Writing Process Interview #3 and Free eBook Contest: Untreed Reads Author Rick R. Reed

For my next victim, er, interview subject, Rick R. Reed has graciously agreed to let me grill him about his eBook short story, "Crime Scene".  "Crime Scene" is a chilling account involving a woman's musings about a crime scene photograph, and her vivid envisioning of events leading up to the scene in the photograph.  The story is beautiful and haunting at the same time, and is a must read for anyone who loves crime fiction.

Also, Rick has agreed to give a free copy of his eBook short story, "Crime Scene", to one random person who leaves a comment at the bottom of this post.  Start a discussion, continue a discussion, or just say "hello" (obviously, discussions are better).  On April 15, one lucky person will receive a free copy of "Crime Scene" to help ease the pain (or augment the pleasure, depending on your situation) of tax day.

Welcome to the "stage", Rick. R. Reed.

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The Accidental Author:  As we progress through the second quarter of the year, I’m focusing this series of interviews on the writing process itself.  But, I would be completely remiss not to at least talk a little bit about your inspiration for your short story, “Crime Scene”.  Was there a specific event or memory that inspired you to write this story?

Rick R. Reed: Just like the woman in the story, I came across that book of crime scene photographs in a bookstore in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. Since I have a rather perverse idea of what constitutes entertainment (and a fascination with true crime), I flipped through the book, which included pictures taken at actual crime scenes.

One of these was on a beautiful little girl who had been strangled and her body left lying on a restroom floor. The picture was so sad and so tragic that it made me sorry I opened the book. That particular photo haunted me for a long time.

And, of course, it eventually morphed into the inspiration for a story about a woman who does just what I did (the description of the crime scene photo in my story is pretty close to what the actual picture looked like) and is haunted by the picture of the little dead girl. She begins to imagine what happened on that day, seeing the events that led up to the little girl’s murder, and in the end…well, maybe I shouldn’t say what happens in the end.

AA:  When you set out to write this short story, did you have the idea for the “frame story” or the “story within the story” first?

RRR: I think it came to me as all part of a whole. The frame story was my own visceral reaction to the picture of the strangled little girl…and then I began to imagine how something so horrendous and tragic could possibly come about.

AA:  How did you come up with the remainder of the story and eventually dovetail it all together?

RRR: I wanted to say something about how the power of our minds has the ability to take away some of the horror and hurt of the real world.

AA:  When you set out to write a story that transitions from time-periods (like Crime Scene), what is your greatest challenge?

RRR:  I wanted to get the period details right (1960s) in which the background story takes place and that took some research on the music of that time and what the beach at Coney Island would have been like. Other than that, once the characters sprung to life in my head, I just sort of reported what they did and said, which is what usually happens when I write.

AA:  When you sit down to write, besides a computer, what other things do you have to have in your direct vicinity?

RRR: I’m very much a writer that requires no distractions when I write. So I always answer with a blank stare when I’m asked if I listen to music when I write. How would that work? I wonder. I’d be too distracted. I also never position my desk facing window with a beautiful view, for the same reason. These days, everything I need is pretty much there on my computer, including the ability to quickly do research and get factual questions answered on the fly and immediately (gotta love Google!). Usually, my dog, a Boston Terrier named Lily, is on the couch next to my desk, snoring as I write. I think she channels ideas and editorial advice to me while I work.

AA:  Do you have a set schedule for writing, or do you write when the mood strikes?

RRR: I write nearly every morning, with an aim to complete at least 1,000 words. I am a morning person, through and through, so often I do my best work often as early as five am.

AA:  Do you like to read the same kinds of things that you write, or is there a disparity there?

RRR: Um, probably what you find me reading most are books that revolve around crime (as I said above, I have a healthy—or unhealthy—fascination for the topic). So my reading for pleasure usually involves a mystery or a thriller. But I am pretty eclectic and dip into non-fiction (love biographies), humor (David Sedaris), and, of course, horror, although I prefer the kind that can either really happen or happens to people who are “real” if you know what I mean.

AA:  What are you working on right now?

RRR:   Right now, I’m working on a romantic novel set in the early 1990s about an AIDS buddy in Florida who falls for the lover of the man he’s been assigned to be a buddy to. There’s a lot of humor (the guy dying from AIDS is a very strong, witty, and funny character) and some tragedy. I have good feelings about the books. It’s strongly based on my own experiences in the early 1990s when I was a Tampa AIDS Network buddy to a very unusual person.

