What does it really take to build a fictional universe that readers cannot get enough of?
This week on Here’s What We Know, let’s welcome back bestselling author Shawn Inmon, the wildly prolific and deeply thoughtful author behind the Middle Falls series, to explore the discipline behind writing every single day, the emotional depth of the Middle Falls series, and the surprising origin of the Universal Life Center and “the machine” that connects his stories.
Shawn shares how he writes six to seven books a year, why he never waits for inspiration, and how internal dialogue became the secret weapon behind his most beloved characters.
We’ll dive into redemption arcs, writing action scenes, killing off favorite characters, franchising fiction across continents, and what happens when creativity is fueled by instinct rather than outlines.
If you are a writer, a creative, or simply someone fascinated by how stories shape us, this one is for you.
This episode is sponsored by:
In This Episode:
- Why he refuses to write multiple projects at once
- The secret behind writing powerful internal dialogue
- Killing off characters you love
- Why action scenes are actually the easy part
- The origin of the Universal Life Center and “the machine”
- Expanding Middle Falls beyond America
- What redemption really means when someone resists it
Quotations:
“I write every day; about two hours every day is all it takes, and that gets me v six or seven books a year.” ~ Shawn Inmon
“A piece of wisdom I always think of is we judge other people by their actions, and we judge ourselves by our motivations.” ~ Shawn Inmon
“So I’m one of those writers who sees the movie in my head as I’m writing it. So I always say, “I just watch the movie, and then I type up the incident report.” ~ Shawn Inmon
“I specifically did not want somebody who writes like me. I wanted somebody who writes in their own voice. I wanted to see Middle Falls ideas through a different brain, filtered through a different brain.” ~ Shawn Inmon
Bio:
Shawn Inmon is a small-town kid who dreamed of being a writer. Today, he is now a full-time author who lives in Tumwater, Washington, USA. He worked several dozen jobs – retail, real estate, traveling with the Unlimited Hydroplanes, crabbing in Alaska, morning disc jockey and station manager, and many others he can’t remember to list. These jobs gave him a wonderful base to write what he knows because he knows a little about a lot.
He achieved his dream of becoming a full-time writer in 2016 and has never looked back. One reviewer called him “The King of Redemption stories.” Shawn says he doesn’t feel like a king of anything, but he does love a good tale of second chances.
He is the author of the ever-growing The Middle Falls Time Travel series, 18 books and counting, and The Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure series. He is also the author of Feels Like the First Time, a bestselling memoir of growing up in a small town in the seventies, falling in love, and messing everything up.
He lives with his high school sweetheart – now wife -Dawn, two happy-go-lucky Chocolate Labs, and a slightly schizo cat named Georgie.
Guest Contact Info:
Website: https://www.shawn-inmon.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShawnInmonWriter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawninmon/