Q&A for Random House (Part 1 of 3)

A few months ago I was asked to answer a series of questions (a rather long series of questions) for my publisher Blanvalet/Penhaligon, which is the fantasy subdivision of Random House in Germany (if you’re reading this on my website, you’ll see the German cover for Master of Sorrows, which has been translated as Sohn der Sieben, or “Son of Seven”). It took me a while to answer that questionnaire, but lots of good things came from that:

First, when someone in Germany wants to ask Blanvalet a question, they probably won’t need to stop and get a hold of me because I’ve (hopefully) answered that question ahead of time. (That’s good for Random House.)

Second, because I filled out all those questions (perhaps in more detail than they wanted), I was able to copy a great deal of that info and use it for my bio page here on my website. (Yay for me!)

Third, because I answered a lot of questions for my German publisher, there’s a pretty good chance no one is going to see either those questions or their answers unless they also speak German. That means I’ve got a rather hefty questionnaire that nobody is ever going to read in English

. . . which means I get to post it here. (Yay for you!)

Now normally I won’t post interviews prior to it being released elsewhere on the interwebs (I don’t want to steal the thunder of the bloggers and publishers, after all), and those interviews are usually timed to come out the same time as a new book launch or some other noteworthy event. But Blanvalet/Random House will be posting that interview in German, and they’ll be posting it in a few weeks anyway, so I don’t think I’m injuring anyone by slowly leaking my answers to some of their questions.

So let’s get started.

A few biographical details about yourself (vita, education, family life, hobbies, etc.):

Well, that’s quite a bit of stuff once you list it like that, so I had a long answer for this one . . . which you can read on my bio page. Haha. https://justintcall.com/about-justin/

Do you use any social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc.)?:

Do people still use MySpace? Wow. That’s a throwback. I use Facebook and Twitter, though Twitter is my preferred social networking platform (check out @Justin_T_Call for updates). I also have accounts on Instagram and LinkedIn, but I use them infrequently. I maintain an account on BoardGameGeek.com (BGG), which is a social site for board gamers, game designers, and gaming enthusiasts, but I don’t frequent it as often as I once did (a bit of a rabbit hole if you love tabletop games as much as I do). I like to visit it when I can though, particularly if I am designing or playtesting a new game.

The last social media site I use, which I am ashamed to admit is a bit of a recent thing, is Goodreads. Someday I’d like to update my bookshelf with all the books I’ve read but never logged and then keep it running like a smoothly oiled machine . . . but that day is not today. For now, I’ve got some of my favorite and/or most memorable novels posted, and I try to keep it up-to-date with whatever I’m currently reading. I also sync my blog with the Goodreads website, so there is a good chance you’re reading this on Goodreads instead of my personal website (https://justintcall.com/blog/). If the opposite is true, though, you should head over to my Goodreads page, rate my book(s), and ask me a question. I promise to respond promptly.

Do you write for any publication?

Nope! I’ve done a good deal of professional writing and creative writing, but I’ve never submitted my stories to magazines or websites (that I can recall). My main excuse for that is I always knew I wanted to be an epic fantasy writer, and it seemed strange to write shorter fiction for another publication. I’ve written a few screenplays, though. One of those has been in pre-development for about five years now, so I’m not sure what will come of it, but I have studied screenwriting professionally at both Harvard and BYU-Idaho as well as independently.

Have you written any short stories?

Yes (I’ve even written some tolerable poetry), but I’ve never tried to publish it. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, when I write I tend to write long, so it is both rare and difficult for me to write something shorter that I also consider objectively good. I hope to change that someday, but I’d need a phenomenal idea for a short story before I’d attempt it. Before doing that, I’m more likely to write a series of chapter books for young children (based on the world from my Royal Strawberries games); I expect the series would have a whimsical fantasy theme consistent for a collection of chapter books and that it would follow the misadventures of a roguish thief and a whimsical fairy (characters from the world of Royal Strawberries). I’m not sure when I’d carve out time to write such a series, but doing so would provide a nice break from the heavier themes in The Silent Gods. I’m also fascinated with the structure of children’s chapter books (like Magic Treehouse or even The Princess in Black, which are all books I have to read my kids), and since it’s hard to read epic fantasy to small children, I’ve often thought about what it would be like to try my hand at the same storytelling model.