AA:  Finally, if you had one piece of advice for a fledgling writer who wants to make the leap from “writing for fun” to “writing for fun and profit”, what would that be?

RRR:  Without thinking about it, the cliché, “follow your heart” immediately popped into my head when I read your question, so I figure that means something. I’m a great truster of my instinct. But on the other side of following your heart and trusting your gut, it’s imperative that you learn your craft. I see way too many small press publications that demonstrate authors who haven’t taken the time to learn the CRAFT of storytelling, the structure, the pacing, and so on. But yeah, following your heart is the only way to go…don’t ever try to write what you think will be successful or will sell…that’s a surefire set-up for failure, in my opinion.

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In their October 2006 issue, Unzipped magazine said: "You could call him the Stephen King of gay horror." And Dark Scribe magazine proclaimed: "Reed is an established brand - perhaps the most reliable contemporary author for thrillers that cross over between the gay fiction market and speculative fiction." In spite of this—or perhaps because of it—he has been lately turning more and more to writing romance and illuminating the emotional lives of gay men. To date, Reed has more than sixteen books in print, and his short fiction has appeared in more than 20 anthologies. His novel, ORIENTATION, won the EPPIE Award for best LGBT novel of 2008. He lives in Seattle, WA with his partner and a very spoiled Boston Terrier. Visit him on the web at www.rickrreed.com or at his blog at http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/ 

Follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rickrreed

Find him on Facebook: www.facebook.com/rickrreed

"Collisions" is ALMOST HERE!

My newest eBook short story, "Collisions", is in the home stretch.  We finished proofreading yesterday, and it should be out within a week.

Want to see a promotional video for it?  Of COURSE you do!  Go HERE and check out a video that I put together to promote "Collisions".  It is decidedly low-fi, but the music is wonderful (composed by the amazing Seth Boggess, short film director and composer).

If you have a blog, share the link to the video.  If you are on FaceBook, share the link.  If you are on Twitter, share the link.  If you are on a street corner, share the link.  Oh, yeah.  Here's the link:  http://bit.ly/ijRFCh

eBook Review of "Draculas" by Crouch, Kilborn, Strand & Wilson

The first book that I have successfully read on my Amazon Kindle (yes, I finally bought an eBook reader) is Draculas by Jack Kilborn, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand and F. Paul Wilson.  I picked this up (virtually, that is), because I am a rabid fan of F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack series and the Adversary Cycle.

The book is a rather interesting premise, both in story and in writing methodology.  As I understand it, each author wrote specific characters.  Each "chapter" is written from a specific character's point of view, and to that end, each chapter is written by a different author, based on which character is telling the story in that particular chapter.

What I find particularly interesting is that the authors took special care to make the prose flow from chapter to chapter, without a huge shift in writing style.  That, in and of itself, as a major triumph.

The story opens with a rich, terminally-ill eccentric receiving a package containing an item for which he paid a small fortune:  seemingly, the skull of Dracula, unearthed in Romania.  When he lethally punctures his throat on the grotesque mouthful of fangs, he is sent to the hospital.  When he arrives at the hospital, he is on the threshold of death.  But when he dies on the table and subsequently rises and stands on the gurney, the terror has just begun.

Draculas is an interesting feat in writing, and the story is solid.  The prose, as I mentioned before, is nearly seamless as we shift from author to author, and the only reason I could recognize F. Paul Wilson is because of his almost encyclopedic knowledge of firearms, the result of writing sixteen novels centered on an urban mercenary.  However, at times, the large number of characters tended to be a bit distracting.  The parts of the novel told from the point of view of the vampires was amusing, but at times, it seemed a bit extraneous.  In fact, these passages that "get into the brain of a ravenous vampire" steal a bit from the experience of reading the book, as it gives too much away.  Sometimes, leaving more to the imagination is a good thing.

Speaking of leaving something to the imagination, at times, I found the "gore scenes" unnecessarily vivid.  I'm all for striking descriptions, but phrases like "snacking on his liver" are grotesque for the sake of being grotesque.

All in all, I would give Draculas a 6.0 out of a possible 10.  Certain chapters were brilliantly written, and the overall story arc compelled me to read late into the night.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy "evil" vampire novels (not the namby-pamby type in The Twilight Saga or Vampire Diaries), or those who enjoy "gore fests".

Draculas is available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon for the great price of $2.99.

Writing Process Interview #2: Untreed Reads Author Anne Brooke

As some of you may know, my eBook publisher, Untreed Reads, celebrated its first birthday earlier this year.  Untreed Reads now has published works from over eighty authors.  What a tremendous year it has been.

