Welcome all. Today I’m very lucky
to be interviewing J. Aleksandr Wootton, author of Her Unwelcome Inheritance.
Hi Mr. Wootton, thank you for
agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself and your
background?
Hello! Call me Jack. I'm a folklore
professor at Lightfoot College and a literature enthusiast. I've been called a
bookworm, which makes sense if by 'worm' you mean 'dragon' – I hoard books in
shelves and spare rooms and like to sleep surrounded by them, like Smaug on his
pile of treasure.
So, what have you written?
Quite a lot! Her Unwelcome Inheritance is the big thing going right now – it's
been out since August 2012 and we're due for a sequel shortly.
My recent essay On the
Unsuitability of Fairytales for Children has been very popular on DeviantArt
and elsewhere (you can Google it easily).
Where can we buy or see them?
A lot of my writing is available
for free through my blog. Her Unwelcome Inheritance can be had on your
computer, tablet, or ereader for $3USD in Nook and Kindle formats from Amazon
and Barnes & Noble. It's also coming out soon for iBooks, Smashwords and a
number of other digital formats – even audio!
The best way to keep up with all
that is through my official author page, www.JackWootton.com.
There you'll always be able to find direct links to buy my books wherever they
are sold. Plus, you can sign up for my email list to be notified when I come
out with something new.
Give us an insight into your main
character. What does she do that is so special?
Petra Godfellow, the protagonist
of Her Unwelcome Inheritance, would like to be just your average highschool
grad heading off to college – but the exiled Fayborn won't let her.
They believe she's descended from
Robin Goodfellow, heiress to the legendary Puck legacy... and if she bows the
knee to James Oberon, true-blooded successor to the throne of Faerie, he can
use her homage to forge a spell restoring his shattered kingdom.
There's just one catch: if she
does, she becomes James Oberon's sworn servant. Forever.
Petra doesn't know any of this,
though. She doesn't want to know. And no matter who tries to warn her about it
– her aunt, her godfather, her university professor – all she wants is to have
a good start to her four years at Lightfoot College.
She's sure there's a more
rational explanation for James Oberon's ongoing harassment of her family,
convinced that the increasingly... uncanny... abduction attempts her friends
have so far defended her from are not as extraordinary as they seem. James
Oberon and his right-hand man Wormsworth might be crazy, but they certainly
aren't fairies. And neither is she. The very idea is ridiculous, impossible.
...Right?
What are you working on at the
minute?
I've got a number of projects
nearly completed, a few of them coming out later in 2013. I expect to release The
Eighth Square, sequel to Her Unwelcome Inheritance, before summers' end. Forgetting,
a collection of original poetry, is finished and ready for release in the fall.
I'm also in the very early planning stages of a nonfiction project for students
and their parents, to be called [How To] Go to College at 16: An Unconventional
Guide to Coming Out Ahead Despite the American Educational Meltdown.
When did you decide to become a
writer?
I decided to try writing my first
novel at the ripe old age of 8, and I've been at it ever since.
Why do you write?
A large part of my motivation is
to somehow pay tribute to books I've loved reading. While I've never enjoyed
writing (or reading) fan fiction, I love clever allusions and new imaginings of
great stories – it's like meeting old friends in unexpected places for new
adventures. Her Unwelcome Inheritance is thick with references to many of my
favorite stories and full of disguised-yet-familiar characters.
The other big reason I write is
simply the challenge of spinning out my thoughts onto the page, the nervous
thrill of putting them where others can read and react to them. There is
nothing quite like having another person thank me for articulating a thought, a
feeling, an experience they had had themselves, only they hadn't the time or
the patience or the words to express it.
What made you decide to sit down
and actually start something?
The realization that if I didn't
start, I wouldn't finish; and if I didn't finish, I would never know whether I
had made something good and true and worth making; and if I didn't find out
whether I could make something good and true and worth making, I would never
improve.
And if I never improved, I would
never make something good and true and worth making.
Do you write full-time or
part-time?
Full-time since February 2012. I
wrote part-time on various schedules for about fifteen years prior to that.
Do you have a special time to
write or how is your day structured?
Mornings, first thing, are best
for me. As the day goes on, my to-do lists come crowding around and I find it
harder to focus.
Do you write every day, 5 days a
week or ...?
