Interview ongoing @LibraryThing.com
From 1/12 - 1/24, I'll be taking and answering questions at LibraryThing.com here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/107285
Stop by and lurk or ask your own question about me or Progeny:
To start things off, here's the first question and answer:
A little about me?
I was born and raised in Ohio and continue to live here. Although, the snow on the ground right now reminds me that I would really like to move to Phoenix. I’m married with two kids (who are partially the reason I started writing…more on that later). I’m a Reds fan and a long-suffering Bengals fan. I like to cook and would love have a tiny apartment in Firenze where I could write. My Italian is awful, though (as in I speak none), so that will need to be a long-term goal.
What inspired me to write Progeny?
The short answer is (in order) good books, a game, bad books, and some kids.
The long answer…
When I was younger, I used to read all of the time (and write, too). I chewed through books like a…large, ferocious, book-chewing animal would. When I went to college, I discovered I had less free time than before and my leisure reading suffered. After I graduated and got a job, I had even less free time. Then I got married, had kids and had almost no free time; I nearly stopped reading books for fun. I would still get through a few books a year, but nothing like I used to.
Two years ago, I made the conscious decision to start reading more, making time in my life to read again. Coninciding with a family vacation, I made a trip to the bookstore to pick up a few books to read by the pool and stood in front of the shelves, wondering what I would like. Not sure where to start, I deicded to buy a book that I had read in high school that I had loved: Magician by Raymond E. Feist. It was fun, sort-of-remembering the story, but experiencing it for the first time in mumble-mumble years. To my happy surprise, I discovered that Feist had written a lot more books in his world that I had never known existed. So…I dove into them. As soon as I finished one, I bought the next. Eventually, after a few hundred years exploring Midkemian history, I ran out. However, the fire had been reignited.
During that period of marathon reading, I had also joined a local gaming group. I had never played any sort of paper and pen game before, but it sounded fun, so I decided to give it a shot. After a few months as a player, I offered to run a campaign for my group. For those of you that have ever played anything like D&D, you might understand that this can be a large undertaking. It absolutely was, but I thouroughly enjoyed it. In between sessions, I wrote short stories for the group about what was happening to their characters and the feedback from them was incredibly positive. The writing bug in me was awakened.
So, I was running a game campaign and I had just finished all of Feist’s novels. I began to search around for something else to sink my teeth into.
I happened to pick up three books in a row that did could not hold my interest. The characters felt one-dimensional, the story was contrived (especially bad for a fantasy novel), and I would laugh aloud at all the wrong places. Fatefully, I then made the audacious comment, “I could write something better than this.”
So, I challenged myself to try.
That was the impetus behind me deciding to write. “All” I had to do then was figure out how and what.
Yes, Progeny is a fantasy novel that takes place in the Oaken Duchies, a country in the fantasy world of Terrene. But my favorite fantasy stories were always the ones where the characters felt 'real.' I wondered how was I going to accomplish that. Write what you know, right? I chose to write about two of my favorite ‘characters’ in my real world.
The personalities, attitudes, and mannerisms of Nikalys and Kenders, the two main characters in Progeny, are modeled after my own children, Nikalys and Kennedy. Crafting the world and writing the story became a labor of love. I wanted to write a great story that was not only loosely-based around them, but I wanted it to be something for them to enjoy as they get older and learn to read. Nik and Kennedy are much younger (6 and 3) than the characters (17 and 16) in the book, so I had to imagine my kids down the road a decade or so. Still, their personalities and relationship with each other shaped everything about how the characters reacted to the challenges facing them.
To sum it up, what inspired me to write Progeny were good books, a game, bad books, and some kids.
Good opening question. I look forward to more – fire away.
Oh, one last thing about me: I like pie. Pecan and grape. Not together, though, that would be strange…
Stop by and lurk or ask your own question about me or Progeny:
To start things off, here's the first question and answer:
I'm happy to interview R T since I enjoyed his book so much!
First question I'll throw out there to let him introduce himself.
So R T tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to write Progeny?
-by readafew @LibraryThing.com
A little about me?
I was born and raised in Ohio and continue to live here. Although, the snow on the ground right now reminds me that I would really like to move to Phoenix. I’m married with two kids (who are partially the reason I started writing…more on that later). I’m a Reds fan and a long-suffering Bengals fan. I like to cook and would love have a tiny apartment in Firenze where I could write. My Italian is awful, though (as in I speak none), so that will need to be a long-term goal.
What inspired me to write Progeny?
The short answer is (in order) good books, a game, bad books, and some kids.
The long answer…
When I was younger, I used to read all of the time (and write, too). I chewed through books like a…large, ferocious, book-chewing animal would. When I went to college, I discovered I had less free time than before and my leisure reading suffered. After I graduated and got a job, I had even less free time. Then I got married, had kids and had almost no free time; I nearly stopped reading books for fun. I would still get through a few books a year, but nothing like I used to.
Two years ago, I made the conscious decision to start reading more, making time in my life to read again. Coninciding with a family vacation, I made a trip to the bookstore to pick up a few books to read by the pool and stood in front of the shelves, wondering what I would like. Not sure where to start, I deicded to buy a book that I had read in high school that I had loved: Magician by Raymond E. Feist. It was fun, sort-of-remembering the story, but experiencing it for the first time in mumble-mumble years. To my happy surprise, I discovered that Feist had written a lot more books in his world that I had never known existed. So…I dove into them. As soon as I finished one, I bought the next. Eventually, after a few hundred years exploring Midkemian history, I ran out. However, the fire had been reignited.
During that period of marathon reading, I had also joined a local gaming group. I had never played any sort of paper and pen game before, but it sounded fun, so I decided to give it a shot. After a few months as a player, I offered to run a campaign for my group. For those of you that have ever played anything like D&D, you might understand that this can be a large undertaking. It absolutely was, but I thouroughly enjoyed it. In between sessions, I wrote short stories for the group about what was happening to their characters and the feedback from them was incredibly positive. The writing bug in me was awakened.
So, I was running a game campaign and I had just finished all of Feist’s novels. I began to search around for something else to sink my teeth into.
I happened to pick up three books in a row that did could not hold my interest. The characters felt one-dimensional, the story was contrived (especially bad for a fantasy novel), and I would laugh aloud at all the wrong places. Fatefully, I then made the audacious comment, “I could write something better than this.”
So, I challenged myself to try.
That was the impetus behind me deciding to write. “All” I had to do then was figure out how and what.
Yes, Progeny is a fantasy novel that takes place in the Oaken Duchies, a country in the fantasy world of Terrene. But my favorite fantasy stories were always the ones where the characters felt 'real.' I wondered how was I going to accomplish that. Write what you know, right? I chose to write about two of my favorite ‘characters’ in my real world.
The personalities, attitudes, and mannerisms of Nikalys and Kenders, the two main characters in Progeny, are modeled after my own children, Nikalys and Kennedy. Crafting the world and writing the story became a labor of love. I wanted to write a great story that was not only loosely-based around them, but I wanted it to be something for them to enjoy as they get older and learn to read. Nik and Kennedy are much younger (6 and 3) than the characters (17 and 16) in the book, so I had to imagine my kids down the road a decade or so. Still, their personalities and relationship with each other shaped everything about how the characters reacted to the challenges facing them.
To sum it up, what inspired me to write Progeny were good books, a game, bad books, and some kids.
Good opening question. I look forward to more – fire away.
Oh, one last thing about me: I like pie. Pecan and grape. Not together, though, that would be strange…
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