← Living The Next Chapter: Candid Conversations with Authors and Writers for Readers Searching for a New Read
Living The Next Chapter: Candid Conversations with Authors and Writers for Readers Searching for a New Read
E683 - Anson Joaquin - Author of Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction and Epic Fantasy - The Infernal Age series
00:47:57
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- [00:01]
A
During revisions, I ended up going back and revisiting that character, which worked out really well because Hakarix is the name of this demon. It worked out really well because setting hack Rex loose on Earth and sort of showing the reader how this creature was experiencing Earth and all the plentiful prey there and the other threats, the other demons, rivals they call each other and you know, was just, was a, was a lot of fun. Again, that perhaps says something negative about me, my personality, but it was, it was a lot of fun to write, you know, to write those scenes. It was, you know, chilling and scary to me anyway, and so I'm glad that I got that feedback and I went through that beta writer, beta reader process.
- [00:58]
B
Welcome back to Living the Next Chapter, the Author podcast, where we get to meet amazing authors from around the world, fall in love with stories, and fill up your bookshelf with great books from great authors. And Anson's here, we're going to talk about his journey. He's got multiple things coming for you, lots of great stuff and yeah, you're gonna fall in love with this world. There's a lot of great stuff going on here. Anson, welcome to the podcast. Nice to have you on Living the Next Chapter.
- [01:25]
A
Thank you very much. It's my pleasure to be here.
- [01:28]
B
Excellent. Tell everybody where you are in this big global world of ours.
- [01:32]
A
I am based in Roanoke, Virginia, which is in the southwestern part of the state mountains. And it's a beautiful day today and that's a great place to live. Although in my author's bio I kind of make fun of it a bit because Stephen King a few years ago made a big buzz around here because he saw a rerun of a game show where the grand prize was a week long vacation in Roanoke. And he made fun of that as who would want to go to Roanoke? Well, people still remember that around here, but it is a, it is a nice place to visit if you like outdoor things in particular.
- [02:07]
B
I had your US Federal judge on my show, which was interesting because he joined me from the courthouse in Roanoke, Virginia, from his chambers, which was really interesting for a Canadian to be interviewing. That gentleman was really interesting. So he actually admitted to a crime that he committed when he was a teenager. But we'll just leave that off the. Maybe we'll edit that out. No, but he actually, it was pretty funny. So. But yeah, so yeah, I've had some interesting people on the show. I have a different podcast I mentioned to you, Living the Upcycle Canada podcast. And I had the guys from Black Dog Salvage on and I, I love their TV show and all that they do in Roanoke and they're super Roanoke friendly with everything that they do on their show. They really promote your community and sound like some really nice guys. So anyways, you said maybe your wife has been to the store there?
- [03:04]
A
She has, yeah, a few times and my mother in law as well. It's kind of expensive. I hear there's a lot of cool stuff there. They, I drive past it frequently, but.
- [03:13]
B
There you go. Awesome. Yeah. So, yeah, I've had some really great connections with your community and anytime I get to talk to somebody from there, it's feels like home. Even though I've never been there, it feels like home, so.
- [03:24]
A
Well, you should come. It's got a, it's got a great little airport with good connectivity to this country anyway and, and you know, it's called the Star City. We have a big star and a zoo up on top of a little mountaintop there. And it's, it's, it has a lot to recommend it.
- [03:39]
B
All right, I'll put it on the list. You convinced me. I like that. And we'll grab a coffee together or something. That'd be great.
- [03:44]
A
Sure. It's good. Awesome.
- [03:46]
B
Let's start with your author journey. We have authors listening to the show. They're new to this and the fact that they can have a few moments with a, an author that's further down the path than they are could be really inspiring and encouraging for them to hear from your perspective. So what would have been helpful for you as an, as a, an author in your early days to hear from a fellow author that's been kind of doing this for a while. What could have been encouraging for you to hear or back back in those early days? Can you take us back?
