I’ve called it young-adult but I’m not sure I like all the comparisons some people make when that is said.

Sarah Baethge – 30 August 2018

The Back Flap

What makes someone a monster?

The zookeeper Ronald Carpenter needs help recovering his escaped charges and is grateful when the secretive Eclipse company steps in to help.  Little does Ronald know just how nefarious a company they really are and why they have such expertise in taking unwilling subjects captive.  Can their offer of a higher salary make him leave a job he loves and help them do what he feels is just wrong?

 Nigel Hunter’s experiment in an Eclipse lab looks like it could enable incredible movement powers. Intrigued with the prospect, he voluntarily gets the company’s help to try the procedure upon himself. The Eclipse now decide to take him prisoner with their other test subjects so that they can test the unbelievable speed it has given him more fully.

When the Eclipse pits Ronald and Nigel against one another in this way, can either one of them manage to get away?

About the book

What is the book about?

The book starts off about a zookeeper who gets trapped into helping an evil company capture paranormal creatures, and becomes the story of a scientist who used to work for them trying to escape from the company and rescue some werewolves.

When did you start writing the book?

I wrote the story that this is a prequel for (The Speed of Darkness- free here) in 2011/2012 and began this book in 2014.

How long did it take you to write it?

I had the story basically written out after about 6 months, but I have been going back over and perfecting it since then.

Where did you get the idea from?

I just kept twisting in different ideas until I had my own story. I guess I was reading Anne Rice when I started and my idea of werewolves I kept trying to distinguish from Twilight.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

The first half of the book is about my villain from The Speed of Darkness and I really made myself redevelop the character so he could almost fill a starring role.

What came easily?

My mad-scientist Nigel Hunter was fun to write. I had a good time with him.

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

Truthfully, I think that many of them are just different aspects of my own personality.

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?

I think a couple of times when I wasn’t sure that I could pull some aspect of my story off, I would read part of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and tell myself that if he could pull so much out of that The Gunslinger story, I really couldn’t just give up on my Speed of Darkness characters.

Do you have a target reader?

Someone who is probably high-school aged or older. I’ve called it young-adult but I’m not sure I like all the comparisons some people make when that is said.

About Writing

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

I try to make myself write a bit, even if it’s only a paragraph or a page, every day.

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

I’ll name chapters and maybe write a sentence or two of what I want to happen, but I have let myself come up with something totally new as I wrote the story out too.

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

I edit as I go because after I edit, what I’m left with may not match my outline anymore. The ending is easier to change if I haven’t written it yet.

Did you hire a professional editor?

That is crazy expensive, and after all the time I’ve spent with my story, I like how it is. If I’m only getting the attention of a self-published book, I want the story to exist how I envisioned it. I’d let someone edit it if they were going to publish it, but without that perk, I’m not willing to watch someone else tear apart and change my story.

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

Music distracts me. If I have music going when I write, I’ll start typing the song lyrics.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

I did, but from the comments I got it felt like they only read my description and never bothered themselves with actually reading the story.

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

Total Recall Press acted for a little bit like they wanted to publish it, but it turned out that they just wanted me to pay them a good amount of money to stick their name in my book and sign a contract that said they wouldn’t promote it. After I got away from that, I needed to just get it published so I could let myself focus on a new book.

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

I made it myself.

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

I’m winging it. Right now I’m actually more focused on setting up pre-orders for an alien story called From Elsewhere that I have set to come out next July.

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

Have a bit of confidence in yourself.

About You

Where did you grow up?

In western Louisiana and east Texas.

Where do you live now?

Temple Texas.

What would you like readers to know about you?

I have a couple of short stories, and a vampire novella on Amazon and Smashwords.

What are you working on now?

Getting reviews for From Elsewhere.

End of Interview:

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