My latest novel, How I
Ruined My Life, is a YA literary piece centered around the important role
friendship plays in our lives - particularly when it comes to personal development.
I had several friends growing up, but one stood out in particular. I would not
be who I am today had it not been for his friendship and guidance. I hope that
his personality is well-represented in the pages of my novel and that readers
will feel just as close to him as I was.
Do you have a favorite
character?
Absolutely. My favorite character by far is Isaac. He’s a
friend that Kyle makes about halfway through the story, and he does a great job
of lightening the mood. A lot of the themes in How I Ruined My Life are very dark and sometimes hard to swallow,
so having a jovial and fun character like Isaac in the mix is quite beneficial
- both as a writer and a reader.
What factors influenced
your decision to self-publish your books?
I feel like the world is moving into self-publishing more
and more. Agents are bombarded with stacks of proposals and manuscripts that
they may never find time to read, and it’s difficult to put yourself on top of
that stack when you’re a first-time author. I believe it may actually be a bit
presumptuous of me to try my hand at querying agents with my book before I’ve
really proven myself worthy of their time. If I can make How I Ruined My Life successful on my own, maybe I’ll take the
traditional publishing route.
What is your writing
process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?
I absolutely listen to music! I have a playlist on Google
Play that’s filled with instrumental pieces. When I’m writing a scene, I like
to pick a song from the playlist that fits the mood of the scene. I’ve found
that music really improves my writing quality.
Do you outline your story
or just go where your muse takes you?
It’s a combination of both. How I Ruined My Life was a bit of a special case. I essentially
wrote a two-page synopsis of the story and used that as a makeshift outline to
work from. When I felt the story going in a direction that the synopsis wasn’t,
the story took over and the synopsis was left in the dust.
Did you hire an editor to
review your manuscript before publishing?
Absolutely. I’ve seen how passionate readers (including
myself) are about picking apart bad grammar and poorly edited manuscripts. A
single error on a page can jump out and bite you, destroying your immersion
while a good editor can make a decent novel an incredible one. The woman that I
worked with, Ara Burklund, was immensely helpful and I’m so grateful for
everything she did for me.
Do you find it difficult to
juggle your time between marketing your current book and writing your next book?
It can be difficult to divide my time, but promoting How I Ruined My Life always takes
precedence over writing my next book. If I have an opportunity to speak about
the book or present it to a potential group of readers, I will find a way to
make that happen. From what I’ve been told, marketing the book is going to be a
lot of work. I think I’m ready, though.
Besides writing, do you
have any other passions?
I’m very creatively-minded and almost always have some sort
of project in the works. Sometimes it’s another book, but I also enjoy creating
games and composing music. Right now, I’m actually working on the official
novel soundtrack for How I Ruined My Life!
Some fun facts about you,
which do you prefer – dogs or cats? Chocolate or vanilla? Coffee or Tea? Talk
or Text? Day or Night?
Dogs (but don’t tell my cat), vanilla, coffee, text, and
night!
What’s next for you?
The plan right now is to keep pushing How I Ruined My Life. I want to make sure that it reaches its full
potential before I start promoting a new project. I’m enjoying the marketing
process so far and hopefully I can keep this momentum going. Every single
individual book sale makes an enormous difference, and I intend to promote How I Ruined My Life for quite a while.
Synopsis:
Book &
Author Details:
How I Ruined My Life by T. L. Bainter
Publication date: February 12th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Publication date: February 12th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Kyle has
gone unnoticed for the vast majority of his life and he’s always preferred it
that way. Homeschooled, shy, and only attending church because he’s forced to,
there’s not really anything outstanding or interesting about him. That changes,
however, when he meets James Porter. The two are fast friends, but Kyle isn’t
sure if that’s a good thing or not. While some of the experiences resulting
from their friendship are grand, many other experiences leave Kyle broken,
angry, and depressed. Is Kyle’s friendship with James really such a good thing,
or would he have been better off if he’d simply remained the quiet, lonely boy
that no one seemed to notice?
Purchase:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/How-Ruined-My-Life-fictional-ebook/dp/B01ALOWKMK/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-i-ruined-my-life-t-l-bainter/1123231401?ean=9781522897859
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-i-ruined-my-life-t-l-bainter/1123231401?ean=9781522897859
AUTHOR
BIO:
T. L. Bainter was born in 1994 and began writing short
stories not long after that. Since the age of six, he has been churning
out short story after short story. After receiving an award from the
renowned Writers of the Future competition for his short story Edwin, T.
L. Bainter found the confidence and encouragement that he needed to
write and publish his first novel: How I Ruined My Life. Currently, he
resides in Kansas City with his cat, Sooba.
Author
links:
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