- [04:20]
A
Sure. Where it started with me was I always loved science fiction and fantasy. That's how I learned to read My mother reading the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia and the Sword of Shannara to me as I was a young child and I just never really stopped reading those kinds of books. And I was, I guess, fairly creative in terms of storytelling and like the idea of telling my own stories. And you know, I played around that a little bit as a kid, but I always intended to write a book or books. And then, you know, when I was an adult, one night I had a particularly vivid dream of a guy on fire with an axe fighting demons in sort of the real world. And, and it just, it seemed like a, you know, it's. Well, frankly it seemed like a movie that I really wanted to see or a television show. And, and, and so the next morning when I woke up, I just started writing things down about the dream that I remembered and, and then sort of, you know, expanded upon that and, and ended up, I think, maybe the next day with, you know, a 10 page document that was primarily just world building, just sort of how the world had come to this state. And, and you know, and then I was like, well, this is, this is going to be my book. And, and I. And that's when I sort of hit a, you know, a more difficult patch was sort of, how do you get from that? Here's my idea. I finally have the idea that I want to write and you know, what's the next step to get it to a book? Well, obviously it's to write it, but sort of the process that you go through in writing and sort of. I was always, you know, good in English class and things. I considered myself a good writer and I thought it would be easy, but it took a little bit more conscious effort and, you know, reading about the craft of writing. I took a few classes and there's a program, the Victoria School of Writing, Fellow Canadian, although the opposite side, I think, from you and who, you know, had a sort of writer's getaway and sort of went over sort of basic elements of the process and the craft of writing. And I learned about the differences between, as she put it, pantsers versus plotters. And I always thought that I was a pantser, which means, you know, you just sit down and write and just rip it off and you've got all these great ideas and you just put them onto paper and you're kind of done. Which was very naive and wrong in a lot of ways. But in particular for me, that's apparently not how I work or it's not how I really get progress on the book. It's for me, outlining and sort of thinking about the plot arc, of course, and the character arcs themselves and where I want to go with the story and then slowly sort of building in elements to those. And then when I actually write the scenes or the chapters, that's when I put in the, or try anyway to put in the clever dialogue and the cool ideas and the neat fight scenes and scary demons or whatever, sort of when I actually do the writing. But in terms of getting there and having a process that I can follow and, well, having a process that I can follow and contract my progress, that's really a key element for me is. Is. Is Sort of checking down each of these. I already have the chapters listed and I know what I want to do in each one. And so, you know, for me, because I have a family and, and, and a day job, I have to. To write very early in the morning. And so I sit down at my computer, have my coffee and, and I have what I want to write that day. You know, there might not finish it necessarily, or I might go back and change it, you know, materially later, but at least I know what I want to accomplish that day for every day.
- [08:34]
B
So when you write in the morning like that and then go off to your normal everyday life, do you still kind of ruminate on what you wrote that morning and it kind of sits with you during the day? Does that kind of help you in the writing process?
- [08:49]
A
Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes it does. You know, it can be very frustrating, you know, and I think I've been late to take the kids to school and things a couple times where I'm. Where I really want to get, really want to get this idea sort of down on paper. And I'm afraid that if I, if I leave it at this, you know, wherever I am at that moment, that I'm going to forget. And. But usually it's actually helpful to go away on the drive to work, have almost an hour commute, and that's very helpful time to think about, you know, where I am with the book and in that chapter and what I want to accomplish. And that's where you sort of think about the, you know, you come up with the elements that actually, that readers get excited about. I mean, readers aren't excited about your chapter structure, at least I'm not as a reader, you know, but they are excited about the cool ideas you have and the, you know, the novel ways of presenting things, you know, your, Your ability to, to both play with the tropes of the genre you're writing in, but also get away from them in a. In a way that, that makes it seem like it's not just, you know, it's not just a derivative thing that you've read a thousand times.
- [09:57]
B
So that that dream that sparked the idea for the book, is that something that's common for you to have these types of vivid dreams like that, or is this kind of a. Like a lightning strike for you?
- [10:08]
A
I. Well, a little of both. It's, it's not at all common for me now. When I was younger, I would, I would frequently have. Have nightmares. And so I, I guess. I guess it was a little more common when I Was younger. But then I guess at some point I. I had figured out the knack of realizing that I was in a dream and, you know, and then I could. I've been told by people that they have, you know, control over their dreams when they realize they're in a dream. It's not quite that easy for me. But I sort of being able to fly in my dreams. And so that sort of most all the nightmares really, that I would have after that, I would sort of fly away from the problem. So, you know, perhaps that's just something about my personality. But. So I stopped having so many nightmares and now I don't really remember dreams that often at all, really. Very often. And so this was, this was an unusual. Unusual enough that I, you know, as soon as I woke up, I wanted to write down all that I could remember.
- [11:15]
B
Did you have any kind of feelings of, like, why me? Like, why, why would. Why should I write this book? Like, why did I get the tap on the shoulder? Because I'd be kind of like, like being that I'm not an active, avid writer. And then all of a sudden I have this dream and this idea, it's like, well, maybe this is for somebody else to do. Like, not. Why. Why me? Right.
- [11:37]
A
No, no, I, I, you know, certainly especially at that time in my life, I was, I was, I was much more confident in myself and, and where I was going and. And as I said, I'd always planned on. On being a writer and I'd always. And I had other ideas for books and things. I still have some, you know, you have your to be read pile of books of real books, and then I have to be written pile of ideas that I'm going to get to someday. So I already had some ideas that could have been the book, but this one just really grabbed me and that sort of, you know, all the, you know, growing up, you sort of, as a romantic, you think, you know, you're going to be just seized by the perfect job and the perfect partner and, you know, and you'll just know like lightning out of the blue. And sometimes that's. That happens. And that's great. I really try to embrace that sort of thing when it happens in my life, but other times it's really just making good decisions and, you know, seeing where things go. You know, it's like I never really decided what I wanted to major in in college and just sort of went with things that, that made sense to me. So when I had this dream, it really. That's, you know, that's Part of the. Why it was like lightning, the lightning strike in that sense, because it's not the kind of thing that normally happened to me. And I was, I was just certain that this was, this was a tale worth telling and I was really excited to be a part of it.
- [13:05]
B
All right, let's switch over to the readers that are listening. They're here for you and the story and to fall in love with you as an author. Can you kind of give us a sense of the world that you're trying to build for readers? And you have multiple things you're working on, I realize, but as a new person, maybe meeting you at a coffee shop there in Roanoke and they find you're out, you're an author, and they're like, wow, this is great. What kind of books? What are you writing about? Can you kind of pare it down as a introductory 101 for a new reader for you?
- [13:37]
A
Sure. Generally, I, you know, I don't, I don't just jump into the, you know, the, all the details of the sub genres that I'm, that I touch on or, you know, the sorts of stories and books that I, that I, that I want to incorporate. Generally I just start off with saying it's, it's science fiction, fantasy, horror. It's, it's a, you know, genre mix of those, of those genres. And, and then if, if they're interested to hear more, then I get into some more detail. I mean, it's post apocalyptic and it's, it's, it's intended for adults. The tone is, is fairly dark. There are elements and themes that I deal with of, of, you know, characters suffering and, and of course it's, it is truly apocalyptic and post apocalyptic. And so it's, it's know, it's, it contemplates and, and it shows, you know, massive loss of, of human life and, and sort of change of, of the physical laws in the world and, and then the introduction of, of these, these aliens from a different plane of existence. They're generally called demons by the, by the characters in the book. Um, and so it's, you know, it's, it's scary and, and, and dark in places. But, but you know, I think of the. I sometimes when I'm talking about the book, I'm like, have you ever seen the movie Cabin in the Woods? And the, the, the banter between the scientists and the lab? I just, I loved it. And that's a movie that, although it's more tongue in cheek than my books are, but, but it is you know, it manages to be cool and scary and, and, and apocalyptic while still having moments of levity and genuine depth of character. And the interaction between the characters is real and it's amusing and it's fun in places. So I tried to have elements of that. I don't like reading just a slog of depressing, dark content. I don't like darkness for the sake of darkness. But, you know, the darkness sort of lent for me anyway. It lends an air of, of believability, you know, or the stakes. You know, sometimes epic fantasy will fall into a trope of, of. Of having, you know, world ending stakes, you know, sort of the bad guys trying to take over the entire world or destroy the world or whatever. And then the tone never matches that horrific thing and it makes it seem less real. And for me anyway, as a reader, it's harder to get into. And so I tried to make my book very easy to get into and very easy to think this is real life. And then this thing happens, this failed experiment causes a breach and there's technology in place that sort of, you know, freezes everything and a sort of zero field of, you know, no energy and matter getting out of the sphere. And then, and then of course, inevitably that, that, you know, stasis field breaks and then sort of all hell breaks loose and literally, in a sense. Okay, so I kind of got lost there in my answer. But. So it is, it's dark and. But it's not all, it's not all dark. It has, it has a lot of focus on the characters, on the interaction. There's, there's conversations about pop culture and philosophy and, you know, sort of what constitutes proper, you know, moral behavior when your life is on the line all the time. And a lot of post apocalyptic, you know, shows and books get into that, that sort of element. But it is an area I think I'm interested in personally.
