Tag Archives: questions

An Interview with Mac Black

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007 (2) Today I am proud to welcome Author Mac Black to Readful Things. If you have not had the pleasure of meeting him yet, here is your chance. Mac truly is an amazing author and has the best sense of humour of anyone I know. Please welcome him and don’t forget to check out his books!
1. When did you first get the idea that you were going to be a writer?
It certainly was not planned in any way nor was it ever a lifelong ambition. About three years ago it sneaked up on me when I bought a new PC. Now, I might as well admit it. I am at a certain age, an age that permits me to look back with wisdom. Yes, Ionia, I am mature (though ‘almost fossilised’ my family think is much more appropriate!) I was given a book on Genealogy and a suggestion, by my elder daughter, that I should read the book and use the internet to create a family tree, and stay out of trouble. So, I did. Now, don’t we all secretly hope that we’ll stumble on skeletons in the family cupboard? And did I? Yes …but that’s another story. Meantime daughter number two had a special birthday coming up. For a present: “Print the family tree …on a tablecloth, please …a plastic one!” (She has three small boys!) With no idea how to do that, I came up with an alternative – I would write a little book about the family, and I did. A tad too creative with my imagination I was. To be honest, this became my first work of fiction, but don’t tell the family; and the book’s title? ‘This is NOT a plastic tablecloth.’ Well… I thought it was clever!

Who or what inspired you to come up with the character Derek? Can you tell us a bit about the books he is featured in?
I found I’d actually enjoyed my first writing experience, and was curious about whether I was capable of doing something more but, this time, non-factual and original. Several attempts at creating a serious story were failures – even I was unimpressed. What about humour? Never in my life have I been able to tell a joke properly but I was involved a while ago in amateur theatre in mainly comedy roles, so the challenge I set myself was to attempt humorous fiction. The nickname for a character occurred first, ‘Sweaty’, not the most glamorous name. I then had to decide why he would be called that. The surname created for him was ‘Toozlethwaite’ and the way ‘Thwaity’ is pronounced by lisping youngsters gave me a reason to be proud of ‘Sweaty’, and so I was started. Would he be a hero; or something else? I chose something else, and because humour usually develops from mishap, I used some fairly basic run-of-the-mill activities as the plot but, in doing so, I have made a poor guy called Derek Toozlethwaite suffer severely …in four stories. Occasionally I feel guilty about that…

How did you choose which way you were going to publish?


When I began I knew little about the business of either publishing or self-publishing. Trying to find someone to become interested in what I’d written would be a real challenge and seemed unlikely to be successful, knowing that some people try for years. So, I was grateful then and still am, when the eighth publisher I contacted smiled, and offered to publish my books without charge, and being a Scotsman… This small independent organisation has taken a chance with me, UP Publications Ltd. and they do not have a large PR system like the larger publishers. It is a small team with the industrious multi-talented manager arranging all the formalities of my publication needs, and an excellent editor to keep me on the straight and narrow, and, a nice one, artwork able to be done in-house. Although I have an editor I do a great deal of the editing myself, and nowadays actually enjoy that part almost as much as the writing.

 Would you have done anything different now that you are able to look back on your publishing journey?
I doubt it. So far, it has been a very interesting and enjoyable experience for me, and I’ve learned a lot along the way but I still lack confidence in my ability to tackle self-publishing. I appreciate the help of experts and prefer to rely on them. In other words, to use a good Scottish term – I am a big feartie! (A coward, for those that don’t know the term…) and sadly my technical expertise is stretched at just producing the words on the computer. ‘Spell-check’ and I have become very good friends.

What is the name of your work in progress and what is it about?
The fourth ‘Derek’ story is completed and is with my editor just now, ‘Derek’s Good Relations’, waiting a publication date. I am giving this established character a rest for the moment, he deserves it, and I am now working on a final edit of ‘Lofty Issues’, a story that does not involve Derek. This one is a tragicomic tale of a Glasgow family and how they stumble on some family secrets, thanks to a ‘Treasure Hunt’ created by a dead Granny, and involves a gun, diamonds and bagpipes, and …skeletons are discovered in this family’s cupboard. Now, how is that for starters?