Every day. You never know when
you'll have a day when the words won't come.
Do you aim for a set amount of
words/pages per day?
I try to write one chapter or
short section per day – typically two to five pages, or about one to three
thousand words. My goal is to visualize one whole scene or argument, see it
through to the end, and stop. “Slow and steady wins the race!” said the
tortoise to the hare.
Do you write on a typewriter,
computer, dictate or longhand?
I've never enjoyed working on a
typewriter. I use a computer (custom-built desktop, with a full-size bamboo
keyboard!) for long projects, but I tend to write poetry and notes on mini
legal pads.
Where do your ideas come from?
Someone once told me that a
writer is only as good as the writers he reads. That's true for both style and
material – great ideas beget more great ideas, or at least more good ones.
Do you work to an outline or plot
or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?
For short projects, or in the
very early stages where I don't know where something will go yet, I like to
just see where it takes me. For longer projects I use a pretty rigorous outlining
method I got from Ian Caldwell, co-author of The Rule of Four. He recommended
summarizing your story in about five paragraphs. Then you elaborate on and
expand each of those paragraphs into a one-to-three page synopsis. Then you
further elaborate each of those pages into an additional three to five pages.
This time you include excerpts – scenes, bits of dialogue, specific
descriptions – that have occurred to you along the way.
Now you've got a really thorough
synopsis, probably between 20 and 50 pages long. Your story and characters are
fully described. Along the way you've encountered – and devised solutions for –
all of your plot holes and story hiccups. It can take awhile (months even) but
with that foundation laid, once you begin actually writing your book develops
very quickly.
How do you think you’ve evolved
creatively?
The stuff I was writing in high
school and early undergraduate was pretty juvenile in terms of plot and
character development – my stories tended to be a series of “cool scenes”
strung together, with little going on to move the characters around or the
story forward.
The big thing for me in the past
decade has been theme and motive, the spirit and power behind a good story.
Understanding and working with those concepts have also led me to be able to
write short fiction and poetry, two genres I couldn't really enter before, as
well as given me a much greater appreciation of good storytelling in books,
movies, tv, etc.
What is the hardest thing about
writing?
All of it. Or none of it. Writing
is the hardest thing about writing.
Diligence is the hardest thing
about writing.
What was the hardest thing about
writing your latest book?
Controlling my excitement so as
not to get ahead of myself!
What is the easiest thing about
writing?
Wanting to write. No effort
required there at all.
How long on average does it take
you to write a book?
About one month for every 10,000
words of first draft, if I'm allowed to focus. Depending on my early reviewers'
and editors' feedback, getting from first draft to final version might take an
additional two to five months. Not counting outlining, that is.
Do you ever get writer’s block?
Not really. I do get it sometimes
when working on longer projects, like novels, and I've realized that it's
almost always a sign that there's a problem with my outline.
Any tips on how to get through
the dreaded writer’s block?
On the macro level, write about
things you care about. If you can't always pick your own projects, find some
reason to care about the project you've been assigned.
On the micro level, detach
yourself for a few minutes. Walk around the room, look out the window, walk
around the building, run an errand, exercise. Do something physical. Then come
back and resume staring at the page.
Whatever you do, DON'T look at
cat videos. Don't even open a web browser, or your email.
If this book is part of a series,
tell us a little about it?
It is and it isn't – it's more
like one very long book that's been split up into three volumes of more manageable
size. Her Unwelcome Inheritance ends on a cliffhanger; The Eighth Square picks
up exactly where it left off, and the third book, A First or Final Mischief,
will carry on exactly from the point at which the second one stops. So really,
once they are all out, you will be able to read from the first straight through
to the third and it will feel like one story.
Do you read much and if so who
are your favourite authors?
Of course! My Goodreads page is
full of my favorites (www.goodreads.com/mrwootton).
High on my list of favorites would be Chesterton, Lewis, Tolkien, Ursula K. Le
Guin, Peter S. Beagle, and Neil Gaiman.
Who designed your book cover/s?
Jill. (Sorry, that's all I'm
allowed to say!)
Do you think that the cover plays
an important part in the buying process?
I'm sure it does – otherwise
there wouldn't be a proverb instructing us not to judge books by them! We're
actually in the processing of redesigning the Her Unwelcome Inheritance cover art
to make it clearer that HUI is a fantasy novel.