- [17:37]
B
Um, in music. We try to. When we hear a new, a new band or a new song, we're trying to tell somebody else. They're like, usually it's, what is it? What does it sound like? Like, what would I know as well. It's a combination of Metallica and Ariana Grande. You're like, oh, okay, well, that gives me context for that song. That'd be a weird band, by the way. But for you, if we were to kind of give some kind of comparable for readers that way, they'd be like, oh, yeah, okay, I know that author, I know that kind of that world. Is there anything that's Kind of comparable from your perspective?
- [18:09]
A
Yeah, sure, Yeah. I think the closest, the closest comps are the Mist by Stephen King and Wow. Dies of the Fire by Serlin.
- [18:21]
B
Yeah.
- [18:22]
A
And, you know, so there were elements of those stories that I, that I really liked and there were elements that I didn't. And so, you know, those I think are the closest comps and then, and then sort of the, the demons and, and the, the world building. Because I really wanted to start in, in the real world and then have this science fiction element that sort of causes this apocalypse and, and creates all the changes. And they're sort of, mostly, they're explained and, you know, the readers sort of understand what's, what's happening. Not all the effects are explained because the characters don't know and so the people don't know. It's told in third person limited perspective and goes from character to character around the three main characters and actually one of the demons. And so since the characters don't know that there are things that the readers aren't fully aware of in terms of the, the causes of some of the, you know, behaviors and things that people are seeing. But I'm sorry, what was the question again?
- [19:36]
B
Yeah, I'm just curious about third person limited. Can you explain that for a reader who might not understand what that means?
- [19:43]
A
Sure, yeah. A lot of times, you know, when a story, when a fiction story is told in third person, it's often third person omniscient, which means that the, the, the book, the narrator, and therefore possibly the reader knows everything, or at least it's presented as if you know everything. So you have sort of this viewpoint that's, you know, might as well be God. I mean, it could do anything. It can tell you the truth. And sometimes authors get, get lost in that and they, they tell more than they show. And. But it's, you know, it's a very common way to tell a story. But I wanted to be a little more restricted than that. And I've always really liked the. Well, not always, but in many cases I really like the books that go from perspective to perspective. But I don't like first person for whatever reason. And so from third person limited, you have that third person viewpoint, but you're limited to the experiences of one of the characters, or at least that's how I've approached it. And so I'll have a chapter that focuses on one of the main characters, Gabriel, for example, and you sort of experience the world, although it's told in third person. You experience the world the way he's experiencing it. And I limit my descriptions to what he sees generally. Now, there are a few exceptions which are, for the most part, hopefully intentional. But in Maine, I restrict my viewpoint to what that one character is experiencing and thinking and actually what their mindset is, can impact sort of what they're, you know, the experience they're having and sharing with the reader, in a sense.
- [21:31]
B
Talk a little bit about some of the main characters we're going to meet in the story and maybe if we can. If you can kind of introduce them to us and some of the key things we need to know about them, kind of like for, you know, behind the scenes, for the listeners here that the people, when they pick up your book in the. In the store might not get. I like it. A little behind the scenes stuff. So tell us a little bit about some of those main characters and who are they?