Who are some of your favourite authors?
Selecting a book for me can be influenced by the cover or the ambiguity of the title and does not have to be by a well-known author, and I am rarely disappointed. However authors such as Ian Rankin, Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo, Alan Bennett, and Donna Leon give me many hours of pleasure. I enjoy autobiographies too, but not those I suspect to be written by ghost writers for celebrities. A Scottish author of long ago, called Neil Munro, wrote short stories of gentle humour about the crew of a Clyde puffer vessel, and every so often it is nice to re-read these; written in the days when books were created the hard way by authors who had to use pen and ink…

Any advice you can give to others looking to publish?


Try to remain optimistic. The world is a big place and there are lots of people out there who read, so surely someone will take a liking to your masterpiece. I think that luck can play a big part in how you succeed and sometimes you have to create your own. Although I still prefer to read a story on paper, rather than on an e-book, the marketplace nowadays gives plenty of scope (to those who are more technically skilled and braver than I) and gives you the chance to do your own thing, and help you achieve fame, electronically.

How important do you see reviews as being and why?
It gives feedback. It can be difficult to know what readers in general think of your work. How often are readers inclined to comment back to an author? Not often, I’d say, and friends, I suspect, try to be kind and tell you what you hope to hear. Reading what an independent reviewer says about your writing is a measure; a good review and it is a boost to your morale; a bad one, though disappointing, might send you in a better direction, though you could perhaps ignore it. A review might also influence the public to go beyond the book title. That would help and, as writers, don’t our egos require others to read our works and lavish us with praise? (Sorry, got carried away – wishful thinking!)

What has been the most difficult part of your writing journey?
Creating answers for interviews? No… Quite simply, it has been making the world aware that my books exist. Whether the books are well written or not, unfortunately the chances of someone stumbling on them in the web pages of Amazon, or Waterstone’s, or WH Smith’s, or Barnes and Noble, etc. are slight. So how can it be done? Newspaper articles are one way, but another is to find a friendly blogger who might take pity, or better still, one who likes the books and is willing to encourage others? Know anyone you could recommend, Ionia…?

Where can we find your books and personal website?
My website: www.macblack.info/Books/
My publisher’s website: www.uppublications.ltd.uk/ and books can be purchased there.
I can also be contacted at macblack.author@gmail.com.
Each book is available on line as paperback from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstone’s, and WH Smith’s, etc. (and on Kindle from Amazon).
And I might as well give you the book titles too. ‘Please…Call me Derek’; ‘Derek’s in Trouble’; ‘Derek’s Revenge’. As has been suggested, that although each story has been written as a self contained tale, to read them in sequence makes you more familiar with Derek’s disturbingly developing life. You might even get to like him…

Any final thoughts?
As has been suggested many times before by those wiser than me, and even older: Remain optimistic; keep plugging away even though you may seem to be getting nowhere; but most importantly – don’t give up the day job!

A quick question

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I have been toying with the idea of starting another blog, but I want an opinion from my readers. If I were to start a second blog, and it was just short stories and poetry, maybe some occasional non fiction–most genres– would you all be willing to write and contribute to it? If so, please let me know what you think. I am surrounded by talented writers, and often want to write but the things I wish to write do not always fit with my own blog. Opinions please.

Would you like to contribute stories, poems and non-fiction pieces?

 

I sayin pwetty peez. :)

Love: my question of the week

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I was having a conversation with someone a while ago that prompted me to start wondering about something.

 

Can you love someone that you have never met face to face? I don’t mean loooove them like can you be infatuated or can you form a romantic relationship.

What I mean is, can you form such a delicate attachment to someone through conversing without ever meeting face to face that you can form actual feelings for them? Can you become best friends or think of them like family or even fall in love with someone without ever meeting them?

What are the implications of this? If you ever do meet, will they be the person that you first came to know?

