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Interview with Lilian from AMWC
COMPETITION: SAW VI:
Thanks to the Australian Horror Writers Assoc (AHWA), Author C.A.Milson has a double pass to give away to the new film Saw VI.
Saw VI
The story continues after the events of “Saw V”, where detective Mark Hoffman walks out of the glass box and leaves no trails leading to him as Agent Strahm’s murderer. Forensics have yet to discover Strahm and his missing body when a young teenager is found to be the latest survivor of the Jigsaw games. To Hoffman’s surprise, he claims that Jigsaw could not have tested the boy, since he knows he did not test him himself. The survivor, known as Garett, reveals the circumstances of his trap to Hoffman, who interrogates him. At this point, Hoffman is shocked to find Garett was targeted, even though Garett did nothing wrong in his life to make him a candidate for being “tested”. Fearing that he may make himself too obvious or that Garett could soon discover his secret, Hoffman throws him into a vast game in which hopefully his secret will die with Garett. However, we have yet to realize that Garett’s role in the games may have an unexpected turn of events in the “Saw” franchise…
The movie opens on October 22nd. Visit the official site: http://www.saw6film.com/
Send the answer to this question, and you will be in the running to win.
“Who is the director of Saw VI?”
Email your answer to authorcamilson@gmail.com.
Entries must be received by midnight, Tuesday 20th October.
Winners details published on this site
Note: This competition is open only for those in Australia.
Terms: Accepted by most cinemas in Australia, any time during the cinema run. There are often particular times that you wouldn’t be able to use the ticket, like Tuesdays and Saturdays after 5pm.
Changes
It is amazing how things change over the years…
When I was young, I grew up in the Brisbane suburb of Kedron. Life was simple, pleasant. The familiarity of the street was something I was comfortable with. Yes, there were times of stress in the house, but the place held a certain knowing that this was the place of my belonging, at least for a time..
I had always thought that Kedron would be a suburb that would remain the same, despite how things seem to change.
I had always thought that the old house I grew up in on Tenth Avenue would stand forever. Our house was a two level, 3 bedroom brick/weather board home what was painted this tacky color of creme, and the wrap around deck that was painted almost dark purple.
The old tin shed in the backyard, and the old homemade brick barbeque, where I would spend countless hours practicing my bowling techniques for cricket (such as Don Bradman would do when he was young… Hey, this was Aussie, and what boy didn’t wanna be like the Don!).
In our backyard we had 2 trees. A large mango tree that I would always climb and knock down the mangos, and fruitbats used to haunt at night, and some other eyesore of a tree that looked like it belonged in a swamp… Then came the front yard of our house. Our two gardens were nothing to look at, and I mean that LITERALLY. I mean, we had two L-shaped gardens, one on either side of the yard, and nothing grew in them.. period. It was like the gardens were a present reminder that they belonged in the wasteland! It was not that they were tended to, because they weren’t, except for maybe twice or three times a year when I was pretty much told to dig the garden… which always involved using a pick and a shovel, and pretty much most of the entire day… I can still remember when VCR’s first came out, and one needed finance to buy one! (yes folks, we had a salesman sit in our house and tried to sell us a BETA!)
I remember my next door neighbors, Jack and Emma. There was their nephew, Steven W who would visit them on occasion, and whenever he visited, we would spend hours and hours playing cricket in Jack & Emma’s backyard. (The amount of times the tennisball went crashing through their window was countless… and priceless! ) Steven must have been 2 or 3 years younger than me maybe, and he had a younger sister, Edwina. Of course, we never allowed her to play cricket with us, as this was a man’s game 🙂
Next door to Jack and Emma lived Peter Glenn, who owned a Nursery/ Shadehouse business. From the size of his house, and the massive shadehouse in his backyard, I figured at the time that he must have been a millionaire.
Across the street, lived a boy around my age, Stephen Amos. To this day I wonder how it was that one week we would be best friends then the next week the worst of enemies at the drop of a hat.
I remember one time when Stephen introduced me to the world of computers. This would have been back in around 1982, or maybe 1983. Apple computer I think he had, with those floppy, saggy disks that took hours to load anything, that ugly green screen, and the dot matrix printer which was so loud you didn’t need an alarm!
The school I went to, Kedron State. It was simple. We had a cricket pitch at one end of the front of the school, and the other end the pool. Those were the days when we were not allowed to use a calculator to figure out mathematics, and to urk everyone the teachers would scratch the chalk across the blackboard.
