JASON O'DONNELL, Pop Culture Blogger - Interview

The following is my first Guest Post, by my good friend Jason O’Donnell.

Image credit: Some rights reserved by Ford Buchanan

Following is the start of a conversation between me and my dear friend and published author, Mr. Anthony Cardno. I encourage you all to read through my comments to Anthony below and jump in the conversation with your own suggestions, insights, and experiences. This is, of course, a discussion, not the end all be all of twitter etiquette.

Anthony pondered on Twitter: “Wondering what I’m doing wrong that even when I ask for a RT, very few of them happen. Am I missing something RT-etiquette-wise?”

Not surprisingly, I have some very particular ideas about this specific behaviour (based on my experiences working in social business) and quickly replied with the following:

Jason to @talekyn Yes. Don’t ask. If your content is compelling, RTs will happen. Asking is seen as intrusive.
Anthony to @acdntlpoet Makes sense. And you know I very rarely ask. Which means apparently most of what I tweet is not compelling.
Jason to @talekyn kind of. Also depends on your audience, reach, etc… We can take this to a much more in-depth conversation 

Obviously, that’s no where near the end of the discussion. Simply said, there is no single answer to this question. People are making their living as consultants telling you how to to do just this. Not one of them has the right answer in a an easy to distribute formula; because the answer isn’t really formulaic.
As I noted above in my initial reply, the key to seeing your content re-shared is to put forward compelling contents. Oh, but if only the answer were so easy! While I can tell you at a high level what will get your content shared out, it all falls apart in the details and subtleties and actual implementation/ practical application; because not all content is created equal.

But let me step back for a moment and address etiquette before moving on into some best practices: Asking via Twitter for others to retweet you is seen as bad manners, neediness, and laziness. More to the point, it is a bit more indicative of immaturity in the space, or evidence of the size of your network (add totally inappropriate size queen joke at will). By immaturity in the space, I mean that coming from an individual I will see these requests in the same light as I see forwarded emails asking me to “keep the chain going”, or Facebook status updates asking to “post this to your status if you agree / just for one hour”, etc. From a corporate account, it just comes off as poor marketing strategy.

Exposing the size of your network isn’t really a big deal in and of itself (I can see your numbers in any space I play). Rather, asking for RTs presents the impression of a smaller and/or less engaged network, minimal confidence in your message, and generally short selling yourself. Now, I am not saying that asking for a RT is going to leave people with the impression that you are just a speck in the world, but I AM saying that it is one small action which builds how people perceive you when combined with other small actions and methods of presenting yourself.

Yes, I am talking from a more marketing centric approach, with a few assumptions in terms of how you use social media to connect with your audience and spread your message. The assumption is that you are a different type of user, one who is building a personal brand and using social avenues to build up your name and digital eminence. Obviously, if you are just using social media to stay in contact with friends and family, then the concern over perception won’t really apply. But, perception is big for driving and motivating others to share your content.

Rather than continuing to focus on the negatives of asking for RTs, let’s rather focus on what you CAN do to get people to share your content. There’s a great presentation here (http://nytmarketing.whsites.net/mediakit/pos/ ) on the psychology of sharing. From this presentation we can see that one of the biggest factors is determining how the information we are sharing will be useful to the recipient. Take this the next step and you can translate this into your own content by providing that clarity to the person you’re sharing with, so they can in turn re-share easily.

Let me take an example:
@talekyn: Two medical causes are important to me: Cancer and Juvenile Diabetes. Read my diabetes interview with 9yo Frank John:anthonycardno.com/?p=276
Good content here, and likely worthy of a retweet, but I have two problems:
1. It is passive… ok, so these are important to you. They are indeed important issues, but I am not compelled to RT immediately because there isn’t a real message here.
2. I have to click and read to determine if I want to RT. That is going to take some time, and I may lose the originating tweet before I am done with the interview.

Presuming the interview is compelling enough for me to want to RT it, I now need to go back to find the tweet to pass it on (or, one better, tweet/retweet from within the blog post itself). Most people won’t go back to twitter to retweet unless the content is REALLY moving. A well composed tweet that will compel a stranger to read your content will also be compelling enough to garner retweets with out specifically asking for them. Compelling content which resonates with others to the point where they want to share with their own network is what you’re looking for here; adding social sharing buttons in your blog will also help enable users to easily share out your content to the spaces and networks where they play.

Let me see if I can “re-swizzle” (yep, I said it) your tweet above to something which I may be compelled to click into and retweet:
@talekyn: How Frank John, a 9yo living with Juvenile Diabetes and fund raising for JDRF, is putting me to shame: anthonycardno.com/?p=276

Forgive the forced self deprecation, but I think this will work in your favour here: I switched it up a bit, made the reader curious as to what a 9 year old is doing better than you. Because if they can do it better than you, they can do it better than me too, so now I am intrigued and want to read more. It is a more active voice, but not demanding; compelling me to look further. Plus, the tweet provides me with the key points before reading more into the blog: this 9 year old is doing good work for diabetes awareness/cure. I am both compelled to read AND pass it on now, because there is a story here beyond the normal “please send money” charity call. It is interesting, much like your earlier tweet:

@talekyn #LifeWouldBeBetter if my 9 year old cousin didn’t have Juvenile Diabetes. Meet him on my site: anthonycardno.com/?p=276
The tweet above also has that hook, but unfortunately Tweeting this out at 11:30pmEDT on a Friday night means very few people in your particular audience will be seeing it, and you need visibility in order to glean retweets. So, now that you have the compelling content, let’s look at targeting the right audience…

Who are your followers? Are they cast amongst disparate time zones, or predominantly in one? What ages? Nine-to-fivers or in school? By example, I am at my computer from8amEDT until8pmEDT M-F, because of that, I am more likely to retweet something posted in that time frame than I am other times since my usage of twitter is heaviest during work. Weekends and other times when I am outside the house, I’m far more likely to miss content because I tend to turn off most social channels when not at work. Conversely, my fictitious high school aged neighbor may be more likely to see and subsequently retweet late on school nights when s/he is finally back home from school, extracurricular activities, and is “wasting time” on the internet. Not to mention that demographic has a much different usage style of social channels as direct, near-real-time communication and may not be as inclined to retweet blog content outside of some of the more viral types of content.

Having a sense of your follower’s schedules / behaviours / demographics will help guide you towards those ‘sweet spot’ times to post for the greatest impact and visibility. If you use bit.ly or some other URL shortener, or use google analytics on your site (WordPress makes this stuff very easy), you can track some basic metrics and see when when your audience is most active and more likely to marketing out your links. Also, keep promoting your content (with appropriate pauses in between duplication) until you see a drop off in click-throughs. Duplicating content isn’t a bad thing on Twitter as most people don’t see everything unless the spend time going back in their timelines up to the last time they logged in. Unless your users are all like me with a stake in the social business game, they are most likely missing a ton of stuff posted when they aren’t watching. Heck, I even miss stuff, and I am watching like a hawk and make a point to go back in all my timelines to ensure I don’t miss things!

Here ends the first round answer as to why you aren’t seeing a good amount of retweets, even when (or because) you request them. With your following of 490 users on Twitter, I’d predict you’d garner maybe around 10 retweets for some good content if you market it more than once. Until you are a celebrity and people hang on your every word, I’d not expect more than that…. unless of course you happen to stumble on that next bit of viral content and it spins out of your control… but we can only hope for that 

Yes, this was a rather lengthy post, and not intended as the end all be all to explaining social behaviours. I am sure many of my own readers have their own ideas and experiences to share, which I fully encourage! Please feel free to comment here, or in any of the other channels which you may have found this post shared out… the key to being social on the internet is, of course, engaging in good discussion! So whether you agree or disagree, please let me know 

You can comment on this post (although it may take a while before your comment to show up, since I moderate all comments), or you can go to Jason’s blog and comment there.

BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT, Author - Interview

Earlier today I posted my second interview with author Bryan Thomas Schmidt, as the second stop on his Blog Tour advertising the publication of THE WORKER PRINCE, the first installment of the Davi Rhii Saga. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to leave off the wonderful excerpt Bryan sent me. So I present it to you now: one of many exciting scenes from The Worker Prince!

The Worker Prince front cover

* * * * * * * *

Davi and Tela followed Dru, Brie and Nila, as they weaved along a trail through the trees. The wind whistled past Davi, russling his hair. The air was fresh and clean. He enjoyed the sensation, the blur of the trees as they passed, and their spicy smell.

Dru and Nila delighted in swapping places on either side of Brie—one zipping in front of her, the other behind. Sometimes, they cut it a little close, startling Brie, who cried out.

“Hey! Watch it!” She would shoot them scolding looks as they slid back alongside her, and then all three would break into giggles.

Ah, to be young, Davi thought. He exchanged a look with Tela, who chuckled and shook her head.

“Try not to damage the Skitters, okay?” Davi called after them. This just led to more laughter as Nila and Dru swapped places yet again.

“I don’t think they’re listening,” Tela said, her blue eyes glistening with amusement.

“You got that idea, did you?” Davi said as she chuckled. “So much for military discipline!”

Tela laughed. “We have kept things pretty loose. We’d better start tighten-ing things up.”

The comms on the Skitters beeped as a red light on the comm panel began flashing. They exchanged a look.

“The warning beacons,” Davi said.

Tela nodded. “Better call in and see what they’ve got.”

The brush behind them rustled and they heard a noise, turning back to see four LSP soldiers slip behind them on armed Skitters. Davi and Tela exchanged looks of alarm, accelerating toward the trainees as the LSP men fired their lasers and the cedars exploded around them.

“So much for our early warning system,” Tela groaned as they sped up to catch their trainees.

Hearing the explosions, Brie, Dru and Nila turned around to look as Tela and Davi pulled alongside.

“Don’t slow down! Go as fast as you can. Follow me!” Tela warned them. She pulled in front and they sped up to follow her.

Davi hung back to protect the rear, dodging fire from the LSP soldiers. All around, he heard laser blasts and explosions as LSP soldiers engaged the other trainees. The smell of burning wood and leaves thickened the air as Davi flicked on his comm-channel.

“Attention trainees: do not go back to base. Lose them, and then hide until we can rendezvous.”

His private channel beeped and he switched over, steering sharply to dodge another laser blast.

Tela’s voice came over the headphones. “Right about now, I’m wishing we had armed Skitters, too.”

Davi reached down to the side pocket and pulled out his blaster. “I’m going to try and lay down some counter fire, but my blaster won’t do much against their Skitter guns.”

“Can you keep them occupied while I go help the others?” Tela asked, drawing her own blaster from the side pocket of her Skitter.

