Interview with Author Paul Keefe

Today I’m super excited to welcome author Paul Keefe to my blog! Enjoy my interview with him and be sure to check out his book!

 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m a web developer by day. I’ve been working on multimedia projects since the early 90’s and love to take ideas and turn them into visual presentations. I do far more programming these days than artwork, but given the chance, I pull out the drawing software and have some fun. My guitars get far less playing than they deserve since I started writing. Writing is really all consuming and it can be difficult to keep any other hobbies up. But it’s also the best and most creative of all the arts for me. When not working or writing I read, work out—far too little, and promote my book on the net. That last one eats up a lot of time!

When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?

I started writing again about four years ago and I finished my first book this last fall. I say again because when I was in high school I wrote a lot, mostly poetry and some song lyrics. I wrote about this on my blog, but basically a vindictive English teacher turned me off to the writing process and I regret that I somehow bought into it. When I finally started writing again it was cathartic, freedom flowed from my pen (okay, it was actually a computer keyboard). Since then I’ve strived to encourage other authors to write, write, and write. Don’t ever give in to the naysayers—whenever you’re unsure of your own writing, write some more. Eventually the words will coalesce into something wonderful, something even grander than you imagined, and you’ll be glad you didn’t hang it up too soon.

How did you choose the genre you write in?

It chose me. I had been writing a sci-fi that I had been dreaming of for several years, first thinking I would do it as a movie or animation script. Then archaeologist Angie Cooper came to me with her mission in hand and I knew I had to write it. It’s a plot driven book and the plot formed as I got to know Angie. The genre is thriller but could easily be action-adventure as many people have said the book is a cross-between Indiana Jones and a Dan Brown novel.

Where do you get your ideas? Do you ever experience writer’s block? Do you work with an outline, or just write?

Some ideas come from the void, you can’t really tell from where. Others come from reading novels and research. Some of my best ideas came from reviewing photos of architecture.

I think every writer experiences writer’s block to one degree or another. My advice is always the same, write anyway. Eventually you’ll find that spark of a good idea and then the block will disappear on its own.

I don’t work with an outline but think it might be worth learning to do. There’s a lot of rewriting involved in the seat-of-the-pants style. At the same time, a stream of consciousness can pull out ideas that you didn’t even see when you started out writing a scene. All of sudden your character is in uncharted waters—and so are you. That’s the fun part, getting lost in your writing. And for some it’s where their brilliance lies.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?

I spent a long time trying to land an agent and publisher. The doors seemed closed to me and I saw many people on the net claiming that the thriller genre was just to jam packed with books; publishers were sticking with their big writers. Certainly publishers have less money than in the past with the rapid changes happening to their industry, and that could account for their current attitude towards new writers. Of course, it could just be I didn’t find the right people even after going through far over a hundred agents.

That prompted me to go Indie. Publishing as an Indie is really a breeze, both print and eBook. I’m glad I did it otherwise my novel may have just languished for years while I looked for a publisher. The one drawback of course is that you have to promote yourself, and that means you’ll always be way behind the big publishers with huge budgets and connections with bookstores and distributors.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change?

No. There really isn’t anything I could change as far as publishing, not without great globs of money. Plus, I’ve met a lot of great Indie authors and I’m very happy being one of them. My novel, I believe, hit all the points I wished it to, it’s suspenseful, fast-paced, and believable. So, I’m very happy with the way Digger’s Bones turned out.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?

A little of both. I’ve been to some, but not all, of the locations in the book. I drew on what I knew of those places from memory and photographs I had taken. For other areas I did research using everything from Wikipedia to professional archaeology archives. Of course I never spent time searching for bones in the Middle East because it isn’t part of my educational or career background.

You could say that the religious and philosophical aspects all come from my own life. I am the questioning type and want “real” answers to my spiritual questions; especially after attending parochial schools as a kid. I believe, although it may never be found to be true, that the events in the book are quite plausible. And I hope that my diligence in research will have readers feeling the same way. Four reviewers of Digger’s Bones have compared it to a Dan Brown novel, so the controversial nature of the book may not appeal to everyone.

