Gregory J. Downs is the author of two novels, Brother Thief and Mordred, both Young Adult Fantasy Adventure stories. Meet him below.
1. Tell us a little
bit about yourself. What else do you do besides writing?
My name is Greg, and my “author alias” is just my full name,
Gregory J. Downs. Sounds more writerly, huh? I’m still a student, believe it or
not, so that takes up most of my not-writing time. Also just the nitty-gritty
of formatting and such is a big time-consumer…. Whaddya know.
2. How did you first
get into writing?
Well I’ve always enjoyed stories, and the thinking-up of
them. Only in 9th grade did it occur to me that I could write my stories
down instead of think them in my head… I was that odd. Anyway, I wrote a few
short stories that were total junk, then finally got around to writing a book…
and then three more. I’m about to graduate high school at home. I’m young and
inexperienced. SO? People like what I write, so I see no reason not to enter
the indie-pub world.
3. Tell us about your
latest book.
My second and latest release is actually coming out
tomorrow, as of this writing (9/6/11). It’s a YA Fantasy-Adventure about a
young street thief with curious control over the sand and stone that makes up
most of the city where he lives. Destiny comes calling one day in the form of
his murdered foster-mother and a mysterious soldier he rescues… and you know
the formula. Or do you? It might throw you some twists.
4. Is it part of a
larger series?
Yeah, definitely. Originally it was a trilogy of 150,000
words per-book. But that’s really, really long for e-books, and I’d want to
price them high because of that, etc… so I changed my plans accordingly. Now
it’s looking to be 9 books of 50 to 70k each. That’s short books, even for an
e-reader, but the story separated really easily and I’m hugely pleased with the
finished product.
5. What was your inspiration for your book?
Well really, I just wrote what I felt like writing. But for
my first book I drew heavily on Arthurian themes (King Arthur is the main
antagonist, and his enemy Mordred is the protagonist). My newest book, though draws
on a lot of eastern themes, such as element-manipulation (á la Avatar and Wheel
of Time), as well as Greek and Norse mythology like that used in the works of
Lewis and Tolkien. Scratch elves and replace ‘em with nymphs, scratch wizards
and replace ‘em with Striders. Striders? You’ll have to read it to find out,
heh heh.
6. What motivates you
to want to write? What do you enjoy about it?
I just love making up stories. It’s the only point I see to
my creativity. I don’t care whether an idea I have has been done before… I’ll
do it again, only how I want it to be! I enjoy most the conception and shaping
of an idea- how will this magic work? Who is this mysterious character? How
will this plot twist totally fool the reader? I also like the actual writing, of
course, but some scenes are more enjoyable than others. Editing is my least
favorite part, by far, and I usually hire someone else out for that.
7. Do you have any
advice for new writers about perfecting their craft?
Well I’m rather new myself, but I have picked up some
things. I’d say this- on one hand, you need to write what you like, and have
fun doing it… but on the other hand, you can’t quit when the going gets tough.
Once you’ve started something, you must must must finish it. I finally learned
that, and it’s made writing far more satisfying (if not at all easier).
8. Where I talk about how to make me famous: Sort of. Here is the link to my blog-http://bit.ly/ovSDvP- where you can read other mental meanderings of mine, and also find links to buy my 4 books on Kindle and Nook (Yes, it's four now!). You can also reach me via Facebook, Goodreads, Shelfari, and other places, through the blog. Cool, huh? Thanks for the interview, Jacques!
No comments:
Post a Comment