Without answering, Davi turned and started firing back toward the LSP soldiers, who zigzagged to avoid his blasts. Davi slammed on the brakes, and the LSP soldiers zipped right past him, their faces registering surprise. He slipped back in behind them and began firing at their flanks.

Tela fired two blasts from her blaster, then she and the trainees sped away, as the soldiers dodged more bolts from Davi’s blaster.

Davi managed to land a couple of hits on one of the Skitters, sending sparks flying, but causing more fear in the rider than damage to the machine. As the rider and his companions leaned back to inspect his Skitter, Davi ducked off onto a side trail.

In a few moments, the LSP soldiers slid back onto his tail again. Davi accelerated to full speed, zigzagging in and out between trees, jumping over rocks, diving under overhangs—keeping his target profile as small as possible. The wind buffeted him every time he emerged from the trees, forcing him to work harder to stay on the Skitter. Then he rounded a bend to find more LSP soldiers who joined the chase.

Great! Are they all after me? He hoped Tela was helping the other trainees. He was too busy to help them himself.

Around another bend, Bordox and his aide joined the chase. Bordox. No wonder they’re all after me. Davi smiled, waving, as he dodged their fire. Outgunned, he searched his mind for a new tactic.

Bordox sped to the front of the LSP soldiers, close on Davi’s tail. Davi, looked back over his shoulder as Bordox growled: “In the name of the High Lord Councilor, I order you to stop! You’re under arrest!”

Davi braked and Bordox’s aide wound up in front of him. Bordox remained alongside, as Davi fired several shots with his blaster at the aide, leaning close enough to Bordox to yell: “Give my uncle my regards!”

He ducked off onto another side trail as Bordox shot on past, cursing.

The other LSP soldiers followed Davi as he followed the turns of the side trail, staying just out of range of their lasers. He shifted in his seat, trying to stay comfortable but his sweaty body and uniform made that difficult.

As he shot into a clearing, he discovered Tela, Jorek, Virun, and four others waiting for them, blasters held at the ready. Davi spun his Skitter into a one hundred and eighty degree spin and slid in alongside them, aiming his blaster as the first of the LSP soldiers came into view.

Davi’s group opened fire and chaos erupted. Two LSP Skitters collided as the soldiers tried to dodge the blaster fire. Another slammed into them from behind, while yet a fourth ducked to one side and crashed into a large cedar.

Davi and Tela motioned, accelerating on their Skitters onto another trail with their trainees close behind. All continued firing blasts back at the LSP men behind them.

Tela took three trainees with her and split off onto another trail as Davi, Jorek, Virun and two others continued on the present course.

“They’re after you?” Jorek yelled, sounding surprised.

Davi nodded. “I told you before; I’m on your side.” A laser blast exploded near them and Davi keyed the comm-channel button. “Try and get around behind them.”

Tela’s voice came over the radio. “Hang on, Davi, we’ve got a plan.”

A plan? Who’d had time to make a plan? Most of the LSP soldiers stayed behind Davi and his group.

“Make it hard for them to lock their weapons on us,” Davi said, as his group zigzagged in and out of the cedars in varied patterns, never leaving more than one of them on the trail at a time. Their skills impressed him. They had made a lot of progress.

Jorek and Virun slid to a stop amidst the trees, watching several LSP soldiers zoom past, then accelerated after them, firing their lasers.

Davi heard a rebel yell over the comm-channel. “You two be careful! They outnumber us!” Davi warned.

Jorek’s voice came back at him. “Best training exercise ever!”

“Don’t get cocky. This is not a game.”

“No problem, Captain. We can handle it,” Virun said.

Davi wondered if he’d heard right. None of them had ever called him Captain before.

Bordox and his aide pulled back into the lead behind Davi, firing blasts which exploded on either side of him. Too close for comfort!

Tela and her group shot out of the forest, firing at the LSP. Two more Skitters crashed and two others were damaged. The LSP soldiers slowed down and dissolved into chaos as they attempting to avoid fire from the lasers.

Another group of trainees shot out from a group of trees and surrounded them, firing.

“When did you have time to get all this organized?” Davi said into the comm-channel, as he glanced back at Tela.

“Quick thinking is a military necessity,” Tela said. “They were all issued blasters with their uniforms, so…”

Davi smiled. “You’ve never been more beautiful.”

He braked, sliding in between Bordox and his aide. As they passed him on either side, he swung a foot out and kicked at Bordox’s Skitter. Bordox struggled to regain control but flew off to one side, as Davi slipped in behind the aide and shot at his Skitter with the blaster.

Bordox pulled alongside him again, his face a fierce grimace. “You can’t escape this time, Rhii. We outnumber you,” he called out with his usual menacing grin.

“You’re losing men fast,” Davi said as Bordox reached over grabbing for his controls. Their Skitters banged into each other as Davi struggled to push him away. His sweat soaked gloves barely maintained their hold on the handlebars of the Skitter.

“I always knew you were a traitor,” Bordox said.

“I always knew you were a pompous blowhard,” Davi said, freeing his leg and kicking hard. Bordox frowned as he spun off to one side.

Tela zipped up, firing at Bordox as his aide and another LSP soldier slipped in behind Davi.

Bordox corrected his course and charged back toward Davi, dodging Tela’s blasts.

Davi slowed, sliding upward, as Bordox’s aide and the other soldier flew right underneath him. Distracted, both turned, crashing into each other as Davi dropped down to fire on them from behind.

Bordox headed straight for Davi, who rolled his Skitter, dove off and landed on his feet in the dirt. He aimed his blaster and fired at Bordox, forcing him to turn suddenly and crash his Skitter into Davi’s. The impact sent Bordox flying off into the cedars. Both Skitters sputtered and smoked, amid a field of debris.

* * * * * * *

You can see Bryan’s next Blog Tour stop on Monday, October 3rd, at SFSignal. You can also see my first interview with Bryan HERE. And you can follow him on Twitter as @BryanThomasS, where you can get updates on the entirety of his blog tour, or you can find the full list of upcoming visits on Bryan’s website.

JAY LAKE, Author - Interview

This week, I welcome author Jay Lake. In addition to loving his work, Jay is a constant source of inspiration to me as he blogs openly and honestly about his ongoing fight with cancer.

Jay Lake

Jay Lake lives in Portland, Oregon, where he works on numerous writing and editing projects. His short fiction appears regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. His new novel ENDURANCE is out from Tor Books on November 8th, 2011.

Endurance by Jay Lake

ANTHONY: Thanks for taking the time to join me, Jay. So, The 2011 Hugo Awards were presented in Reno, Nevada on August 20th. You were tapped as MC this year. How did that come about, and what hijinks did you have planned? Did you channel the spirit of Neil Patrick Harris and do a downscale but hysterical musical number?

JAY: I was asked by the Reno con com. Given that they are largely drawn from Pacific Northwest fandom, this isn’t too surprising — it’s folks who’ve known and worked with me for years in various capacities. As you know, Worldcon having come and gone since you asked me this question, we were sort of the Smothers Brothers on Quaaludes. Which was a lot of fun, and a heck of a lot of work. My only regret is that we didn’t have a teleprompter, as our need to rely on the script was pretty obvious from the audience. I do my best work improv, but the Hugos are far too structured for that sort of technique to be successful.

ANTHONY: As a previous Hugo nominee, give us an idea of what the awards ceremony is like, and how it feels waiting for your category to be announced.

JAY: Well, the awards ceremony is very different for the nominees that is for the rest of the audience. (Also, this just in, sun rises in east.) All those categories before yours? Time wasting piffle for the main event. All those categories after yours? What categories? One becomes very focused on trying not to look like a total prat when someone else’s name is called out from the podium. Truly, it is a very intense experience, waiting to hear. The habits of certain presenters make this experience even more questionable than otherwise, trust me.

ANTHONY: You’re one of the most prolific writers I know. It feels like every time I go to a book store, I find another anthology with one of your short stories. Where can we expect to see your short fiction in the coming months?

JAY: Not a whole lot, given my cancer adventures. My writing time has been cut by more than half for the year these past two years, and I’ve really had to focus on getting novels done and out the door. So I’ve been badly neglecting my shorter work. There is a pretty big novella coming up at SUBTERRANEAN which is a prequel to the SUNSPIN novel sequence, “The Weight of History, the Lightness of the Future”. That’s probably my most significant piece of forthcoming short fiction right now.

ANTHONY: Short stories, novellas, novels of varying lengths … you’ve talked in the past about predicting a work’s appropriate length and the “span of control” a writer has. For my readers unfamiliar with the concept, can you summarize it and talk about how it affects your own work?

JAY: “Span of control” refers to how much of a story a writer can keep in their head at once. Work that falls within the span of control can be addressed organically, by following the headlights and essentially making it up as the writer goes along. Work that falls outside the span of control requires a lot more deliberate attention to craft. My personal experience is that for the most part, my work within my span of control feels much smoother and more crisp to me.

For reference, when I was first publishing at a pro level, my span of control was in the low thousands — two or three thousand words. These days I can hold an entire novel in my head, up to about 200,000 words. However, when I’m doing that, I have to work pretty continuously, day in and day out, to keep the voice and continuity intact.

ANTHONY: Do you find that your “span of control” has been influenced (positively or negatively) by your on-going surgical and chemical battle with cancer?

JAY: Yeah, it has suffered. Not so much from the surgeries, which are unpleasant but fundamentally acute events. But the chemotherapies really fry my brain, especially as they progress further along, which blunts a lot of my cognitive skills. Span of control lessens, I have to work a lot more from notes or at shorter lengths, et cetera.

ANTHONY: The work of yours that has moved me the most, as a fellow cancer patient, is the limited edition short literary novel THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF GRIEF. As your fight continues, is there any chance the book will be re-released in a broader print run so that more people can experience it?

JAY: We plan to put out a low-priced trade paperback at some point in the hopefully not too distant future, yes. I want the book to be read more widely, especially by people who don’t have cancer but may have someone in their family or social circle who is battling the disease.

ANTHONY: That’s great to hear. I’ll be looking forward to the release. In terms of novels, you seem to have become quite comfortable working in trilogies (with associated short stories): The Clockwork Earth series has run three books (MAINSPRING, ESCAPEMENT and PINION), ENDURANCE, the second book in your Green trilogy (preceded by GREEN and followed by KALIMPURA) is due out in November, 2011, and you’re currently working on a hard-sf trilogy. Are you crafting them as trilogies because that’s your current “span of control,” or because our popular culture seems obsessed with trilogies lately?

JAY: MAINSPRING was an accidental trilogy, market-driven. Likewise GREEN, which was absolutely written as a standalone. So SUNSPIN, the space opera trilogy, is the first time I’ve sat down and deliberately worked in the form from word one.