What project are you working on now? Will you have a new book coming out soon? Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?

I’m working on the sequel to Digger’s Bones with three books, including the first, planned. Angie Cooper is my driving force, I love getting her into trouble and watching her get out of it. I really try to see it through Angie’s eyes and allow the emotions she feels to be the emotion the book expresses. At the moment I see plenty of archaeological mysteries heading Angie’s way and I’m very excited about that.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?

Read widely. Read outside of your chosen genre. If you write horror, read a romance novel. If you write about dark vampire filled streets, read a classic. Be sure you read outside your genre so you don’t become a cliché of your own style, it happens to the best of writers.

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?

Thanks for reading. You can find me on Facebook and Twitter and I’m more than happy to converse with readers on any topic from the book. Or guitars, I love guitars!

Paul Mansfield Keefe was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire. He worked as a multimedia artist and programmer for non-profits and corporations creating websites and applications since the early years of the Internet. Music and animation led him to realize his story telling talents could best be put to use in writing novels. Digger’s Bones, the first book in the Angie Cooper Series, is his debut novel.

Check out Pauls Website!  http://www.paulkeefe.com

Paul’s book is available at:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Diggers-Bones-Paul-Mansfield-Keefe/dp/1456313754

Barnes & Nobel: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Diggers-Bones/Paul-Mansfield-Keefe/e/9781456313753

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31933

Do you miss me yet?

I’m not quite gone yet…but very shortly will be heading off to the sunny Dominican. I’ll be home Sun Jan 30th. Hopefully. Crossing fingers no flights get delayed this trip!

While I’m restocking my sunbeams and rainbows I hope you all know I’ll be thinking of you too! Biggest hugs to all my cyber friends and family! You all rock and your support and friendship mean so much to me! (((((Hugs)))) Love you all and I”ll be back soon!

 

If you haven’t already… check out my short story Jump…or tweet a link for me.

Available at OmniLit in various eBook formats. Click here to BUY NOW!

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Now on Amazon UK!

Interview with Author Susan Helene Gottfried

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Essentially, I’m boring. My name is Susan Helene Gottfried. I have a BA and an MFA in creative writing. I own cats. I hang at the Hoity Toity Health Club in the mornings and dream of bicycling 100 miles at a clip. I’ve got two kids and a husband.

See? Boring. Are you even still awake?

What do you do when you are not writing? Do you have a day job as well?
Nope, no day job. I used to work as a freelance copy editor, but then my husband’s high tech company got bought out. I had an agent at the time and so my man and I decided I’d quit freelancing and focus on my ambition — writing fiction. Needless to say, the agent never sold a book for me, we parted ways, and then the ShapeShifter project was born. I was offered representation for it by another agent, but she, too, wasn’t meant to be. Now, I focus on writing and the marketing that goes along with it. Needless to say, I love my life.

When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?
Oh, I couldn’t give you a date for this one if I tried. I remember writing a book in seventh grade… maybe there was one before that. I call this my birth defect — I was born with the need to write. And while nothing ever came of those early attempts, the desire to get books into the world never left.

How did you choose the genre you write in?
It chose me, to be honest. When I was a senior in high school, I landed a job in this old-fashioned, mostly extinct creature called a Record Store. I was there when CDs were first released; that’s how old I am. But it was also the perfect time to be working in music. I fell in love with the business end of things and almost went to work for a record label once I had my undergraduate degree. But… I couldn’t figure out how to write books AND hold down that sort of all-encompassing job. So now, I write about rock and roll and the people who make it. It’s my way of combining my two loves. Two afflictions? You decide.

Where do you get your ideas? Do you ever experience writer’s block? Do you work with an outline, or just write?
Hey, there’s more than one question here! No fair!

My ideas come from everywhere and anywhere. When I am deep into a project, I’ll look at pretty much everything through my characters’ eyes. And I mean everything! From going to a hockey game to buying chicken.

Yep, I struggle with writer’s block. One thing I’ve learned over the years, though, is that when I hit that wall, the best thing for me to do is rip out the last few paragraphs. Usually, being stuck is my gut’s way of telling me I’ve gone astray. Once I get rid of the bad stuff, I’m off and running again.