Why did you decide to become an author?

I like to create things – at my core, I’m a creator before anything else – and I like to tell stories. It stands to reason then that I would enjoy writing my own fiction stories. I began dictating such tales to my mother when I was five years old (a few of which I also illustrated) and my grandfather paid to have one of these bound, though only four copies were printed. That book was called Trick, the Good Bad Turkey and was (unsurprisingly) about a turkey who played tricks on his barnyard friends. That set the path for me.

As I grew older, I enjoyed expanding on stories I’d seen in the movies or on television, but I mostly stayed away from books (excepting comic book treasuries like Calvin & Hobbes, Garfield, and The Far Side). That changed when I was ten and discovered Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books, which I would always re-read until I had experienced every possible story outcome. I discovered David Eddings’ Elenium and Tamuli series when I was thirteen or fourteen, and from thence I began devouring the best fantasy novels I could find (I also began playing Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, though MTG lasted about two years and D&D stuck with me for the next ten years or so). During that time I read the Belgariad and the Malloreon (also by Eddings), and started in on R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt and Forgotten Realms books. I also read several books by Gary Gygax featuring Gord the Rogue (I did mention I was playing D&D, didn’t I?).

Anyhow, that was mostly just for fun, though it all set the stage for my love of fantasy and gaming. Then, when I was seventeen and about to start college, I spent a feverish night plotting out my educational path for the next four years. I read the synopsis for every class in Southern Oregon University’s catalog and plotted a four-year degree, during which I decided I wanted to become a fantasy novelist (with a few fall-backs in case my lofty goals were derailed). Even though I only stayed at SOU for a year, I more or less stuck to that plan. By the time I was studying Literature and Creative Writing at Harvard, I knew I really would become an author. My classes all pointed towards me being an excellent student, and I just needed to the right balance of time, luck, and perseverance.

But why exactly did I choose that path? That requires some deeper explanation.

I am the first to acknowledge I might have done other things with my life; I had excellent grades in school (including at Harvard), and at various times I have considered being a criminal lawyer, an advertiser, a film actor, a teacher, a physicist, and a reconstructive surgeon. I probably could have been any of those things, but I chose to be a writer because I felt it was something I had to do; I have too many stories filling my head, and my passion for writing has ruined me for more banal professions. I am both analytical and intuitive, and that combination makes me easily distracted: I am prone to conjuring stories out of overheard conversations, facial expressions, board game instructions, and word origins; I can be clever (even brilliant), but I am also absent-minded; I am frequently thoughtless, yet I have a keen sense of understanding and empathizing with people when I focus on them; I am a logophile – a ‘lover of words’ – and I enjoy deducing the roots and origins of both new and old languages. And, while I admit to sometimes being overly-analytical, I have neither the intention nor the desire to change. I am a touch eccentric (something I’ve known since I was a child), and when you cobble that all together, being a fantasy writer is the only rational way I can be myself and also feed my family.

I suspect I may also have a minor mental disorder.

No really. It sounds like a joke, but I’m being serious — and that’s not something I mentioned in my questionnaire for Random House. Haha.

In reality, I have a sleeping disorder (EDS or Excessive Daytime Sleepiness) and a form of OCD that isn’t visible and doesn’t impair my day-to-day living (and if I explained what it was, you’d find it hilariously abnormal). There’s probably a touch of something else there, too, but whatever it is keeps me quirky and delightful — and prone to absent-mindedness, insensitivity, and unintentional callousness . . .

But then, I know plenty of people who are those things without a mental disorder, so I think I’m doing all right.

So there it is.

Why did I decide to be a writer? The most succinct answer would be: “Because I was born to be one.”

Tune into next week’s blog post and I’ll share Part 2 of my interview with Random House wherein I discuss things like…

. . . the kind of story I am writing right now,

. . . who my favorite authors are,

. . . and why I take such joy in psychological torture and the sweet, sweet taste of human tears.

Until then.

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