I think trilogies work for readers because they mimic the three-act structure on a larger scale. Three is a magic numbers in Indo-European cultures, pace Georges Dumezil’s work on tripartite religious structures. Beginning, middle, end. Red, yellow, blue. Father, son, Holy Ghost. Cheeseburger, fries and a Coke. GREEN, ENDURANCE, KALIMPURA. How could I not hop on a five thousand year old cultural bandwagon?

ANTHONY: Good point, and I for one am glad you did. Steampunk. Hard SF. Fantasy. Horror. Literary fiction. Is there any genre you’re not comfortable working in? Can we perhaps expect to see a cozy mystery in the future?

JAY: Probably not any cozy mysteries coming up, but I am seriously discussing squeezing a collaborative urban fantasy into the schedule of writing over the next year or so. I like to stretch. 

ANTHONY: Every writer has those “trunk stories” that will never see the light of day. With over 250 short stories and close to a dozen novels in print, I have to ask: is there anything in your trunk?

JAY: Oh, god yes. My first novel, THE JANUARY MACHINE. Any number of finished-but-trunked short stories. Quite a few novel outlines. My trunk is legion, for it is many. Heinlein notwithstanding, I don’t see how it could be otherwise.

ANTHONY: And my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who has never read it?

JAY: SHADOW OF THE TORTURER by Gene Wolfe. That’s almost my perfect book, rivalled perhaps only by Wolfe’s THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS. It is an exquisite work of language, thought and storytelling merged into a unitary whole, that drives the reader to deep consideration of the words on the page. If you’re simply reading to escape and be entertained, it’s quite likely not your cup of tea. If you’re reading to expand the borders of your mind, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thanks for the interview.

ANTHONY: Thanks again, Jay! Stop back any time!

You can follow Jay on Twitter as Jay_Lake, find him on Facebook, and read his blog on his website.

BRIAN AND TODD MANN, Actor - Interview

This week, I get to chat with two actors that genre television fans may recognize, even if you don’t know their names. Twin brothers Brad and Todd Mann have appeared on SMALLVILLE, BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA, THE 4400, and most recently the CLUE mini-series on The Hub.

ANTHONY: Brad, Todd, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions.

Brad and Todd: Thanks for thinking of us!

ANTHONY: Let’s start with your most recent project: The Hub’s CLUE mini-series. How did you get involved with the show?

B and T: Like any project we auditioned for it and beat out the other actors for the roles (laughs).

B: With Clue, I got excited about the characters almost immediately…

T: Ya, it’s fair to say that we both were very interested in playing these henchmen… we’re always on the lookout for twin roles that are actually written how twins actually talk…

B: Like how we always talk over each other, and not just every line being said at the same time!

ANTHONY: You play the brutish but still somewhat sort of likable henchmen from The House of Plum. If CLUE is picked up for future seasons, what kind of character development would you like to see for them?

B: um… to not die for starters, that is NEVER good for recurring parts (laughs).

T: As an actor of course we get countless ideas for the development of our characters, but in the end it’s up to the writers. In this case, Raven Metzner is easily one of the best writers we have worked with so far and we would look forward to any direction he decided to take us!

ANTHONY: WC Fields famously said “Never work with animals or children.” But from following them on Twitter, it seems like the young stars of CLUE are among the nicest and most professional kids out there. How was working with them? Any stand-out moments or behind-the-scenes stories you can share?

B and T: All 6 of the kids (as well as Kacey who played Sarah) were amazing to work with!

T: It’s funny how you get a different energy whether you’re working with just the kids, just the adults, or a combination of both…

B: Yes… with the kids they liked to joke around between takes sometimes and we enjoyed it… Todd and myself are big kids ourselves so we had fun exchanging funny faces, telling fart jokes, and playing “hide the actor’s chair”.

ANTHONY: Okay, now I have to ask: what was the most creative or unusual place someone found to hide an actor’s chair?

T: … or we could just tell you the chair story that started it all. (laughs)

B: Yes, the kids had already been filming for a week and it was our first day of shooting. There was a lot of cast on set and there wasn’t enough director-style chairs for everyone…

T: We don’t really care about stuff like that but we still wanted a place to sit with the other cast. Being creative, we grabbed a few small fold-out chairs and used masking tape to stick our names on them.

B: Ya, it was funny… the biggest guys on the smallest chairs (laughs).

T: During a shot where Brad and I were filming, Sterling (aka Mr.Green) re-taped HIS name over mine so he now had two chairs and I again had none…

B: At this point all of us had already been joking around so we all found it pretty funny (laughs)…. It wasn’t over for Todd, though…

T: Nope… I just waited for all 6 “kids” to be on set filming and proceeded to tape my name over Sterling’s big chair, leaving him the small one as I am a generous guy (Brad and Todd both laugh).

The Chair Joke

B: Ya, the whole ordeal made for many laughs from cast and crew alike and we all started becoming closer friends as a result. (united laughter and smiles)

ANTHONY: Looking over Brad’s IMDb page (and Todd, brother, you need to get them to do something with yours!), you guys have guested on a number of the hottest genre shows of the past few years: Galactica, Supernatural, and of course Smallville. Is the science fiction/fantasy resume partially because of how many of those shows film in the Vancouver area, or are you just more drawn to those projects than regular cop or hospital type dramas?

T: Haha IMDb… They leave so much work out, I stopped checking my profile (laughs).

B: To answer your question, we loooooove doing Sci Fi…

T: Loooooove it!!!

B: Other genres are fun too, but we both got into acting because we love playing roles that are anything but how we normally are… and science fiction roles (like our super-powered villains on Smallville) are a blast!!!

T: Ya, we spend the days playing make-believe!!! It couldn’t get more fun that that, could it?

ANTHONY: As a Smallville fan (and a comic book fan), I have to ask about your episode of that show. What was that experience like, especially the heavy-duty makeup for your parts?

B: Ahhhh… being sprayed albino took almost 3 hours every morning. That, combined with having our heads shaved (and bleached) and the red eye contacts were one of the coolest parts of the job!

The Mann Brothers

T: Absolutely! That kind of stuff really helped us get into character. For the most part all the cast and crew confessed that they were entertained but I can’t help but think we freaked out a few…

B: Hahaha, and we had a blast being creepy all day every day… It suited the characters (smiles).

ANTHONY: “We had a blast being creepy all day long…” So would you consider yourselves “method actors?” haha

T: When I think of “method actors”, I think of actors like Daniel Day Lewis who remain in character from the start of pre-production all the way through filming.

B: for sure! …for the Smallville villains we had so much fun being inside the characters that we would often find ourselves playing “in character” off camera as well.

T: haha We even creeped out one of the producers’ kids to the point where she froze on the spot and asked quietly for us to stop.

B: She was adorable so we couldn’t help but break character to make her feel more comfortable.

T: Except we still looked super scary aaaand I had a prosthetic nail in my hand.

B&T: so yeah, I guess you could say that we are both part-time method actors (combined laughter)

ANTHONY: Vancouver has a great film and television industry, but have you ever considered moving to the Los Angeles area as so many Canadian actors have?

T: Though Vancouver will always be our home base, of course we’ve considered moving to L.A.

B: It’s just that there is still a lot of really good shows filmed here so we haven’t bothered trying to get work visas… yet. Personally, I’m still waiting to see if I can just marry an American woman and save myself the hassle! (wink)

ANTHONY: I’m sure you get this a lot, but has being twins made building your career easier or harder?

B and T: For us, way easier!!! Not many twins act which has enabled us to book more than our fair share of twin roles… Even when we audition individually we get a chance to do the roles two different ways, and if one books it the other one gets a percentage of the earnings, so there is no animosity!

T: To be successful in acting we’ve always thought it’s best to take the one thing that sets you a part from other actors and use it to your advantage. For us our originality is our similarity.

Brian Mann and Todd Mann, Photo Credit pinkmonkeystudios.com 

ANTHONY: What do you guys do when you’re not filming anything? Other than auditioning for more roles, I mean?

B: We just hang out like everyone else, I guess… Watch movies, play video games, hang out with friends…

T: Yup yup… and we both really like golf, hiking, snowboarding, and other outdoor activities… depends on the mood I guess, We do a little of everything!!

ANTHONY: What charities or causes are important to you both?

B and T: Anything to do with kids is a great cause!

ANTHONY: What’s next for you guys? Any projects coming up that you can talk about?

B: Not at the moment…. We both enjoy taking the holiday season off like everyone else (laughs).

T: But we fully intend on hitting the ground running in the new year so expect more to come from us in 2012!

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: For each of you, what is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

B: My favorite book is Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton. It’s a real case study of hypnotized subjects who relate their memories between lives! As a student of human nature and life experience the after-life interests me greatly, so if you want an uplifting scientific explanation of the meaning of life than this is definitely a book for you!

T: Darn, he stole my answer (laughs).

ANTHONY: Thanks again, guys!

B and T: Anytime!!! Thanks for the great questions! Have a great 2012!!!

You can follow the Mann Brothers on Twitter @TwinBradMann and @TwinToddMann.

EDDY FAULKNER, Singer - Interview

This week, we have a brief chat with an up-and-coming young singer.

Eddy Faulkner

Singer-songwriter Eddy Faulkner has loved music for as long as he can remember. Part of the short-lived northern Virginia band The Remedy in 2009, Eddy struck out on his own in 2010, posting solo music videos of his original music and his covers of popular artists on YouTube, Facebook and other social media. About the covers, Eddy says: “My favorite part about covering songs is making them my own. I think that is one of the marks of a true artist; when he or she can change a song around and have people still like it.” He’s slowly building an international fan-base through his videos, and is releasing an EP, THE ROAD, online this coming weekend. Although at 19 he is slightly older than other teen acts making a name for themselves through YouTube, it’s entirely possible Eddy will be following in the footsteps of Kropp Circle, Burnham, Matt Johnson, Jordan Jansen, Anthony Garguila, Cody Simpson and Justin Beiber before 2011 is over.

ANTHONY: Hi Eddy. Thanks for sitting down to ramble on with us for a little while.

EDDY: Hey!

A: So: you’re a new young musician on the scene. You’ve got over 1,000 “Likes” on your Facebook page. And you’ve got an EP coming out this weekend. How did this roller-coaster ride start for you?

E: Yeah I’ve been doing music my whole life but rock music and writing songs came into play in late 2008. It all started actually after playing the video game “Rock Band” in February of 2008. The first time I played that game on the “drumset” I was like woah…this is what I would love to do. So that fall I got my first drumset and ever since then I’ve been playing it. After playing drums though for awhile it made lyrics start to pour out of me, out of like nowhere. So then I got a keyboard and a few months later a guitar in the summer of 2009. I taught myself all of these instruments by the way, so basically it was instrument/songwriting boot-camp 1-2 years for me. Singing eventually came into play and I never had lessons or anything, I just thought since I wrote songs all the time I might as well sing some of them. So after awhile I started to mold a voice for my songs and I discovered my true voice about 1-2 years later in 2011. I started a band in late 2009 as well which allowed me to play on stage (which was nerve-wrecking the first time), but after awhile it was a lot of fun and I knew that this was my dream. To play in front of people and to play and write songs that connect people to their experiences and mine. I also started this solo project last summer in 2010 and I’ve only been doing it for 11 months. I learned though that to get your name out there successfully use all the social media tools at your disposal. At the start I just used Facebook. But I got a YouTube, MySpace, PureVolume, Twitter, and many more social outlets ever since which have massively increased my fan-base.

A: You’ve covered Maroon 5 acoustically. There are portions of the songs on the EP that are reminiscent of artists as diverse as Plain White T’s, John Mayer, and even the great Lou Reed. Who are your song-writing and vocal influences?

E: My influences range from many classic artists such as BB King, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix to artists of today like John Mayer, Nick Jonas, and Jack Johnson. I’m basically influenced by all music out there that I listen too. When writing songs it really just comes out of me the sound/words as well I don’t look at a song and say…I want to you know write one exactly like it. It’s the same with vocals as well, I really don’t have any influences for it. One day in 2008 I just started singing and took it from there!

A: Tell me a little about your song-writing process. What comes first, lyrics or melody? Or do they develop at the same time?

E: For writing songs it changes up all the time. Sometimes a word hits me and from that one word I can write a whole song. Or I play a certain chord on the guitar or I hear a song by another artist and it inspires something. Really it depends and I think a lot of artists out there can agree with me on that statement. It’s good to change it up anyways because you don’t want to get stuck in one process cause you can get a writer block more easily that way.

A: “Shine Your Light” takes on the topic of being yourself and not letting bullies get the best of you. It’s a very important topic that a lot of young singer-songwriters are addressing (I’m thinking specifically of Greyson Chance’s “Waiting Outside The Lines,” Anthony Garguila’s “Finally Done,” and Jordan Jansen’s “Break Free It’ll Be Okay”). Did you bring any personal experience with bullying to the song?

E: Yeah actually I used to get bullied when I was younger. Never physically but more with words. I’ve learned that words can hurt more in some cases, than actually being physically bullied. I also see you know especially in today’s society people you know getting bullied for very silly small things based on their physical appearance or values. I say today’s society because the mindset of many people today has changed drastically since like 10-15 years ago. You see all these TV shows and videos online of people that you have to look like or act like. That’s what this song is about as well. Just being yourself and being all YOU can be. Not what someone else wants YOU to be. I also believe that since God gives us all one life, why waste it doing what everyone else wants of us or does, or being scared of what your heart tells you to do or say. Just be who you are and you’ll go far!

A: Tell me a little about the upcoming EP launch and what audience you hope to reach through it.

E: With my EP THE ROAD I hope to reach everyone out there who loves music in general. In this EP I have five songs that all send a distinct message/that are easily relatable. I think everyone out there will enjoy at least one song on this record as well since sound-wise it’s very diverse so it’s a more universal sound which is exactly what I’m going for. It is basically a mix of funk/blues/rock/pop/acoustic music. Yes…all in one EP I know it’s crazy!

A: Okay, now on to my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who has never read it?

E: (Haha) nice last question. My favorite book is probably To Kill A Mockingbird because that’s the last book I remember reading. Yes I don’t read that much I’m sorry ladies…most of my time is devoted to music, friends, family, and etc. But I do spare some time to reading when I have nothing to do or I am bored. It’s a good way to make time go by fast AND exercise that brain!

A: Thanks again for taking the time to join us, Eddy! Best of luck with the EP!

You can find Eddy Faulkner, and his music on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. You can also join the Facebook release party for his EP this Wednesday.

CAROLYN GRAY, Author - Interview

This week I welcome my friend, the enigmatic Carolyn Gray, to Ramble On with me about her books. Okay, she’s not quite as enigmatic as Lemony Snicket was when he made his debut — but she is just as camera-shy, which is why no author photo accompanies this interview! I’d normally run an author bio here at the start, but Carolyn shares a lot of details of her life as it influenced her writing and vice-versa in our conversation. So without further ado:

ANTHONY: Let’s start with a couple of questions about your novel A RED-TAINTED SILENCE. What originally led you to write a gay thriller/romance?

CAROLYN: Thanks Anthony for having me as your guest. Writing Red, or ARTS as it is known by fans, was inspired by a Savage Garden fan video made by a person named aussieray. I didn’t know much about Savage Garden at the time, but I did own their second (and last) album. I was actually looking for a representative face for a fantasy character and had the cd sitting on my desk at work – Darren Hayes was quite unique looking back then (dramatic blue eyes, black-dyed hair) and I thought “Oh, perfect face! Which one is he?” See, not a fan. Then. So I looked the band up on the internet and stumbled across a fan group for the band. Curious, as I was very bored that day at work apparently, I poked around some more and saw one of the active people was named Linda, and on a whim emailed her. We became friends and she introduced me to the band’s music and their story (they’d recently broken up and quite dramatically) and sent me the link to that video. By then I knew that people were actually writing stories about these guys. (I was such an innocent but no more lol).

The video really touched me, and I thought oh it might be fun to write a story too! Like a lot of authors do, I found inspiration in real life people, but the story I created was completely my own. The only detail I took from their actual lives other than their appearances and talents was how they met (via a newspaper advertisement). I’d dabbled in writing – actually had a mystery published by then – but Real Life (yes, with capital letters) was rearing its head in a bad way, and that story soon became my solace. My husband was diagnosed with a very serious heart condition, and suddenly everything that was sure in life no longer was. But, with two young kids, and a scary diagnosis, I had to be strong, could not let go. Except, thankfully, through my writing. This is why the characters cry too much (as some readers complain and yes, that makes me grin, as I don’t disagree! They do!). Writing ARTS became my therapy, my lifeline, my escape. This is why the original manuscript was almost 300k words long.

ANTHONY: What was the timeline like from initially conceiving the story to publication by Loose-ID?

CAROLYN: I never meant to sell this book. Ever. This was very personal, shared with just a few friends, but after my husband died, I decided to take the kids to Seattle to a writer’s workshop. Jim Butcher was the guest of honor. On a whim, I decided that I would enter the first chapter into their contest – an all-genre contest. By then I’d had the story completed for about a year – so three years from when I started it, I tossed it into the fray.

To my shock and delight I came in second overall! ME? WHOA. At the award’s dinner, I happened to sit at the same table – with my kids who were 13 and 16 by then – as the Loose-Id people. They were a hoot and were so good to my kids! My son really liked them lots (me too). I had already pitched the story to Ellora’s Cave that morning, but a card traveled down the table to me from one of the editors. I kept that card, just simply on cloud 9. The first really good thing to happen to me in a long time!

When Ellora’s Cave passed on the story as not right for them, I emailed Loose-Id and got a fast reply back. “We’ve been waiting!” I felt such love and so much right at that moment. I sent in my manuscript, they requested changes to the back part, I did that and sent it back and sold ARTS. That was five years ago, and the story is still selling well for me to this day. I am so grateful I got that first rejection from EC, as my home is Loose-Id.

Long Way Home, Carolyn Gray

ANTHONY: Who would you cast as Brandon and Nicholas in the movie version of ARTS?

CAROLYN: Well… Unknown actors, but I would want them to look like I always envisioned them (not the hunky guy on my cover lol). Nicholas would be dark haired, vivid blue eyes, cherubic in appearance. Not an athletic body, but one sizzling and crackling with energy. Brandon would be taller, a runner’s body, blond and hazel-eyed and yes, to this day I see them as they are on the cover of the Affirmation CD cover.

ANTHONY:Knowing of your love of fan-fiction, I have to ask: has there been any ARTS fan-fiction that you know of?

CAROLYN: Oh would that just be the ultimate or what? To me, having fans who want to write about your characters would be the most incredible thing. I know many, many authors disagree with that, but I would be flattered down to my socks. The answer is no, though . Unless there are things going on out there I don’t know about. I am such a hermit!

ANTHONY: Your new book, LONG WAY HOME, is out from Loose-ID October 18th. While it shares a character with ARTS, band-mate and best friend Lee, can it really be called a sequel?

CAROLYN: Thank you for asking this question. I have found to my minor dismay that it is being touted as a sequel. Spinoff? Yes, as I wanted to write about Lee. Sequel? No, though Nicholas and some of the other band members are in the first part of the book. But the setting and story have nothing to do with the first book. I have found, to my surprise, that I prefer writing stand-alones. It is Very tough to write continuations like this – all the details to remember, plus in this case, completely different story and style. But it looks like you are asking about that in the next question.

ANTHONY: Is LONG WAY HOME a thriller-romance like ARTS, or is it a different kind of book?

CAROLYN: It is a mystery-romance. I love a good mystery, in fact not sure how to write a story without one. But it is very different from ARTS in other ways too – first, the POV is third, instead of first person. I struggled with this, as I love writing in first person so very much, and plan to again for another story I will be starting soon. But I wanted to tell both of their stories and for this plot, I needed third. It is also not deeply angsty like ARTS is, and I know many readers have expressed sadness about this, but there was a reason ARTS was so deeply angsty and sad – because I was. I am happy now, and hope never to have a time like that in my life again.

ANTHONY: Do Brandon and Nicholas play a large role in Lee’s story?

CAROLYN: Nick and Brandon are good friends of Lee’s, needless to say. So they – especially Nicholas – are interested in what is going on in Lee’s life. I chose only to have Nick actually in the story, and only to serve the purpose of prodding Lee to get started. Once Lee set out on his journey though, Nick belonged back in Colorado with his own man. Also, as a character Nicholas is very dynamic and frankly, a diva – he could easily take over any story I would choose to write.

ANTHONY: You’ve said before that LONG WAY HOME is the book you didn’t expect to write. What finally inspired you to pick up Lee’s story?

CAROLYN: I had quit writing. Life after my husband died took an unexpected turn – I met someone who changed my life, and encouraged me to do things I had never done before, and put myself first for a change. I was too busy living that life, and being a solo parent to my kids, working at a job I loved, and being happy simply encouraging others to write. I was also so wrung out over writing ARTS! And, it was the story of my heart – still is – and I wasn’t sure I could write another story worth anything again. So, I didn’t try.