And no, I don’t use an outline. For my latest project, which I’m not talking about yet, I have the pitch done. When I wrote Trevor’s Song, I didn’t even have that much done. I just wrote, found the end, and then revised. A lot.

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?
I probably should point to Chuck Kinder and Reginald McKnight. They were my professors at Pitt, and they didn’t teach me to write; I already knew that. Rather, they taught me to laugh about my mistakes, to learn to recognize them, and to strive for improvement. I’ll never forget the time Chuck wanted to drop a German satellite on one of my main characters. Once your professor does that, the harshest criticism becomes a lot easier to swallow.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
Snort. THIS was an adventure. I had Trevor’s Song ready to go. I’d even begun blogging as a way to build my audience — and they were absolutely rabid over Trevor. (He’s that sort of guy.) But I was getting nowhere with agents. Finally, I read an article that gave me some insight. I sat down with the afore-mentioned agent who offered representation, only to not pan out. It was at a writer’s conference, so I signed up for a pitch session with her, brought her a boatload of research that I’d done and said, “Is it true that books about rock stars don’t sell and this is the ultimate problem?”

She said, “Yes.” And then she wanted to hear about Trevor anyway. And, of course, she fell in love. And then she offered representation. And then she fell off the face of the Earth. Maybe she ran off with a real-life version of Trevor. Who knows?

That was 2006, I think. Somewhere in there. Self-publishing wasn’t what it is today — a viable alternative. That’s how the Demo Tapes were born — to test the waters and basically give my rabid groupies a book to hold in their hands. I didn’t get it out until 2008, and then Trevor’s Song came out last summer.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change?
The ONLY thing I’d do differently is get Trevor’s Song out sooner than I did. A lot of my initial groupies not only stopped blogging but unplugged from the Internet entirely. They probably don’t even know the book is out there. They are people who could have helped create a bigger momentum wave for the book, had they still been around.

How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?
I do mostly online marketing. There’s still a strong anti-self-publishing bias in my local community. I love doing interviews and guest blog posts, but I think what’s worked best for me is the support of my groupies. People who read Trevor love the guy, plain and simple. And they love telling others what they’re missing out on. I am lucky, and I know it.

Have you written a book you love that you have not been able to get published?
Nope, although I have a few hidden away — including the one that should have been the victim of that German satellite — that I might revise and put up on Smashwords, just to see what’ll happen.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book?
No, not yet. But I can — and will! — tell you that one of the books I’m working the hardest on is the sequel to Trevor’s Song.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
Sort of… Trevor is part of a rock/metal band. (I’ll let you decide which.) I was never in a band; I’m tone deaf. Instead, I did crew. I was a DJ. I worked in record stores. I was all set to go work for a record label but walked away at the eleventh hour because I wanted to write books. I know the world of music inside and out — and know who to ask when I get stumped on a detail. But the conflict and the problems Trevor faces? All imaginary.

What project are you working on now? Will you have a new book coming out soon? Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?
I’m hoping to put out two books in 2011 — the third Demo Tapes anthology, with more short fiction featuring Trevor and the band. All of the stories were originally published on my blog, the Meet and Greet at West of Mars. I’m also hoping to get the sequel to Trevor’s Song out. But there’s also something new I’m drafting… stay tuned for that. It’ll be different but sort of similar. Maybe. I’m not sure yet; it’s still the early going.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
Write, write, write. And be open to constructive criticism from others. The best advice I ever heard came from literary agent Barbara Poelle, via one of her clients: Read 2k words every day and write 2k words every day.

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?
There’s no better time to join the Trevolution! And thanks again, Jennifer, for having me stop in today.

Susan Helene Gottfried is the author of ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 1, ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes — Year 2, and Trevor’s Song. She can be found online at http://westofmars.com, where you can find The Meet and Greet, among other goodies.

A tone-deaf rocker-at-heart, Susan worked in retail record stores, in radio stations, as stage crew, and as a promoter while earning two college degrees in creative writing.

