Interview with Joshua Silverman

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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you
have a favorite character?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh absolutely. When I started writing <i>The Emerald Tablet</i>, I
actually hated Dio. But then, as the book and her character developed, I began
to love her. Although she’s not the ‘main’ character in my view, she is
definitely a secret favorite of mine.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Have you
ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the
direction of the novel at all? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Surprisingly, yes. Originally, Axios was set to be a minor
character without a plot changing role. But as I was beta testing the book, so
many people (girls) loved him (and I loved him too), that his influence has gradually
become more pronounced. By book three (which I’m writing right now), he has
just as many scenes as any other character.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you
used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the
creative process for your cover? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I did use the publisher’s designer. In The Emerald Tablet, I
was fairly involved. Because the symbol was on Leoros’ forearm, I knew what it
had to be. For the most part, my instructions to the designer were: ‘Create a
logo that is of a double headed dragon with each head facing the opposite
direction, but make it nice enough where it could be a tattoo.’</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you
belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I honestly don’t, though I do recommend everyone do it. That
is one of those things I would’ve done over if I had a second chance.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What is
your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There’s a lot of debate on this one. I used to listen to
music when I write. Now I like silence. But, the more I’ve been travelling for
the book promotion, the less time I have to find that “perfect writing setting”.
I always remind myself that J.K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter in a
hotel room while she was travelling for book promotion. As a professional, I
think you have to learn how to write in a busy airport terminal, a café, a
hotel room, or in your quiet perfect cave at home. Otherwise, you’ll always
have an excuse why you never finished.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you
outline your story or just go where your muse takes you? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Emerald
Tablet</i> I had a four paragraph outline of the story. With The Soul of the
World (book 2), I had a scene by scene outline. With The Island of Shadows
(book 3), I’ve been writing with no outline to see where the story takes me and
I’ll cut what is bad. So I’m trying a lot. I think a combination works best,
though. Have a beginning, have an end. But everything else in between should be
the muse.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What kinds
of marketing [twitter, facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for
promoting your book(s)? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have my own blog, where I do book reviews, talk about
writing and the shows I go to, I also talk a lot about Egyptian gods and
goddesses and mythology/religion. I’m on Facebook all day, I’m on Twitter a lot
too but less than Facebook.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you
find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and
writing your next book? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not particularly. Both of them take a lot of time, but I
just make a schedule. From 10a.m.-12, I schedule all my marketing posts and
respond to emails. From then on writing. Or whatever. Just set boundaries and
use Hootsuite or another scheduling service.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
advice would you give a new author just entering into the self-publishing
arena?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Take your time. There is no rush. The world doesn’t need
another bad self-published novel. Everyone’s looking for the next greatest
self-published novel. So breathe, relax, the world isn’t going to come to an
end if you don’t get your book out in 6 months. Learn your craft.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Besides
writing, do you have any other passions? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I secretly wanted to be a rock star. I play guitar,
clarinet, and saxophone and I write songs.</span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TwoEnd..." height="1" width="1"/>