Unorthodox Interview with Glenn Gamble

Glenn Gamble is the author of five books: A Thousand Chances, Bon Appetit, Escape, On the Run, and James. When he’s not writing books Glenn can be found 1+ ing on Google +, slamming Facebook with updates, and dropping twitter bombs from the sky. When he’s not online, Glenn can usually be found in a housing project apartment building somewhere in America betting on rat and roach races.

#1 – Do you have a routine when writing, if so, what is it?

I write a scratch outline first, then I use that outline as the foundation of my story.

#2 –What possessed you to start writing?

A blog reader of mine from MySpace told me that I should write fiction because she enjoyed the style of writing that I employed on my blog posts. I laughed at her because writing a novel was the last thing I thought I would do in life.

#3 – What is your favorite quote?

Shit happens

#4– How long did it take you to write your first novel?

A month off and on. I remember my approach to writing being so unorganized and although A Thousand Chances turned out to be a great book, if I could do it all over again, I'd write out a scratch outline and base my writing around the outline. Had I done that, I think I could have wrote A Thousand Chances in two weeks.

#5 – What books have influenced your life the most?


#6 – Do you have any writing quirks? (like having to walk around your desk 3 times before sitting down)

None that I'll admit to.

#7 – If you could spend an afternoon with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?

Charlie Sheen, that way I'd know what it would be like to have tiger blood.

#8– What do you like most about your book?

I like the pace of the books in the Jim Money series. They're very fast paced with a lot of action.

#9 – If you didn’t write, what would you want to be doing with your life?

I'd find a way to write. Everything me revolves around writing. Without the ability to write, I'd be voiceless.

#10 – If Dante’s Inferno were real, what level of hell would you be stuck in if you were sent there and why?

Who is Dante? He sounds like a guy who owe me money.

#11 – If Heaven is a real place, and you were sent there with the opportunity to ask God one question, what would it be?

If I were to ring Donna Summers's bell, would I get my wings faster?

#12 – If Heaven is a real place, and you were sent there with the opportunity to tell God one thing, what would it be?

Give me Solomon's wisdom and James Patterson's book sales.

#13 – What would be the one piece of advice you would give to aspiring authors?

Respect the artform of writing. Your number one focus, especially as an aspiring writer is to write the best books that you can. Write good and write often. Also read as much fiction as your time permits. Money is meaningless because most likely you'll make very little starting off. With that said, keep in perspective what inspired you to write books --your favorite authors who delivered the best books they could. Don't upload unedited, badly formatted ebooks just because you can. Make sure that you hire an editor to look over your book so that you can make necessary changes that you'll never be able to catch. If you have a small budget, seek out indie authors on twitter and Google+ and ask them who they recommend for the best price. Personally, I don't know what I'd do without my editor. My grammar is above average, and the same can be said for my punctuation; yet my editor still marks up my ebooks with red ink highlighting grammatical errors, punctuation errors, and suggest fixes for my dialouge --its never pretty and the experience is humbling each time.

Don't focus too much time making your first book a best-seller. In fact, as soon as you finish your first novel turn it in to your editor, get the book cover designed if you hadn't before you finished your book, take a few days off from writing, and start writing the next book whether it be a novella or a novel. Its more important to build your catalog than to promote your way to selling 100,000 copies of your .99 ebook--that's only $35,000 before taxes--and if they liked it they can't buy your other books because they don't exist. I know of some authors who spent a year working towards making their book sell 50,000 downloads on Kindle and when they released their next book, they found themselves starting over again because they couldn't carry the momentum from the first book to the next book.


#14 – If there was a major motion picture made of your life, who would play you?

Andrew Dice Clay

#15 – Is there a question that people never ask you that you’d like to answer? If so, what is it?

Why should readers buy books from indie authors?

Because we have proven with the likes of Amanda Hocking, JA Konrath, and John Locke that many times the traditional publishers can be and have been wrong about which stories can be sold to the public. Traditional publishers have rejected novels from Amanda Hocking and JA Konrath that have become Kindle best-sellers. There are many other authors who have produced excellent books without needing a traditional publisher to “vet” them, so our books are just as good as the ones being published by Simon and Shuster, St. Martin’s Press, etc. No one needs the big publishing houses to determine which books are released to the public. For the first time in history, people get to decide which books are good and which aren’t.

Another reason is because your purchasing dollars are going directly to the author whenever you buy a Kindle book. Good sales leads to indie authors like myself being able to sustain a living which enables us to continue writing more good books.

Speaking of good books, you can download the first five chapters of Bon Appetit free. Here's the link http://www.mediafire.com/?ms52d8eaer0ez7z


--
Glenn Gamble
author of A THOUSAND CHANCES
http://amzn.com/B0050D1WB8

Bon Appétit (available on Kindle)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YWNW0K

Read My Blog: http://www.GlennGamble.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GlennGamble
Join my Facebook Group: http://on.fb.me/kOB4pl

Unorthodox Interview with Author SB Knight

Not your average interview! SB Knight, the sweetheart you see in the picture to the left, has offered himself up as the sacrificial lamb/lab rat for my own little interrogation process. Not long ago, I was asked to interview an author and thought to myself huh, this could be fun. So I fretted away to find questions that not all people would think to ask. Something zany, something different, something slightly out-of-the-ordinary. Below you will find such questions, though some are typical and mundane (hey, there are things we need to know from successful authors, and things we just wanna know about people in general but never thought to ask) and some that are fairly far-fetched but reach into the recesses of ones soul(or that's the idea anyway).

Without further ado, I present to you a somewhat unorthodox interview with the very good sport, SB Knight!!! (applause, applause, applause)

First let's start with the basics. Who IS SB Knight?

SB Knight has seen his poetry and short stories published in both books and magazines. Now, with the publishing of his first novel, Born of Blood, he has achieved a goal and dream set many years ago. Currently he is working on the sequel to Born of Blood which will be the second novel for the Blood Chronicles series.

SB Knight is the creator of ‘The New Author;’ a blog that started as a learning tool but has since grown into a community of friends and peers. He is also co-owner of Premium Promotional Services where authors can find the help they need to promote their book(s) on the Internet.

More about the book/s later - let's get into the Q&A portion of our program, shall we?

#1 – Do you have a routine when writing, if so, what is it?

I’m not sure you could call it a routine but I do most of my writing from 9 p.m. to 12 or 1 a.m.... I seem to focus better on the story during that time. I’ve tried writing earlier with some success but nothing that compares to that time frame. I’ve actually started my computer and opened my manuscript at 8:50 only to wait until 9:00 to start writing.

#2 –What possessed you to start writing?

Ha! Possessed is a good word to use. I like to think that my muse (inner writer) has always been locked inside but I’m not sure. I never thought of being a writer until my late 20’s. It took some difficult situations in my life to finally break my muse free and start to write. I started writing small things like poetry and journal entries; soon it morphed into short stories and novels.

#3 – What is your favorite quote?

There are a number of them. I find quotes that I enjoy almost everyday. However there is one that caught my eye. I believe it says everything that need be said.

“I can't believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.” – Lou Holtz

#4– How long did it take you to write your first novel?

Well that depends. Are you talking about my very first novel or my very first published novel? It took me a year to write my very first novel which will never see the light of day. My first published novel took about eight months to finish. I learned a lot while writing the unpublished novel. The lessons I learned saved me time and energy while I worked on my published novel.

#5 – What books have influenced your life the most?

My life, in general, has been and continues to be influenced by one book – the Bible. Now when it comes to writing I would say books such as The Wheel of Time series by the late Robert Jordan and The Lord of the Ring series by J.R.R.Tolkien have influenced me the most.

#6 – Do you have any writing quirks? (like having to walk around your desk 3 times before
sitting down)

My only writing quirk would probably be the 9:00P.M. thing I mentioned in question #1.