But then, Nanowrimo came around a couple of years ago, and I met my friends Cid Tyer and Suzan Butler. Cid especially dragged me kicking and screaming back into writing, but even then, I just poked around it for a while. I wrote the first part of LWH with a bad attitude, just bumbling through it, set it aside for months, picked it back up, not really devoting myself to anything. Another Nano rolled around! By then I had come to know Cid and Suzan and the other two members of our crit group, Alice (who now lives in Japan) and Linda. We had been meeting regularly at McAllister’s on Thursday nights, and so I had no choice (literally, they told me I had no choice) but to take a stab at Nano again. I decided to drag LWH out and finish it. And then I did. And then I sent a tentative email to my editor, and thankfully they still wanted to see my work.

ANTHONY: You know I’m always interested in a writer’s process, so what was your process like for LWH, and how did it differ from ARTS?

CAROLYN: Writing ARTS was a dream. Every night after the kids fell asleep, and my husband did too (early, due to his heart condition), I would go upstairs to the cranky old internet-less computer and put on my headphones and pound out words. ARTS flowed, it poured from my fingers, had no plan, no real anything to it. Again, I was not writing it for anyone but me and about ten readers. It was very personal, and I had such freedom to do whatever I wanted! At that pace I wrote about a chapter a week. 300k (or more) words later, I finished it…and was so sad! I still miss writing that book. Seriously do.

LWH was written in fits and starts. I struggled, and fought for everything. I chose to write it in third, but missed first so much, it was hard to connect to the characters. I persevered though, and am better for it. It taught me a lot about what works for me best, and what doesn’t, and also I learned that I had let myself go stale with my writing. Thankfully, my editor Raven worked hard with me to bring the story up to publishable standards. I am very lucky to have an editor who cares so much, and understands why this was hard for me, and how difficult transitioning from writing a story like ARTS – the old me – was to finding new writing legs – the new me – was. I am happy with the way the story turned out, but always know it could be better. But! After finishing LWH, I sat down and wrote a new story – new setting, new characters, very different situation – and it flowed! Writing the last parts of LWH I finally found my sea legs again, and now am working on the rewrite of the new one and I am very happy with it. I hope to turn it in within the next couple of weeks.

ANTHONY: Are you typically a “detailed outliner” or more of a “seat-of-your pantser” when you’re preparing to work on a new project?

CAROLYN: While ARTS was completely pantser, I’ve since come to realize what works best for me is to figure out the skeleton of the story. Very basically what will happen – the main points. The characters are the most important though – I am mulling over the next story for Loose-Id and most of the mulling focuses on who the characters are, their backgrounds, and what kind of story would work best for them. For my other big project, which is a fantasy, I am using Scrivener, and fully outlining it as there are several POV’s, and Scrivener is helping me see their stories separately and how they weave together. I also use OneNote for other details (setting information, character sketches, world building, research notes.)

ANTHONY: Now that LONG WAY HOME has made its way into the world, what’s next from Carolyn Gray? I hear rumors of a historical drama…

CAROLYN: I will get to that story eventually! I have the characters, the basic idea, but need more plot. In the meantime, I am working on the fantasy mentioned above. However, the fantasies will not be Carolyn Gray books. I will revert back to the name I wrote my mystery under, Carolyn Rogers. Or maybe C.E. Rogers to be all clever… I will be targeting a different publisher for these books. I am rather smitten with Lou Anders of Pyr Books since being in a workshop with him this summer. But the fantasies are not fast writes.

ANTHONY: And my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to convince someone who hasn’t read it that they should read it?

CAROLYN: Whenever I am asked this question, the first book that pops into my mind is probably one that people would not expect me to say. But, this book had an unusual impact on me, and forever will stay on my keeper shelf. The book is Joe Lansdale’s THE BOTTOMS. Say what? Why?

This is a bit Amazon’s fairly decent description: A thriller with echoes of William Faulkner and Harper Lee, The Bottoms is classic American storytelling in its truest, darkest, and more affecting form.

The book is thrilling, deeply thought-provoking, racism is its central core and while I was brought up by parents who believed in equality, I learned from this book that I still had beliefs that needed to change. The characters moved me, and stayed with me – haunted me even. Joe Lansdale’s voice is like a warm comfortable coat insulating against the harshness, but not preventing access to it. Rather, encouraging it, forcing the reader to open their eyes to brutalities that were commonplace.

I absolutely love Joe Lansdale. Have heard him speak at cons many times. He is a storyteller of the best kind, a weaver of humor, truth, harshness and joy, all wrapped up in a lovely Texas accent that is warm and inviting. I have reread this book so many times and in fact think I will take it off my bookshelf right now and read it again.

ANTHONY: I definitely need to read more Lansdale! Thanks again, Carolyn!

CAROLYN: And thank you for having me and my wordy self!

You can find A RED-TAINTED SILENCE and LONG WAY HOME on the Loose-ID website.

DANIEL VANDERWEFF, Webcomics - Interview

This week, Rambling On welcomes the mysterious and deadly webcomic secret ninja known as Mr. V to our intervie…

Wait, hold on, that’s not right. Let’s try that again.

This week, Rambling On welcomes the funny and not-at-all-deadly Daniel Vanderwerff to our interview table. Daniel is the writer-artist behind SCHOOL SPIRIT, a very family-friendly webcomic about a group of Australian kids whose primary school (elementary/grade school to our American readers) just happens to be right next to a cemetery full of very active spirits (not ghosts, thank-you-very-much). Being a primary school teacher himself, Daniel (“Mr. V” to his students) has a keen sense of the types of adventures these kids would get up to, especially if they were friends with the dearly departed. The tone of the strip is usually light and often filled with visual and verbal puns, but Daniel’s not afraid to touch on more serious subject matter if it’s appropriate to the characters (a recent arc, for example, dealt with a student coming to terms with the fact that she might really be a bully without intending to be one).

Here’s a couple of samples:

Casper and Cody meet Wendy

Wendy the Spirit gets to know Grace better.

Okay, on with the interview!

Anthony: Hi Daniel. Thanks for agreeing to “sit down” for this international email interview!

Daniel: No worries. Thank you for the opportunity to have a quiet chin-wag with you about it, and for considering School Spirit worthy of your time as a reader.

A: This past week, School Spirit hit a landmark 1,000 strips. Some nationally syndicated print strips here in America don’t get that far, so congratulations. When you started the webcomic, did you think you’d still be working on it 1,000 strips later? Was there ever a point where you thought you might give it up?

D: Some nationally syndicated print strips in America might not get this far, but I bet you Sydney to a brick that they made more money! But that’s not why School Spirit’s here. No, I didn’t think back in late 2003 when I first drew Casper and the kids for the first few times that I’d end up reaching 1000 (and more) strips without a break seven or so years later. When the idea of making a webcomic was first brought up to me (considering I hadn’t actually READ one yet until after I had started making one…) I scoffed and said ‘I’m a teacher! I don’t have time for rubbish like this!’ And… yeah. He we are, 1000 regular strips later.
I can’t really say, though, that there was ever a point where I thought I might pack it all in. It was never meant to be a job and I never expected to make a crust from it (although getting a few bucks back every now and then for it wouldn’t be passed up!), so in that regard it’s never been more than a hobby. There HAVE been times when keeping it running was taxing, but you get second winds every now and then, tie it all up with wire, so to speak, and keep the show on the road.

A: I won’t ask who your favorite character is, because that’s like asking you to choose your favorite student or favorite child. Instead, I’ll ask which of the student characters you feel has drifted into the background over the years, and why you think that might have happened. (Lynn Johnston, the creator of the print comic FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE tells the story of suddenly realizing a supporting character had virtually disappeared from the story, and then going to figure out why.)

D: Most of them, from time to time, if I’m honest. While she’s not a student character, Mavis the busdriver went over a year without popping up, which I only realised when a reader brought it up. Davey Jones, Brylcreem, Chastity and her two shadows have all dropped off the radar from time to time, but I don’t really think any of them have come close to disappearing. Davey is probably the closest, but he still pops his head in every now and then and occasionally gets a more prominent front row seat. The football match and some of the schoolyard cricket scenes are ones that come to mind for him.

The reason for things like this tend to be because they were only intended to be background colour to the principal characters, and therefore the stories didn’t always allow them appropriate spots to pop their faces in. Over 1000 strips though, each of the kids has had their chance to take centre stage and show their character.

A: Occasionally (and I’m thinking mostly of the year-end strips) it feels like the kids know they’re in a comic-strip. I can’t recall that you’ve ever directly addressed the issue, but I have wondered about it. Is this purposeful? Are they aware they’re fictional characters or when they look at the reader, is it more like they’re looking at a camera crew filming a documentary? Or am I just analyzing those occasional “oh, not this joke again” panels too hard?

D: Ah, the fourth wall. It’s a terrible, terrible mistake making your characters break that fourth wall and register the presence of the audience, isn’t it? Too bad. I don’t really agree with that. If it’s a serious story, then yes, it’s not usually a good idea. But this is a story about a bunch of kids doing kid stuff. Also, it started as a primary school musical production I was writing for the kids to perform. Most of the school plays (the fun ones!) I’ve seen have some sort of interaction with the audience and share the jokes with them, so School Spirit as a play was littered with audience references and interaction. I just adapted those sorts of little inside jokes between the characters and their audience into the strip.

So yes, it is purposeful that the kids are still only very occasionally glancing in the audience’s direction as though silently asking if they got the joke too. I’m not entirely sure they realise they’re in a comic strip (there is one strip very early where they appear to understand this, but that is one of the strips I recognise as a mistake now looking back), but then perhaps the documentary idea is closer to the mark. I just like to remind readers that what they are reading is, in fact, just a comic strip, and nothing more than that. Have a laugh and hopefully learn to love the kids along with me, but they’re in on the jokes from time to time as well. It’s not that they’re intelligent enough to work it all out, it’s probably more that they’re just filled with flat out kid cunning!

A: The main focus of the strip continues to be “the big three” of Casper, Cody and Grace, with Wendy the Spirit coming and going. Can you talk a little bit about the dynamic between these four characters, and how it has changed over the years?