But here is a little history.  Untreed Reads started its publication of eBooks with a work by British Author Anne Brooke entitled "How to Eat Fruit".  Anne has been kind enough to take some time to field questions from yours truly, The Accidental Author, and give us some insights in to the process she goes through when writing fiction.

Welcome, Anne Brooke!

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The Accidental Author:  First of all, thanks so much for agreeing to be a part of this interview series, “Inspiration to Publication”.  Just recently, I've switched gears and transferred the focus to the writing process itself.  In spite of that, I feel compelled to ask you a few questions about your inspirations.  I notice that in “The Girl in the Painting” and “A Woman Like The Sea”, art, and specifically paintings, play some part in the story.  Do you find yourself inspired by visual art?

Anne Brooke:  Yes, I do find art and artists very inspirational, probably because I’m a complete dunce at painting and wouldn’t have the first idea where to start! I suppose I envy the skill and also, on the other hand, get a great deal of pleasure from visiting art galleries. I write a number of poems about art or particular paintings and am fascinated by people like Lucian Freud or Jackson Pollock. Vermeer is wonderful too – I could look at his paintings for hours. One day I’m definitely going to go to art classes – but beginners’ ones for sure …

AA:  What other types of things inspire you to write?  Music?  Movies?  Other books?  Pure observation?  All of the above?

AB:  Certainly, other books can suggest ideas, and I’m quite convinced I’d never have started writing fiction at all if I hadn’t read Maria McCann’s As Meat Loves Salt or the works of Patricia Duncker, both of whom can write very lyrically about people who aren’t quite in step with the world around them. The idea of the outsider really attracts me. Sometimes as well, the things people say or talk about can inspire ideas or ways stories could go. Strangely, I also occasionally dream the beginnings of stories and then have to write them down so I can see how they end – I wish I could turn that ability on at will, but I can’t!

AA:  You seem to have a proclivity for writing short fiction (as do I).  Let's turn our attention to the process of writing now.  When you set out to write a short story, do you tend to “shotgun” and just start writing, or do you spend some time on more “mechanistic writing” techniques (outlining, character bios, etc)?

AB:  I’m definitely a “shotgun” fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of writer. I get a beginning line(s), a situation or person and then I run with it and see where it takes me. With short stories, I don’t do outlines or character bios, though I do use character bios for my novels (but even there I don’t start them till I’m about a third of the way through a book, when I’m beginning to get to know the characters more fully). I suppose I work on gut instinct rather than logic. I often don’t even know what the ending will be until I get there, though sometimes I do have a vague idea what it might consist of once I start writing. It’s a weird approach, but it seems to have worked so far so I hope I can stick with it!

AA:  In “A WomanLike The Sea”, you paint a very three-dimensional character in Veronica in very few words.  How do you approach developing a character in a minimal number of words when you write a short story?

AB: I suppose at heart I’m a fairly minimalist writer in the sense I want to say something once and then not have to repeat it. With that situation in mind, I try to show a character in as intense a way as possible, often by what they say, how they react or what they do, or even any unusual characteristics they might have. It has a lot more impact if you show the reader someone directly rather than trying to explain it to them – that way the reader can develop a relationship with the character without the writer getting in the way. If you see what I mean! I suppose the old adage of “show, don’t tell” comes into its own here.

AA:  Do you follow a concrete or recurrent schedule for writing, or do you tend to write when time (and the muse) allows?

AB:  I tend to work on short stories in the evenings at the start of the week, where I can, as I work at my non-writing job on Mondays to Wednesdays. On Thursdays and Fridays, I like to get down about 2000 words of my current novel, and then over the weekend, I’ll either do more short story writing or another 1000 words of my novel, depending on what mood I’m in and what I feel I might have neglected most. I think the trick for me is to just sit down and type. If I wait to be inspired, I’d probably be waiting forever! Inspiration for me comes in the physical act of typing.

AA:  How organic are your stories?  In other words, when you set out with a specific story arc in mind, does the story have a tendency to stay faithful to the original story, or do you allow it to evolve on its own?

AB:  I’m happy to let the character and the story evolve – it’s much more fun to write that way for me when I’m not quite sure what will happen or who a character is until he/she shows me. If I had it all in my mind before I set out on the journey, I don’t think I’d bother with it. On the other hand, if I’m writing to a set theme or topic or for a particular submission, I will keep to that, but within the guidelines, I’m usually fairly free.