#7 – If you could spend an afternoon with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?

It would be my dad. He went to Heaven three years ago. To talk to him and get more advice would be amazing.

#8– What do you like most about your book?

I like that it holds true to some of the old myths and lore of vampires (namely Dracula) yet adds some fresh new twists and ideas to it. I also really like some of the reactions I’ve been able to get from a select few people I ask to read it and provide feedback.

#9 – If you didn’t write, what would you want to be doing with your life?

Along with being an author I am also an engineer and business owner; to add to that I am a husband and a dad. I have to be honest; it is hard to imagine my life without writing. However, if I didn’t write I would be a chef. I love to cook. Ha, that might surprise a few people.

#10 – If Dante’s Inferno were real, what level of hell would you be stuck in if you were sent there and why?

Well, if the test is of any measure I would be in purgatory. I will be the first to confess that I am a sinner but I work every day to be otherwise. Why would I be in purgatory? Let’s just say the skeletons in my closet are not gone completely.




#11 – If Heaven is a real place, and you were sent there with the opportunity to ask God one question, what would it be?

I can assure you I will approach humbly as I ask – May I sit by you and listen?

#12 – If Heaven is a real place, and you were sent there with the opportunity to tell God one thing, what would it be?

When I get to Heaven I will kneel and say – thank you for your love, mercy, patience and salvation.

#13 – What would be the one piece of advice you would give to aspiring authors?

THINK! Many will tell you to write, write and then write some more. That is true and good advice but I recommend you take it one step further. Think about your story as much as you possibly can. Turn it over in your mind; look at it from all angles. Ask those ‘what if’ questions. Don’t be afraid to allow your story to show you new directions. If what you find works and adds to your story great; if it doesn’t then discard it and move on. The important thing is that you thought through as many aspects of your story as possible. It is better to ask ‘what if’ while you are writing instead of after you submit it.

#14 – If there was a major motion picture made of your life, who would play you?

My wife asked me this very question not long ago and the debate continues. To tell you the truth I’m not really sure who would play me. You see, they would need to have or mimic a really good southern accent to begin with and not many have that quality. Okay, I just asked my wife again and she said Matt Damon so I will go with that.

#15 – Is there a question that people never ask you that you’d like to answer? If so, what is it?

This is a hard one. I get presented with different questions often but I don’t ever recall thinking ‘I wish someone would ask about this or that. I’m pretty open so I will answer just about anything. I mean I just finished answering some really unique and interesting questions in this interview.

That concludes our question and answer period!

Thanks for the awesome answers SB, though I would love to learn a little more about those skeletons, and the difficulties that brought about your "possession" to write. I think we got personal enough for one sitting though... for now...

Here's a little info about SB Knight's novel: In, BORN OF BLOOD, Jesse Banks, unknowingly, steps in the middle of a battle between good and evil that has raged on for decades. As the danger escalates she begins to put the pieces of her clouded past together.
Jesse discovers the truth about her real ancestors and the horror that relentlessly pursued them;a horror that now pursues her. For her to survive she must join the fight. But the immortal monster that stalks her has other, more sinister, plans and will stop at nothing to see those plans accomplished. Can Jesse escape a fate worse than death and defeat an age old evil?

Born of Blood is set to release in March of 2012.

Finally, last but not least. If you are interested in contacting SB Knight, or adding him to your social network (and really, why wouldn't you want to? Southern Gentlemen like him don't grow on trees ya know!) his contact info is below.

You can find SB Knight at:
Website: http://www.sb-knight.com/
Blog: http://the-new-author.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @thenewauthor
Google+: +Brian (Brian Knight)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FansofSBK (I would really like more Likes, thanks)

So be a sweetie and send him a tweetie! Be a sage, and Like his facebook page!

Want to have an unorthodox interview with yours truly? Just drop me a line or leave a comment with the request below. Stay tuned for more zany author interviews!