Susan walked away from a continued career in the music industry in order to write books, so it makes sense that most of her fiction revolves around rock bands. Once you get those record stores, radio stations, and fellow roadies and promoters under your skin, they never leave.

When not writing, Susan captains the team at Win a Book, a promotional site for authors and book bloggers — and readers like yourself.
Website: http://westofmars.com
The blog is the Meet and Greet at West of Mars — http://westofmars.com/blog

Buy links: http://westofmars.com/west-of-mars/the-books/trevors-song

Interview With Author Rob Tobin

I have the super duper pleasure of having author Rob Tobin on my blog today. You just have to read this interview, no clicking!! He is super amazing, and funny. You will love him!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I’m a Canadian novelist, screenwriter and non-fiction book author living and writing full-time in Huntington Beach, Southern California. I’m the father of two amazing sons, Brian and Josiah, and very lucky husband to Leslie Coogan (she had such a great name she decided to keep it, couldn’t blame her, lol). I just finished my latest novel, Jo-Bri and the Two Worlds, and am looking for a Young Adult agent for it. My previous novel, “God Wars, Book One: Living with Angels” is coming out from Echelon Press either late January or early February 2011, it’s a fantasy Sci Fi novel. I’m also just finished the first draft of a new non-fiction book, a self-help book with a twist, irreverent in many ways and definitely not your father’s self-help book, it’s entitled “Enlighten This, Motherf*****.” LOL.

What do you do when you are not writing? Do you have a day job as well? I love just hanging with my wife Leslie, dining out, going to movies, ziplining, skiing (though we don’t go nearly enough), reading (don’t do nearly enough of that either, it’s always a time cruch). I do still have a day gig, as a marketing communication writer, so I’m incredibly lucky, even my day gig involves writing.

When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book? I started writing when I was three years old, short stories. I wrote my first book, a novel, when I was 12.

How did you choose the genre you write in? I never had a specific genre until my last two novels and I chose fantasy and then, with my latest novel, Young Adult fantasy (I know, that sounds dirty). It was partly a commercial choice. I have a feature film coming out in April, another one in development but I wasn’t satisfied with my success in screenwriting so I went back and wrote my first novel in twenty years or so, and the concept that came to me just happened to be fantasy/SF, so I went with it. Of course that genre is killing right now especially the YA market, so I think it was the right choice.

Where do you get your ideas? Do you ever experience writer’s block? Do you work with an outline, or just write? I don’t think I’ve ever experienced writer’s block even though I once wrote an article on it for a well-known writing magazine, lol. I have no idea where the ideas and concepts come from, one moment there’s nothing and then a concept and if I’m smart enough and quick enough to write them down, they almost inevitably end up being written as a story, though I have a huge backlog of ideas awaiting my attention. I always outline after I get the initial concept, in fact I wrote two screenwriting books that emphasize outlining: “The Screenwriting Formula” and “How to Write High Structure, High Concept Movies.”

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult? Anything by Hemingway, loved his terse, muscular style, and anything by Richard Bach. Loved Pearl Buck, Steinbeck to a lesser degree, then I got into a lot of SF and fantasy, like “Stranger in a Stranger Land,” “The Foundation” series, Ursula LeGuin, a little sword and sorcery like McAfferty.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published? I spent years trying to get my first two novels published and there was the occasional nibble but nothing. The real reason for that was that I wasn’t invested enough in rewriting my work, trying to get by with first or second drafts. I didn’t know back then that the real secret to writing is rewriting. “God Wars,” though, came relatively easy. It was originally written as a screenplay, but it just kept on going until it was somehow book-length, so I converted one copy to a novel and the other copy I slashed back down to feature script length. It was turned down by several publishers, which is par for the course for most novelists, and then an editor at Echelon Press took a liking to it and the rest will hopefully one day be history, lol.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change? I would have written it as a novel to begin with. Screenplays and novels are just so different in style and content and especially point of view and it took a lot of editing to get “God Wars” to be a novel, though in the end with a lot of great editorial help from Echelon, it came out pretty well I think.

