My Interview with Author Dan Alatorre (Part 2)

So, you’re pretty accomplished. What is the best advice you have for new writers?

Write every day

Get up earlier if you can’t find time to write. You won’t find it. It’s not lost in the couch cushions. You need to make time to write.

Use your writing time to write, not check email or watch YouTube.

Join a critique group. Helping others will advance your skills faster and you’ll see your own issues much more easily.

Finish what you start. Know what we call a person with ten stories started and none finished? Not a published author.

You are allowed to have early works. Don’t perfect a story forever, write it and then write the next one.

Good writing is a habit. So is bad writing. Learn, apply, move on. Don’t try to rewrite your last story. Stuff that bothers you won’t bother most readers, and you’ll do better next time.

You are a better writer than you think. Know this: I have writing contests on my blog DanAlatorre.com about 3-4 times a year. In those, I see lots and lots of stories, and they’re all pretty good. Most of the winners didn’t believe their stories were good enough to be published until they won my contest, and now they have strangers forking over good money to read words they wrote. One critique partner was * this close * to tossing her manuscript. I pushed her to keep going, and it became a runaway bestseller, selling over 20,000 copies in less than a year. Do not deprive the world of your masterpiece. It’s better than you think.

Learn to have confidence. See the prior info above for the reasons, but it’s mainly because if you are reading an interview like this, it’s because you want to learn – which means you want to improve, so you will. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t good already.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Do you get nervous when you present in front of others?

I don’t get nervous in front of a crowd, ever. When the curtain goes up and the cameras go on, I’m center stage like P. T. Barnum, and I’m going to give you a show. I once did an hourlong writing presentation with one slide of Hogwarts castle and almost no notes, and the attendees loved it – even though more than a few couldn’t tell you what it was about afterward. We had fun.

I am the top act at the circus, and I will dazzle you.

Years after you read one of my books, the characters will still be memorable to you, leaving an impression like few other authors will.

I learned at an early age, quite by accident, that it was easier to entertain a crowd than a handful of people, and I got good at it. When I’m onstage, I own the stage.

So you’d think I’m an extrovert. I’m not. I play a role and I do it well, but I’m just as happy doing a presentation to a hundred writers or five hundred salespeople and executives as I am staying in my office and writing all day, speaking to no one.

My wife once said I’m social and I do a great job of socializing when I try; I just don’t try very often. A critique partner who I did an internet show with said it was neat to see me in person when I was “off” – as in, being normal and not performing for the camera.

I enjoy both. I do what’s needed, and I do it well.

Which character from your books is most like you? Which character is least like you? And finally, which character is your favorite from the characters you have developed?

Sam from Poggibonsi is my favorite, hands down. She is a wild card, a say anything, do anything type, who is hard working and loyal and beautiful – but really outrageous and hilarious. She gets away with everything because she’s smart, and because she knows her stuff, but she also gets herself into all sorts of jams. I like her because she says all the witty stuff everybody else wishes they had said.

Second to her is Father Frank, from An Angel On Her Shoulder. Frank is a boisterous, big personality, and he can steal the scene like Sam can, but he’s also the wise old sage that helps our main character in Angel get onto the right path.

Aside from the Savvy Stories books, which are me, I am probably most like the characters in The Navigators. The father is me as a dad, the boyfriend is me as a young man, the bad guy is me at my worst, etc. J. K. Rowling said we put a little bit of ourselves into each character, and it make sense because you can’t write a convincing bad guy if you don’t have some bad guy in you.

Who am I least like? Maddie in Poggibonsi is not like me or anyone I know. She’s a real pill. Readers hate her. Findlay in The Navigators is a truly awful, petty guy, and even though I created him, on my worst day I hope I’m nothing like him. Readers are happy when he gets his comeuppance.

Readers have their own surprising faves, though, and often it’s a lesser player in the book. The cab driver in Poggi is a fan favorite, as is the vixen female lead in Poggi, Julietta. Others love Peeky from Navs. Dahlai, Tyree and Jimmy from Angel have been requested to get their own series from fans.

I love writing in my office, if you had your dream place to write, where would it be and why?