- [21:56]
A
Okay. Yeah. So since the story starts with sort of this failed, you know, secret government experiment, the two of the main characters are workers, you know, for this agency, for this. For this group. And one of them, Gabriel, is ex military and he is a fixer for this organization. And he's called in after the problem already has happened and then been locked down in this zero field. And so his job is to go and take charge of the facility, which is in a little town called Betelgeuse, New Mexico, and make sure that everything stays safe and it stays protected and secret. So he's sent there already at the facility is a character, Tam Sinclair, who is an ombudsman, which is. So it was his job to. That he's a scientist. It was his job to inform the organization about, you know, problems and, you know, reasons not to do this. And so he was sort of against it from the start. And also his responsibility extends to, you know, helping keep it safe. And so that's the beginning of the book is sort of their, you know, them dealing with this new situation and figuring out how to. How to protect, you know, the local town and perhaps, you know, more from the, you know, from this, this failed experiment. And then once the. Once the containment field fails and the action really kicks off, then we're introduced to a character who isn't named at first, her name is Sarah, but was living in the town and experiences some of the terror that the town experiences. And so you sort of. You're the only. She's the only perspective that. That, that was there when. When all hell broke loose in this little town of Betelgeuse. And. And it's. Yeah, it goes through A very terrible time there in the town with, with demons and also human predators as well, because one of the effects of the, of the change in physical laws was this sort of characters. Well, humans, you know, become their wish fulfillment and, and their, Their impact, their ability to impact the world around them. And then the sudden removal of. Of all law and order, technology fails, lights go out and. And so it's, it's really a terrible. And also, most people die. Their bodies just stop, stop, stop functioning. They're not able to function in this new paradigm. So she sort of experiences all of that and they meet up and, and ultimately she decides that she's going to go with them. She's not, because her, her. Her parents, she was living at home with her parents and they die in front of her and, and she has nothing to keep her there, so she wants to. Yeah, to go with them. So that's the three companions as they start their journey. The journey is spurred off by there's data about this experiment that Gabriel and Tam feel the need to take to the authors of the experiment, which are based in a lab in Long Beach, California. And so their idea is to take the data there and perhaps they could figure out a way to fix things or to at least make technology work again. Or. They're not sure exactly what can be accomplished now, but their hope is that the authors of the experiment will know it better than anyone else and can hopefully fix things. And so that's sort of the mission that these three take off on. Okay, and then the other point of view character, or I guess point of view character is a good way to describe it, is one of the demons, which, which I originally, I just wanted to write one chapter to sort of illustrate the demon's world so that the reader would know what these creatures are like. And it was a really fun chapter to write. It came out very easily, and I was entranced with it. I thought it was really cool. And so my first version of the book, I just had that one chapter in there, and then it was all the, the main, the human characters after that. And like 70% of my beta readers, you know, asked for more of this demon character. They were like, oh, when are you going to, you know, you're going to have more of this character in other books like I really like, you know. So during revisions, I ended up going back and revisiting that character, which worked out really well because Hackrix is the name of this demon. And it worked out really well because, you know, setting Hack Rex loose on Earth and sort of showing the reader how this creature was experiencing earth and the, and all the plentiful prey there and, and the other threats, the other demons, rivals they call each other. And you know, which just was a. Was a lot of fun. Again, that perhaps says something negative about me, my personality. It was a lot of fun to write those scenes. It was chilling and scary to me. Anyway, I'm glad that I got that feedback and I went through that beta reader process.
- [27:46]
B
Yeah, it's interesting when they come back with that kind of feedback because in your mind, your book is relatively complete. When you hand it off to people, you're not kind of giving them the beginning stages of what you're writing. You're. This is. I'm pretty happy with this. And then you send it off and that kind of feedback coming back, you're like, wait a minute, there's an opportunity that I might have missed here.
- [28:06]
A
Yeah, well, that's going back to the sort of authors, you know, that was one of the main things that I learned here. And you know, perhaps others are not so arrogant as I was when I was first starting, but I really thought that I could tell the story the way I wanted it told. And, and, and, you know, the end, I would just need some editing to make sure I didn't, you know, spell anything wrong or, you know, put a comma in the wrong place or something. And, and, and so every time, at first, every time I got feedback, my initial reaction was, oh, but that changes my voice. I don't, you know, you're not getting it. And I, you know, and I would, I would, you know, fight back against, or, you know, at least silently to myself against this feedback, it, it took me a while to, to, to internalize the, the comments. And you know, once I was able to, you know, I guess to my credit, I did continue to try. You know, I, I kept seeking feedback and, and kept, you know, reading it and taking, trying to take it seriously. And, and eventually I, eventually I was able to. Eventually it stuck that, that, you know, there are a lot of ways to tell stories and if you're, if you're bothering to write a book, it's to other people. It's not just to yourself.
- [29:23]
B
Right.
- [29:23]
A
And so if it's to other people, then you should listen to other people and, you know, take their experiences into account. And it's, it seems obvious and probably is obvious to most people, but, but for me, for whatever reason, it wasn't obvious at first, you know, and, and so getting the hang of, of, of editing, being edited and receiving criticism and feedback and being able to say, you know, thank you because once I fix this, this is going to be so much better. And that just happened time after time after time. So I was, you know, I've had plenty of experience now in, in, in doing that and now it's, now I consider it, you know, perhaps the most important part of the, you know, at least of the book creation process anyway is crafting and recrafting, you know, how you tell a story and even elements of it. You know, you think this element's really cool. But you know, most of your beta readers don't really care about that. They want, you know, they want to hear more about this other thing. And so I tried to take that into account for, you know, as much as I could.