How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre? You know, again there are the differences between the film world and the world of books and then the differences in the book world between the old days and now, with all the social media marketing that has to be done. So I’m catching up. I had some presence on the web, the usual suspects – facebook, myspace, linkedin, etc. but it’s been an uphill climb learning what I need to know. I finally have website (robtobinscreenwriting.com) though I haven’t converted it fully to the new novel yet, and certain people at Echelon, especially Jen Wylie, are helping me maneuver into the proper position prior to publication date.

Have you written a book you love that you have not been able to get published? Absolutely. I mean I really like “God Wars,” but my latest novel “Jo-Bri and the Two Worlds” was written exlusively as a novel from the beginning, as a Young Adult fantasy novel somewhat like “Harry Potter” meets “Twilight” and “Stranger in a Strange Land” and it is the best thing I’ve ever written, and my book agent thought so too, actually calling it brilliant (and she’s extremely hard to please), but she doesn’t handle YA and I haven’t been able to yet find the right agent to take this one big – I really feel this is another “Twilight” or “Harry Potter” kind of series waiting for the right agent and right publisher to take off with. I’m absolutely sure it will, but the book industry is in flux and people are hesitant to commit.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book? “God Wars” is about a teenage girl, a world-class gymnast, who is training for the Olympics and is an amazing athlete but more than that – she has this… “power” that allows her to do things others can’t. Then one day this drugged-out punk drives her and her parents off the road, permanently paralyzing the girl, killing her parents and stripping her of that “power.” Years later, in a wheelchair, a dark figure (who turns out to be a demon) helps direct her into witchcraft and she rediscovers her power, and decides that she is going to use that power to punish all the wrongdoers she can, especially the young man who put her in a wheelchair and her family into the grave. She’s got justice in her hands and she’s really, really pissed off. She also meets another shadowy figure who turns out to be an angel stranded on Earth who tries to prevent her from abusing her powers. The question becomes, will she gain revenge, and will she destroy the world in the process? It’s funny, sexy, with a great female lead and it has a lot of twists and turns.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination? Just my constant desire for instant justice – you know you see that a-hole and you want a bolt of lightning to come down from the sky to fry him or her and it never really does. I guess “God Wars” is for all of us who are just praying for that bolt of lightning.

What project are you working on now? Will you have a new book coming out soon? Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with? Well, “God Wars” is the first book in a trilogy, I’m working on that aforementioned self-help book but the book I’m pushing the most right now is “Jo-Bri and the Two Worlds,” which is completed, and for which I’m looking for that top-notch agent.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers? Again, the secret to writing is rewriting. Hemingway actually once said: “The first draft of anything is shit.” An actual quote. And he is absolutely right. Write, then rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. And the only other thing I’d say is that if you’re going to write, do it for the joy of it, because the odds of making a living as a novelist or screenwriter or playwright are quite small. I hate to discourage new and young writers, but you have to know what you’re facing, and it’s an uphill battle.

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans? I have readers and fans? Damn. Yeah, let me repeat: enjoy the process of writing, that way even if you never make it commercially, you’ll at least be doing something you enjoy.

Rob is a husband, father, screenwriter, novelist, non-fiction book author, frequent guest speaker at film festivals and writing conferences, and a graduate of USC’s Master of Professional Writing program and of the University of Victoria’s Creative Writing program. He has a $15 million feature film (“Dam 999”) in post production, a $40 million feature (“Camel Wars”) in development with legendary filmmaker John McTiernan (“Die Hard,” “Predator,” “Hunt for Red October”) attached to direct, a novel (“God Wars”) scheduled to be published in early 2011, and two published non-fiction books. Creative Screenwriting Magazine recently produced two of Rob’s instructional screenwriting DVDs.

Rob is a former VP of Writers Boot Camp, the country’s largest private screenwriting school. As a story analyst, he read 5,000+ screenplays for Goldwyn, Spelling, Interscope, TriStar, TriMark, HBO, et al. He also helped establish a feature film department for Stephen J. Cannell (“The A-Team,” “Hunter,” “The Commish”).

Be sure to visit Rob’s website and don’t forget to follow him on Twitter!