Sometimes I’ll read stories that are similar to what I’m after. For example, I’m preparing a “last person on earth” novel and I’m in the thinking process with the story. I’ve found other books written about similar situations and I’ll read those to see how other the authors deal with the world building and the telling of the tale. Think about it, if the story is about the last person on earth, who’s the story – or protagonist if told in first person – talking to?

Earl T. Roske – 19 June 2013

The Back Flap

What if your career and your passion were slowly being drained from you and there was nothing you could do stop it?

This is exactly the fate that confronts Allegra in Tale Of The Music-Thief. Allegra is an opera singer for the City-Along-The-Lake opera company. She has come to the city from the Great Steppes where her entire family and clan have been killed by a plague. Allegra only escaped the plague because her parents, recognizing her talent for music, had sent her to a music conservatory by the SouthSea. When her family died Allegra moved west to distance herself from her past.

However, Allegra couldn’t distance herself from her memories and the music connected to them. So she began to suppress them, piling new music on top to weigh the old ones down, to keep them buried and safe. And to keep herself safe from the pain she connected to them.

But with then the music began to disappear. Everyone was affected by the disappearance. It wasn’t just music disappearing from music sheets and music crystals. People were actually losing the music from their heads, too. The city council has dismissed this as an illness and set the medicos to find a cure. But even with the help of talented magicnicians they are unable to solve the problem. Allegra, though, seems to have stumbled upon the true culprit, a music-thief.

As more and more of the music disappears, Allegra’s past rises up with memories she feels are too sensitive to touch. But as she pursues the music-thief she is forced to engage her past. She is compelled to recall songs from her childhood, or risk losing the music-thief’s trail.

Along the journey to stop the music-thief, Allegra makes new friends and rediscovers her past.

About the book

What is the book about?

Tale Of The Music-Thief is about music and stolen music and the importance of music in people’s lives. Allegra, the protagonist, has been using new music to keep the music from her childhood and their connected memories buried deep inside her. As a young girl she’d been sent to a conservatory to train her musical talent. While at the conservatory her family and clan died in a plague. Allegra has been moving west, far from the Great Steppes and her childhood to escape the memories of her youth. In City-Along-The-Lake she’s found a home at the opera company. It’s been a few years now and she’s become part of the city, using disguises to safely visit taverns and inns. But something insidious has been moving west and is now ravaging the city: music is being stolen. What is making the people most uncomfortable is that the music is disappearing from their minds. One moment a person knows a song, the next minute they can no longer recall the song. Allegra understands that if all music disappears then she’ll have to confront the ghosts of her past and, even worse, she may lose the music that is the sole memento of her childhood.

When did you start writing the book?

Tale Of The Music-Thief originally began as a short story about five years ago.  It sat for a few years. When I went back to look at it again, I felt that there was a bigger story; there was much I hadn’t shown or told in the short story. I tried filling in the short story with more story line but it was sounding very awkward. I knew there was only one thing to do, I put the short story aside and began again, fresh.

How long did it take you to write it?

When I began tackling Tale Of The Music-Thief as a novel it took me about six months to get the first complete draft done. I set it aside for a month, then went at it again for the second edit. That took a couple more months with other writing distractions. Readers had the second draft for a couple months and then I went through again after making corrections and changes based on their input.

Where did you get the idea from?

The idea for Tale Of The Music-Thief sprang from my own lack of musical ability. Though I did take lessons with the clarinet and guitar as a child, and bagpipes years later, I never seemed to really grasp the learning very well. Which is a shame because I’ve always felt that the ability to express one’s self musically is a wondrous thing. I’d been thinking about how much music influences us. Music can evoke emotions and stir up old memories. We have our spirits lifted by a martial symphony, tears are pulled forth with dramatic song. And then, because I am a writer, I asked myself, what if? What if all the music began to disappear? What would that be like? Then I began to tell myself the story. How would it happen? How would people react? What kind of person would try to find the solution? What’s their back story?

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

I always have an outline, a quick sketch roadmap at the least, so I know where I want to go and often I know where I am. Sometimes it was a matter of getting from the beginning to the end of a chapter. I knew where I was going in at and I knew where I was coming out, but making sense of the middle, and not filling it with fluff, was sometimes a challenge. When this happens, as it did on occasion while writing Tale Of The Music-Thief it happens because I don’t understand a character’s motivation or the background information well enough. At those times I’d stop and spend some time reflecting on the situation, often writing pages and pages of random notes before I returned to writing the story.

What came easily?

Dialogue seems to come pretty easy. I think that may be a result of my experience writing plays. In plays dialogue has to have purpose, you don’t have time to waste. Each line of dialogue has to move the story forward. I think I accomplish that pretty well in Tale Of The Music-Thief.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

I think all characters are composites of people I know. Some traits are more expressed than others. I’ve never intentionally modeled a character on a person. The protagonist for Tale Of The Music-Thief, Allegra, borrows her name from someone I met years ago. I thought it was a melodic name and thought that if I ever wrote a story with music in it, I’d like to have her name in the story. Beside the name, the two people have nothing in common.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

Reading is very important for authors. Reading is my favorite pastime. I remember reading Watership Down while walking to and from 8th grade, my nose in the book, stumbling over cracks in the sidewalk. I would go to school early so I could sit on the steps before the doors were unlocked and just read. Andre Norton left me spellbound and occasionally chilled and Anne McCaffrey showed me the breadth of the wings of imagination. Really, though, the list is long and I read across genres and regularly devour non-fiction as well. I get my greatest inspiration from non-fiction.

Do you have a target reader?