- [30:33]
B
I think that's, that's a good way of looking at it. I do, I love that feedback and I love authors that are open to that feedback. I think that's, that's a winning combination. When you go through the process of writing a book, you come out the other side and you're a different author than you were when you first started. How does that help you on the next project? Like, do you find it's kind of like steps. You're like, every project is a little bit easier, a little bit different. How does, how do you carry your learnings to the next thing?
- [31:04]
A
Yeah, well, the issue that I went over earlier, that sort of not understanding my most productive style of writing, you know, that was a big difference, you know, and so for, for book two, being able to, instead of just trying to blindly plunge down a path, you know, I just kind of imagine, you know, jumping through chest deep snow and going down a path and then realize that that's not the path. You're on the wrong path. And you know, you know, so being able to go straight to the outlining for me was, was very helpful and a lot faster, you know, and again, trying to write, you know, with one or a little over one hour a day, you know, seven days a week, is, is, is, is a challenge in and of itself, but that's just sort of where, where I am in life and, and that's what it takes. You know, occasionally, you know, my wife will, will say, you know, this weekend, why don't you take this weekend off and you know, get out of the house and just write. And that's, that's terrific when I, when I get a chance to do that. But, but so, you know, being able to, to just knowing how it went the first time and then being able to recreate that from a process standpoint and then also elements of craft as well. Like the first, first time I wrote book, when I finished book one, I, you know, one of the, one of the issues was the character arcs were not, were not very well defined and they weren't very archy in most cases. And so on the one hand, I always knew it was going to be a series. And so one could argue that the arcs might be much slower or you can't have a finish point, or it's harder to have a finish point, but I think you can, you just have to sort of figure out how. You don't have to have that, you know, that start to finish arc for every character, but you just have to realize that if you don't, that you're still on the arc, you have to continue it. And you have to give that the readers that payoff if the character is important and if it's not important, you should think about cutting it or making changes and so that sort of thing. Yeah, I did learn that sort of during the first book and the feedback process and rewriting. And it was helpful, very helpful for book two. I think book two is better. Certainly a lot more. There's more action, there's more doubt, there's more, you know, self doubt. I mean, and there's more, you know, fighting and, and there's more romance and there's more everything. So I was able to, to fit more into it, you know, I think in part because of the things that I'd learned and what I wanted to accomplish.
- [33:56]
B
When you're writing in series as a non author, a non author question here, do you have in your mind the final book in the series as kind of a finish line and you have a, you kind of have a goal you're pointing towards and you've kind of in your mind thought about how that book's going to end off the series and then does that trickle back down to book two, for example, and you're writing towards the finality of what you're doing. How does all this work? I don't understand how this happens.
- [34:29]
A
Well, you know, having stuff started, writing one series, I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but yes, the short answer is, yeah, I have the final book in mind, sort of the main thing that happens in it at least. And then actually some other things that I want to happen during the series that I'm very excited about getting to. And so those things of course have to be set up in previous books and then the Character arcs sort of also have to. Have to not only appear, you have to, you know, set foreshadowing and set some. The premise for their changes. You know, I was reading one article about character arcs and it was sort of boiling it down to, you know, their lie and their truth. You know, it's like, what, what's the, the most important lie that character tells themselves? And that's sort of where you're starting. That's, you know, that and then, and then what happens to them that challenges that and then, and then what is their truth? And so, you know, and again, I didn't, when I started out, I didn't had. I had not read that article. I didn't know that really. I mean, I sort of. I might have had a, an inkling of it or a feeling of it from, from being a reader, but, but not from, from, you know, having to, to write characters with that in mind. It seems like sometimes there's a lot of things you want to keep in mind when you're writing, but fortunately you don't really have to because you can always revise it.
- [36:07]
B
It's kind of that ripple effect thing, you know, where the butterfly flaps its wings and something on the other side of the world changes, whatever. But the fact that, you know, the, the final piece of the story, that you can kind of go back and then start dropping in little Easter eggs and little things that kind of steer the story towards your final goal. I would think it'd be hard to write in series without some kind of idea of where you're heading because you're just going to kind of go all over the place and hopefully maybe you end up at that finish line. But yeah, every race needs a finish line, right?
