Up close and Personal
1. What inspires you as a writer? Everyday life-people I’ve known and experiences I’ve had. Also, I’d have to say fellow authors and their works. Sometimes, a complete novel begins with nothing more than a simple notion; a vague idea that blooms into a 90,000+word brain-flush.
2. When did you have that ah ha moment when you knew you were a writer? Not really sure I’ve experienced such a single moment of clarity. I have to work at it. There are days when every sentence, every written word, is a major challenge. On such occasions, the back-space key is a true godsend.
3. What is your writing process? Once I lock in on a specific idea for a novel or short story, I will write a crude outline and do my best to follow it as the actual story-telling process begins. Invariably I will veer far off-course from what I first intended to write. As far as output, I try to put down at least 500 words a day if its novel-length.
4. Tell us about your favorite character and why you chose to write about them? I would have to say it’s the Benjamin Thomason character from ‘Desolation Island’ and ‘Desolation Outpost’. He is my foul-mouthed, two-fisted alter-ego-an R-Rated ‘Wolverine’ from the X-Men, you might say. Gruff, uncompromising and completely Un-politically correct. Truly, my hero. Oh, and he digs Asian chicks, like myself.
5. What are you currently working on? I’m currently on the early edits of a completed novel entitled ‘Iron-Will’, a Sci-fi/mystery with horror undertones. It involves a futuristic a grouping of over-forty competitors completing in the ultimate endurance race…to the death, of course. A shock ending ensues. Good stuff…I hope.
6. Any upcoming events? Hopefully some media-related interviews for the release of ‘Sidekicks Incorporated’.
7. If you could be anyone you like, who would you be? Abe Lincoln, vampire hunter.
8. Do you have any advice for new writers and something that a seasoned vet can learn? For newbies, it’s easy: the more you read, the better you write. The more you write, the better the work. For vets, I’d say to occasionally branch out into a genre you’ve never before attempted. It refreshes the batteries. I’ve done westerns, Sci-fi, suspense, and all-out horror. I’ve even written several comedic short-stories.
9. Where can your followers find you? My main lair is at www.authorsden.com/terrylvinson. My personal site is entitled ‘Graven Imagery’ and can be perused at http://tvzoner.tripod.com.
10. Any last words? Support your local authors…computers, printers and keyboards have to eat too, and I personally will ‘write for food’ if need be.
Flash-forward nearly forty years, as a tabloid news crew travels to a remote, desolate island in the pacific in order to interview the reclusive, long-retired Weber concerning a series of brutal, sadistic killings that have recently rocked the superhero universe, the aged victims all past alumni of an eighties super-group known as ‘Sidekicks Incorporated’ and all former teammates of the man once known as Kid Rage.
As stories of both past heroics and tragic failures are regaled in painstaking detail, a backdrop of building fear and unease soon emerges as a tangible entity whose lone agenda is the ultimate in final retribution.
Retribution to be extracted for a quarter-century old deed so despicable it serves to blur the fine line separating good from evil; teammate from enemy; hero from villain.
Long before the sun’s inevitable descent below the Pacific’s vast, swaying horizon, the mystery of exactly who survives the bloody carnage of a tabloid TV dream project gone horribly wrong will indeed be solved, though doubts concerning the validity of good truly triumphing over evil may forever linger…
GP: Okay so I went and downloaded this title. So far so good. A real page turner. I love the whole interview process.
