The following is the questions and my answers that comprised the interview of me.
I am to be the featured Indie Author on the website http://www.indiebooklounge/
on June 19, 2011, which is a Sunday.
IBL Interview questions:
1. What was the first book you read that inspired you to become a writer?
"Enders Game" by Orson Scott Card and all of James Rollins Books.
2. Did you try the traditional publishing route before going indie and if so,
what was that experience like?
I did two or three years of intense research into publishing do's and
don'ts and what it would require to be traditionally published. Then
I came up with a plan.
Most of the authors I really admire say until you write 1 million words or
finish 10 - 11 books you really haven't become a writer per say or found
your style and niche. So my plan was I would e-publish, build a
following, and then sometime later if traditional publishing even looks like
something I might be interested in, then I am not a complete unknown
and have books for sale and a following to attract a agent and publisher.
3. Besides the genre you currently write in, what other genre would you like
to try?
Right now I am writing Fiction Adventure Sci-Fi Writer and have at least
30 stories I plan to write, several are series of books. That will be
enough to keep me busy for years. I probably would try Horror if I did
anything different.
4. What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story?
Conflict, Great characters, Intriguing problems where there is no clear
cut right or wrong answer, Exotic setting to take the reader somewhere
they have never been before. Those are the basic ingredients and then
with plot twists, and conflict with the characters.
5. What discipline do you impose on yourself regarding schedules, goals,
etc?
Every night after I get my two small boys in bed I sit with my computer
from 8 or 8:30 till 12 to 12:30 writing, editing, or rewriting.
Writing goes real fast! Several Chapters a night, I just type like a mad
man and get it down so I don't lose the ideas or story.
Editing is slow maybe will get one or two chapters in one night.
Rewriting is part editing and part totaling rewriting and I can get
one or two chapters a night. I wrote my second novel in the last half
of 2010 and started the editing and rewriting process in February and am
still at it. Rewriting I am on Chapter 20 of 25, and editing with my
editor were coming up on halfway. Hope to publish it by September.
6. Dogs or cats?
Definitely a Cat person, did a great post on my blog about 'Neo the
retarded Cat', that I had until very recently.
7. Do you think people DO judge books by their cover?
Unfortunately I think they do, one of the major things I love about
E-Publishing is that you can let people download part of your book so
people can try it and see if they like it. I have sold 100 books on
Smashwords but have had 139 downloads, which means 39 people have
30% of my book and hopefully will come back and download and buy
the rest of the book at some later date.
8. What's the best and worst things about being an author?
Hopefully someday it will be the money and that I can write full time.
I'm not there yet, I am in the moonlighting stage where I work a full
time job and help raise two kids and try to keep up my part of a
marriage and write on the side every evening. My favorite part of
writing is all the times you ever read a book and you think you know
where it is going or what might happen and it never gets there or goes
as far as you wanted it to. With writing I can get a crazy as I want,
take it as far as I want. I have found that part of my style that is
emerging is I like to have the characters describe their plans and what
is going to happen, and then like in real life nothing goes as plans, so
they make new plans and guess what, well you just get stuck turning
the pages.
Worst Part would be editing because it goes so slow and not creative.
9. What are you working on right now?
"No Rules Of Engagement", My Second Novel, It has similarities to
'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card. I loved that book for many
reasons but the sequels let me down considerably. So years later I
have written a book, where the only similar part is kids being trained
to fight, but it is the first of at least three books for sure. It is
off the hook, edgy, foul language, with fast moving plot and faster
action scenes. Through the three books besides highly entertaining my
audience I plan to tease and mess with their heads concerning topics
such as warfare, religion, freedom, people working together for a
common goal (survival).
10. Besides writing, what other hobbies or interests do you have?
I am very family oriented, love riding my motorcycle when I get a
chance, love building models, drawing and painting, and have a great
passion for reading. Last year I read about 135 books, will not read as
many this year because I am spending all my time trying to get my
second novel ready to be published. Writing has by far in the past two
years become the primary passion of my life. Through finding an
awesome editor who I refer to in my blog as, my literary angel, she has
shown me that editing makes your work shine, take wings and fly.
I suggest for writers to submit submissions to Open Book Society and the Indie Book Lounge. Open Book Society actually had Miss Cadiz read my book and review it on their site, extremely thorough process!
I strongly encourage any Indie or New author to have your work professionally edited! If your looking for help my Literary Angel has recently started looking to take on more clients. Her Blog and a way to contact her is : http://jomurphey.blogspot.com/
If you have any questions that you would like answered feel free to leave a comment and I will answer them for you in a later post.
Posted in: Interview Indie Book Lounge Author
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