Life
On Base: Quantico Cave is the first in a series of
stories about children of military parents. The story follows Stephen as he
explores the Quantico Marine Corp Base in Virginia, a place filled with
military history, battles fields, and competition designed to build warriors.
Have
you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the
direction of the novel at all?
That’s an interesting question. We have had some bloggers
choose the antagonist as the predominant character in Life On Base. The story
has several strong characters that compete for the title of a major character.
Did you try the traditional route to publishing, i.e.
querying agents/publishers?
Tom’s non-fiction work is published traditionally in the UK.
Traditional publishing is very different. We haven’t decided yet whether we
like the hybrid process, self-publishing, or the traditional path. Self-publishing
is nice because the author maintains control of everything, but it does include
all of the headaches that go with the process.
How long before you got your offer of representation/your
first contract? Was it for your first novel?
Well, timing seems to be important with traditional
publishing. The author has to do the homework before querying. Taking the time
to read and understand the publisher or agent’s interests makes all the
difference. Tom’s contract with the publisher only took a couple of weeks to
find because he queried editors with a strong interest in his subject.
What factors influenced your decision to go with a
particular agent or publisher?
On the subject of traditional publishing, the strongest
factor was the editor’s interest in the subject. If the publisher’s
representative has a strong desire for the book, then the entire project flows
so much better. Ashgate Publishing is a great company with which to work.
For
Life On Base: Quantico Cave we chose to work with Koehler
Books’ hybrid process. Hybrid is nice because you share the costs, but maintain
a lot of the control as well.
Are you currently under a traditional publishing contract
for future books or do you have manuscripts that you will self-publish? Are you
doing both?
We haven’t made that decision yet. We are in the middle of
working on two stories, one of which is a second story in the Life On Base
series, but we are exploring the idea of going traditional just to free up some
of the time it takes to do the work in self-publishing. What a lot of people
don’t realize is that when publishing a book most of the marketing effort is made
by the author. It works that way with every publishing method, so if the
publisher carries the load for design, editing, book covers, and sales, then
the author does gain some time for writing.
What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do
you like silence?
Our writing process is what we call collaborative writing.
Nancy and I have to work hard to find writing time together because Tom’s
schedule is crazy at best. He has a day job and several night jobs teaching at
Universities in the area. We tend to sit down together to debate the story line
and often the action and reaction of characters.
We both have favorite characters and tend to try and protect
those characters personalities and activities throughout the story. This helps
to keep the characters real.
Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes
you?
This part is hard for us. Nancy is a planner while Tom tends
to like to follow his muse. It keeps things interesting, but then we do tend to
toss a lot of chapters that just don’t fit the plan.
Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before
publishing?
Absolutely. Although Nancy is a great editor with a
wonderful eye for finding those inconsistencies and plot killers throughout the
story, Mary Rosenblum did a wonderful job with the editing for Quantico Cave.
Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books
are for sale?
Life
on Base: Quantico Cave is on almost every online
bookseller site, including B&N, and Books A Million. Whichever is your
favorite seller, you will find Life On Base: Quantico Cave there.
What kinds of marketing [twitter, facebook, blog, forums]
are you involved with for promoting your book(s)?
We try hard to be in every place at once. Tom tends to focus
on Twitter, Amazon, the weekly blog, and many book club forums while Nancy
manages our Facebook presence. Facebook is the big one for us since it requires
constant attention as that is the one place that we can enjoy and almost
real-time interaction with readers and other authors.
Do you find it difficult to juggle your time between
marketing your current book and writing your next book?
Juggling the time between marketing and writing is a lot
like the spinning plates trick on the old children’s shows like Bozo’s Circus.
Just when you think all the plates are safely spinning, plates begin to wobble.
What advice would you give a new author just entering into
the self-publishing arena?
Find your peers and begin to establish good relationships.
Authors are wonderfully creative and sharing people by nature, so most are very
willing to help with advice, contacts, and introductions to the people a new
author needs to meet. Build your online
presence long before he book is released and make connections with your readers.
Some fun facts about you, which do you prefer – dogs or
cats? Chocolate or vanilla? Coffee or Tea? Talk or Text? Day or Night?
Funny you should ask.
Nancy is a night person, staying awake to two or three in the morning
while Tom wakes every morning before six. Nancy prefers cats while Tom prefers
dogs. Nancy prefers tea while Tom prefers coffee and Tom hates phones, but
Nancy will always prefer a phone call. I
think our differences make the stories so much more compelling because the
conflicting styles create a great balance in the story.
What’s next for you?
We have two sequels in the works now, one a second book to
follow up The Borealis Genome and the second in the Life On Base series.
Tentatively titled Life On Base: Spirit of Quantico focuses on Lori, Stephen’s
sister and her challenges and dreams growing up on the Marine Corp Base. Nancy
and I are very excited about this story because it brings in many of the
animals that have served alongside our country’s warriors.
Synopsis:
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Book & Author
Details:
Life on Base: Quantico
Cave by Tom & Nancy Wise
Published by: Koehler Books
Publication date: December 23rd 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Published by: Koehler Books
Publication date: December 23rd 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Synopsis:
For Stephen, his life on base is much the
same as most other children’s. The difference is in the details. Look both ways
before crossing a tank path and be sure to check if the spent bullet casings
you find in the long-abandoned trenches are actually empty. Sports stop at the
sound of the evening trumpet call as he and his friends stand at attention
while the flag is retired. Quantico Cave is a story of friendship and
competition, and when Stephen meets up with a friend he once knew at a previous
home station, the contest hits a whole new level that places everyone at risk.
Purchase:
AUTHOR BIO:
Tom and Nancy Wise are award-winning
authors. Their first novel, The Borealis Genome, is the grand- prize
winner of the Chanticleer Book Reviews Dante Rossetti 2013 Award for
YA Novels and 2014 Cygnus Award Lab Lit Category. Thomas grew up in a
military family moving from base to base as the child of a Marine,
living the life of an officer’s brat in times of war while Nancy was
raised the youngest child of a WWII veteran. When not working together on
their novels, Tom teaches at University and authors articles on
project management topics and nonfiction books published by Gower
Publishing in the UK.
Author links:
