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And now, on to the interview!
Welcome,
David, it’s great to have you on the blog again! Today we are
celebrating Fire Country's 1st
Book Birthday! Do you want to tell us more about it?
Thanks
so much for having me on your awesome blog again, Jenny! When I wrote
Fire Country, it was a huge surprise for me. Normally I plan out my
writing schedule at least a year in advance, but this particular book
came out of nowhere. I was in the midst of writing the sequel to The
Moon Dwellers, my YA dystopian series that takes place completely
underground, when a voice started talking in my head. Her name was
Siena and she lived aboveground.
That changed everything for me. Her voice was so strong and she
clearly had a story to tell, so that got me thinking about writing a
sister series to the Dwellers Saga. When it all came together in my
mind, it was a huge epiphany. I knew the two trilogies would have to
eventually come together in a 7th
book that tied the plots and the characters into one story.
So
I finished the two sequels to The Moon Dwellers, and then wrote Fire
Country, a book about a tribe of people struggling to survive in a
desert-like environment. They created their own harsh laws meant to
help them survive and grow their tribe, but one girl, Siena,
questions everything as she fights to unravel the secrets the tribes’
leaders have been keeping.
Now
the series is complete, with all seven books out, and I couldn’t be
happier with how it all came together, something I was very worried
about as I embarked on my writing journey! It seems like I published
Fire Country only yesterday, so when I realized it had been a year, I
knew I had to celebrate with a big event to let anyone who wanted a
FREE ebook of Fire Country to have the chance to read it!
So
it’s been a year since Fire Country came out, and all kinds of
crazy awesome things have happened to you since then! What has been
the most surprising thing that has happened to you in the last year?
Honestly,
I’m shocked at all that has happened since I wrote Fire Country,
especially since so much of it has seemingly come out of nowhere.
There are really two major surprising things that happened this year,
which are somewhat linked together.
In
early June of 2013 I started getting Tweets and Facebook/Goodreads
messages congratulating me on The Dwellers Saga being included on a
popular Buzzfeed article called “15 Series to Read if you Enjoyed
The Hunger Games.” I said, “What?” I hadn’t heard anything
about this until after it happened and my friends and readers started
telling me about it. I went to the article and was flabbergasted to
find my series listed amongst 14 other bestselling series, many of
which had movie deals, including Divergent, Graceling, and The Mortal
Instruments. And then came the spike in book sales. After the
article, sales of The Moon Dwellers and its sequels really picked up,
more than tripling.
Three
weeks later I was incredibly happy that all my hard work was finally
paying a few of our bills. I was still a poor, struggling Indie
author, but at least we’d stopped eating through our savings
completely. That’s when the next amazing thing happened.
A
literary agent who I’d been rejected by before, Andrea Hurst &
Associates, contacted me. They’d received a message from a film
production company expressing interest in the film option for The
Moon Dwellers. I’d written a testimonial for Andrea Hurst &
Associates a while back, and apparently that had linked me to her
agency on Google, which is why the film production company contacted
her. She said she’d given them my contact information, and then she
asked how things were going since I’d last spoken to her two years
earlier. (Note: by this point I’d given up on finding an agent and
had stopped querying.) I responded and thanked her and updated her on
my exciting news about the Buzzfeed article and the recent success my
series had had.
We
traded a few more e-mails, but long story short, she wanted to read
to my book and discuss potential representation. Two weeks later I’d
received a formal offer of representation from Andrea Hurst &
Associates, changing my life forever. Since then my sales have more
than doubled again, putting them more than six times the level they
were at before the Buzzfeed article, which means more readers get to
experience the story I created, which is a dream come true.
My
agent (I still can’t believe I get to say those words!) and I are
currently seeking a publisher for my new YA novel
Give
us a prediction of what you think your life will be like one year
from now.
Oh
gosh, I have no real idea, Jenny! There’s so much uncertainty at
the moment that there are many possibilities. Just because I have an
agent who’s opening doors for me that I never thought would be
opened, doesn’t mean those same doors won’t be slammed in my face
in a month or two. Although I HOPE I will have at least one book
published by a major publisher, there are no guarantees in this
business. For now, I’m staying optimistic, but realistic,
continuing to write, and focusing on enjoying being able to live out
my dream. At the end of the day, I’m so proud to have the amazingly
loyal readers that I have, and it’s my goal to always entertain
them with my new books.