How are you publishing this book
and why?
For the moment it's all indie, all digital. Once the three books are done I'll
be on the lookout for an agent and a traditional publisher.
What would you say are the main
advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing against being published or the
other way around?
Self-publishing gives the author
a lot more control, obviously, and a bigger cut of the sales. On the other
hand, your work doesn't automatically get the professional editing help that
can turn a good story idea into a good book – you have to arrange for that
yourself. Also you have to do all of your own marketing when you self-publish,
so your book doesn't get the kind of jump-start a traditional publisher can
give it.
Of course, there's no guarantee
of success in either route. If you've written a good story, you have to just
put it out there and hope that it gets noticed. Word of mouth is the only thing
that really sells books, no matter how they're published.
How do you market your books?
Mostly by being active on social
media – Facebook, Book Blogs, Goodreads and DeviantArt are my main focus. I'm
exploring a lot of other routes as well. It seems like every other week someone
recommends a new service or website, and I haven't had time to take advantage
of them all yet. When I do, I plan to put a “what worked, what didn't” write-up
on my blog.
Why did you choose this route?
Digital self-publishing has a
much faster turnaround than traditional print publishing. It gave me the
opportunity to put my work out there and see what people thought of it, to
build up a fan base, before my stories go to print. It seemed like a logical
first step now that I'm writing full-time.
Would you or do you use a PR agency?
I don't currently, but I'm open
to the idea.
Do you have any advice for other
authors on how to market their books?
Definitely. Follow my blog to get
the whole scoop! Or contact me through any of the sites listed below.
What part of your writing time do
you devote to marketing your book?
None. I've discovered that I
can't work on a long creative project at the same time that I'm marketing a
finished one. They're too different – the type of brainwaves needed for
marketing cancel out the type needed for writing, and vice versa. So I go back
and forth, doing my marketing in between writing projects or while I'm waiting
for feedback on early drafts.
What do you do to get book
reviews?
Hang out on Book Blogs and Goodreads and email reviewers whose work I like and
who I think might be interested in my book based on the kinds of books they've
written about already.
How successful has your quest for
reviews been so far?
Decent – over half the reviewers
I've contacted so far have asked for my book. I'm still waiting on a few
reviews from bloggers who received Her Unwelcome Inheritance last year, but
that's okay!
What are your thoughts on
good/bad reviews?
If the review is honest, then
it's a good review as far as I'm concerned. Not everyone who thinks they're
going to like a book does, and that's just life. Negative feedback can still
help me become a better writer and storyteller. I can turn any honest,
well-explained criticism into constructive criticism for future work.
Which social network worked best
for you?
Goodreads and DeviantArt are
probably my biggest networks right now, especially for connecting with people
that I haven't met in real life. Networks like Facebook and Google+ are great
for reaching out to people you know, but not so good at connecting you to
strangers who share your interests.
Where do you see publishing going
in the future?
Traditional publishers are going
to catch on to the fact that they need to change the way they think about
ebooks and the independent ebook equation. Once that happens, traditional
publishers will probably start using self-publishing as a vetting process to
discover new talent. (That's already started happening, here and there, but
soon it will become the rule rather than the exception). So publishing is never
going to go back to the way it was, but the big publishing companies aren't
going to let themselves become obsolete, either.
Any tips on what to do and what
not to do?
Wil Wheaton's Law (“don't be a
dick”) is a good place to start; never disobey it, in any context, for any
reason, ever. Be friendly; be courteous.
Next, add in some wisdom from New
Economy marketing guru Seth Godin: “Don't wait to be picked. Pick yourself.”
(from Stop Stealing Dreams). The Internet is a big place. No-one's gonna find
you out there if you don't do some hand-waving.
Lastly, from Jeph Jacques, one of
the world's few full-time webcomic creators: “I strongly believe that the
Internet is a meritocracy, and that if you do good work you will eventually be
recognized for it.” There's debate about whether or not the Internet is a
“true” meritocracy, but the fact remains if your work is not good nobody's
gonna tell their friends to read it.
So do good work. Put yourself out
there. And be nice about it. That can take you pretty far.
What advice would you give to
aspiring writers?
- Write.
- Read
what good writers write; read what good writers write about writing.
- Write
more.