AA:  When you sit down to write, what items are absolutely necessary to have in your writing space (other than a computer)?

AB: Bottle of still water and my water glass. My once-a day BIG mug of coffee (mmmm). My dictionary (couldn’t be without it). My handbag (ditto). Post-it notes (small & medium sized). A biro. My clock. My plant (poinsettia at the moment, but that might change soon as I don’t think it’s very happy …). Plus the internet – I can’t write well if it’s not there in the background. I tend to write a paragraph or two, surf for a few minutes while my writing brain thinks, then go back to writing, then surf, etc etc.

AA:  Do you need silence or music while you write?

AB: Definitely silence! I can’t write with music on at all. Though the birds are always lovely to listen to in summer with the window open.

AA:  Are you a “revise on the fly” kind of person, or do you have to have a complete working draft before you start revising?

AB:  I do both. I revise as I go along, and then at the end I do a massive “whole picture” revision. I do like that final stage, when the story is really coming together and finding its own flow. I enjoy the feeling of having something definite to play around with and improve on – and I think I actually enjoy that more than the creation stage. Sometimes anyway …

AA:  Your writing style (in my estimation) is very classical in the sense that it isn't full of gimmicks or post-modern prose techniques.  Do you prefer reading more traditional literature?  What are you reading right now?

AB: I would agree that I’m a reader who appreciates a traditional approach, though I’m not averse to the odd post-modern book. But I couldn’t write them myself. I imagine it’s a result of having two degrees in English literature – one BA in English, and one MA in Medieval English with Latin. I’m probably marked for life now! Currently I’m reading The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard (a novel about a daughter’s search into her dead mother’s past); Princess Nest of Wales, Seductress of the English by Kari Maund (non-fiction about a Medieval Welsh princess and her climb to power); Supreme Being by Martha Kapos (modern poetry); and What is the Point of Being a Christian? by Timothy Radcliffe (spiritual reading). I always like having a novel, non-fiction, poetry and a Christian book on the go at the same time, as I feel that gives me a full reading experience!

AA:  What are you working on right now?

AB: Right now, I’m working on finishing the third book of my fantasy trilogy, which is called The Executioner’s Cane. The first book, The Gifting, is due to be published by Bluewood Publishing later in 2011. I’m also working on an m/m erotic story, For One Night Only, and an erotic fantasy novella, The Taming of the Hawk, for Amber Allure Press. In addition, I’m trying to schedule in another literary story for Untreed Reads, but I’m not quite sure what my theme is for that yet – I’m still thinking about how to start!

AA:  Finally, since I understand that your story, “How to Eat Fruit” was the first official publication from Untreed Reads just over one year ago, are you taken aback at the massive growth of Untreed Reads over the last year?

AB:  I think it’s been astonishing and I am simply so amazed and impressed by how far Jay Hartman and his team have taken Untreed Reads in little more than a year. The man must never rest! He’s doing a really wonderful job and it’s fantastic to be published alongside so many great authors. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what the second year for Untreed Reads will bring – whatever happens it will certainly be exciting.

AA:  Finally, if you had any piece of advice for the author that is trying to make the transition from “writing for fun” to “writing for fun and profit (such as it is)”, what piece of advice would you bestow upon them?

AB: Commit to getting better at the craft you do. I’d encourage people to join writing groups, either locally or online, and to go to any writers’ conferences or workshops they can get to. It’s amazing how much you learn about writing and how much you improve from making this kind of regular commitment to it. Also, don’t worry about what anyone else is doing – concentrate on finding and developing your own voice, and writing in the best way for you. Be flexible though – as I’ve found that my writing style and approach does subtly alter from book to book. Finally don’t be afraid to submit work that’s the best you can make it to a place that suits it – rejections will almost certainly come, but be prepared to learn from those, and move on to the next possible home for your work. Someone out there will one day say “yes” to you, and that’s the best feeling ever. Good luck to all and may the muse be with you!

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Anne Brooke’s fiction has been shortlisted for the Harry Bowling Novel Award, the Royal Literary Fund Awards and the Asham Award for Women Writers. She has also twice been the winner of the DSJT Charitable Trust Open Poetry Competition. She is the author of six published novels, her latest being A Dangerous Man, a thriller about art, love and murder. This year, the first of her fantasy trilogy, The Gifting, will be published by Bluewood Publishing and, in addition, her short stories are regularly published by Amber Allure Press and Untreed Reads. She has a secret passion for theatre and chocolate, preferably at the same time. More information can be found at www.annebrooke.com.