- [36:41]
A
Yes. Well, the people who are, who genuinely are pantsers, you know, I think they would say true, the story is inside them and it could. Like, there's great stories that end lots of different ways. And so you don't have to find one, you just have to find like the one. You can find a one and then make that one the best you can and.
- [37:02]
B
Right.
- [37:03]
A
You know, I think there's a lot to that and if I'm during the writing process and book, you know, three or four. I'm working on three now, but, you know, book three or four, I come up with something that just that I have to have and it requires a change to, you know, to some of the core concepts that I have later. Well, that'll be a, you know, a conversation I'll have with myself and probably my wife later. But, but right now, yeah, I have, I have always had sort of the, the overarching, you know, plot arc and how, how it ends. And so it's. Right now it's about getting there, but, but there's a lot of stops along the way.
- [37:38]
B
Okay, so how many books are in
- [37:41]
A
the series right now? I'm targeting either 5 or 6. We'll see how much I can accomplish. I don't want to, especially given the sort of the pace of the first two books because I wanted time for the characters to interact. The pace is fairly slow. I mean, there's still lots of action. It's not a, it's not a boring book, I don't think. And I haven't, I haven't got any feedback that it is. But I did want the characters to breathe and to, and you know, to, for the reader to get to know them and to, to, you know, see themselves partially reflected in one of the character or another. And so with that pace for the first two books, I, you know, it's not like I could mean I can, you know, skip over six months and I plan on doing that at one point in the series. But, but if you do that too much, then it's like it's so jarringly different than the, than the pace you started out with. And I, I want it to be a cohesive. I want the series to be cohesive and in the same sort of tone and pace.
- [38:44]
B
While we're chatting, I'm looking at your amazing website which we chatted about before we hit record. It's beautiful for the listeners as they come and find and fall in love with you. Let's talk a little bit about your website and what we're going to find. There's your blogs on here, there's. There's write ups on the books and what's coming soon, which is exciting. But let's talk through your website a little bit.
- [39:08]
A
Sure, yeah. Well, I mean, that's going back to the craft for a minute. You know, it's, it's one thing I thought you wrote a book and you got, you got an agent and you got a publisher and then you wrote the next book. And that's not, I mean, although it does work that way for a precious few, but for most of us, that's not how it goes at all. And so I've had to learn this. Not only did I have to learn about editing and rewriting, which I knew existed, I just had not really done it, but I did not really think about marketing and Publishing, self publishing and then marketing were things that I had not given much thought to. And there was a lot to read. You know, actually the, well, it's kind of a polymath. The voice actor Travis Baldry has a blog and he wrote a book during the November, write a novel in November sort of challenge and wrote a book and put a multi thousand word blog together over every step of the self publication process. He was self published originally and I just found it fascinating. I just, there's so much on there that I had not thought about before and was interested to learn about myself. And so that was sort of my base guide and I created a spreadsheet and put all these elements that I need to take care of. And the spreadsheet is like 60 things I got to take care of just in the publishing process. I guess it included marketing as well. So publishing and marketing to 60 tasks that I set for myself. And so he was very helpful. I even emailed him and asked him some questions and he responded. He was, he's very gracious. Yeah, it's, it's terrific. And so that was, that was a big help. I, I recommend that just go to Travis Baldrey's website and he published a self published book launch A to Z. And about a month or two months after he published his own book himself, one of the big publishing houses, you know, came said hey, we need, we need this book. And and so they picked it up and now he's, now he's with a tour or something. Yeah, tour, good. You know, so that was, that's sort of the dream, I guess or you know, dungeon crawler Carl, where Deniman is, is you know, written this book, you know, self published and then all of a sudden now it's going to be a, you know, television show and hopefully more. You know, I'm anxiously waiting for book eight, like a lot of people.
- [41:44]
B
Do you have a future wish for your series as it goes out into the world? I know some of the authors come on, they're like, oh, I love to see this on the big screen or I'd love to see it picked up or turned into something else. Do you have any kind of secret wish for your series?
- [42:00]
A
Of course, yeah, I definitely see it as a prestige television show. But the first thing that really came to me was this would be a kickass graphic novel. Like I just, it's, it's really lends itself. I mean, I guess because I had this sort of visual dream about it to start with. It always seemed that way to me and I Think it would be a terrific graphic novel, for starters. And, and so at some point I would, you know, like to talk to someone who does that and figure out how it's done. I have no idea. Okay.
