Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it
part of a series?
Overall Blurb:
Jak
Hartlen, 19, the son of William and Mary, will face many thresholds of flesh
and mind on his road to reaping the Whirl Wind; seeds of grief and guilt only
now coming to fruition. If only they’d know what they were doing... The Gan and
their Areht who shape the world behind the scenes will hate him, because he's a
threat they're not sure can be chained.
The
Pillars and their Faithful who spread the world's leading religion will fear
him, because his existence, once known, will challenge Ages of dogma and
accepted history.
The
Crimson King and its Servants who seek to return to power, destroying all that
remains of The White, will hunt him, because even in death, they're not sure
he'll ever bow to the Dark.
—They
All Should. For as One of Five with the power to shake the world, they will
hollow his heart and mind through countless sacrifice and vengeful selfishness.
Back Cover Blurb:
After
a year of laborious solitude and a conflict brought to the doorstep of his
father's house, Jak, a Southlander of meek circumstance, will come to accept
the future isn't set. Through abilities unnerving to any Areht, against enemies
rising in every corner of the planet, he’ll be forced to resolve his destiny as
one of five that can change the world. Such selfless transcendence isn’t easy,
nor simply the heroic result of dark revelations shielded from him since
childhood now exposed; rather, it's because of what’s undeniable, even to him.
Like all great forces collected at the tip of the spear, the truth of his
purpose and the price of his existence has a cost and there's no getting around
paying it
Do you have a favorite character?
I
have a favorite Main and Secondary Character. My favorite main character, is,
of course, Jak—the hero of our story. My favorite secondary character is a
two-way tie, though not between Jak’s trusted friends along the way of his epic
journey: Palomeer, a guardian of sorts, who remains much in the background and Üllrik,
a force-unto-himself, who doesn’t appear till nearly the end of the story—for
reasons I can’t explain without giving things away.
Have you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one?
Did that change the direction of the novel at all?
It
happened all the time. As it should. Outside of Jak, every character is a minor
character. The story is about HIM; however, as the plot moves along, people
join the hero and thus their story/background expands. The world grows. Now,
since mine is an epic world, the blending of Fantasy and Science Fiction, I’ve
got tons of room and time—if my will holds—to expand all these characters in
ways that flow back and forth through the plot. A common saying in my story is “And
the World Turn(s)ed” which is a soft reminder that as the pages in your hand
are turning, w/e you’re not reading about, is also moving forward. A great
example of a minor becoming a major is the focus of my prologue, which outlines
a brief moment before the story and focuses on Mr. Black. I hope everyone
checks it out.
Did you try the traditional route to publishing, i.e.
querying agents/publishers?
Yes.
It felt like forever, though my wife was constantly reminding me it’d only been
a handful of months. I quickly gave up on Agents and began reaching out to
Publishers directly. A few were interested, some had me on stand-by—email
conversations taking weeks at a time—when Black Bed Sheet Books grabbed my
attention and without haste made me an offer over a live chat on FB. Second
best feeling in the world.
What factors influenced your decision to go with a
particular agent or publisher?
I’ll
be honest. Like every author, you want the best for your book. You want that
big deal. You want to be seen everywhere. However, it’s a business and the big
guys play rough and despite how much they might like your book, if they can’t
sell it FAST to make their ROI—meaning one of a hundred things, not all bad—they’ll
pass. We all understand that: Publishers and Agents, for the most part, are
about What’s Hot; What’s Selling: What’s now and how much are you like that. I
like Black Bed Sheet Books and other small/medium press because, well, I see
the passion there. Also, I like breaking new ground and with me, BBS, which did
only horror, was reaching out into new territory. I liked that.
If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how
involved were you during the creative process for your cover?
I
used Angela R. Sasser
http://www.angelicshades.com/ for my cover and
my world map and if you’ve seen them, you know she did an amazing job. I was as
hands on as I could be, but I’m no artist. I sent her drafts from my work,
detailed descriptions and we talked a lot over email. With all that, she took
my world and ran with it. Only once did we revisit something. Everything she
did for me was amazing. Without her, my book wouldn’t look as good as it does.
What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do
you like silence?
I
take a hack’n’slash approach to writing. I know the beginning, middle and end,
points in-between, then I start writing. I outline here-an-there, but only for
a few chapters ahead. When I’m all done, I reread a dozen times, putting things
in, taking things out. It’s kinda messy but I feel better about an organic
process rather than spending so much time banging outa fully realized outline
without making a single keystroke. No, I don’t often listen to music, but at
times I do. Mostly I take breaks walking around my house, outside, talking to
myself—which is funny when I’m caught doing it.
Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
I
did that long long ago. It was horrible. Not only did it cost a lot $$$, but
the editor/book Doctor—makes me mad to this day—wanted me to rewrite it to HER
ideas of what my book should be. Then I spent some time shopping it around town
to people in-the-know, contacts and such. Finally, the last thing I did was
take it to the street. Me and a buddy took my work, a few pages, to a local
bookstore (one of the big guys) and started asking people what they liked or
didn’t like in books and if their taste fit mine, we showed it to them. Now,
both of us said we weren’t the author, that he/she was outside and we were
telling them our opinion of the work was that it wasn’t ready for publication
and this was our friendly way of trying to get an unbiased read on readers so
he/she wouldn’t be hurt by any rejections. However, to our amazement, 9 out of
10 people liked it and a few asked when it would be published, what was the
writers name so they could look it up in a year or so. Sometime after that, I
did take one more crack at a “professional” evaluation, someone I’d read about,
double checked and felt would give me an honest reading. He did and with that
confidence, I worked on the few things he mentioned and quickly began pursuing
publishing.
What kinds of marketing [twitter, facebook, blog, forums]
are you involved with for promoting your book(s)?
Sometimes
I feel like I spend too much time doing this. But, I use my blog Wade Garret’s
World wjgarret.blogspot.com; Twitter @wadejgarret; Facebook WadeGarret and a
handful of others, including Goodreads, Booklikes, LibraryThing, Dieselpunks
and I’m a member of countless blogs and sites where I rarely frequent...I say
this not because I don’t want to visit or post there, but because you can spend
away hours doing this and feel like it didn’t get you anything that day. You’ve
got to be specific. Best, link your twitter to everything and make one post and
it goes everywhere.
What advice would you give a new author just entering into
the self-publishing arena?
Well,
if you don’t have to self-publish, don’t. This is to say, it’s really hard,
takes a ton of time and money. Remember, once it’s published, a publisher might
not republish it...also, it’s very easy to get lost in the pile of free/cheap
books out there. Ok, enough of that cause I don’t want to discourage people
from publishing their works, I often thought about giving up on writing for
awhile if I didn’t get a publisher. So, to my new authors just striking out, I
say this. CAUTION!!!!! Wear a helmet, cause life sucks some times, but in the
end, if you’re not writing what you want to write, what only you can write, why
are you doing it? Don’t be someone else. You’re far more interesting.
5 of 5 stars