D: Actually, the Big Three are Casper, Cody and Wendy, although I can understand how you include Grace in that number. Casper is the ‘every man’ of the strip. I suppose he’s the straight man of all the kids and tends to learn about the strip and the setting along with the reader (especially in the first year or so of the strip) whereas Cody was more his comic foil. These two were the invisible nobodies than no one really noticed or bothered about, and that is why they could see and hear Wendy, the young spirit in the cemetery next door. This was the original seed of the whole strip. Since then though, they’ve all grown and developed and the dynamics are somewhat more muddled now. Grace was their third monkey back at school, but Wendy was their third monkey everywhere else. Particularly over these last 100 strips, Grace has grown and developed much further (and it was not before time, it must be admitted), and it actually ended up being her interactions with Wendy that have been the underlying story for the last year. Now, Wendy has distinct relationships with both the two boys, and Grace, that are completely separate, which I think has given the strip an important change of pace and focus now.

A: The supporting cast has grown from occasional foils for the main three kids to characters with their own storylines that occasionally take center stage. What happens when you get that “a-ha” moment that a character is ready to carry a storyline (or, for that matter, when a background character is ready to gain a name and a best friend)?

D: I love working from time to time with the background kids, although they really stopped being background kids quite early on. They have all featured in their own storylines over the history of the strip. There are still original intentions for some of the characters that haven’t eventuated yet, purely because the time isn’t right for it just yet. Casper’s continuing wish to have Chastity register his existence is one plot point that still hasn’t resolved itself, although from time to time it does reappear and develop further.

I think the real reason the supporting cast have developed over the years is because it gave the main three kids a chance to have a break. It also allowed me to work with other stories and ideas that just wouldn’t work with Casper and Cody. Those two can’t carry the stories that Chastity and her girls can, or those that Brylcreem and Davey Jones can. They’re different kids which means different views and behaviours. They’re also important parts for the colour of the School Spirit world. I don’t think the strip would be anywhere near as rich in colour and warmth as I hope it is if those supporting cast characters had stayed in the background.

Oh, and I know exactly what point you are talking about when you speak of a background character getting a name and a best mate! Those two younger boys did just pop up as background kids for one strip only, but the moment I put words in his mouth (because he was the kid in the front of the group – and who knows whether I put the words in his mouth or he just said them to me himself!), I knew he was staying. As I mentioned with the recent stories with Grace and Wendy, the appearance of Jackson and Didj so suddenly at the start of 2010 gave the strip a breath of fresh air and I think again just added to the colour of the strip. I’m really glad those two kids walked onto the page and refused to bugger off! I really like them!

A: There seems to be a perception that comics like yours, in which the characters don’t age despite regularly celebrating annual holidays and end-of-school and so on, are not as heavily plotted as the more “real-time” comics are. Two questions: one, why do you think that perception exists, and two, how far ahead do you plot the goings-on of School Spirit?

D: I think it could be just as simple as people want a reason to justify not wanting to read certain genres. Every June School Spirit runs a birthday week, and every year it runs an End Of Year Series. None of these strips are part of the counted number or the main stories. None of the kids in the real strips have had birthdays or aged yet, although they have spoken about things like Easter more than once which could be seen as ‘not aging’. Other than that, School Spirit is just as much a ‘real-time’ comic as your common graphic novel set up. If there are stand alone jokes in School Spirit’s archive, they’re written into storylines that all tend to follow on and build form each other as the archive progresses.

As for planning ahead, there is very little actually written down. There are three major story themes waiting to start at this point, but they could well only appear after another 250 to 500 strips yet. I know what ‘main plots’ I want particular kids to feature in, but I also don’t want those plots to flood the strip for lengthy periods. Instead, the kids not featured in those strips tend to interrupt the stories with their own shorter ones every now and then. It just keeps my work a bit more fresh and breaks up the main plots a bit. To be honest, I rarely even script out each storyline! I usually have an ending in mind, an idea of how it can start, and then just fill the gaps as I go along, letting it grow naturally as I work on them. Many would probably think it lazy or unprofessional, but I’m still here, eh?

A: You include a page of Australian slang to help us foreigners understand the kids better. What I find humorous is that I rarely need to consult it — almost every slang word makes sense in context. Have you seen your international audience grow over the years, or has it remained consistent?

D: I honestly couldn’t say. I don’t think I’ve seen my audience grow much over the last few years at all. It seems to have stayed quite, well, stagnant! It’s never been a strong crowd pulling strip, but it has held onto a fairly quiet yet loyal little group. It doesn’t feature what I consider ‘internet humour’ or the cliches I feel many use and abuse, but I also don’t want to weaken what the characters have made for me by bringing cheap laughs in just to drag in an audience that didn’t appreciate it already. Internationally though, the audience seems to be predominantly American or British, although there do seem to be regular readers from Canada and Germany as well. One or two. I have had complaints that it isn’t in English, or that I’ve spelled words incorrectly (by the way, up above you spelled the word centre wrong, you American language killer!). Actually, I’ve even had people accuse me of pretending to be Australian just to have a hook, because no one in the world really talks like these kids do. I just laugh at stuff like that. I say g’day, I say struth, I say ‘Are you fair dinkum? Give us a captain’s at that, it looks a right corker!’ and ‘Avagooweegend’. I enjoy using Australian slang and lingo as well. It’s part of my character and it’s part of School Spirit’s character.

A: As you mentioned earlier, School Spirit started out conceptually as a musical and was actually performed. Did you record the musical’s performances, and what are the chances that you’ll someday add a music page to the site and let us hear the songs you wrote?

D: Yes. School Spirit: The Musical was performed back in 2004 by a group of grade five and six students. It ran for an hour and a half, was in two acts, and featured twelve original songs with each of the speaking parts having at least a verse if not an entire song to sing. I have a CD with the recorded show on it somewhere, but I’d have to dig around for the songs. I don’t have them recorded with lyrics though, just the music, so if they did appear on the site in the future, they’d have to be there alongside the written lyrics.

Many of the songs were littered with references and homages to various Australian bands and songs, too, which probably isn’t surprising if you’ve read the strip and understand how Australian I have tried to make it!

It was fantastic to see my characters walking and talking in live action, and the kids gave those characters I draw on paper different aspects and behaviours I could never have given them. Also, I highly doubt there’s another webcomic in the vast internet world that is actually also a musical production, eh?

A: There was recently a case in the US where a teacher who was also an author received negative attention from parents because the teacher’s books were not suitable for her students, despite the teacher writing under a pen name and never bringing her books up in class or in the school at all. Since you are a teacher as well as the creator of a web-comic about a school, what kind of comments or feedback have you gotten from students, parents, and other faculty over the years?

D: To be honest, very few people I work with know School Spirit exists, and I don’t think any of them read it anyway. To be fair, I don’t really advertise the fact to everyone I meet. It’s a hobby, and amazingly, there are many, many people out there in the real world who don’t give two shakes about things like webcomics. I have had kids read it and pop up from time to time, but their attention moves on quickly too. The main reactions I’ve had to School Spirit came when it was being performed. A parent took offense to the story featuring ghosts and didn’t want her daughter to take part. Her reason was because she believed in God and School Spirit was evil and featured characters who had come back from the dead. When I asked ‘isn’t that what Jesus did?’ she dropped the argument! The kid still didn’t take part. But other than that, there have been no negative reactions. If you can find something offensive in School Spirit, then really, you’re looking at it far too seriously!

A: Other than the odd way you spell things like ‘behaviour’ and ‘colour,’ I can’t think of anything offensive in School Spirit. haha Now for my usual closing question: What is your favorite book and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

D: Easy. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It’s just a beautiful, tragic, warm and simplistically honest story. I recently bought myself a little Jack Russell pup and he was always going to be named Jem. I just absolutely adore the book, and to me it’s not about the slavery or the court case or the right or wrongs of the racism undertones. It’s a story about the innocent and magic of childhood and the relationship between a man and his children, and to me, Jem is one of the greatest literary heroes ever put to paper. It’s one of the world’s true masterpieces.

A: This has been a fun interview. Hopefully, it’ll bring more readership to a webcomic I absolutely love. Thanks again, Mr. V., for your time… and here’s hoping we see another 1,000 School Spirit strips!

D: I’m not promising anything, but I don’t intend to pull up stumps on it just yet. I still enjoy the company of the kids, and I just hope there are some out there who feel likewise. Cheers.

* * * * * * *

Don’t forget you can also “Like” School Spirit on Facebook, and follow @_schoolspirit_ on Twitter for news.

EJ FLYNN, Author - Interview

This week, we’re Rambling On with author EJ Flynn.

EJ Flynn

EJ Flynn is a mom and a wife first, then an author and business owner. She spends most of her time trying to improve her and her family’s life, always striving for more and better. She loves spending time with her daughter Abigail, hanging with her husband John, playing poker, playing rock band (expert guitar!) and of course writing. She’s a singer, actress, dancer and pianist although she doesn’t get to do much of that anymore.
Her company is In Like Flynn Marketing (www.inlikeflynnmarketing.com), geared towards helping people and businesses find success through strong comprehensive marketing campaigns. She also offers the Be Dynamic Intensive which is designed to help empower women to know that they CAN have it all and give them the tools they need to achieve it.

Perspectives of the Heart, EJ Flynn

EJ’s new novel is PERSPECTIVES OF THE HEART, which focuses on teacher Alex Forrester and the various men in her life. “When Alex decides to post a flyer on a public bulletin board one rainy San Francisco morning saying that she has a room for rent, everything changes. She runs into Casey Morelli, gorgeous soccer player and cousin of the ex-boyfriend that she had feared all those years ago. The two fall for each other quickly, but when Alex’s new roommate, handsome lawyer Garson Reed, admits his feelings for her, her life becomes even more complicated than when she was alone. And when a string of devastating events take place that rock her life to the core, Alex discovers that happiness doesn’t come from the hand you’ve been dealt or how lucky you are, it all depends on how you look at things.”

Anthony: Welcome to Rambling On, EJ! Let’s start with where the book came from. What inspired it, what made you decide now was the time to take a shot at publishing it? How long have you been working on it?

EJ: I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been working on this book for most of my life. I actually started the book when I was fifteen because I wanted to imagine what mine and my best friends, Nikki and Tricia’s, lives would be like if we were grown up. I do realize I’m going to need to turn books around a lot faster than that.
I didn’t actually write non stop since I was fifteen. I dropped it and picked it up over the years which I think lends to Alex’s growth really well. She grew up with me. I never really intended to get it published because I thought that was so far fetched of an idea. I picked it up for the last time in 2008 when I took part in a Writer’s Intensive Weekend with Laura Banks, author of Embracing Your Big Fat Ass and Breaking the Rules (both co-written with author Janette Barber), and decided that it was time to get serious. It was tough to get through it and stay focused with life happening. With the help of people close to me I was able to stay motivated. And then this past December I learned about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest which had a deadline of February 6th and decided to make that my completion goal. I didn’t actually get to enter the contest, entries filled up before the deadline. I did, however, make my deadline. Then I figured, hey it’s done, let’s publish it. I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it when a friend of mine, Adam Weissman also a self published author, told me about CreateSpace.com. Shortly after that, I attended a “how to get published” webinar where I learned that the romance genre is the most downloaded genre for ebooks on Kindle and Nook. I used to have a bit of a chip on my shoulder saying that PERSPECTIVES was “literary fiction” not a romance novel but when I heard that about Kindle and Nook, I quickly dropped the chip and embraced the romance genre.

