Ask the Author: Brad H. Branham
Answered Questions (6)
Brad H. Branham
Write. Write daily. It's like exercising - take a week off and the turgid smoke fills your brain. Also ... just be aware the industry is sliding through a paradigm shift. The Big Labels are so risk-averse they want you to walk in with fans, social media presence, marketing plan, ... everything you'd think THEY would do. And then they want all the rights. You lose control. Of the title, of the cover, everything. So the question is - why do you need them at all? It's just like the music industry is ... there are micro-press, small press, self-publishing. Seek out help that is service-oriented to YOU, not you as some indentured servant creating stuff for THEM.
Brad H. Branham
The quick answer is "coffee and kahlua" followed by "whiskey and rum" ... but seriously I usually play music. What genre depends on what I'm writing. My current series is about a rock-metal band of lost misfits who depend on each other to cope with life -- so I'll play anything from AC/DC to the latest psychedelic metal out of Europe (or Portland, OR, which has become a thriving metal scene).
Brad H. Branham
I'm working on a book series about a rock band so it kind of follows the previous one. But the series as a whole came from two vectors - I was irritated with the tendency of anime series to end just when things got interesting. A series about a high school pop band (K-On!) was the specific igniter - I wanted to see the band go through college and try to go professional. That tied in with the issue that I had these characters I've carried around for decades, using them in D&D, MMOs, and computer adventure games - wanted them to have their own home in their own universe. Click.
Brad H. Branham
Easily the fact it has connected me to interesting people from all over the planet. I love chatting with the models who grace the covers of my books (one is Polish, the other Moldovan). I've make some very interesting "degrees of separation" connections with rock groups, authors, artists, craftspeople. I also just like telling stories. I realized recently that some of my descriptive style derives from my old D&D days of dungeonmastering. Describing the scene to the players, creating the atmosphere, immersion.
Brad H. Branham
I don't usually get "block" so much as I find it's a mistake to "take a few days off' from writing - coming back to a blank page can be challenging. If I don't get an epiphany while doing something completely different (playing bass guitar, yardwork, gaming, etc) I'll just start writing about the characters doing something mundane - that usually ignites the story telling.
Brad H. Branham
I am finishing up the third volume of my "It Really IS Rocket Science" series about a group of misfit musicians who form a rock band in Portland, Oregon. A self-exiled rock musician spots a petite gothic princess in a snowstorm. She has a band on the edge of bankruptcy, looking for a hook to break into the scene. If you like fast dialog, complex characterization, dark comedy, and a story that just isn't "average life", you do want to check this out. You can read the first part of the series on Amazon right now. Volume Three is due out this month.
http://www.amazon.com/Really-Rocket-S...
http://www.amazon.com/Really-Rocket-S...
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