Process Interview #1: Untreed Reads Author Andy Frankham-Allen

Welcome back to the "Inspiration to Publication" series of interviews.  Now that the first quarter of the year is almost over, I've decided it's time to shove off the shore of the inspiration interviews (and we've had some GREAT ones...if you haven't checked them out, you need to go back and look at them) and tread into the waters of "the writing process".  And to kick off this new phase of the "Inspiration to Publication" series, I've asked Andy Frankham-Allen, author of numerous eBooks through Untreed Reads (among others) to step up the microphone and answer some of The Accidental Author's questions.  Andy sheds some light on his process and talks specifically about his new release, the first book of a four-book series.

Welcome...Andy Frankham-Allen!

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The Accidental Author: Well, it's time to shift gears in my yearlong series of interviews, entitled “Inspiration to Publication”. I've spent the first quarter of the year covering the inspiration behind various authors' works, but now I'd like to focus on the actual process of writing. Andy, you just recently released the first in your four part series The Garden, entitled Seeker, and in addition, you've released a short-story prelude to the series entitled "Serere". Let's talk about that a bit. Once you have the seed of your idea, what is the first step you take in undertaking the task of writing your novel?

Andy Frankham-Allen: Coming up with a decent working title. Sometimes it survives, sometimes it does not. I’m one of these people who need titles and names before I can truly progress with the story, and will often be stumped for hours while I try to find the right title and name. For me, at the start the title is about giving me direction. A single word or phrase that conveys my intention with the story.

AA: In constructing the story arc for your book, Seeker, did you use any of the standard techniques like “mind-mapping” or generating an outline, or did you simply start writing in a more “shotgun approach”?

AFA: I’m not a synopsis kind of guy, although I do appreciate the necessity of such things. When I’m working for myself I tend to just write ‘off the cuff’. I have the core idea, I know the general direction, and then I just sit down and write. As the story progresses though I’ll start to take notes, and makes plans. It’s only after the first draft is complete that I really start to do intense research and start making more concrete plans, because by that point the story is all there before me.

AA: When you devise the main characters in your plot, such as Willem, do you set down a strict character outline, or do you let him evolve organically throughout the writing process?

AFA: All my characters evolve in the writing. I lay down a few basics for them; appearance, age, general stuff. Much like the story initially, I tend not to tie anything down too much. If a character is true, they will evolve on their own, to the point where it is they who are determining how the story will be told.

AA: What drives your writing process more: the characters or the story arc? In other words, do you find the strength of the characters molding the plot to their will, or do you find the plot bending the characters?

AFA: Everything is slave to the character. Well, okay, not strictly true. But all my stories tend to be character led. As I said, I’ll have the idea for the story, work out the plot as I go along, but allow the characters to propel the actual story forward. For it is in the characters where the real story lies. It’s like with The Garden, I know where each volume ends, and roughly how I’m going to get to each ending, but it won’t be until I write the books, and the characters lead the way, that I’ll discover exactly how I’ll reach each of those endings. Each characters needs to be at a certain point, say, by the end of book two, but the journey they take to get there is mostly down to them.

AA: Do you have a concrete schedule for writing, or do you just write when the mood strikes you?

AFA: I try to put aside time each day to write, especially when I’m working to a deadline, as with the current project. But I’m not a sit-down-and-just-write kind of guy. I have to get in the zone. Sure, I can sit down and just write if I absolutely need to, and have done, but I find the end product not as satisfying to me. So I’ll keep on researching, doing things that relate in some way to the project, until I find myself in the zone. And when that happens… well, I can literally zip through 10,000 words in a day quite easily. Which is why I don’t worry too much about deadlines. I always meet them.

AA: In terms of the prelude to the series, Serere, did you write it before, after or concurrently to Seeker? Why that order?

AFA: After. Serere didn’t exist at all until about two months ago, and was never in the big plan of The Garden. It all came about because I wanted to get Untreed Reads (the electronic publisher who handled the eBook version of Seeker) involved in the launch. As a print book, the launch of Seeker was primarily focused on that, since people like to see an end product, something to buy, to have signed, and carry home. Hard to do that with eBooks. But the team at UR had done a fair bit of work on Seeker, too, so I suggested to Jay that I write for them an exclusive eBook prelude to the entire ‘Garden Saga’, which I could then offer free vouchers for at the launch. The fun thing about Serere though, is because it deals with some key moments previously mentioned in Seeker I was able to explore them more fully. Which in turn led to a better understanding of said events, which had the knock-on effect of me altering certain elements in Seeker. Like Red Source, this came completely from a small scene in Serere, and is now a key thing in Seeker and will play out much more in the following books.

