Today's guest is David Crow, author The Pale-Faced Lie, the story of his childhood with a violent felon as a father, and a mentally ill mother. David joined me today to talk about catharsis, forgiving yourself, and keeping your writing honest, even when it's painful.
Tyrell Johnson on Inspiration, Jumping out of Moving Vehicles, and Writing with a Donkey
Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview.
Today’s guest for the WHAT is Tyrell Johnson, author of The Lost Kings, a riveting psychological thriller with a killer twist about a woman forced to confront the darkest moment in her childhood in order to move on from her past and open her heart to love.
Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?
Like you said, the origins of my writing are often quite nebulous. This time, however, there was a bit of an inspiration. It was during the pandemic, my wife and I were stuck at home with three kids (think Lord of the Flies), and I didn’t know what to write next. She told me she had nothing good to read and to just write a book for her. So, in a way, I did. She likes complicated characters, mystery, and a touch of romance. But also, I wanted to write about trauma because it felt like the world was going through (and still is!) a collective case of WTF is going on? Between those two things, somehow Jeanie King and The Lost Kings was born.
Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?
Once I have the character fairly set in stone and a basic idea of their backstory, I just continue to put them in situations of drama and see how they react. From there, the novel starts to write itself.
Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?
Yes. This is one of the more fun and surprising things about writing fiction. I had a professor in college tell me once that the brain of a writer and the brain of a schizophrenic aren’t that dissimilar. You have to write like a schizophrenic sometimes, like you hear voices, contain multitudes, like your own characters can surprise you. I remember having a nice little ending planned out for one of my characters, only to have them resist so hard, they literally jumped out of a moving vehicle. It was kind of fun to write actually.
Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?
I’d say they come to me fairly often, but whether or not they make it through my screening process and excite me enough to write is another story. I have to be pretty passionate about the project I’m working on, otherwise my boredom comes out in the writing.
How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?
Often, I’ll write a few pages and see which one takes off. But it’s very much a feeling. If a story reaches a point of development in my head and begins to weigh on me, begging to be written, I can’t help but start putting words down on paper.
I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?
At one point in my life, I had a husky, a miniature horse, and a donkey as my writing buddies (no joke), but nowadays, it’s only the husky and the occasional small human that comes in to say hi.
Tyrell Johnson is a father, writer, and editor. His post-apocalyptic novel The Wolves of Winter (Scribner 2018) was an international bestseller. Originally from Bellingham Washington, he now lives in Kelowna British Columbia.
Melissa Landers on Post-Pandemic Career Hiccups
We all like to hear about the journey to publication, and hopefully other people's success stories help bolster the confidence of those still slogging through the query trenches. But what happens after that first book deal? When the honeymoon is over, you end up back where you were - sitting in front of a blank Word document with shaky hands. Except this time, there are expectations hanging over you. With this in mind, I’ve created the SNOB (Second Novel Omnipresent Blues) interview.
Today’s guest for the SNOB is Melissa Landers, author of Lumara which releases December 6, 2022
Whether you’re under contract or trying to snag another deal, you’re a professional now, with the pressures of a published novelist compounded with the still-present nagging self-doubt of the noobie. How to deal?
It’s weird, because even though I’ve published a dozen novels, I feel like I’m starting from scratch. A few years ago, my career had a “hiccup” that resulted in a gap in my release schedule. Then Covid shutdowns and editorial furloughs widened that gap even more. Now that I’m finally releasing a new YA novel (Lumara, coming Dec. 6 from Disney-Hyperion), I’ve found that the teenage readership I cultivated years ago is all grown up. I still have fans of my Alienated and Starflight series, but most of them have graduated from reading YA to reading adult novels. Which is totally understandable…but puts me on a brand-new course to connect with a brand-new set of readers. So you can probably see how that feels like starting over.
Is it hard to leave behind the first novel and focus on the second?
Instead of leaving behind a first novel, I’m leaving behind the first leg of my career. And yes, it’s a total mind freak. The years since Covid have FLOWN for me—seriously, it’s like my internal clock stopped ticking in 2020—and it’s hard to believe that so much time has passed since my last book launch. But here I am with a five year gap between YA releases. That’s hard to wrap my head around.
At what point do you start diverting your energies from promoting your debut and writing / polishing / editing your second?
Well, I guess that’s a silver lining. My previous books came out so long ago that I can focus on my new releases instead of worrying about promoting the old ones. ☺
Your first book landed an agent and an editor, and hopefully some fans. Who are you writing the second one for? Them, or yourself?
Myself. Always myself. I’m a very selfish writer, and I make no apologies for that. I began my career writing the books that I wanted to read, and all these years later, my goal remains the same. If I can’t entertain myself, I can’t entertain my readers. So it all starts with me.
What did you do differently the second time around, with the perspective of a published author?
This time around, I’m doing a lot more living in the real world and less living in the virtual world. The old me used to spend hours and hours staging the *perfect* book pic for Instagram. I loved the validation and the exposure that came with each post. But even though my pictures and videos racked up a metric ton of likes, the attention rarely translated into sales. Eventually, the experience started to feel empty. That was when I knew my free time was better spent doing the things I love with the people I love.
Melissa Landers is a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue other worlds. A proud sci-fi geek, she isn't afraid to wear her Princess Leia costume in public...just ask her three embarrassed kids. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she writes fantasy and space adventures for the young at heart.