Once a year, a visiting dental van would come, and stay a week. Everytime they came meant two pretty dental nurses for us boys to stare at, while we tried ever so hard to look manly. One boy in particular, Craig M, was always called out of class. At the time we thought he was lucky and teased him with that he had a girlfriend. Of course, we knew that was never the case… Still, one had to envy him, sitting in that dental chair with two pretty nurses while he got his teeth choked-full of fillings 🙂
The house I grew up in, the area, were all things I had once desired my own son to see. But somehow, things are not that simple.
You can imagine my surprise when I used Google Street view tonight to look at the street I grew up.
That old house I once lived in has changed; the school I attended at the top of the street was changed, Jack & Emma’s house was gone, replaced with a couple of Townhouses… Even the house where Vicki lived on Eighth Avenue was gone.
…………………………………………….
The last time I was in Kedron was in 1988, just before my father sold the house on Tenth Avenue and we moved to Albany Creek.
21 years. It is amazing how things so quickly change in the course of a lifetime.
Gone is the cricket pitch at my old school, gone are the Purcell’s, gone are the days when I would run amock in that neighborhood.
One cannot relive those glory days, but one can always hold some fond memories of those young years 🙂
BookBanter Review
Many thanks to Alex of BookBanter for the recent review.
THE CHOSEN – RISE OF THE DARKNESS BY C. A. MILSON:
Set in Australia, The Chosen – Rise of the Darkness is a story that can be told anywhere, in any country, on any planet, but it is a story that we are all familiar with; one of the war between good and evil, in a battle of power, might and magic, and the inevitable question of who will triumph? In the small town of Winmont, the Ancient Legion has been awoken and will stop at nothing in its effort to destroy everything. But in the balance of life and the world, there must be a good to fight the evil. Alex Manning is The One – though he of course doesn’t know this at first – but in a world where the supernatural is an everyday existence that, if not respected, can take you life within a breath, he is the only one to stop this evil. In this world knowledge is power: knowledge of the ways of the paranormal and how to fight them. The question is whether the young Alex Manning will be up to the task of stopping the Dark Forces?
Milson’s style is a little unusual with head jumping and throwing the reader full into the story, providing little history or back story, but this kind of works for the story being told. And while terms like “Dark Ones,” “The One,” and “The Elders” are cliché for a horror novel, Milson nevertheless has his own story to tell set in a world that is terrifying and threatening, where you just want to make sure you stay on the side of good, as those who are evil and twisted are beings you don’t ever want to meet.
20 Years… A reflection…
As this title suggests, “20 Years, A Reflection”.
This is an opportunity for you to share with me in this journey that has brought me this far, and as you read further, I will be giving readers the opportunity to purchase a Commemorative Autographed E-Copy of Rise Of The Darkness.
Although I tend not to blog much these days, there is good reason for that, which I will go into later.
It was 20 years ago when I first started writing. It was July 1989, and I was in Winchelsea Victoria at the time, living on a small piggery, located 5 or so miles out of town.
Winchelsea was – and still is – a small town in rural Victoria, Australia. More or less the type of town where there was 1 bank, 1 pub, about half a dozen shops, and a post office which doubled as the local grocery/convenience store. Back then, the population boasted in the hundreds, and life was very quiet, which seemed to suit me just fine.
I remember I was living with my sister, her partner (Scott), and another guy (Leroy, who we called LaRoy for some bizarre reason), in a 3 bedroom cottage farm house, which was situated some 100 yards or so off the main road. If you stood on the front porch, you could barely make out the highway past the 5 foot high grass 🙂
That old weatherboard house, the town, and the surroundings, fueled my creativity. In many scenes of Rise Of The Darkness, there is a definate parrallel between Winch and Winmont… After all, Alex’s adventure had to have some element of truth. Even if that truth was based on a small town 🙂
Our mornings were usually met with the overwhelming stench of pig waste, as the piggery was pretty much situated right behind the cottage.
I found that the quiet country life quickly became a starting point for my writing. Apart from the definate comparisons to several scenes in Rise Of The Darkness – Such as the clearing, the hospital, and alot of other locations – I did write several other short stories in the old house.
If I wasn’t going to Geelong or Torquay, I would often sit at the kitchen table with a notepad and pen and write, write and write some more. My days were often like that. I would start my day with coffee and cigarette, sit at the table and pen away like there was no tomorrow. There were times when I would be writing away, and my sister would be in the kitchen making Coconut Ice or baking bread, which was cool as I got to try the food first 🙂
At that table, in that house, outside of that town, in the middle of nowhere, Shack of Evil was born. A 9 page story which eventually became Rise Of The Darkness.