I am one of the blessed few who actually do write in my dream place. I have a beautiful home office that other authors would be (and are) completely jealous of. It has dark green walls and a rich mahogany desk and bookcases. I live in paradise – Florida – so I can go outside any time and watch palm trees swaying in the breeze. As if that wasn’t enough, I took my laptop to Italy and sat on a hillside in Tuscany and wrote there for a few weeks, too. Don’t hate me.

We couldn’t hate you, Dan.

You are an indie author. Have you ever tried to go through a traditional publisher? If so, what was that experience like?

I started in traditional. I found an agent and we started the process, having talks and deciding all the things, but when the deadline he set came and went (for him to read my book and lay out the next step), I didn’t hear anything. I called. I emailed. I texted. Nothing. A week passed, and he finally called and said he hadn’t read any of it yet, and he’d need six more weeks. I came from being a Fortune 500 company sales manager, where I went to President’s Circle. In that world, when you have deadline, you deliver or you get fired.

So he got fired.

I published my book and, after some help from a marketing friend, it became a bestseller. So did the sequel. And a bunch of other books I wrote.

But the indie world is different from Trad in a lot of ways. I said I had marketing help; without that, my book never sells more than five copies. And the book market changes all the time. What worked five years ago doesn’t work today, and you have to ask if you’d be happier learning the latest stuff in marketing or writing and letting your publisher do that stuff. Either way you have a lot of marketing to do as an author, but Trad publishers can help with important things like book covers and blurbs and marketing – in exchange for taking most of the royalties. Going Indie, you make more money on each sale, but you have to do all of that stuff yourself, and you have to be good at it. That’s a tall order.

Also, they are no longer mutually exclusive paths. Many top trad authors also put out indie books, and the top indie authors are always getting deals from the trad publishing houses.

I say try both and see which is best for you.

Ok, last question. You’ve helped me a ton in starting my writing career. What is the best part of mentoring new authors?

Seeing them succeed and knowing I played a small role in their success. I’m like a proud papa, and my author tree has so many branches now of people who I coached or mentored or worked with or critiqued for or edited or kicked around ideas with or worked with in an anthology, it gets bigger and better every year. They’ve all become friends, and that’s especially nice.

I love being able to take a new author who isn’t sure of their talent, and look at their work and be absolutely awed by it, and helping them go from hiding it in a drawer to sharing it with the world – and having the world say thank you.

Bio:

International bestselling author Dan Alatorre has published more than 22 titles in over a dozen languages.

You’ll find action-adventure in the sci-fi thriller The Navigators, a gripping paranormal roller coaster ride in An Angel On Her Shoulder, heartwarming and humorous anecdotes about parenting in the popular Savvy Stories series, an atypical romance story in Poggibonsi, and terrific comedy in Night Of The Colonoscopy: A Horror Story (Sort Of). Dan’s knack for surprising audiences and making you laugh or cry – or hang onto the edge of your seat – has been enjoyed by audiences around the world.

And you are guaranteed to get a page turner every time.

“That’s my style,” Dan says. “Grab you on page one and then send you on a roller coaster ride, regardless of the story or genre.”

Readers agree, making his string of #1 bestsellers popular across the globe.

His unique writing style can make you chuckle or shed tears—sometimes on the same page (or steam up the room if it’s one of his romances). Regardless of genre, his novels always contain unexpected twists and turns, and his endearing nonfiction stories will stay in your heart forever.

He has also written illustrated children’s book and cookbooks, as well as stories for young readers. 25 eBook Marketing Tips You Wish You Knew, co-authored by Dan, has been a valuable tool for upcoming writers of any age (it’s free but only available to subscribers of his newsletter) and his dedication to helping authors of any skill level is evident in his wildly popular blog “Dan Alatorre – AUTHOR” at http://www.DanAlatorre.com

Dan’s success is widespread and varied. In addition to being a bestselling author, he has achieved President’s Circle with two different Fortune 500 companies. Dan also mentors grade school children in his Young Authors Club and adults in his Private Critique Group, helping struggling authors find their voice and get published.

Dan resides in the Tampa, Florida area with his wife and daughter.