JS Riddle I couldn’t live without the dry humour you provide. I would literally die, or at least I would want to.

Wyndy! I worry over you when you go missing for a day or two! You are family.

I can honestly say that there are some fellow bloggers that I love. I mentioned one of them in my Author of the week post. Sarah C. you are such a good friend and I have the utmost respect for you:)

There are a handful of people that I have met (okay more than a handful) that I consider part of my daily life now. Without them I would not enjoy doing this nearly as much as I do. I would not get all the laughter and the smiles and joy. (Even you Ben.) I would literally be devastated if anything happened to them.

So what do you guys think? Can you develop real emotion for someone you have not met face to face? Inquiring me wants to know.

A question of attendance

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Here is a question from a friend, Niki Barrie–you can find her at http://cloverandthetwins.wordpress.com   She had an experience recently that didn’t go as well as planned, and is hoping that others may have some personal experience/ideas that they can share. Here is what she had to say:

“today I had a Book Lunch Discussion scheduled from 12 to 1 at Writers & Books here in Rochester and no one showed up.

Yes, I could have invited people and I would have, but the man who organizes these things didn’t return my emails or phone calls and honestly, I wondered if I would arrive only to be told I was mistaken and there was no discussion scheduled for today. I could handle that, but not if I had invited people to attend or, worse, invited a classroom from a nearby school. On the up side, I met the man, the organizer, and he’s overworked, probably underpaid and totally fascinating. So I had an hour-long chat with him covering all kinds of things from Maya Angelou’s autobiography, to my book to his writing (he’s a poet and a publisher) and the classes and programs offered through Writers &  Books.

Anyway, the experience got me to wondering what other authors do when no one shows up or when the turnout for  signings and readings is in the single digits? How do you turn this negative into a positive? And, what kind of preplanning can you do to ensure an audience?”

If anyone has any experience with this topic, please contribute your thoughts.

Bungbunnies, hackers and a question about blogging

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First, possibly the most important business I will attend to this week. What are “bungbunnies?”

 

Bung*bunnies (bung*buneez) Noun:

The bit of dryer lint that hangs around your undergarments inevitably finding a new home between your cheeks.
 
May also be used as a slang insult: example: The bungbunnies who wasted their time digging through my wallet came up empty handed.
 
 
First known origin: Early Rome. Bungbunnies were a common problem in Rome as a result of the way clothing was made. The Romans devised a system to deal with the little critters. The invention of the thong underwear article of clothing (also known as butt floss) freed the citizens of this tyranny and ensured clean public baths. Caesar was thrilled and “The Emperor’s New Clothes” became a very successful book.
 
So there you have it. Bungbunnies.

Secondly, and much less important, it seems as though I made it through the night without sending any further email weirdness to anyone without my knowledge. Changing the passwords and following the Google guidelines to secure my account appears to have worked. I no longer feel as much like an email leper.  Now I’m just a paranoid wreck. All has returned to normal.

 

Finally, I have a question. I was talking to a friend last night who has a blog on Blogger. He posts regular, interesting things in relation to his writing career, his art and other things and yet gets almost no traffic to his site. My advice was to make the switch to WordPress, but am I correct? How much of being a successful blogger is about what you post and your personality and how much of your success is about which blogging platform you use? I used to use Weebly for a few months before making the jump to WordPress. When I came here, I saw traffic increase ten fold. I was still posting the same stuff on the old blog, but did not make the friendships I have made here.

Does anyone else have any experience using Blogger or another blog site and can you offer your opinion of WordPress vs. the other choices? I have heard from a few bloggers that are using other platforms and are unhappy with the results. Since I only have experience with the two sites, I was hoping you guys could offer a little input. Is WordPress better when it comes to comments, likes and getting your message out to a broader audience?

Thank you guys for all of the support you showed me yesterday through the Bungbunny drama. You made me feel loved even when I had leprosy:)

Now to go answer comments and check the security of my email again.