But, writing stories did not stop with Shack of Evil. I wanted to branch into other genres also, such as Sci-fi, drama, and childrens stories. After SOE came – I believe – a short story titled Fangs.
Fangs was the story about a Yeti that is brought into captivity by hunters, and how they sadistically experimented on the animal. Although it was written in a sense of “horror”, there was also a side of the creature that I tried to make feel human compassion. The ending scene of Fangs was touching, as the beast was killed. The story left a tear in my eye, so I soon followed up with the sequel, Fangs Lives.
Unfortunately – or fortunately – Fangs Lives never got past the first 5 pages. The idea may have been good, but the idea was scraped.
Then along came the sci-fi short stories. The Battle For Time, Time Master, and some others that are less then memorable. Pretty much those stories were stories that are best left in the crypt – for eternity 🙂
During that time, I also wrote a children’s story titled Fun In Tailytown. I wont go into details about the storyline, as that is just one of the stories which will be re-written in time to come.
In the mass of stories, was also a christian horror, titled Revelation, taken from my understanding of the Book Of Revelation. That story ended up being about 15 pages. Yet another that would stay in the crypt of my mind – for now.
There was also another title in development – Infestation – which was the story of a paranormal investigator, who for some reason is sent to investigate the infestation of 25 foot long cockroaches in New York City underground. Cockroaches that have a hunger for human flesh and give birth to live young. Now, just why I had a paranormal investigator as the main hero, I will never know. But in 1989, I thought I had a great idea. But after the wave of Hollywood films of similar scripts, I think I will leave that in the crypt also, unless I re-work the entire plot.
There was also a story about love gone wrong. Well, not exactly, but it was the story of forbidden love; As one man fell in love with a girl, and he knew that the love he had for her could never be reciprocated. The idea was taboo and will probably remain just another that will remain in the dark.
In that time of my life, for the months I lived in Winch, I managed to write 26 short stories. Now, although some will be re-written (majorly) and released either as novels or as part of my Short Story Anthology, there will obviously be some that will remain dead and never will resurface. The basis of some of those stories may have merit in their own way, but for me, I feel that it is best that they lay where they are. In the crypt of my mind.
I first started seeking representation for a publisher in 1989 also. I remember I saw an ad for a publishing firm in NYC. They were called Vantage Press. A definate vanity publisher, which, in 1989, agreed that they would publish my anthology for the nice sum of $10,000USD. Quite a price to pay just to be published! And I must say, that I am grateful that I did not have $10,000USD at that time, as it would have been a huge mistake on my part to have published stories that were very VERY amatuer.
Yes, I admit it. My writing style was very amatuer and even I did not like my own work. Why? Because I knew I could do better. I knew that those stories were nothing what they could and should have been. So it was a good thing that I never went ahead with Vantage Press.
But, in 1989, I was 20 years old, and knew narda about the writing world. I was nieve and an “easy target” for vanity publishers. All I had was a dream and delusions of grandier. 🙂
After I left Winch, I went back to Brisbane, and for the next 5 years my writing sat in a dark vault of my mind, waiting to be released.
In 1994, I found a reason to write again. I was sharing a house with some college kids, and one person I shared the house with – J.B. – I found I had a connection to. She had a creative mind also, and although her passion was singing, we did bounce around many ideas for stories in the wee hours of the night. I had only known her for about 16 days, but for some bizarre reason it seemed that we knew each other for so much longer. Maybe she was a kindred spirit at the time.
She inspired me to write again. So I wrote the basis for what will be soon Bloodline Of Darkness.
But soon after the series of events in that house, I found myself living with my father again, and again I threw myself into writing. As I did 5 years before, I would start my day with coffee and cigarettes and write as fast as I could, while listening to music that was being played on Brisbane radio station Triple M or B105.
1994 I rewrote Shack Of Evil into what was back then The Chosen One. Of course, I did have so many titles in mind, which I have mentioned in previous posts.
After I had finished what was a 2 part, 300 page book, I decided to ask for a review and critique from family members. Of course, the reception I received less than favorable.
I remember my father said, “Oh you want to be a writer so you can big-note yourself!”
My aunt said, “Your writing is repetative and is that of a child. I could write better.”
Okay, that was crushing, and was enough for me to stop living in a fairytale for a time.