A: You’re a wife, a mother, and you hold down a steady job. Tell us a bit about your writing process. How do you fit the time in?

EJ: Once I committed to finishing it, most of my writing was done in bed, on my dell mini, late at night after my little one was asleep, and it still does. My husband works nights and doesn’t usually get home until after 1AM so I have a lot of uninterrupted time at night. I also started a writer’s circle which we fondly called a writer’s rhombus because there were only four of us. That was essential in gaining motivation and confidence and we always had fun. It’s now shrunk to a “writer’s line”, just two of us, myself and an amazing writer Patricia Faulkner. We motivate each other and encourage each other. Set goals and hold each other accountable. It’s really essential in my process to have someone pushing me and to have someone to read my stuff and tell me if it sucks or not.

A: Writers groups of any size are vital, I think. I’m involved in a couple. Back to PERSPECTIVES: the story centers on Alexandra, but shifts frequently to the internal thoughts of other major characters. It’s a bit of an unusual structure in that these shifts happen mid-scene rather than at chapter breaks. Was this a structure you decided on before you started, or something you noticed happening once you’d begun writing and then decided to keep doing?

The book was actually written in first person when I first started it. Then I realized that it handcuffed me to only Alex’s thoughts and feelings. When I changed it to third person it enabled me to delve into the other characters’ minds and feelings to give the story more depth and roundness. The structure then just happened organically. I didn’t plan to do it a certain way, I just went with what made sense to me and didn’t really think about it. When I tested it I did ask the readers if they found it at all confusing and not a single one said it did so, I kept it.

A: I have to admit, I’m not a modern romance/tragedy fan. I’ve never read anything by Nicholas Sparks or Jodi Picoult, authors this type of story seem to be connected to. So what seemed to be “heaping one problem after another on the main character” to me might be the conventions of the genre. I felt like poor Alexandra couldn’t catch a break — one disaster after another befalls her and her loved ones. Did you ever feel, as you were writing the next horrible thing to happen to her, that perhaps you were throwing too much on Alexandra and wanted to cut her a break? Or was the intent always to prove how resilient she is by hitting her with one punch after another?

AJ: I have to confess, the book is somewhat autobiographical so I never thought I was giving her too much. I didn’t give her everything that has happened to me because I was afraid it wouldn’t be believable and one major tragedy that happens to her didn’t happen to me but I felt it important to where I wanted the story to start. There is much happiness in between the tragedies for her and it was meant to show that no matter what life threw at her, as long as she kept the right perspective on things, she could get through it just like I have.

A: Speaking of other authors: we all draw from the authors we love, intentionally or not. When I spoke to Evelyn LaFont a few weeks back about her paranormal romance book, she said that it was a genre she loved and also a genre she wanted to poke fun at because of its popularity. What authors do you see PERSPECTIVES OF THE HEART sitting alongside of on the bookshelves? Who influenced you as you wrote?

EJ: That’s an easy one. Danielle Steel. I have read most of her books. The first book I remember reading in its entirety, that wasn’t for school, was Danielle Steel’s Daddy (later made into a movie starring Patrick Duffy, Linda Carter and a very young Ben Affleck!) Anytime anyone asks me what kind of a book Perspectives is, I always say it’s a very Danielle Steel-esque type novel.

A: Without giving too much of the plot away, I think I can safely say: everyone in this book falls in love at first sight, and most of those relationships aren’t very successful. Was that an intentional theme of the book, the idea that rushing in doesn’t often lead to solid long-term relationships?

No that was not intended at all, the intention was more to follow your heart despite the risk, enjoy things to the fullest while they last and you’ll have no regrets.

A: PERSPECTIVES OF THE HEART is obviously a labor of love. What would you say to someone who doesn’t normally read this type of book (like me!) to convince them to give it a shot?

EJ: I would tell them that it’s not just chick-lit, it’s a story that most people can relate to on some level. It will hopefully evoke emotions good and bad and maybe change the way you look at things by the time you finish it.

A: So, what’s next for EJ Flynn in the writing realm? Working on anything currently?

I just started the actual writing of my next book. It’s a complete departure from PERSPECTIVES. I said earlier that the first book I ever read in its entirety was Daddy by Danielle Steel. The second book was Pet Sematary by Stephen King. Other than those two, my favorite authors to read are John Saul, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and John Grisham. I can’t imagine only writing romance when there’s so much beauty in other genres too. My next book is a much darker, intense psychological thriller called TWELVE DAYS. I’ve also got a nonfiction in the works that’s called THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER, UNTIL YOU HAVE tO CUT IT YOURSELF, a real and funny look at relationships and dating, marriage and divorce.

A: Looking forward to both of those! Now for my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

This is such a tough question. If I could pick by genre it would be easier. The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It’s a very intense, very intelligent, science driven, supernatural story with amazing characters that you will admire and root for. I think though that for many people and definitely for myself, what’s happening around you when you’re reading a book affects the impact of that book on you. I read Cabinet of Curiosities while on a girls’ weekend in New Orleans for my 30th birthday. So really awesome memories surround it. When I reread it I think of that awesome time.

A: Thanks, EJ, for agreeing to be interviewed!

EJ: Thanks Anthony!! This was fun!!!

You can find PERSPECTIVES OF THE HEART in both print and ebook formats on Amazon. You can also find her on her own website.

SAM MCPHERSON, Author - Interview

Trying something a little bit different this week, rambling on with fellow pop culture rambler Sam McPherson!

Sam McPherson

Sam McPherson is a contributing editor for the entertainment news website TVOvermind. He’s also an administrator for the fansite Lostpedia, and considers Fringe, Game of Thrones, and Doctor Who to be his areas of expertise. Sam also created the fansite Knowing Lost, which is the home to several original fan fictions and works of fan art related to the television show Lost. You can follow Sam on Twitter, where he is known as the McPhersonator.

ANTHONY: Hi, Sam, thanks for taking the time to chat!

SAM: No problem. Thanks for helping out my ego!

A: I’m primarily familiar with you as a reviewer/commentator on TV Overmind. How did you get started with the site?

S: I discovered the site a few months after it started up, and filled out the little application. A little while later, Jon Lachonis, who owns the site, dropped me an email back and said that he’d love to have me on the staff. That was back in July 2009, and I’ve been writing for the site ever since.

A: I first became aware of you through your LOST posts, and now I follow your Game of Thrones posts as well. Do you and the other writers for TV Overmind have specific “beats” you work, or is it pretty much “write about what you want to write about?”

S: Well, we cover the news on a first-come-first serve basis. More in-depth pieces, though, are usually written by the folks who are experts on the show. That’s not to say that a show can’t have several experts — we have four people on the staff who are very knowledgeable about Fringe, for instance.

A: You are also a Lostpedia Administrator. How did that come about?

S: I started editing the site as a normal user in February 2007, right around the time the second half of season three started up. I really loved the community and worked to become a part of it over a few years. Around late 2008, I was part of a small group of users who did “Lostpedia Interviews” with various members of the cast and crew. I got to interview Rebecca Mader, Francois Chau, and a lot of background extras/guest actors. I was ‘promoted’ to administrator in March 2009.

A: I’ll admit I don’t tend to visit Lostpedia as much now that the show is over. I find that as much as I say I want to go back and watch the whole series from start to end again, I seem to be reticent to do it and a number of my friends who loved the show feel the same way. Do you think there’s a kind of “post-series letdown” that genre fans feel after a series ends?

S: Well, with LOST at least, certainly. The finale was hugely polarizing, and I don’t think a lot of people really wanted a lot to do with the show for a while after that. There are a little bit of a surge in interest with the one year anniversary of the finale a few months ago, but I think for the most part, there won’t be a lot of interest in LOST again for a few years until we hit the five- or ten-year anniversary.

A: We could talk about LOST for hours, so I’m going to play a little word-association. How did you feel about the following topics that Lost fans seem to be pretty divided on:

The Finale?

S: Loved it. There are a few seeds of disappointment because it wasn’t what I’d expected through my long time of watching the show — but the same can be said for the entirety of season six, really.

A: The whole “Flash-Sideways” concept?

S: Again, it was a bit of a letdown because it felt like a giant red herring since they drew it out across the entire season. If they’d only had it pop up sporadically, I think it would have had greater effect.

A: The tie-in paperback novels?

S: Have them, but haven’t read them. I’m more of a fan of the unofficial analysis books, like Sarah Clarke-Stuart’s Literary LOST.

A: Last LOST question: you started an online “fan-fic” that places fans of the tv show into the action of the show, with full knowledge of what is going to happen to the characters — how has that been received? Any feedback from the Lost creators on the concept or execution?

S: Knowing Lost started off well, with lots of readers. Then, as it became more and more of a chore to have a ten-page episode out every week, I started to get exhausted and just stopped for a while. I mishandled it and lost a lot of readers, but I’ve now started it back up. I’m currently working on an idea that will make the site the base for LOST fan-fiction and fan-art.

A: Okay, on to Game of Thrones. I had a conversation recently with a friend who has never read the Harry Potter books nor George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and yet he loves (and has managed to avoid being spoiled on plot points for) the movie franchise and the tv series adapted from those books. As someone who is reporting on the GoT tv series but who has also read the source material, do you ever find yourself having to back up and reword things because you know stuff some of your readers may not know?

S: Oh yes. A lot of my articles over this hiatus are referencing the second book, from which season two will be adapted. I’m working on a series of articles now that reveal my fantasy casting for key new characters, and I’ve finally taken to putting a mild spoiler warning at the top of every article, because I’m so afraid I’ll spoil someone who accidentally clicks on to the article.

A: There’s been a lot of hate mail directed at George RR Martin by readers who feel betrayed that he’s not churning out ASOIAF books faster. Neil Gaiman famously weighed in a while back saying that essentially authors (and other creative types) don’t owe their fans anything on a set time-line (what people have paraphrased as “George RR Martin is not your bitch.”) I think the truth is somewhere in the middle: if you promise a series with a continuing storyline that will eventually conclude, you should commit to finishing it (leaving aside for now issues of writer’s block and other such roadblocks) or don’t write series fiction. As an obvious fan of series-type storytelling, what’s your take on this?

