I’m Justin Rishel, author of thrillers, science fiction, and technothriller novels. I like to think my writing is similar to that of Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, AG Riddle, and Matthew Mather. I prefer to write (and read) in a world that is 100% plausible with a firm base in reality but layered with science or technology that raises the stakes for our hero. The ideas I like to explore are those which I believe are entirely possible, if not probable, in our world to come.
My inspiration comes from an abundance of ‘what if’ questions bouncing around inside my head.
| What if some people didn’t have to sleep?
What if there were people inside prisons that executed whoever they felt like executing? What if children stopped waking up one day? |
And so on…
My favorite part of writing is taking these questions and building realistic scenarios around them. This is what is referred to as world-building. You can take one question like ‘What if some people didn’t have to sleep?’ and build an entire world around it. Like this:
| What if some people didn’t have to sleep? |
| Assuming only some people get to forego sleeping, then it must be something, some enhancement, some skill, some modification they acquire. If it’s acquired, then it must be in exchange for something else. Probably money. If it requires money, then it is probably expensive. Only rich folks can get it. |
And so on…
I just keep going down that rabbit hole until I have a story that I would want to read. I don’t type a word, nay a syllable, that I myself wouldn’t want to read.
Before I started writing, I was a teacher, a Marine, a woodworker (shoutout to J Rishel Woodworks), and a corporate schmuck. I’m still a schmuck sometimes, but in writing, I’ve truly found my passion. I find it truly fulfilling in ways nothing else, job-wise, has ever done.
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. You’ve read more than I thought anyone else would.
I currently live outside Memphis, Tennessee with my wife, three kids, and a dog.