So began a new journey. That in marketing. That journey has spanned the last 15 years, but I am not here to talk about that 🙂
Many years passed. 13 to be exact. 13 long years of not wanting to write, but always, the niggling feeling – the biting – still haunted me. Taunted me. Niggling me to start writing again. But I chose not to. Partly because I didn’t want to, and partly because I never found the time.
But I am glad I did make time.
In 1997 I was living in Auckland, New Zealand when I started a search for a publisher. I sent out a mass of email enquiries, and 50-odd rejection slips later I got an offer from a POD publisher in Baltimore MD. That day changed my life.
Which brings me to today.
Although The Chosen was first published in 2008, it was since reworked and was re-released in 2009, which includes the some of the original characters that were chopped from the first release. The title was also revamped to Rise Of The Darkness; The first book in a trilogy.
For those who may not know the Synopsis:
From the time that the Darkness ruled the ancient tribes, The Elders prophesied of a time when a descendant of The Gods would arise. Tonight, in the town of Winmont, an Ancient Legion has been awoken to finish what they started many millennia ago. Now, the fate of humanity is in the hands of One, but can he overcome the forces that dare to challenge the bloodline of the Gods?Alex Manning is The One. Born of a heritage that was once a powerful civilization before it was destroyed by the Giants that once walked among men. Now tonight, in a small town, after thousands of years of being bound in the Dark Realm, the Ancient Darkness has been unleashed, and they set about to finish what was begun. Only Alex can stop the Dark Forces from destroying this town, but will he fulfil his own tests and sacrifice his life for those would seek to betray him?
I recount the years that have passed from the time I began writing. The journey has been a long and often difficult road. Especially from the time I started in 1989 to 1997. A period of 18 years it took for me to become a published author. Which is a milestone in itself.
Once I became published, the world seemed to change. Or the way I see it has changed. Not that I am going to “big-note” myself as one would claim as that is not who I am. Truth be told I rather sit infront of my PC and write the next novel than doing book-signings and all the rest of the public spotlight stuff. But, being a writer, one has to deal with that.
Along this journey, I have made some friends, and lost some friends, but that’s life. Some things I have written have been blasted and that is okay too. I express my opinion and sometimes those opinions do not meet favorable feedback.
One thing though, I am thankful for the readers and those who have supported me during this journey.
Which brings me to today. And the reason why I have not blogged much.
As some will have noticed, this site has been modified a little, and comment moderation has been changed so that a person needs to register in order to leave feedback. This was done because in recent weeks there had been a flood of messages on this site, to the point where I had to delete all several hundred “pending messages” several times a day. I am not joking. I had 200 to 300 spam messages a day waiting moderation. So to combat the spam I changed the settings where if you want to leave feedback on a post, you have to register.
Now to explain what is happening. I have not been on here as much as I would want to. mainly because of other projects that are in the pipeline.
If you have been following me on Twitter, Facebook or Tagged, you will notice that these last few weeks I have been busy filming on location in Samara, Russia.
There are 2 projects in development right now here. One is the video titled, “C. A. Milson’s World – Samara.” The video we are producing right now is a tour of Samara. From the Metallurg to the Embankment, and some interviews with local celebrities. Everything that you could want to know about travelling in Samara, taken from a tourists’ POV.
The video, when complete, will be available for distribution online and will hopefully be on the likes of Travel Channel Network.
Although there has been a short posted online titled “Out-takes“, that is exactly what that clip is. Out takes and goofs while filming, and is not a representation of what the finished version will look like. The finished version will run between 45 to 60 minutes when complete, and will give any traveller an insight into Samara; From the customs of Russian people, the architecture, local shopping, places to see, how to get around, and some local legends, some of which are listed on my blogsite.
We have discovered that filming is not as easy as we would hope, so this video will take some time to complete. But we hope to wrap up production by August.
After the travel video is a wrap, we will be moving on to our new projects:
No Ordinary Girl – Set the the music of Caribbean Blue, the film is about a young woman who lives an ordinary life, but at the same time she has a creative world going on inside her. The film mixes documentary-like images with creative imagery, as the film reflects on an ordinary day in the life of a not so ordinary girl. This will be available for viewing on YouTube and AtomFilms.
Darkness Unearthed – What if the world you knew was nothing more than a shadow of realism? Based on The Chosen Series, the new screenplay by C.A. Milson will be released in 2010.
There are also other stories and books in the pipeline, which you can read about here.
As part of my 20 year journey, I am giving readers the opportunity to purchase the Commemorative Autographed E-Copy of Rise Of The Darkness. Rise Of The Darkness is a 302 page supernatural/horror novel that will appeal to anyone who likes the works of Stephen King or H.P.Lovecraft.