One
thing I do know, however, is that regardless of whether I find a
publisher that’s the right fit for me and my books, I’ll continue
to write and publish for a long time to come.
I
love the cover for Fire Country. Who designed it? Did you give any
input to the artist?
Ooh,
I’m so glad you asked this because I LOVE the cover too! The cover
design was done by Regina Wamba at MaeIDesign. In terms of input, my
wife, Adele, and I always work together on the concept for my book
covers, which we then present to our graphic designer, in this case
Regina. We also selected the stock photo of Siena. So we do have
quite a lot of input, but then we relied on Regina’s talent to
bring all the elements together into an awesome cover that would
stand out amongst the myriad YA books that are out there!
Fire
Country spends some time on the topic of bullying, which makes this
book really relevant to today's kids. In your opinion, has bullying
changed much since you were a kid? And what do you think is the
answer to the problem of bullying?
Another
awesome question and I’m so glad you noticed the theme of bullying
in the book. Although it wasn’t originally my intention to write a
book about a girl who was bullied, this was Siena’s story to tell,
and unfortunately, she had to withstand quite a lot of bullying.
From
what I can tell, bullying hasn’t changed much since I was a kid. I
can’t pretend like I was traumatized from bullying as a kid, but I
did have a number of experiences with it, both toward me and toward
other kids. It has to stop, plain and simple. The awful stories of
teenagers committing suicide because of being bullied should be a
wake-up call to our society, and yet they are mostly ignored.
I
believe there are two major things that have to change:
1)
Bullying in the entertainment industry: Let’s face it, as much as
we wish parents had all control over molding the people their
children will become, it’s TV, movies, and the internet that plays
a major role in how they think. When I see reality TV shows such as
American Idol focusing on the worst singers, many of whom seem to
have some form of mental illness, and mock them, laugh at them, and
basically make them feel horrible about themselves, it sends a clear
message to our children: bullying is OK. I applaud the rival show, The
Voice, for going in the opposite direction and only giving airtime to
talented singers who should be the focus of these “singing”
shows. On that show, they build people up, rather than tearing them
down. Shame on American Idol for exacerbating the bullying problem.
As a side note, I have noticed that the most recent season of
American Idol has been giving less airtime to the terrible singers
and more time to the talented ones, but it’s still not enough. They
need to go all the way! This is just one example, but there are
numerous others.
2)
Bullying education and consequences: This is a hard one, because each
situation is so unique that it’s hard to make blanket rules to
cover bullying. That being said, there need to be harsher rules and
more education, and kids need to feel empowered to stand up for
themselves without fear of retribution. Many kids who are bullied and
are later asked why they didn’t tell anyone say “I didn’t want
to make it worse.” That’s the wrong message. Our kids shouldn’t
feel afraid to raise their hand and say they’re being bullied for
fear of being bullied more.
Now I’m not saying that it’s only schools and educators
responsible for handing out punishments for bullying. It’s us as
parents, too. Although we love our children, we can’t always assume
they are the perfect human beings we hope we raised. We need to open
our eyes to the fact that our kids might be bullies and in need of an
attitude change.
These
are just a couple of my thoughts and I’m sure there are many other
solutions possible by people who have far more experience than I. In
any case, one of my goals with Fire Country is to show kids the power
of perseverance and standing up for oneself. It’s the story of a
bullied girl who overcomes her perceived shortcomings to do
extraordinary things.
If
you could go back and change one thing in Fire Country, would you,
and would what it be?
You
know, that’s a tough one, because I’m not one to live in regret.
Even my earlier works, which are full of plenty of flaws, are all
part of my journey and growth as a writer. With Fire Country, I might
consider toning down some of the hints I gave to the twists that
occur later in the book. A few of my readers thought some of the big
twists were a little too predictable, while others surprised them. I
would have liked all the twists to be surprises, but maybe that’s
just wishful thinking.
Let's
play a little game of “What If?” If you were in jail for any
length of time, when you were released, what is the first AND second
thing you would do?
Ha!
Love it! First…hug my wife and family. Second…eat something I
love that I didn’t get to eat while in prison. Maybe lobster tail
or a hamburger or something. So yeah, family and food, in that order!
Still
playing the “What If?” game—If you were stuck on a deserted
island with no other people, what are 5 things you'd like to have
with you (not people)?
Ugh,
I already feel like Tom Hanks in Cast Away! Okay, here goes, I’m
not going to cheat and say anything that could help me get rescued,
like flares or a satellite phone or anything like that…
1)
A mint-condition boxed set of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.