AA: Is the entire story arc of the four part series laid out, or does it still have some “growing room”?

AFA: Definitely not laid out in any great detail. I have notes of key events that need to happen, I know exactly how each book ends, and generally how the characters get to each point. But nothing too detailed. A lot of the plotting with come about in the writing, and I don’t want to tie myself down too much at this point, since the next three books will be written over the next three years, which in terms of writing is a lot of time for growth both in my technical abilities, and in the ideas that life generates for me. All that said, however, book two is planned out in some detail, mostly because I started working on that towards the end of last year, and have already written the first five chapters. One character, at least, will not make it to the end of that one. And many readers will be upset by this. Which is… good.

AA: Besides a computer (assuming you're not banging these manuscripts out on an IBM Selectric or a fifty-pound typewriter), what do you have in your writing space?

AFA: Books! Although not as many as I’d like, since a lot of my stuff is still boxed away as I’m currently between homes. But I do have a few books around me, CDs, and DVDs. Eventually I’ll have everything I need around me, but right now I make do. And with the net, research material is quite easy to come by.

AA: Do you need silence or music while you write?

AFA: Always music. I’m a very musically minded person (can’t play anything but a guitar, and that not very well since I stopped learning when I was a kid), and always have music on no matter what I’m doing. I even fall asleep to music. It inspires me a lot, puts me in the right kind of mindset, and just generally keeps me invigorated.

Indeed, such is my connection with music when writing, then I recently happened along a singer called Sam Tsui, and while doing the final rewrites on Seeker I heard Sam's new single, 'Start Again', and it contained lyrics that fitted perfectly with the end of the book. Sam, and his producer, kindly gave me permission to use those lyrics in the actual book. I suspect with the rest of the series I will also find a musical link in one way or another.

 

AA: Now, some more standard fare in terms of questions: What types of things do you like to read? What are you reading right now?

AFA: I try to read stuff that is against type every now and then. Although that doesn’t always work out too well, since I’m very picky about reading well-written works, and unfortunately there is a lot of badly written stuff out there. Especially now. Genres I tend to gravitate towards, though, include thrillers, supernatural, horror, crime, mysteries, real world dramas, and the odd bit of sci-fi. As for right at this moment; I’m reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and am discovering I don’t know the story as well as I thought. I’m also realizing that I absolutely adore her prose style, and that is inspiring me in my current project which is set in a similar time period.

AA: What are you working on right now? Part Two of The Garden series, or something else?

AFA: I shan’t get on to book two of ‘The Garden’ until around July, since right now I’m heavily involved in working on Untreed Read’s forthcoming steampunk series, Space 1889 & Beyond. And it’s proving quite a challenge. I’m learning all kinds of new things every day as I research and write the opening novel, and the authors of the series are constantly throwing new concepts and ideas my way. You see, not only am I writing the opening novel, but I’m the line editor for the series, so I’m involved in every tale that’s being written for the series. It’s quite a hefty amount of work, and very time consuming, which is why I won’t be getting to ‘The Garden’ until after 1889 is launched in June.

AA: When it comes to writing a series, are you ever overwhelmed by the enormity of the task you've set out on?

AFA: Yes! All the time. But such a feeling soon passes when I just knuckle down and get on with it. I get the same daunting feeling over Space 1889 & Beyond as I do with ‘The Garden’, as both are quite epic series to orchestrate. More so with 1889 as it is, ultimately, still someone else’s baby and I’m the foster parent who’s been given this awesome responsibility.

AA: Finally, if you had any piece of advice for the author that is trying to make the transition from “writing for fun” to “writing for fun and profit (such as it is)”, what piece of advice would you bestow upon them?

AFA: Just do it! I know so many people who want to write, and faff around with doing this and that but never really getting down to it. And as I always say to them, ‘don’t just sit there talking about wanting to do it, just do it’. Truth is you’re never going to know if this is truly for you unless you get on with it. Trust me, if you weren’t born to write for a living, you’ll soon work it out.

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Welsh-born Andy Frankham-Allen has authored many short stories, some for Big Finish’s Doctor Who anthologies, and many more for Untreed Reads’ horror collection. He’s also authored novellas of all genres, and ONE audio drama; Seeker is his first full-length novel. It is the first in a series of four books, a new take on vampire mythology as well as a series about sexual identity and free will vs. predestination. When not writing, he’s Commissioning Editor and Creative Consultant for Untreed Reads’ Space 1889 & Beyond e-book series (and even then he wrote the opening story, and will no doubt write some more along the way – he just can’t help himself!).

Be on the lookout for my new release!

April is just around the corner, and that means that my newest eBook Short Story will be released in just a few short weeks.  A story of a young man who is challenged to emerge from his isolationism by a captivating young woman, "Collisions" is a story of unexpected infatuation, transformation and breakfast.

Check out the promotional video I put together here, and keep your eye on this blog...when I have the official release date, you'll be the first to know!

Here is the link to the video.

Inspiration Interview #6: Untreed Reads Author Justin Kramasz

Upon first meeting Justin Kramasz at a wonderful little get-together with other Untreed Reads authors in January 2011, I was taken aback.  He looks young, (probably because I keep getting older, a phenomenon for which I have yet to find the antidote).  He claims to be "uneducated", but once you spend about 30 seconds talking to him, you find that not to be the case.  In fact, he has a rare mix of innate philosophical intelligence and tremendous wit that is far beyond his years, and as you will find out in his answers to my questions below, he brings that insight to bear on his own writing.  His new eBook novel, The Lights in Vegas, is now available through Untreed Reads and all major eBook retailers.  It is a highly enjoyable novel, and I recommend it heartily!

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The Accidental Author: For the first part of my yearlong series of interviews entitled “Inspiration to Publication”, I'm focusing heavily on Inspiration. Regarding your fantastic new novel, The Lights in Vegas, can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind your main character, Brigham Detroit?

Justin Kramasz: Brigham Detroit is partly a personification of the identity diffusion that I feel as an American adult male and the trials that led me to this point. Brig is in no way a carbon copy of me and my life, but for all intents and purposes I lived and breathed this character; I have worn his skin and sat at his table. The genesis for this character comes from a persona that I occasionally find myself taking on when I play poker. When I play in a live game with friends or whoever, real people, and my focus is great, I sometimes become this intense being who is juggling probabilities and outs and psychology behind a mask of varying shape. The thoughts that I think, the emotions I affect, the things that I say while in this state; that is Brigham Detroit. Everything is designed to gather knowledge and make judgments. You could write a master’s thesis in psychology based on one hour of observing a good poker game. So my “what if” moment was “what if someone did everything in this Zen-poker mindset?” What I did with Brigham Detroit is take this mindset, this persona, and gave it to him and let him run with it. This is all he is, his whole life down to his every last thought, Brig is working angles and running numbers. Brig is so imperfect in every other aspect of his life, but Brig is the perfect poker deviant.

AA: I'm wondering if the old cliché, “write what you know”, applies for this novel? Are you an avid Texas Holdem player?

JK: That is a complicated question. As an actor, I was once told to “always act from your own experiences, even if they’ve never happened.” I believe strongly in this advice. As writers, we act through our characters. Each character is a piece of our larger self, and as such, they share nuances of our id, ego, and superego; we are bound to play them truthfully or the story suffers. Writing what you know is great, if you can do it; far better to write what you love and let your technical advisors correct your mistakes and inconsistencies. That being said, I am not necessarily an “avid” player, but poker is something that is very close to my heart. I grew up playing poker and I have a lot of special memories attached to it. Here is a game that caters to all personality types and skill sets. A person may excel in poker because he has a special knowledge of psychology, a person may excel because he has exceptional math skills, a person may excel because he has great instincts, or some combination of the three. Poker is truly a game that imitates life, and the student is forever learning.

AA: You have a very incisive narrative, especially during the poker games. Where did you conjure up your voice for these scenes?

JK: My voice… This brings back memories of my senior year high-school English teacher, Ms. Young, who introduced her classes to various style guides; APA, MLA formats, Strunk and White, etc. as preparation for college. One of the most important things she taught her students was to develop a natural voice for their writing; she taught us that this was the way to speak through your writing as an extension of yourself rather than simply as a creative device or technical manual, as the case may be. Specifically, I try to write in a sort of semi-delirious waking-meditation. The more I can detach myself from the tangible, the brighter will be the tapestry of the world I am trying to project. For me, poetry has been an excellent tool for developing voice. I consider myself a short story writer first, each chapter in my book was written as such and it is my feeling that writing this way helps one to develop voice. Long ago I read a book called The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, and though I don’t necessarily recommend this book for anything more than an organizational tool, I took one great piece of advice from it that can help any writer who struggles with voice, and I’m paraphrasing; imagine your right hand as your creative hand and your left hand as your editing hand. One should only write with one hand at a time. I know it is sort of biblical, but the bottom line is this: Don’t edit your work as you write. The creative mind is a beastly presence that lurks in the darkness in between sanity and coherent thought. When you write, let the beast come forward.

