes books. This is infinitely better than what his father trained him to do, which was to drink beer and shout at the television. He is best known for science fiction, such as his end-of-the-world zombie novel Bad Day for the Apocalypse (a curious work that doesn’t include zombies), his paranormal non-fiction like Chasing American Monsters (that does), and his book of humor How to Kill Monsters Using Common Household Objects. He teaches university journalism, cooks for his family, and wastes much of his writing time trying to keep the cat off his lap. You can find more about Jason at his website, www.jasonoffutt.com. There are no pictures of his cat Gary, and it serves him right.

And finally, where can readers find you on social media?

Twitter: @TheJasonOffutt

Instagram: thejasonoffutt

Facebook: Jason.Offutt.Author

Thank you for your time today, Jason. I look forward to reading your next novel!