			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Print or digital? No this is not the continued ebook vs. paper book drama

		

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Pen & Notebook 3  So, someone asked me to pose a question they would like answered on the blog. This is for all the writers out there. You know who you are. We need you to chime in on a question that a beginning author friend of mine has.


With the age of all things digital, do you still print a paper final copy of your manuscript when it is finished, or do you just save everything digitally? When you are editing, do you print out a paper copy?


Help out a fellow author figure out the good and bad of paper and what he should know before printing out 300+ pages. Thank you guys, your opinions are always valuable.


Also, if you missed blogger of the week this morning, go drop a hello to Black and Write’s Blog


XOXOXO :) 

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
The Makings of a Good Author Interview

		

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When I posted my interview with Sarah Solmonson earlier this morning, it reminded me that a couple of people have asked me to put up a post on the finer points of doing an author interview. I’m not sure I would call me an expert on this topic, but I try to answer those who ask me a question, so this post is for them.


I will share my opinion here, not saying that anyone should take my words as gold, but here is what I think:


A successful author interview begins with an interesting author. I am not pointing fingers and calling anyone boring, but if you want your interview to shine, choose authors that have something to bring to the party. I like it very much when the authors I interview have a very personal interest in their story. This doesn’t mean it can’t be fiction, just that the author must be dedicated to wanting to talk about themselves, their work and their journey as an author. If the author you are considering interviewing shows very little excitement about their work through your initial correspondence with them, then they might not be the best option. We all have different ideas of what makes someone or something interesting, where I might not care much about sports, someone else may love them, but even so, I could do an interview with a sports star if I thought they had something interesting to say that people would want to read. Remember that it is your blog this is going to reflect on, and this is a two-way street.


Learn something about the author before you ask any questions


If I had a golden rule, this would be it for the author interview. If you ask generic questions, you will most likely get generic answers. Personally, I like to make the author think. I want them to feel as though I care enough to tailor my questions specifically to them. I don’t interview authors if I have not read their work. 


To me, an interview is somewhat like a book recommendation. If I liked your work well enough to put you on my blog, then great. What if I interview you, put up links to your projects and then later read your book and hate it? Ooops. Nope. Not going to happen. I do realize that this is my own personal opinion, and that there are plenty of people who do interviews without reading the book and that is certainly their choice. It isn’t right or wrong, but I choose to learn more before getting involved. I do understand that forms can save time and that using the same questions again can have benefits, but if you are going to use the same exact questions for every interview, warn the author that you use a standard question form. That way, there is no chance they will be unprepared to read another interview you do with a different author and see the same thing. You don’t want anyone getting offended.


Think of your questions as writing prompts for the author


The questions you ask will in a way, dictate the responses you receive from both the author and your audience. If you offer interesting questions that make the author dig a little deeper, you will elicit a more honest, thoughtful response. If the questions and resulting answers are exciting to the audience and grab and hold their attention, you will get comments. Comments are nice and are very validating to both the person who conducted the interview as well as the interviewee. It is a lot of work to do an interview, on both parts, so it is nice when it gets noticed.


What type of questions should you ask?


This depends on a variety of factors. What is your personal taste? What do you want to know–what do your readers want to know? Here is how I choose. I think about all of the things I could ask, and then I narrow it down to a pool of about 30 choices. After that I narrow it down again, based on what would have the most interesting potential responses. Finally, I think about what I would ask if I only had ten or eleven questions allowed to me, and I pick the best ones. In my initial planning phase, I recall what my favorite part of the book was, or the part that I found had the most interesting appeal and include a question about that.


Remember that authors are people too, but that you are trying to promote their work


It is okay to ask questions that have nothing to do with the book the author has written. This is one of the best things about blogging, interviewing and asking questions in general. It doesn’t have to be all about the book. The author is a person and has unique interests, hobbies and goals just like the rest of us. Adding a human element to your interview makes it more personal and gives the readers something else that may draw them to the work of the author. I could write this entire post about interviews and then include a brief link to a site about golfing and it might be the golf link that gets everyone talking. (Okay so now I have to do it.) The broader the interest, the broader the audience appeal. At the same time, you also want to keep the focus where it belongs. If the author has written a memoir about their life in the Congo taking care of exotic animals, asking them questions about fiction works and what they think about U.S. politics may frustrate them or worse yet get you and answer that looks something like this “Uhm?” Keep the focus on the work they represent.


