Meet Haris Orkin

We recently connected with Haris Orkin and have shared our conversation below.

Haris , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

Probably from my father. He was a writer and an actor, and I learned the discipline needed to succeed as an artist from his example. (Though he was also kind of a workaholic.) It made me a firm believer in Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule. He posits that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve mastery in a complex skill. I treat writing like a job. I get up every day and write for at least four hours. I did that when I had a full-time job. I would just get up earlier and write before work. I often tell people the hardest part about being a writer is keeping your ass in the chair.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember, throughout elementary school and high school. I wrote plays in college and majored in English Composition and Economics. (I thought I was going to be a lawyer), and I have an MFA from USC in creative writing. I love telling stories and I seem to have stories to tell.

I’ve written professionally in many different genres and mediums. I’ve written stage plays, radio plays, TV and radio commercials, movies, video games, VR games, and novels. So, I have a wide breadth of experience in many different mediums. Much of my work has an element of comedy and/or satire.

I write a novel series called The James Flynn Escapades. The first book was based on a screenplay I optioned to a Hollywood studio. The script was never made, but I loved the characters and the story, so I turned it into a novel. I wanted to write a modern-day version of Don Quixote. The main character, James Flynn, lives in a psychiatric hospital in Pasadena, California. He believes his hospital is the headquarters of His Majesty’s Secret Service and that he’s a Double O agent with a license to kill. In each book, he ventures out into the world, but instead of tilting at windmills, he finds super criminals who are just as delusional as he is.

In my video game work, I’ve written everything from sci-fi to fantasy to westerns to horror. I’ve worked on some of the best-selling video game franchises of the last twenty years.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I would say the most important quality I possess is persistence. The writers I know that were able to create some kind of career were the most persistent. Honestly, I think persistence is more important than talent.

As Stephen King said”

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

Thomas Edison put it another way:

“Success is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.”

You can’t let rejection stop you in your tracks. As a writer, you’re going to face a lot of rejection. You need to be able to put it aside and move forward. Sometimes I use it to push myself harder. I want to prove the naysayers wrong.

Another quality I feel is absolutely necessary is the ability to take constructive criticism. It’s hard to always be objective about your own work. I rely on a group of beta readers who read all my novels, and their contributions, suggestions, and criticisms are incredibly helpful. I also work with an editor who does the same on a more micro level. When I worked as a screenwriter, I found notes from studio executives very hard to take. But over time, I learned not to take notes personally. And while I don’t accept every note at face value, I’ve learned that if enough people flag the same issue, there’s probably something that need fixing.

Finally, I think writers need to read. Everything and anything. But especially books in your chosen genre. But that’s true any kind of writing. I probably read two novels a month, and I play many of the newest video games to keep up with how game developers and narrative designers tell their stories. I watch a lot of movies. Both classics and contemporary. I also read a lot of magazines and newspapers. Real-world stories and current events are a huge source of inspiration. It’s all grist for the mill.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

It’s hard to narrow it down to one, but I’ll tell you two that inspired the James Flynn Escapades. From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming, and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I read them both at a formative age and somehow, they both invaded by tender virgin psyche. I love gritty thrillers and mysteries, and I love books that are full of satire and comedy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.harisorkin.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorHarisOrkin
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harisorkin/
• Twitter: https://x.com/HarisOrkin