Tolkien. This has been my favorite series since I was a kid, and
would do wonders to pass the time.
2)
A good, sharp knife. It would really come in handy for all kinds of
things, like making shelter and foraging for food.
3)
A sturdy fishing pole. Fish would undoubtedly be a major part of my
survival.
4)
A thick tarp. Tarps are extremely useful and would help me stay dry!
5)
Waterproof matches. Eventually I’d have to learn to make fire
without them, but it would help to have a little while to learn
without having to eat raw fish!
Do
you have any other talents or hobbies besides writing?
Well,
I guess technically I’m pretty good with numbers and accounting,
since I did that for almost ten years before becoming a full time
writer, but it’s not exactly a talent I brag about!
I’m
also quite good at most sports, which I love playing in my free time.
I’ll play pretty much any sport, and tend to pick them up quickly.
I love competing and sweating and challenging myself.
You
are a very hard working writer, writing every day of the week. How
do you keep yourself motivated?
Thanks
for noticing! For me it’s just part of the way I’m built.
Anything I do I like to do 110%. When I decided to be a full time
writer, which was always a dream of mine, I promised myself that even
if I wasn’t the most talented writer in the world, I’d be the
hardest working one. So although it might seem like I’m a bit of a
workaholic—I do write seven days a week—I get to work on my terms
and my schedule, because I’m my own boss. I usually work four hours
in the morning (writing), take time off for lunch and to enjoy the
afternoon with my wife, and then get back to work in the evening
(promoting and business side).
I’m
motivated to keep up my manic schedule and aggressive publishing
timeline because I want to achieve my dream of being a career writer.
I don’t want to go back to working in a cubicle doing something I
don’t really want to do. So I’ll work as hard as it takes to
allow me to write for a living. Another thing that motivates me is my
readers. I get quite a lot of positive messages and reviews from
them, and those are HUGE in making me smile and keeping my motivated
to write an even better book the next time for them. All I want is
for them to get great enjoyment out of reading my books.
You
and your lovely wife Adele are just finishing up your two year trip
around the world. Which place was your favorite that you visited?
Why?
The
last two years have truly been an amazing experience, one I’ve been
lucky enough to enjoy with my best friend. Adele is the most
important person in my life, and I wouldn’t have wanted to do a
world trip with anyone else. Honestly, we loved EVERY place we
visited, which is a testament to what an incredible world we live in
and how many genuinely good people there are.
If
I had to pick just one as my “favorite” for the trip, however,
I’d go with Morocco. For me, the main reason was because of how
different it was to every other place we visited. In a lot of ways,
it was like stepping back in time. The country has so much to offer
in terms of diversity as well. One day we’d be in lazy beach town,
the next in a hot manic city, the next in the middle of a desert
oasis with giant sand dunes all around us, and the next in the chilly
mountains. And each place was beautiful in its own way.
Do
you ever think you'll ever branch out and write different genres?
Say a romance? Or a contemporary?
YES!
Although I’ve clearly focused on YA dystopian and post-apocalyptic
books thus far, and will continue to do so for the next year or so, I
love all different genres and have many book ideas to try out. I’d
love to write a standalone contemporary at some point (I already have
a title for the book and plot worked out), as well as a high fantasy
novel (still working the kinks out of this idea). I’m also hoping
to write more children’s books, continuing my The Adventures of
Nikki Powergloves series, which is about a girl superhero. Usually
all my books have a touch of romance in them, but I won’t go so far
as to say I’ll ever write a “romance” novel ;)
So
yes, I absolutely hope to surprise my readers along the way with new
ideas in all different genres.
And
what has been your favorite moment so far on your journey as a
writer?
You
saved the toughest question of all for last! Picking favorites has
never really been my thing, but if I had to narrow it down to one
moment that really changed my life, it was when my agent said she
loved my new book and that she couldn’t wait to start pitching it
to major publishers. It was like all the hard work, long hours,
stressing over reviews, and self-doubt had been smashed together into
a single moment when one person validated everything I’d been
working towards. Even if this particular novel isn’t sold to a
publisher, I finally know that I’m capable of having my books on
the same shelves as the books of the authors I look up to. And that
means the world to me.
Thanks
so much, Jenny, I loved this interview and it’s always fun stopping
by your incredible blog!!
Thank you, David, its always a pleasure to have you!
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