Tons to do in preparation for next month. So, I will be stepping aside and asking some people to step in and introduce themselves to you. Play nice.
You have been at this for a little while
now, what are some of the best and worst things about being an author?
Being an
author has been like a dream come true for me. Though I’ve been writing, almost
ceaselessly since before, I never saw myself as an author till January of this
year when I published my first book, a novelette titled Hunted: Jake The
Ripper. And I haven’t looked back since. Being an author is something I’ve
always wanted to be, even though I have the expertise and IQ to be something
else. Every letter I pen down, every string of words I make in a sentence,
every sentence, paragraph, chapter brings satisfaction to my belly like having
chilled soda under a tree in the Sahara. And every completed work brings
extreme happiness and fulfilment. I’ve always considered authors sentinels of
stories that the world gives limitless. And there’re tons of them waiting to be
told. It’s like a privilege when I think of people that have done the world
proud in that aspect. Too, the reactions have also been pleasant and
encouraging. They make my writing worth it.
I guess
the only really bad thing about being an author is that many people don’t take
writing as a—vocation to be proud of, at least in my own part of the world. I
hope worldwide agrees to this point. But then, football is another vocation
that parents would be happy for their wards to be a part of—and what’s football
other than people kicking roundly fashioned leather around? The thing is people
love it. I love it too. But I find reading and writing more worthwhile and even
less stressful.
Due to
that, there’s the inadequate supply of support for authors (but thanks to www, I
think things have gotten way better).
Also,
there’s the tension I get after publishing a book, even though I know it is
good enough to be valued. You always hope you’ve written a good book,
especially if you’re self-publishing it.
What are some of the lessons you have
learned as a writer that caught you off guard?
First, it was the exposure. When I
published my first book, I was swept away by the amount of downloads I received
in a week and then the week after that. If you’re a new author, not previously
heard of, very few readers are likely to check your books out. It was
encouraging though I got my first review a month after, and then some.
Also, I was unprepared for the hunger
of readers and I had to be on my hands so
that I could satisfy them the best I could. There are so many, virtually about
70-something % of hungry readers out there and not enough authors to
accommodate them, satiate them.
If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s
that I have to keep writing, keep writing and to be prepared.
What can you share about your writing process
with new or up and coming writers?
Create,
plan, take notes, fashion your story, write, write, write. It’s all about
creating an idea and developing it to a rich finish. Just like sculpting. Like
I said before, the world doesn’t run out of stories, fiction and non-fiction
alike. The moment an idea for a book ‘lightbulbs’ in my head, I use whatever I
have on hand (pencil, pen, phone’s notepad, a scrap of paper) to put it down so
it doesn’t recede from my mind. Then the moment the opportunity presents itself
I write and write. That’s the primary focus there—just keep writing. Then I do
research where needed and use the knowledge obtained to embellish my book, give
it more suitable substance. I also lookup writing tips based on the nature of
what I’m working on. When I’m done I read my book over, twice, and I also give
a close friend to read before finally publishing it. And after that comes
marketing—the most important aspect and believe me, it’s important for every
work you do, even the free ones.
Currently,
Smashwords does a fantastic job of getting my books to a wide coverage of
readers and helps me worry less but if you want something done properly, you
have to do it yourself.
If you were to up and change genres,
what would be your next choice?
I write
horror and if I was to change genres, it most certainly would be fantasy. It’s
the only other genre I prefer to read to sf
and adventure. I just love the rich imaginations fantasy writers dream up
when creating fantastic worlds; the lands, the fascinating creatures, the epic
and magic; the character names are just delicious. I always feel enthralled
when I hear names as Baggins, Dumbledore, Hogwarts, Galadriel, and so on. It’s
just pleasant. Like a golden light to my usually dark and twisted thoughts; the
Yin to my Yang. Of course, there has to be balance.
What could traditional publishing learn
from the Indies? And how about the other way around?
Traditional publishing should try and see every written work
as special and not attach any more importance to big name written books than to
books from up and coming writers. A bestseller can come from any hand and with
self-publishing now taking the centre stage of book publishing, they might’ve
to step up the game to keep themselves in reckoning and contention. Even now,
many indie authors are taking to online publishing to reach a wider range of
readers. Of course, the world is becoming more digitalized and they should make
use of this avenue effectively.
An advantage of traditional publishing is that there’s an
editor who proofreads, edits a work to readable taste for the readers. So far,
so bad, I’ve read many self-published books in which the grammar is just
unacceptable and the spelling errors are just too pronounced than the wrinkles
on the belly of a centenarian. Authors who practice in self-publishing should
strive to make their writing more suitable to the public. It’s, to me, the one
edge that traditional publishing has over Indie that the reader will feel more
inclined to put his money on. Paying for what’s worth.
The writing community can be its own
worst enemy at times. What are some of the issues you see cropping up in the
Indie world? Solutions?
Probably
a lot, but at the moment, one takes the whole of my mind. Poor book structure.
I’ve read books by indie authors that has left me disappointed and disgusted.
Many of them couldn’t even pass as an eBook.
They didn’t start with any real titles, was improperly formatted, was riddled
with errors aplenty, grammatical, spelling, punctuation and paragraphing, you
name. Sometimes it was difficult to decide if they were books or stuff from
third graders learning to use the word processor. And we indie authors are all
ambassadors to one another, so if a reader finds these irritating mischances
within a book written and published by an indie author, I wouldn’t be wrong to
put it past them to expect to find the same, at least similar occurrences
within other self-published books by other indie authors; which means a
defamation on the rest of these other serious, talented and hardworking individuals.
This problem is committed usually by up and coming writers. It’s wise to advice
that if you’re new in the publishing industry (and this goes to the older ones
too) and you’re unsure about your work, have an editor, at least a honest
friend that can help to detect these errors and enrich you with more vivid
ideas on improving the quality of your book.
And
everyone’s going to be happy and satisfied.
Then,
yes! Now this one comes to mind. The other day I was looking through a book’s
reviews on Smashwords.com (all of them were negative reviews too, and some
reviews weren’t even followed up with ratings) and took note of the reviewers.
If you scroll towards the bottom of the page there’re the reviews given by that
author to other works and I stumbled upon the review of a book by an author
who’d given a negative review to the former’s work. The former had also given a
negative review to the latter’s work in retaliation where the latter’s book was
actually quite good and was generating acceptable responses and ratings. There
shouldn’t be any beef if a fellow author says our work isn’t good enough. It’s
just an advice, one we need to look into, one we need to learn from.
The social media is…
The social media is like ‘a net’ on the ‘net’. It’s a
fantastic place to get, not only with family and friends, but the readers as
well. It’s also a huge opportunity to advertise your books, market them. And it
allows easy feedback from your readers in terms of reviews and ratings.
As a reader, it gives me the opportunity to know the trend,
the latest books out there and quality.
As an author, it’s a big marketing tool; as a reader, it’s a
big market, for buying and Windows-shopping.
Share some information about your work
with us: (feel free to be as in depth as you like)
I write horror. I just love the genre, the extreme dark and
grisliness. The slashing and tearing and brain-harvesting. As an author, I’ve
published 5 works: a novelette, a novella and short stories. But like I said,
I’ve been writing before then a blend of fantasy and horror.
My first work was a novelette titled: Hunted: Jake the Ripper. I was proud of that book, loved it totally.
It was about a hunted vampire, the last one of its breed, and the strides it
took to achieve redemption. It gave me my first review on Barnes & Noble.
You’ll find it on Smashwords and other book retail outlets online, save Amazon.
My second work was a novella: The Curse in the Chest. A rural fisherman, Moses Royston, tired of
and disinterested in life, stumbles upon a heavily jewelled chest in a part of
the river that he fishes, that just shouldn’t be there and against his psyche’s
warnings, he lifts it out of the water and brings it to his home, to the shed
in his backyard. He believes it to be the solution to his miserable and
misfortunate life and opens it to be subsequently possessed by an ancient demon,
devourer of wills. And the demon seeks to make a mother of The Many from his daughter, a pure one. But help also appears on
the way when a journeying exorcist is supernaturally directed to stop this
menace. It was a good book too.
Probably the best I’ve written is the last I published:
Ready... and Action!! A group of individuals decide to carve exploits for
themselves by going out of sanctuary zone into the undead world to film a
reality movie. Only one returns, the one not overly expected to make it. I got
my best review ever from Michelle Callaghan of IndieHorrorNews.com. I’ve
written two other good ones too: Body Parts for Hire and The Burnt Refuge.
What
is one question you are sick of being asked—not in interviews, but by
individuals who know you write?
“Are you writing?”
I get this question anytime I’m outside, writing (not
advisable, fellow writers) and someone I know comes over and checks what I’m
writing, looks at it, interrupts and holds me back, flips a few pages back and
forth curiously.
Dumb question, which I usually reply with a dumb answer as
well. “No, I’m just painting words on this paper to see if they work.”
But surprisingly, some reply, “God, that’s cool.”
How
do you deal with negative reviews?
Nobody is above mistakes. Remember Einstein. For every
written work, there’s always an avenue to develop and the writer doesn’t easily
see this until a reader points it out to him. I view negative reviews as a
platform for me to better my next work, fix what was wrong with my writing and
make sure my next work comes off good. I support the motion that the customer
(the reader in this case) is always right. They say something is wrong with my
writing, so it is. And I’m always grateful for them. I look forward to them as
much as I look forward to the positive ones. Positive ones encourage me;
negative ones develop me. Putting them in balance and using them to your
benefits is the pathway to being an understanding, successful author.
Although, I have to add that some reader reviews are quite
abusive. Viewed a couple of them on works by other authors.
How
much reading do you get in, and can a writer excel at his or her craft if they
do not read?
I read a lot, practically every day, even more than I write.
And no, a writer cannot excel at writing if he does not read. I read whenever I
get the chance to. When I’m on a novel, I set a target of at least a hundred
pages per day everyday until completion, and after I’m on the next in line. It
doesn’t only help in improving my knowledge on facts, words, diction and gives
me ideas, but it’s also good for the health—a proven fact. It’s refreshing and
dismounts pressure.
When
does self-promotion cross the line and become a nuisance?
When I do too much, especially for my free works, when I
have a filled shelf of unpublished works praying with fervency to be unleashed.
If you’re a good writer, if your works are good and easily acceptable, why,
your readers will be your automatic marketers; they might spread word of your
books even faster than a traditional publishing company’s wide network.
(Remember, social networking).
What
projects are you currently working on?
A lot. In fact it’s making me look like I’m trying to do too
much, accomplishing little. I was working on a novel earlier in the year, an
undead novel titled When Demons Bite
but I haven’t gotten around to finishing it. And there’s another one, Strangers which is a pentalogy. The
first, that I’m also working on, is Genesis.
But at the moment I’m on a novelette titled Unexpected Repercussions which is going
to be one of the books in an anthology Tales
from the Graveyard: 8 Creepy tales from the dark side of life. I’ve drafted
other books in explicit details in this anthology: How to rob a corpse; The easiest way to survive the undead; A grave for
the unburied; The darkness within and; Payment
of the Field Guard.
What
is one thing about you that would surprise the readers who do not know you
personally?
I’ll be 22 this October, I have polio on my right leg so I’m
disabled, for a present lack of a more encouraging word and my house and I
appear in any of my books that have houses in them, save Body Parts For Hire.
And I’m yet to read Fifty Shades.
If
you could team up with another Indie writer…who would it be and how would you
work? (Alternating chapters, total co-op, etc.)
Oh yeah, there’re two actually that I would love, that I’m
dying, to be given a glorious opportunity to work with: a male and a female
author.
Male: Joshua Scribner.
Remove Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Chris Pike from the list. R. L. Stine too
and Joshua Scribner would be my favourite, most read author. His writing are
always entrancing, his lettering attractive and fast-paced. But I notice I’m
not as fast as he is so I would prefer alternating sections and chapters, the
type where the story is coming from two faces or from two (or more)
unacquainted characters to meet somewhere in the middle and the sort.
Female: Mary Ann
Loesch. I got an opportunity to read her novel Bayou Myth and I was impressed
with its overall presentation. Her writing’s easy on the eye, fluent. And she’s
a budding writer, I think. This means that we can exchange ideas and learn a
lot from one another. Co-op would be cool.
There are also Lori
R. Lopez and Bruce Clothier too
but I would sooner be giving too many dream team-ups next. But their works are
a joy to read, that’s for true.
They all write in the horror genre.
Is
there anyone you’d like to give a mention?
IRMA WHEELER! She’s usually the first reviewer of any of my
works, but she hasn’t been around castigating me yet, which means I’ve been
doing very well. And I’m happy having her around. She has been instrumental,
really instrumental in making me pleased with my writing and she’s my beacon of
encouragement. Sadly, I’m yet to dedicate any of my works to her, but that’s
just a matter of time and writing.
What
is in your “to be read” pile right now?
Umm... how do I go about
this? Ok.
eBooks: A
couple of Stephen King’s (Under the dome, It, etc), The Death Gate Cycle series
by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman (a heptalogy. I’m through with the first
two—Dragon Wing and Elven Star and I’m currently reading Fire Sea), Blessings
of a curse by W. E. Clarke, Chosen by Jolea Harrison, Amanda Ackers and the
deep forest elves by Glenn and Sasha Gabriel... it’s going to be a long list if
I am to keep listing them.
Paperbacks: A couple of Nora
Roberts. I’ve exhausted the Dean Koontz I have as well as Weis and Hickman.
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