Have fun and be funny


A little humor can go a long way toward brightening someone’s day. You don’t have to try to make every question hilarious and of course for more serious subject matter you may want to skip this step altogether, but in certain interviews, the humor can make or break the interview. Doing a very dry, formal interview with a person who writes humor books may not be what the audience wants to see. I like to give the author a bit of wiggle room where this is concerned. “What is the funniest experience you have had during your time in?–” gives the author a chance to elaborate without much push from you.


We are visual creatures


Book covers, author photos and the like add interest to your interview and make the audience feel a closer connection to the author. It is hard to identify with a book when you can’t connect to the characters and the same can be said for all other relationships. Including photos and book related media such as book trailers, author videos, etc, can be very encouraging to a reader that wants to know more about the chosen author. Words are great and I don’t mean to devalue them, but people will most likely respond to a more  visually appealing interview.


Timing is everything


This one is touch and go. Of course you can do as many author interviews as you would like, if that is all you want to feature on your blog –then great. If you do that plus a lot of other stuff, also great. Of course it is exciting to do an interview with an author when they are about to or have recently released a book, but it works to do one when they have had their book out for a long time as well. This isn’t what I mean by timing.


I like to do at most, 1-2 author interviews in the same week. It isn’t that you can’t do more than that, it is just that I like to give each author a chance to enjoy the small light my blog sheds on their interview. I don’t want my interviewees to feel like they were rushed in and then back out the door before anyone noticed them. I do occasionally overbook myself and have to do a couple of interviews the same weekend, but I try to make an effort to schedule them at least a few days apart. The other reason for this, is for my own sanity. I need to be able to keep one set of answers/photos/links etc separate from another so that there are no mistakes. I would feel bad (and like a daft cow) if I put a link to someone else’s work under an author’s book info –and mistakes do happen. I am the queen of them, I carry the torch in the whoopsie parade, I know.


Length


Now that you have interesting questions, a bit of well placed humor, great answers and all the visual stuff you need, how long should the interview be? Again, not helpful, but there is no simple answer to this question. The longer the interview, the more the author has to offer the reader. However, the longer the interview the smaller the chance that anyone will read the whole thing. (LIKE THIS POST)


I try to go for middle ground. Very simple questions with very short answers make me feel like I am wasting everyone’s time–my own, the author’s and the reader’s. Then again, very looooong interviews that tend to go off topic seem boring to me and I don’t want that to be the image that my blog displays either. So, I try to keep each answer to 300 words or less. I do warn authors most of the time that I may edit their interview. If it stops being interesting I take it to the chopping block and cut out the stuff I wouldn’t want to read. “Leave out the parts people skip”–good advice from a brilliant author and also one of the common WordPress quotes by Elmore Leonard.


Links


Don’t forget to include links where the readers can find the material you are talking about. If you can’t imbed video on your blog, then leave a link to the video if there is one. Include the author’s contact info and if they have a website, link to it so others can find it easily.


Interaction is key


This part is more for the author than for the blog owner, although they do have a role in this. Remember that posting the interview is not the end. When you get comments (authors this is you) on the blog where the interview has been posted, answer them! Follow the comments so that you can answer any questions and show gratitude to your well wishers and fans. Blog owner, do not step out of the way. These are visitors to your blog, welcome them, thank them show them you care that they care.


This concludes my “Ionia-is-a-know-it-all” session for the week. Thanks guys for making me use my head for something other than a hat rack.


Article about golf:


http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2013/04/tiger_woods_masters_penalty_down_with_the_golf_pedants_who_want_tiger_woods.html

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Oh, man! I hate when that happens!