- [42:29]
B
So. Well, you never know who's listening to this, so you might be getting some responses and saying, hey, check out my work, see if I can work together with you. So that's always encouraging. Right? So that's good. Okay, so let's end off our conversation. I love, I love this. I'd love to have you come back in the future and give us updates as you continue to write, continue to share your story so that more people can connect with you and have more conversations with you. But it's Living the Next Chapter is the name of the show. So I kind of like to use and leverage the name of my podcast whenever I can. Beyond writing, if we can step outside of writing for you for a second, how else are you living your next chapter as you go forward from today?
- [43:11]
A
Well, from the book world, I've just taken the first book off of the ebook off of Amazon's platform exclusively, going wide with that. So I'm Learning about using Draft 2 Digital as the platform there to get it out everywhere. The, the physical books, paperback and hardback have been available, you know, wide before. But, you know, I've got friends who are dedicated Apple Book readers, and so they're. So I have some people who are waiting for it, for it to go wide and I'll see how that, how that process is. I'm interested to learn about that book 2. I'm waiting for the COVID art, the final cover art to come back and then I'll be launching book two. It comes out on the 25th of November. So just around the corner, excited about that. Hopefully I can get it done in time because I've already delayed it once from October, late October to late November. So I'm excited about that launch and be recording the audiobook for that this month or next month. Not me personally. John Perala, who is a fantastic narrator, he did Book One and is doing Book two as well. And actually the audiobook version is by far my best seller. And I think John's a big reason for that. He was nominated for Audi. They call them the Audible Book Awards the past two years, once for science fiction and once for fantasy. Mal Goes to War was the science fiction book. And I forget the name of the fantasy book. It's a son of a fantasy Old west kind of thing. And I love Mal Goes to War. It's a great, great audiobook. And he did a fantastic job on book one for me and looking forward to him recording book two and then, of course, working on book three. So that's the book world. And then in my real life, I've got. My kids are 11, 9, 6, and 4. And so I've got. Soccer and lacrosse, and basketball season is just starting. And I almost. I almost volunteered to coach because they're down coaches. And then I realized I just don't have time. Don't have time to do that. And then when I got to the gym for the. For the evaluation, I'm glad I didn't, because it was. It was just a mess. There's kids running around screaming, and I just back away, Back away. Four is enough. Four is enough for me.
- [45:35]
B
That's good. Awesome. Thank you so much for being on the show, and I'm excited to. I love audiobooks, so I'm definitely downloading that because, my gosh, it keeps me company and I. I love when a great audiobook is created, so I'm really looking forward to participating in that as well. But again, thank you so much for being on the show. Keep me in mind. I'd love to have you back and continue the conversation.
- [45:58]
A
Thank you very much for having me. It's been. It's been a pleasure, and I'd be happy to come back hopefully, with. With some great news on. On book two and. And book three as well.
- [46:06]
B
Awesome. Everyone. All the information is always in the show notes. You want to see a great, beautiful website created by someone very, very talented, check out Anson's website. We'll have links in the show notes. If you're looking for help with your. Your website, you're like, I have no idea where to go for my author website. Well, again, reach out to Anson. I'm sure he's got someone he'd like to introduce you to. But, Anson, again, thank you so much for being on the show, and I hope to have you back real soon. Thank you.
- [46:35]
A
Thank you. Thank you so much.
- [46:40]
B
Hey, thank you so much again for pressing play. As you've heard, great guests on the show. And one thing you didn't hear in this conversation is what? What did you not hear? Think about it for a second. That's right. Not a single solitary commercial for a mattress or a supplement or whatever you call it. No. Why? Because we don't want to break up the conversation with commercials. So the fact that you're still here means that you are a fan of the show, I'm assuming. So if you want to help to keep the podcast going and to make me feel really happy? All I really care about is coffee. Okay. I just gotta be honest. I love coffee. I'm drinking one right now. Starting to get cold.
- [47:23]
A
I need.
- [47:24]
B
I need to warm it up. Helping us with our Buy me a coffee link over@livingthenextchapter.com and also in the show notes helps kind of keep the lights on around here. Remember, I'm doing this for free. I. I'm paying for everything, so I would love to have a little coffee donation. You know, even five bucks kind of fills up my cup. And I would love to enjoy a coffee from you. So if you're interested, again, thank you for listening, but you can use our Buy me a coffee link and fill up the cup. Thanks for being here.