S: Well, I didn’t start reading the books until a few months ago, so I don’t know anything about the long, agonizing wait that fans have been put through recently. What I do know, though, is that Martin’s put himself on a very short time frame by having the HBO series premiere in 2011. He’s going to have to finish the series before the show catches up to him. So saying that “George RR Martin is not your bitch” is entirely accurate. He’s playing to HBO’s timeline now.

A: Do you think, if push came to shove, HBO would go ahead and create a series ending for GoT if Martin falls behind their production schedule? Or do you think they’ll space out production on future seasons to accommodate his slower writing habits?

S: I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know how that would turn out. I’m thinking that Martin will just narrowly meet the deadline, but if he doesn’t, we’ll probably be looking at some postponed seasons while HBO puts pressure on him to get it done. I don’t think that there will be an ending created only for the TV show. Martin’s pretty meticulous, and I think the story’s all going in one very specific direction.

A: On a somewhat related topic (in terms of delayed story continuations): what’s your feeling about the “split season” for Doctor Who this year? Do the producers of shows like LOST and Doctor Who owe it to viewers to tell a complete story straight through rather than splitting the season up to build tension?

S: The split season doesn’t bother me. The first half of the series ended on a pretty good cliffhanger, and I’m willing to wait to see where it goes. What does bother me, though, is the discrepancy in scheduling between the UK and the US. That sort of thing results in a lot of people getting spoiled. BBC America was doing great with same-day airings until they skipped Memorial Day, screwing it all up and putting the US a week behind the UK. I was spoiled for River Song’s identity because of that break. It’s even worse this summer for British Torchwood fans, who have to wait six days after the US to see what started out as their show, all because Starz got world premiere rights to the series. I expect that’ll cause a plummet in viewership.

A: I still don’t know River Song’s identity, so thanks for not spoiling that here! Do you think Torchwood will survive this switch to Starz having primacy over BBC, or could this move spell the end for the show?

S: I don’t know if it’ll survive or not. I’m afraid it’s going to be a lose-lose situation, to be honest. I’m not sure that Starz has enough subscribers who would watch the show, and over the six day wait I’m pretty sure UK fans will get the show through other means. I think the fact that Starz through in a “world premiere rights” clause in their contract might hurt the show where it counts.

A: You’re on Twitter, you’re a regular on TV Overmind, you’ve got your own occasional blog, and you recently graduated from high school. So what’s in the future for Sam McPherson?

S: I’m heading off to college next month, but for my online presence I hope it’ll be like nothing’s changed. I’ll keep writing for TVOvermind when I’m not living the college life. You guys aren’t getting rid of me that easily!

A: And my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who has never read it?

S: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Absolutely brilliant book that’s been begging for me to read it again as soon as I get through my ever lengthening to-read list. It’s perhaps the only book I’ve ever read that can never work in any other medium, because it’s so brilliant in this one. It’s the most rewarding book experience I’ve ever had.

A: Thanks, Sam!

NEIL OSTROFF, Author - Interview

This week we sit down to ramble on with author Neil Ostroff.

Neil Ostroff

In Neil’s own words: “I’m an author of dark, noir thrillers, romance thrillers, and middle grade sci/fi and paranormal novels. I was raised in a rural town outside of Philadelphia and have been a published author for more than twenty years. My science fiction and fantasy stories have appeared in numerous presses, zines, and websites. I have several published novels available at all online booksellers under the name N.D. Ostroff or Neil Ostroff. I am an avid boater, gardener, and poker player when not working on my novels.

After, a YA fantasy novel

ANTHONY: Hi, Neil. Thanks for stopping by to ramble on with us for a bit. In the interests of “full disclosure” I suppose we should start out talking about what we have in common: our years at Elmira College. I was an English Literature major, you were a Psychology major. I know how the EC English department influenced my writing — how did the Psychology department influence yours.

NEIL: Hi, Anthony. Yes it’s been a long time since those days. Learning psychology and how the mind works and how we interact with others is a huge help when creating characters. My serial killer character Cody Larson from FROSTPROOF was literally born out of my abnormal psychology classes. I also interned at social services so I got to see a lot of crazy personalities and behaviors that also helps when I decide on the personality traits of some of my strangest characters. Like the clairvoyant, psycho-killer prostitute in my novel, PULP.

A: Great, now I’ll be picturing Professor Rick Wesp when I read FROSTPROOF. Moving on … you’re one of those writers who can’t be pigeon-holed into a single genre. You’ve got several Young Adult sci-fi/fantasy novels, but you also write gritty pulp/noir thrillers and have at least one book that I would call “mainstream/literary fiction.” Does your writing process differ from one audience/genre to another? And if so, how significantly and how intentionally?

N: I don’t like to stick to one particular genre and usually write what I want to write. This drove one of my former agents, Gary Heidt at Signature Lit. crazy. He first tried to sell me as thriller writer, than a YA sci/fi writer, and then the literary novel finally drove him over the edge. My audiences do differ with my books but I think this draws more diverse readers. Emotions play a large part in what project I’m going to start next. For instance, my literary novel, DROP OUT was written after a friend died of cancer only eight days after his diagnosis. That was a powerful event that shaped the novel to be.

A: Lots of authors feel that they need to fall into one camp (YA) or the other (adults). Rick Riordan, for instance, has completely stopped writing murder mysteries to concentrate on his mythology-based YA series. Do you ever feel the pull to fully commit to one or the other?

N: Yes. My first novel FROSTPROOF is a noir thriller and I wrote two more noir thrillers following that one. DEGENERATES and PULP. Like I said before, my agent really pushed for me to continue with this genre, but I also had YA sci/fi fantasy stories that I wanted to tell. I wrote a three book middle grade sci/fi series after the noir thrillers and committed to that genre for a while. Then, of course, my friend’s illness happened and I changed genres again.

Frostproof, a noir thriller

A: I am always fascinated by how each writer I talk to starts the process of a book, story, etc. What do you find most often kicks off a new work? Do you start with an image, a piece of dialogue, a specific character?

N: Most of my books start with ideas I’ve had for years in my head. Usually, I get an idea for a novel and let it fester in my brain. I start to jot down notes of how I want the story to go. Eventually I have enough notes to actually formulate an entire novel. Then I write a few chapters and see if the story takes off. If it doesn’t, I scratch it and move to my next idea. For every three novels I start I usually complete one. The maturation process takes another few years or so. I’ll let the first draft sit for a month and then give it a re-read. Then I’ll let it sit again and then do another. Eventually I read it through and find that I have nothing more to add. That is when the book is complete.

A: Your most recent adult novel, DROP OUT, has its roots in the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, and the iconic image of smoke billowing from the Towers is a part of the cover art. Did you set out planning to write a 9/11 novel for the 10th anniversary? What has reaction to the book been like?

N: As I said, DROP OUT was written in response to my friend’s death. I incorporated the trauma of 9/11 to make the story universal in its theme. I started researching what others experienced during that event and became fascinated with tales of survival. The initial escape scene in the beginning of the book is a culmination of these stories. The reaction to the book has been pretty intense. I’ve received emails from total strangers saying that the book had a deep impact on how they see the world and gives them a greater appreciation for their time in it. The first draft was written four years ago, so its release was not really planned specifically for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It just happened that way.

A: The proliferation of e-readers has been decried as “the end of the publishing industry as we know it.” As an author whose books are primarily available in that format, what effect has e-publishing had on self-publishing?

N: It’s only the death of the big publishing conglomerates. I believe this is the most amazing time in history for writers who want their work available for world purchase. The internet and ereaders have made possible for any writer to make a living at their craft. Personally, I hope every person in the world buys an ereader. When else in history can an author like me, from nowhere Pennsylvania, sell books in London, France, and Australia, which I have done? Or sell books all over the country, which I have done? Selling books these days is all about market and promotion. Find a couple of good websites and social network and you can sell thousands from sitting at your desk.

A: You recently blogged about “voice recognition software” turning everyone into a writer but not necessarily an artist. As technology makes it easier to write/create, what challenges do you see for yourself as a creative person getting your books to the largest possible audience, and what do you think the pitfalls will be for readers?

N: I received a lot of responses when I posted that. Most people agree that voice recognition will not make writers out of everyday people. A good story takes thinking, and plotting, and pacing, all which are very hard to get right the first time. Perhaps, voice recognition is a good way to write a very raw first draft, but it takes countless hours of staring at the page to get things right. The only pitfalls I see to readers are that there is probably going to be a lot of junk out there and readers will have to sift through it to find the gem novels.

A: It looks like you have two YA titles coming out soon: DREAM TRAVELER and INSECTLAND. Tell us a bit about each of those and when we can expect to see them.

N: INSECTLAND is due out in about two weeks. It is the second book in the middle grade series I mentioned earlier. Here is the back cover copy:

Be frightened! Be very, very frightened! Tiny, dragon-like creatures hidden in our homes will harm us. They will shrink us to the size of rice, enslave us, and turn our world into their own lethal military base. But there is hope. Legions of robotic insects intent on stopping them have recruited high school student Dan Larson to help. Thrust into danger on an alien planet, Dan risks everything in a desperate attempt to prevent an epic battle that could change the balance of power in the galaxy forever.

DREAM TRAVELER is the last book in the series. That should be out sometime early next year. Here is a quick summary:

200,000 years in the future. After centuries of conflict, human spirits called Phelastians, who live on a magnificent floating city in the clouds, are finally making peace with Dwellers, ape-like creatures who live on the decimated planet Earth. Formalities require that a twenty-first century human be present as a witness to the treaty. A Phelastian travels backward in time and recruits Jamie Richards, a geeky, everyday teenager. Core, a Dweller overlord, is pro-war and sabotages the celestial link connecting Jamie to her own world. She vanishes from the signing, crumbling the negotiations, and sending her on a series of mind-bending, alternate-reality adventures that shatter the boundaries of possibility.

A: And now my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to convince someone who hasn’t read it that they should read it?

N: I actually have two favorite books that influenced my writing career the most. The first is LESS THAN ZERO by Brett Easton Ellis. It’s old, and dated now, but that novel greatly influenced my noir style. The second is THE STAND by Steven King. I love the way King has multiple characters and stories and weaves them all together into one mega plot. My book DEGENERATES is styled after that one. I also believe that every wannabe author should read Steven King’s ON WRITING. It is simply the best book on the craft ever written in my opinion.

A: Thanks, Neil!

N: Thanks, Anthony.

Neil’s work can be found on his website, through Smashwords, at Author Den, and through the usual e-reader suspects like BN and Amazon. Neil himself can be found on his own website, on Goodreads, on his blog and occasionally on Twitter.