The Commemorative Autographed E-Copy of Rise Of The Darkness is available in PDF format for the special discount price of $3.00USD.
To order the Commemorative E-Book, you can make payment using Paypal to: leadsnz@yahoo.com, and dont forget to add your Email address.
I wanted to thank you all for taking the time to reading this long entry.
Stay Scared!
C.A.Milson
Interview over at Promotional-101 For Authors
Saturday, May 2, 2009
You have been invited to share your promotional experience with others.
Your Name: C.A.Milson
1. Where you are from and where are you now? I grew up in Brisbane Australia. I now reside primarily in Samara Russia although I travel internationally a great deal.
2. How did you get started writing? I first discovered writing when I was in grade 9, when I attended Kedron State High School. Instead of reading a book and writing a report on what I thought about the topic, I decided to pen a short story. In about 2 hours I penned a short sci-fi story, which was my first attempt at the world of writing. The story received top marks from my English professor, who also encouraged me to continue writing. That was the first and seemingly last time I put pen to paper.. That was until the summer of 1989….
3. What do you do when you are not writing? When I am not writing I spent a lot of time working as a Recruiter and spend a lot of time blogging about The Chosen, as well as about my upcoming novel, Bloodline of Darkness.
4. What would readers like to know about you? I am pretty much the same as everyone else. I have hopes and dreams, triumphs and tragedies.
5. What inspired your first book? The inspiration for the first novel came from a hobbytex picture my mother had on the wall in her apartment. In 1989, I was living in Melbourne at the time, and once again I found myself writing. My first short story was titled “Shack of Evil”, a 9 page story based on the character Jamiesonn. The story idea came from a Hobbytex picture my mother had on the wall of her apartment.
6. How many books have you written? The Chosen was my first full length publication. The Chosen was written after I laid the foundation for the short story titled “Shack of Evil”. After I wrote Shack Of Evil, I went on to write an additional 25 short stories, all of different genres, including a childrens story. That original story later become the base for what is now the trilogy of The Chosen, Bloodline of Darkness, and Prophecy’s End.
7. What are the titles of your books and what genres are they? My debut novel is titled The Chosen. I am working on Bloodline of Darkness currently. Both are Supernatural Horror.
8. How do you decide on that topic or genre? Why are you specially qualified to write about this topic? I was not automatically drawn into horror, but after reading stories by H.P. Lovecraft and Misery by Stephen King, I knew that I wanted to write novels that would entertain and scare the audience. But like some beginning writers, I had no idea how to get storyline past the seemingly impossible short-phase and also written in the third person context. I have studied different theologies about the supernatural throughout my life and I have always been fascinated of what possibilities would lay in other spiritual worlds, so my writing maintains a basis of the cliched “good versus evil” and the “what-if” scenarios without coming across to heavy.
9. How do you manage to keep yourself focused and on track when you’re writing a book? When I actually get focused on writing, different scenarios pop into my mind, and where I want to take a scene, so I write it exactly as I see it. Like, at the moment, I am writing the third chapter of Bloodline, and so far the main character has had a series of dayvisions, where he thinks that the world around him is real, then he wakes up, to later find out that he is in another nightmare..
10. Do you write to make money, for the love of writing or both? I write because that is my first passion in life. It may sound cliched, but I was born to write. Sure, to have an international best seller would be a bonus, but that is not my motivation. Never was. I am the first to admit that back in the 90’s when I fantisized about the lifestyle, the famousosity, the big wads of cash, the hollywood parties, and all the rest that goes with mega-celebrityism that did seem like a fun thought… I guess maybe at one time or another all of us have entertained those thoughts, but that is not what writing is about. Writing for the sole purpose of “I’m getting paid a million to write this” would not be as fun as writing for the pleasure of creating alternate worlds where anything you dream can exist
11. What are some traditional methods of marketing you have used? Which were the most successful? Being one who has been in marketing for 14 years, I have seen nearly every form of marketing known to man. In my time I have done sub campaigns and promoted everything from concerts to land investments, and I have to say that this, promoting a novel, is something I was so unprepared for. I took it for granted initially that when a book comes out, it would get on the NYT list, and so forth, but that is not how it is. Apart from the PR’s that I have sent out to various newspapers (which don’t seem to work), the only things that have gotten attention are the posts I put on Social Networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
12. What are some unique methods of marketing you have used? Which were the most successful? I once had some ads on free classified sites like Gumtree but that didn’t attract much attention. The most successful is when I blast bulletins on Netowrk sites or am on other blog sites. On days like that I see the number of hits soar, expecially in December. I just hope that those hits have also turned into book sales 🙂
13. Do you sell through a website? If so, what’s the address? If not, why not? My works are available through most online retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Amira Press, just to name a few. Best way to see what list of retailers stock The Chosen, just google my name “C.A.Milson.” I think at the moment I am on some 4,000 websites.