I didn’t write Tale Of The Music-Thief with any particular audience in mind. I wrote it for myself. Some early readers thought it would be good for those who enjoyed Harry Potter. I think, however, if someone is looking for a good story, an entertaining story with a little magic in it, then this is a book for them. If a reader likes music they may find pleasure in this book too as Allegra spends a lot of time sharing songs.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

A lot of thinking and contemplating. I tell myself stories about the characters that never make it onto paper. It’s about getting to know the characters.  I also have to know where I’m going to end up when the story is over.  I don’t necessarily write it down – I do write from beginning to end – but I know what the climax is and the dénouement. Sometimes I’ll read stories that are similar to what I’m after. For example, I’m preparing a “last person on earth” novel and I’m in the thinking process with the story. I’ve found other books written about similar situations and I’ll read those to see how other the authors deal with the world building and the telling of the tale. Think about it, if the story is about the last person on earth, who’s the story – or protagonist if told in first person – talking to?

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

I do. It’s an evolving process. I start with a very brief outline so I can see what I have, what I’m going to be working with. Then I go back again and again, building up the outline each time, adding names and details. Sometimes I’ll write bits of dialogue in the outline. My goal is to have as much detail worked out before I start the first chapter. However, even though I have an outline, it is not chiseled in stone and I have no problem with dumping an idea or chapter if I see that the story needs to go in another direction to reach the end I have in mind.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I do a light edit just before I start writing again. For example, if I’ve finished writing for the day, the next time I sit down to write I’ll read through the last thing I wrote so that I know where I’m starting off at. If there are little things that I notice as I’m reading, I’ll make those changes. However, I think it’s important to get all the way through the story. It’s too easy to get caught up in perfecting a chapter or a paragraph and lose site of the goal, which is to tell a complete story.

Did you hire a professional editor?

I did not hire a professional editor. I would have liked to and if this book is modestly successful, the follow up book will be touched by a professional. Even now I worry there’s something in the book I didn’t see. I’ve read the manuscript a dozen times, even reading it backwards. Fortunately, one of the major pluses of self-publishing and print-on-demand – depending on what company you work through – is that you can update your book if you or a reader find something later.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

No, I don’t. And if there was music playing I’m not sure I’d notice it. I’ve gotten in trouble because my wife was trying to get my attention and I was deep into writing the story and unaware of what was going on around me.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

I submitted to 64 agents. I could have kept going but it just seemed like I would be doing it forever. The impression I was getting was that most agents were looking for something like what was already out there, another Twilight, another James Patterson, another Fifty Shades, instead of trying to find the next new and different thing that was going to wow the reading world. I don’t blame them, it’s an expensive business and there’s a lot of money at stake. And this is not to say that all agents are like this, but that was the general impression I developed while studying their websites.

Then, as I read more about the publishing business and talked to other authors, I learned that even if my book was accepted and published traditionally, it could still be several years before my book made it to the public. That was disappointing to learn. Not all books have to go through that long of a process, obviously timely books like non-fiction politics get pushed through faster. But the publishers don’t move at the speed of the author’s desire.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

Part of it had to do with the timeline for seeing my book reach the public. Another one to three years really seemed too long. it also appears that there isn’t much in the way of diversity in the big presses. I’ve read dozens of books that were independently published – books that I couldn’t put down.  So while I resisted the idea of self-publishing at first I eventually began to see it as a proving ground. Just like music groups play local gigs for years to prove their bones, publishing seems to be evolving into something similar.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

This I did get done professionally. I’d tried making my own cover and I’d put it up on r/selfpublishing on Reddit.com for critique. It didn’t go so well. But then one of the people contacted me and offered to do the cover for free as I’m currently unemployed. I think it’s an awesome cover and since I’m hoping to make this into a series, I want her to carry the theme over to the other covers.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

The marketing plan is evolving as I learn what’s out there. I’ve done giveaways on other sites for my short story collections and that’s had its ups and downs. I’ve been looking at bloggers a lot lately and have been in contact with several – emailed dozens – to generate interest. I’m in this for the long haul. I don’t expect Tale Of The Music-Thief to be an overnight success. I believe it can grow with time so I do not mind that a blogger won’t be able to review the book for four to six months. Hopefully by the time I’m ready to release the next book I’ll have a solid game plan and there will be thousands of readers eager for the next installment.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Save up some money and have a professional editor go through your manuscript. It just takes a lot of pressure off you. Save a little more money and get a professional to design your cover. It isn’t as expensive as you might think. There are a lot of good designers who will do your cover for a pittance because they want to build their portfolio. Work together. And write. Write write write. I spent years away from writing and I think it’s held me back. Go write something. Now!

About You

Where did you grow up?

I was a military brat and grew up in WashingtonState and Germany. I spent several summers of my high school years playing Frisbee on the banks of the Rhine.

Where do you live now?

I live in the San FranciscoBay area with my wife, daughter, and two cats.

What would you like readers to know about you?

I wouldn’t write something I wouldn’t want to read. Oh, and if I lived in a house with a garage I’d probably spend as much time making things out of wood as I do – or wish I did – writing.

What are you working on now?

Too much! I am writing the novel that follows Tale Of The Music-Thief called Tale Of The Missing Village, and I’m nearly done with the first draft of a science fiction novel, then there’s a dystopian future Cthulhu-esque short story I’m polishing, and a full-length play, and several short plays. Then, as is my habit, I’m often writing notes for other ideas as they occur to me.

End of Interview:

To find out more about Earl, visit his website or like his Facebook page.

Get your copy from Tale of the Music-Thief from Amazon US (paper or ebook), Amazon UK (paper or ebook), Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords.