Welcome, David! Please tell us about yourself.
I am an independent author living in the Nashville
Area where I also teach English. Prior to this I taught English in Japan for
nearly a decade.
Q: Japan... how interesting! Please
tell us about your new release.
A: The
Reflections of Queen Snow White is a very personal book for me. It is based on
an award-winning short story that I wrote back in 2006. It is about an aging,
unexpectedly bereaved Snow White struggling with grief and trying to sort
through her own difficult past to find direction and hope for the future. It
attempts to answer the question: What happens after “happily ever after” has
come and gone?
I think that it deals with a time in life that
most of us would rather not think about, but that half of us or better will
definitely live to see. Reflections… is unique in that your average romance or
fantasy/faerie tale novel tends to deal with the struggles of relationships at
the very early stages - all the awkwardness and uncertainty associated with
really feeling out a brand new person who you think you might kinda, sorta like
and want to be with. Then the characters fight for then succeed in loving and having
their love returned. My novel is at the other end of that journey. Snow White
and Charming have already shared a lifetime of deep and sustaining love. The Reflections of Queen Snow White
explores what happens when you've had all of this wonderful, perfect time
together, then suddenly one day, it's all over.
At present
it rates 5 stars on Amazon. :)
Q: That's fantastic! What
inspired this story? What is the story behind the story?
A: Well, I think to properly
answer this question, you should really know something about where I was
emotionally back in 2006 when I originally wrote the source short story. In the
space of about three or four months, both of my grandfathers died unexpectedly.
During the same period, my wife also lost a grandmother and a grandfather, so
there where a lot of funerals going on over a very short amount of time. Now
funerals, by their very nature lead to a certain introspection about one’s own
mortality, but particularly with the sudden passing of both grandfathers and,
as a consequence, how hard my grandmothers took their deaths, it led me to
wonder on their behalf – “So… What now?”
They
had both had wonderful, loving relationships – many long, happy years together
(both had been married over 60 years). In the case of my maternal grandmother
and grandfather, they had never loved anyone else, having married straight out
of high school. There was no question in my mind, nor indeed anyone who knew
them, that theirs had most certainly been a real-life “happily ever after”. Now
it was over. It made me wonder, “When your life has been so closely tied up
with and centered upon one other person for so long, what do you do when they
are no longer a part of your life? Where do you go from there?” That was the
original kernel of the idea for The Reflections of Queen Snow White.
Q: Sorry to hear about your loss. Why do
you choose to write romance?
A: I actually write mostly fantasy, although much of
what I write would probably be considered romance/fantasy crossover. I like
fantasy because I feel like it gives me more creative freedom to tell a story
unconstrained by many of the limitations we experience in the real world.
However there is almost always a significant romantic element included in my
writing.
I think that there really are two absolutes in the
human existence. First is the knowledge that we will one day die. The idea that
we have a limited amount of time can and should inspire us to make the most of
each and every day – to strive for something more or better in our lives. In
that struggle can be found great emotion, which is by its very nature a great
resource for story-telling.
The other absolute is the basic human need to love and
be loved. Life is about relationships (friends, family, lovers, co-workers,
even chance encounters with strangers!) and most of the joy and/or drama we
experience in our lives can generally be traced back in some degree to whatever
is happening within those many relationships. Therefore I think relationships
and romance absolutely MUST be a focus of good story telling.
Taken together these two truths – recognizing our own mortality
and seeking to share our limited days with people who love us are significant
motivators in almost any story – real life or fiction. Stories that delve into
these great human longings or really bring out these commonalities of the human
condition that we all share, tend to touch us in ways that really make stories
and characters meaningful and personal. Whatever the genre I happen to be
writing in at the moment, that’s what I want people to get out of all my
writing – I want readers to FEEL something and who do you feel more strongly
about than someone you love?
Q: I agree! Why did
you choose your setting and why was it perfect for your book?
A: First, I think that the
decision to tell a story about Snow White sort of chose the setting for me. However,
having said that, I felt like the whole faerie tale feel was important to help
the reader immediately connect with Snow White. I think the idea of “it really
happens to everyone, even someone like her” was instrumental for telling this
story. I also believed that making it feel like as natural a transition as
possible from the original Brothers Grimm tale was vital to the emotional
connection and impact I wanted the reader to have.
Q: How do
you choose names for your characters?
