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1. Tells us about your writing\/ published book(s)<\/strong><\/p>\n Everything I write has to have a high concept. My first novel was several time travel stories told in chronological order. Switched back and forth between perspectives often, sometimes in mid-sentence.<\/p>\n My books are harder to get into, but I feel they\u2019re more rewarding in the end.<\/p>\n \n 2. Where\u2019s your favourite place to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n Pre-COVID it was at a local Peet\u2019s. It\u2019s hard to find a place with a good chair; I need a high back. It\u2019s also good to have poor wifi and people constantly walking by and judging me for hogging the good seats.<\/p>\n \n 3. How do you approach starting a new book?<\/strong><\/p>\n Trepidation. Fear. Resignation.<\/p>\n \n 4. What\u2019s your favourite genre to read?<\/strong><\/p>\n Most forms of speculative fiction are good. I need something that has a specific end in mind. I\u2019m frustrated with stories where the characters meander from one moment to another. Authors should have an overall plan.<\/p>\n \n5. Have you always wanted to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. Ever since I was a kid. It took a while for me to figure out how<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n 6. What do you do when you have writer\u2019s block?<\/strong><\/p>\n I haven\u2019t figured it out, yet. I recently realized I\u2019m in perpetual writer\u2019s block. I always thought I was just slow, but I\u2019m constantly stymied.<\/p>\n \n7. Tell us about a scene that you loved but had to edit out of your book<\/strong><\/p>\n My first novel has a character with two personalities, one created on top of another depending on the contract she takes. When that one dissolves, she returns to being a different, more businesslike and intense person. Originally, there was a third personality underneath the others. She was the \u201creal\u201d person and completely insane.<\/p>\n My editor said that was a lead weight and would bring my novel down.<\/p>\n \n 8. Do you like reading the same books you write?<\/strong><\/p>\n The exact same? Ugh, no. By the time I\u2019m done, I\u2019ve read them over and over, a few times out loud. Make them go away!<\/p>\n \n 9. Do write under a pen name? If so, tell us about how you chose it<\/strong><\/p>\n Matthew Kagle is a friend from college. We wrote together under his name since I was uncomfortable with people knowing who I was. Now there\u2019s a few of us using it, and he gets a thrill from being our \u201cfront.\u201d<\/p>\n \n 10. How do you choose your book\u2019s title(s)?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m not certain. However, my last novel (A Thousand Secret Sorrows<\/em>) might have been subconsciously borne from accidentally glancing at other titles. There is Khaled Hosseini\u2019s A Thousand Splendid Suns<\/em> and Amy Tan\u2019s A Hundred Secret Senses<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n 11. What advice would you give to someone wanting to write their first book?<\/strong><\/p>\n Start now. Just start. Don\u2019t worry about anything else but writing in this moment. Nothing else matters but doing it. Now.<\/p>\n \n 12. Do you do research for your books? If so, what kind of research?<\/strong><\/p>\n Some of my current book takes place in the Holocaust. I\u2019ve contacted several Museums and Libraries. I have some life stories from members of my family who escaped the camps. There are groups of Jewish writers and game designers who are always happy to help.<\/p>\n \n 13. How do you fit writing into your everyday life?<\/strong><\/p>\n Poorly. As I said above, it\u2019s hard for me to push through the writing block and do the work. Luckily, I don\u2019t have a job, so I can\u2019t use that as an excuse any more.<\/p>\n \n14. How do you approach \u2018world building\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s helpful to know that world building is a magic trick. You can make something seem fleshed out even though it isn\u2019t. A real world has sewer systems and weather patterns and dental hygiene and a host of other things that are irrelevant and uninteresting to a reader and downright irritating to a writer.<\/p>\n Creating just a few bits of culture helps people feel like they\u2019re in a different world. Give a people unusual naming conventions, some religious rituals, and a couple oppressive laws, and it\u2019ll seem real enough.<\/p>\n \n 15. How do you handle criticism?<\/strong><\/p>\n Terribly. I usually stop writing for about ten days after bad feedback.<\/p>\n \n 16. Describe your perfect character to me<\/strong><\/p>\n I like characters with internal conflicts that end in tragedy. I suppose they don\u2019t all have to end tragically, but (as Orson Welles said) that all depends where you end the story.<\/p>\n \n 17. Tell me about your current work<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m working on a novel about a boy who lives in two worlds that he switches between when he goes to sleep. In one, he has been abandoned in a magical, prehistoric land. In another, he\u2019s trying to help his family survive the Nazis.<\/p>\n Both worlds are falling apart, and he sees himself as the only one who can keep them alive.<\/p>\n \n 18. Tell me about your main character<\/strong><\/p>\n Micah Bladeweaver is an outcast, as all orphans in his tribe are. He is nearly killed and left for dead, but wakes up with the ability to see the gods, who are guiding him in a direction he doesn\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n Micah Schermann is a boy watching his family and community being destroyed in the aftermath of the Kristallnacht attacks. Bit by bit, his family is taken apart until he ends up in charge of keeping them safe and alive.<\/p>\n \n 19. Would you want your book made into a film?<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019d be amazing. I\u2019d be willing to give up film rights for nothing without any vestige of creative control. I\u2019d really love seeing someone else radically change my vision. Give him a cartoon sidekick! Make her an expert in an ancient martial art! That\u2019d be fun.<\/p>\n \n