My personal websites are:
www.authorcamilson.com and http://authorcamilson.info
14. Where can people order your books? The Chosen can be purchased from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-C-Milson/dp/1934475815
15. What format are your books – e-book, print, audio etc? E-book and paperback
16. Will you write more books? Absolutely! My intention is to complete Bloodline of Darkness by February, and then Prophey’s End sometime in 2010.
17. What do you have in the works now? Bloodline of Darkness.
18. What does the future hold for you and your books? Next for me is writing Bloodline of Darkness, which is the second in the trilogy in the life of Alex Manning – A man who is put in the middle of a spiritual conflict he otherwise wants no part of. Bloodline of Darkness is set seven years after The Chosen. Alex has forsaken his powers to live a “normal” life, and the forces of Tartarus have arisen to harvest the souls of humans and plunge the world into darkness. Alex once again must stand and save humanity but can he overcome the ever present darkness that also reigns in his own heart?
19. What was the most successful thing you did to promote your books? Blogsites
20. What was the least successful thing you did to promote your books? Newspapers
21. Tell us about your most recent book. My first novel is called The Chosen. It is a Supernatural Horror, set in modern times. It is the story of Alex Manning who is “The One”, well actually Alex Manning is a nice guy, with anxiety attacks who has visions. He doesnt know he is “The One” until he gets wrapped up in the investigation of the Jamiesonn house. Then he is drawn neck deep into betrayal, battling demons, freaky scary ghosts, and falling in love again tossed in for good measure.
22. What makes this book special to you? This book is the first one that I have seen to be published. From the orginaly concept in 1989 til now has been close to 20 years. That is an externity, and a life-long dream come true. So naturally this first one will always be something to tell my children when they get older.
23. What sort of comments have you gotten about the content of the book? I have had many comments from people, mostly congrulatory, but naturally there have been the odd one who has slammed what I write.
24. What makes this a book that other people MUST read and WHY? This book defines a new era in horror, dare I say? I explore the boundries of horror and bring a new change to the world of supernatual fiction. Imagine a world beyond our own where Dark Forces reign, and only one mortal stands in the way of their enslavement of humanity. The Chosen, Bloodline of Darkness, and Prophecy’s End follow the life of Alex Manning. A hero called to stand for humanity and face a destiny that he wants no part of.
25. What people NEED to read this book and WHY? Anyone who loves horror, the supernatual and action should read this book. Do you like ghost stories? What about horror? Gothicism? Mysticism? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to read this book. J
26. What sparks your creativity? Any tips to help others spark their own creativity? Music usually gets me going. But my advise to any aspirign writer is find something that sparks that creative grey matter in your brain and go from there. Start with an idea, build life into a character to make them appear as real as anyone else. Build on their character with real thoughts, dreams, hopes, failures, fears, delusions. When I am writing a character, I “put myself in their shoes” and think, “Now what would I do if I was..” Visualization helps. I find that when I am listening to my music collection on the laptop, I just write for hours at a time.
27. What do you think motivates people to become authors? What motivated you to get into this unusual industry? I would like to believe that people become writers for the love of writing. My motivation was simple. I am a creative person and I write based on what inspires me.
28. Tell me about the most unusual things you have done to promote any books? “Win a date with me!” Of course, in the history of bad ideas, that was about the lamest 🙂
29. If a potential reader thinks that your book wouldn’t interest them, what would you say to convince them to buy? I’m thinking something better than “Its the greatest book ever.” Give me something more specific 🙂 I would say something along the lines of “Have you seen Hellraiser? Or works by Clive Barker? Stephen King? Seen LOTR? Ever seen any of M. Night Shymalan’s work? Okay, if you have then you will like this.”
30. Why does the topic of your book interest you? Why would it interest potential readers? Give us a hook to reel in new readers. I have always had a fascination with the Supernatural, and if anyone likes to watch the true ghost stories, then this will be right up your alley. Now, for those who have watched docos on Ghost hauntings, about a ghost terrorizing a house or a person, The Chosen can be compared to that, except, imagine a Supernatual Force that does it on a much larger scale!
C.A. Milson 