A: Except for Snow White herself, all of the other
characters either have traditionally German names (like Stina the chamber maid
or Queen Bemadette, Snow White’s mother) or they are adjectives in German (for
example, Erfruet, Snow White’s last surviving dwarf, translates as “Happy” and
the portly Lord Stolz is described as “The Earl of Schweinefett”, which basically
means “Earl of Pig Fat” or “Earl of Lard”). It’s a German story anyway, so I
thought I’d have a little fun with the names.
Q: How cool and funny! Did you
choose the title of your book and if so how did you do it?
A: Yes, I chose it. I knew the magic mirror would be
central to the story. Also the introspective nature of Snow White’s journey
made the title seem obvious to me.
Q: Please
tell us about your favorite character in the book.
A: This story is very much an introspective told almost
exclusively from the perspective of an elderly Snow White. I understand upon initial examination, she might seem a little bit
vanilla as a choice. After all, she is probably the first faerie tale princess
that comes to our minds when we think of the faerie tale genre. She’s been
nearly exploited and merchandised to death by the Disney Company. There have
already been almost innumerable retellings and riffs on her story in modern
media – TV, movies, other novels, short stories, and even an old Rammstein
music video. Who doesn’t know Snow White?
However,
I felt like this intimate familiarity we all have with her actually works
perfectly in helping the reader connect with her older self in Reflections... To me, it felt rather
like catching up with an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in years and years and just
like friends from childhood, I think people still care about her.
Having said
that, I think what really makes the story is the fact that she is so caught up
in herself - her own misery, her own pain and grief, her own loneliness and
depression - that she fails to see all of these wonderful people around her who
could really make her burden less and her life better. In that respect, I
suppose my vote has to go to the whole supporting cast.
Q: Which
element of story creation is your favorite?
A: I think it has to be the characters. As a reader, I
love stories where you get caught up in the characters’ lives – when they start
to feel like people you know. With really well-written characters you share
their successes and failures, their joy and their pain. If a character is especially
engaging, it almost doesn’t matter what happens to them, because you’re already
hooked. That is not to say that plot and setting are not important, but if your
characters aren’t enticing and interesting to your reader, the story is likely
to fall flat.
Q: That's true! Which
element of this story was the hardest for you?
A: I’ll include a little bit of a spoiler warning up
front, so anyone who is afraid I might give away too much might want to skip
ahead, but…
To be honest, it was Snow White and Charming’s
Honeymoon scene. It’s the first really graphic sex scene that I’ve ever put in
a novel, and it took me a while to get comfortable with it. I suppose I could
have gone with a door closing and fade to black type nudge, nudge, tee hee they’re
having sex now but we just won’t talk about it, kind of gimmick, but I came to
feel strongly like the scene was necessary to the telling of Snow White’s
story. These are Snow White’s private, introspective musings! Who censor’s
their own head?
It needed to be explicit to make the reader really
believe that they are right there with Snow White getting an intimate look at
her internal dialog. I also wanted readers to understand the depth of Snow
White and Prince Charming’s relationship, particularly from Snow White’s point
of view and how significant Charming was to her. It needed to be graphic to
illustrate how hard she falls for her husband, how profoundly miserable Snow
White becomes after his death, and why. At the same time, I didn’t want it to come
across as voyeuristic or seedy. Making it graphic, but not come off as trashy
and cheap was a challenge, but I think I got it. J Maybe
“graphic” isn’t even the right word. Perhaps I should just call it “truthful”.
Q: What inspires
you? What motivates you?
A: Having a vision and sharing it with others. Making
people feel something through my writing gives me a great deal of satisfaction.
Discussing it with me is just an added bonus – at the risk of coming across as
narcissistic, I could do that forever!
Q: Please
tell us about your other books.
A: As a matter of fact, I have a HUGE project I
started WAY back in 2004 that is nearly complete. It is a fantasy series based
upon Japanese myth, legend and folklore, rather than the European model that is
so prevalent in fantasy literature today. Originally it was a 406,000 word
behemoth, but I've edited it down to three volumes that are between 95,000 and
120,000 words each. Here's a synopsis:
On the happiest day of the year, Taro’s world ends.
His people and his family are slaughtered. His lands are brutally laid to waste
by merciless, imperial forces. Taro is certain that neither he nor the ghosts
of his lost loved ones can rest until he has visited the same devastation
tenfold upon the heads of the vile collaborators. Consumed with grief for the
fallen and guilt at his own survival, he gathers his scattered people and
solemnly vows bloody revenge on the allies of the Emperor in the neighboring
barony.