		

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Why am I so brilliant when I am asleep at night and then my IQ drops a full hundred points by the time I wake up? Last night when I was asleep I had the coolest dream. I woke up thinking—wow that would be an excellent prompt to write a book. It was more than that–it was like I dreamed the book from beginning to end, and then silly me, I woke up.


Somehow as the last tendrils of sleep clung to my mind I was convinced I would remember all or at least some of what I had been dreaming, but it did not happen. By the time I was fully awake I could not have told you anything about the dream other than that it was about writing. Why does this happen? My subconscious likes to torture me with thoughts of what could have been? The worst part about it is that I almost remember something here and there throughout the day about the dream…where it is just out of my grasp, so close I can touch it ad then poof! It is nothing but smoke and mirrors. ARRRGH!


Does this ever happen to anyone else?


Here is a not quite related but interesting article

 :) 


 


 


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Things I ponder while out yonder

		

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I seem to think better when I am out in the fresh air getting some exercise, but the unfortunate part of this is that when I am finished I tend to have a thousand more questions than I can come up with a solid answer to. This is why I rely on you good people. You are the brain cells that I was not blessed with. Here are some of my current unanswered questions:


At what point did you finally admit to someone beside yourself that you are an “author?” I began by telling people that I was writing things, then graduated to “I’m a writer” then onto “I wrote a book.” I self published my first book, that I wrote when I was 16, and I suppose there was still a pretty big stigma about being self published back then. I wasn’t sure at that point if I had to have published “traditionally” before I could say that I was “and author.”


Oddly, even after multiple books published now, author events, signings, etc. I still find it hard to look someone in the eye and say “I’m an author.” Does anyone else have this problem? I can promote other people’s works with no issue whatsoever, but when it comes to my own work, I feel like when I am asked about it I tend to shy away. It is really strange, because while I am proud of the things I have written, and I don’t dislike them, even for their flaws, I just can’t find it in me to talk about my projects when faced with an opportunity for shameless self promotion.


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Question number two:


Does anyone else here have a big problem being able to say NO? I was reading another post about a similar topic the other day and had a lengthy conversation with someone about it. I hate saying no. I have to sometimes, and I know this, but I find it much more difficult to say no than to say yes. I tend to overbook myself a lot of the time because of this. When it comes to books for review, I have learned that I can’t always say yes, and if I don’t review it, someone else will. No big deal, but in all other facets of life, guilt creeps in if I tell someone no. How do you all approach the no word? Does it make you feel bad when you have to say it. Perhaps I am a bit of a weenie, no? There, I said no. Look I said it again. I guess I can say it. hmmm.

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Character building–how do you handle it?

		

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I have been noticing lately while reading, that when I go to write a review, one of the most common things I complain about is lack of character development. I suppose when it comes down to it this can be the fatal flaw of any good piece of writing. I can’t stand it when I am reading a standalone novel and yet I feel like I have been dropped into the middle of a story. I have been guilty of this in my own writing a time or two. Honestly by the time I reach the middle of the book I am working on, I sometimes have to go back and check to see what I included and what was only an idea that never made it to paper. Sometimes I think the author forgets that we can’t see into their head and neglects to put the info we need as readers into the novel.


So, that brings me to my next question, for the authors and the readers alike. What is the most important part of character building? How do you go about giving your characters a history and a believable back story without crossing the line between interesting and boring? When you read a novel, what kind of characters captivate your attention, the mysterious ones or the well defined ones?


As a reader, I want to know about the life my characters had before they were introduced to me in the book, but I also don’t want to know every detail of their life before. I really don’t need to know everything about their family, their education their past relationships, but I would like to get a good idea of what has made them who they are. Then there are the other details. What do they look like, what are they interested in? How do you guys like to see this handled in a novel? I personally like to see the description of the character come naturally (The wind blew her long, raven hair around her in a billowing wave) rather than (she had long raven hair and and and.)


Does it bother you when the characters just seem to appear out of nowhere and tell their story from that point forward, or am I expecting too much out of the books I read?