AA: What was your major inspiration for the plotline of The Lights in Vegas?

JK: The non road-trip aspects are greatly inspired by popular fiction and my own reflections on our society, not as a whole, but on an individualistic level. I am a big fan of satire and self improvement. My greater inspiration comes from my own natural restless spirit. Consequently, most of my writing is anything but stationary. I fell in love with the great American road-trip long before I had ever touched H. S. Thompson or Steinbeck or Kerouac. Once the American spirit was of westward expansion and eminent domain, my spirit tells me to go back and rediscover. I have always gone west to east. My vision of America is shaped by this. Leaving the California desert by way of route 66 or the sprawling mountains through 80, you experience some of the same things. The country opens up and unfolds before your very eyes with fields of black volcanic rock or sprawling mesas and limitless skies. For me this has always inspired a sense of wonder and a feeling of contact with the great unknown. Naturally, my instinct is to jump in and see where it takes me. Writing a novel is like a road trip for your soul, I have always been captivated by the romance and promises therein.

AA: Besides a computer, what is necessary to have nearby when you are writing?

JK: Food, caffeine, quietude and some form of lesser inspiration. For some, this may be a physical activity, for others a painting, for others still it may be a Buddha shaped lamp in a San Francisco hotel room. Any of these lesser muses may suffice. My writing style is pretty demanding of me. I cannot simply write 1,000 words a day and be done with it. I often don’t write for a few days or weeks or more, and when I finally sit down I might be at the machine for upwards of eight hours. So I need to have something nearby to keep me flying. And I need to know I don’t have to go far for calories or a small jolt of inspiration. You shouldn’t have to leave the sanctuary of your inner psyche for something so base as chicken salad.

AA: Does it have to be silent when you are writing, or do you have music or some other background noise?

JK: Depends on how I feel that day. If I feel like listening to music as I write, the music must not have lyrics, which distract my focus and steal my attention. I choose classical music, which is believed by some to stimulate alpha brain waves, go figure. So if I simply cannot find quiet on the outside, I have to at least find quiet on the inside.

AA: What types of literature do you enjoy reading?

JK: I enjoy anything with an element of satire. I abhor romance, Emily Bronte eat your heart out. I once read a passage from one of the Twilight books, which I see as reprocessed bodice-rippers with fangs, and I’m done forever with the whole genre. To each his own, but that is not for me. Other than that genre, I run the gamut from Raymond Chandler to Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen King to H. S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk to David Gemmell. I am also fond of Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. Yeah, I may poke fun at romance readers and their “Authors” as paper recycling factories or cookie cutter novelists, but I am a sucker for Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Oh, the shame…

AA: What are you reading right now?

JK: I am almost through with Duma Key, by Stephen King. Somewhere, I am in the middle of The Rum Diary, by Hunter S. Thompson, if I can ever find it I’ll finish it. I am also reading a novel by a fellow [Untreed Reads] author, Tor Hansson.

AA: What's next from Justin Kramasz?

JK: Well I haven’t made up my mind yet. I have three different novel ideas that are rolling around in my head and I am waiting for one to come all the way forward. The one that seems to be asking to be written first is a thriller with a splash of horror about a cop who is trying to get a job in another state but during his drive for the interview, he falls asleep at the wheel and wakes up in a different world where he uncovers a secret that has him being hunted by… Well, I guess I have some writing to do, Goodbye for now, and thanks for the interview.

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Justin Kramasz is an author, screenwriter, and poet. Justin was nearly born on the steps in front of Washington Hospital in Fremont, California when doctors turned away his uninsured parents. He was raised in various urban settings in the East-Bay Area. He won his first poker hand at the age of eight, and he finally beat his father in a heads up match when he was seventeen. After frequenting card rooms, casinos, pool halls and home games, as well as online poker games, Justin decided to write a novel that would capture the strange qualities and habits of the modern gambling mind in action. He currently makes his abode with his German Shepherd/Chow mix, Foxie-Moxie Karmalita, in the estranged Pacheco, California.