At the same time, young Naomi, cherished daughter of
the doting Lord of Numanodai, is blissfully unaware of the chaotic world
spinning out of control all around her. She fervently studies the arts of
dance, music, and poetry as she dreams of being accepted into the distant
imperial court. However, when disaster visits her very doorstep and she loses
everything that she holds dear, Naomi must learn what it truly means to be a
woman and a ruler. She must come to grips with her own gnawing grief and
paralyzing doubt if she is to have any chance of saving her beaten and
bedraggled people from Taro’s unreasoning fury.
In the process, both she and her pursuer discover a
magical world of vengeful akuma demons, fierce kitsune fox-people, droll tanuki
badger-folk, and the mysterious, arcane power of the ikioi. Taro and Naomi must
decide whether to use this power for healing or destruction, revenge or
redemption. They must choose whether to react to their pain and loss with wrath
or with love. In the end, both must come to understand that the only thing that
really makes them different is the choices they make and what they are willing
to sacrifice in attaining that which they desire.
I'm hoping to release the first volume, Shirobara Falls, sometime next year.
Q: Sounds very interesting and creative! When did
you know you wanted to be an author?
A: I think I
had always had a little bit of the "writing bug". I made some false
starts in high school - wrote some fan-fic, started several ill-conceived novels
that never got finished, (Reflections was actually my 7th attempt at writing a
novel). I wrote a few successful and well-received short stories, but I think
it was a combination of my time in Japan and all the writing I had to do for my
Master's Program that finally pushed me to get serious about it. I had always
been a reader, but while I was in Japan, English language novels were hard to
come by. Combine that with my graduate experience of having to write 5-6
thirty-plus page research papers a semester and all of a sudden I had run out
of excuses. I had both the time and the ability to stick with a subject over
the long haul and get through to the end. It was a gradual thing though and
took a number of false
starts and failures in the process with many long periods of no writing at all
sprinkled in between.
Q: What is your
writing process or method?
A: I keep a little black book with me. If I have an
interesting idea or random thought, no matter where it occurs, it gets written
down. Some of them turn into stories. I do some outlining, but I’m not
religious about it. Generally, I rush and try to get the first draft of a novel
down on paper in a hurry, bad grammar, mistakes, plot holes, and inane dialog
notwithstanding, then spend a whole lot of time with revision and editing. In
fact it always takes me at least two to three times longer editing and revising
my work than writing the initial first draft.
Q: If you
are self-published, why did you choose that route? Do you love it or what would
you do differently?
A: The motivation was frustration mostly. Buried under
sheaves and sheaves of rejection letters after waiting 6-8 months for each one,
I started to really question if that was the only way to get my writing in the
public eye. I knew I could write. Lots of people I trusted not to simply stroke
my ego said so. I was, I think, fairly well-read myself. I’d even got a number
of what I’d characterize as “Good Rejection” letters that were personalized and
offered concrete suggestions for improvement. I have not totally written off
traditional publishing (self-publishing is a HUGE amount of work). I just
wanted to see if it was a viable option for me. I figured I would learn the
answer to that question best if I just did it.
Q: Do you
have any advice for unpublished authors?
A: First and foremost, mind your craft. Make sure your
writing is excellent and always strive to make it better. Don’t be in a rush to
publish. Rather, make sure what you publish is worth publishing. Get the
feedback of people you trust not to simply pat your head and stroke your ego
and then respond kindly to criticism and take it constructively.
Second, be prepared to WORK if you want to be
successful. Everyone and their brother can self-publish now, but that doesn’t
mean everyone should. Reviewers and even consumers are inundated - buried under
the huge volume of titles - so even really good writing has a tendency to get
lost in the free-for-all. If you want to be successful at it you have to be
ready to spend nearly every spare moment just trying to get your writing
noticed – just to convince a few people who might have a little influence to
give it a chance and maybe tell others about it - and there’s still no
guarantee. It’s a different path than traditional publishing, but I’m fairly
well convinced at this point that it is certainly not any easier.
Q: What’s
next for you?
A: The next big event (I’m thinking probably March or
April) will be the very limited release of the physical book. Probably not more
than about 500 copies in the initial run (printing isn’t free), but keep
checking back on my website and Facebook page for details. Then of course, I’m
looking forward to the release of Shirobara
Falls in 2014 as well. I’m not sure if that will be traditional or
self-published yet, but either way it’s coming. Stay tuned!
Fantastic! Thanks so much for being our guest today! David is giving away a copy of his book to a commenter! Please leave your email or a way for us to contact you along with your comment. Thanks!
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