Saturday, November 15, 2014
1. Tell us a little about yourself. Just who the hell are
you, anyway?
Just how far back
should I go with this? I was spawned inside my father’s testicles, and was
evicted from my mother’s womb like some kind of glorified jellyfish. On that
day they named me Mikhail Lerma. I hail from the great plains of North America,
which is now just a massive flat cornfield. Fast forward, my marketing VP/wife
and I have spawned three little females of our own. The first time I ever wrote
a story was in third grade. It wasn’t good. The next time was as a sophomore in
high school. Again, it wasn’t any good. Then, one day in Iraq the muses graced
me with their divine intervention and I attempted to write a third time. It was
rough, but was good enough to get picked up by Permuted Press. That little gem
is titled Z Plan: Blood on the Sand. It was followed by Z Plan: Red Tides,
which was also picked up by PP.
2. Do you have any strange writing habits?
I write in the nude.
And talk to my self. Sometimes argue with my self. I don’t always win.
3. What book do you wish you could have written?
The Bible. That thing
sells like crazy! I don’t know who God’s agent is, but he’s good.
4. Just as your books inspire authors, what authors have
inspired you to write?
Can’t really say it
was an author that inspired me to write. It was more of a, do I sit and stare
at a wall or play more halo? So boredom inspired me. But I can say that I was
influenced. Agatha Christie is one. In my opinion, she had some of the most
clever plot twists I’ve ever read. And she was smoking hot. Stephen King, who
is also smoking hot. He just proves that anything can be scary. A haunted
hotel, a clown, a possessed truck, some fog, and ominous dome. Hell, even a
writer can be scary. Max Brooks (his book, not the awful movie), J.L. Bourne.
Really the list goes on.
5. If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood
adaptation of your book, who would play your characters?
My wife and I play
this game all the time!
Cale: Aaron
Taylor-Johnson (Kickass, Godzilla, Savages)
Zach: Nicholas Holt (Warm
Bodies, X-Men: First Class)or Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spiderman)
Lauren: Jenna Malone
(Donnie Darko, Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
Naeem: Jimmy-Jean
Louis (Heroes, Arrow, Tears of the Sun, Bourne Identity)
Ben: Seth Gabel
(Fringe, Arrow)
Blair: Michael
Cudlitz (The Walking Dead) *I’m sort of type casting this guy. Ginger in the
zombie apocalypse
6. How important are names to you in your books? Do you
choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have
any name choosing resources you recommend?
Sometimes I dwell on
names. Other times I feel like George R.R. Martin and I name a character Bob or
Kevin. For the most part, a lot of my characters are combinations of people I
actually know. So I use similar names or combine their names. There is a group
of five men in my current work-in-progress that I spent DAYS getting their
names right. But for the rest I recommend the Google machine.
7. What do you consider to be your best accomplishment?
Just finishing the
first book. It’s easy (sometimes) to start writing, but to sit down and see
something through like that with no writing experience/training is pretty
amazing.
8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
My magic eight ball
says try again over and over. Is that good? I’d like to see my self writing
full time. Maybe dabbling in other genres and possibly another series.
9. Were you already a writer, and have you always liked to
write?
No.
The two times before Z Plan were homework assignments. Writing was more my
sister’s thing than mine. But since book one I’ve come to thoroughly enjoy
writing.
10. What writing advice do you have for other aspiring
authors?
At the sake of
sounding like everyone else I recommend you write what you know. If you want to
do something realistic like an ambulance paramedic who can see ghosts but
you’re a bank accountant, you better learn yourself some of the jargon and
actual practices a paramedic would use. Don’t just make it up. Most readers can
see right through that. But if it’s straight up fiction, a world you create
from scratch, feel free to fill your books with the ramblings of your inner
voices. No matter how ridiculous.
11. If you didn't like writing books, what would you do for
a living?
I’m a spontaneous
person. I’d probably just do whatever. And if I like it, great. If not, at
least it pays the bills.
12. Do you read your reviews? Do you respond to them, good
or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?
I read them almost as
soon as they’re posted. I’m just excited to see if someone enjoyed it or not. I've only ever responded to one. It was my first and only one star review. It
was by no means one of those messages.
In fact, we were both very civil. I thrive on feedback, and in my opinion
nothing is one hundred percent. There’s always room for improvement. We
exchanged a few messages and parted on honest and kind words. Nice guy. My
characters just weren’t what he was looking for. Advice? Don’t take it
personally. Never respond while you’re angry or upset. Everyone is entitled to
their opinion. Stay true to yourself and your writing, but take the negative
they found and work on it. Not for them. For yourself. Reviews help you become
a better writer.
13. What is your best marketing tip?
Don’t sell your
books, sell yourself. Wow, that sounded dirty. I don’t mean prostitute
yourself. But on second thought that would be good money…
14. What is your least favorite part of the publishing /
writing process?
Deadlines. I’m not a
full time writer. I’d like to be, however, I’m not. So I have all sorts of
things going on. Between family and work there are only a few hours left in the
day. I try to fill them with writing, but some days I just want to play a
videogame or take the kids to a movie.
15. Is there one subject you would never write about as an
author? What is it?
Gay vampire porn.
I’ve heard there is a demand for it right now, and writers who can do it are
selling well. But I don’t think that’d be something I could write. I’m not
against homosexuality, but it goes back to writing what you know. And as a
heterosexual male, I’d have no idea where to even begin there. Haha.
16. Is there a certain type of scene that's harder for you
to write than others?
Ones where my main
character is by himself. There is no dialogue, just narration. The paragraphs
are filled with; “He did this”, “He looked here”, “He thought about this”. It
can get repetitive even with a diverse vocabulary.
17. Is this your first book? How many books have you written
prior (if any?)
I’m working on the
third book in my series, Z Plan: Homecoming. Once it’s finished that’ll be
three notches on my belt. I hope to add a lot more. I’ll probably need more than
one belt…or I just need a bigger gut.
18. What are you working on now? What is your next project?
I was kind of keeping
my next project hush-hush, but Michael Wilson and Anthony Ziccardi got me to
share it with them when I was in Nashville. So I suppose I could give you a bit
of a sample. It’ll be like Water World meets, Hunger Games meets, Under the
Dome meets, the Little Mermaid. Lol.
19. Do you write naked?
See question number
two.
20. What is your biggest failure?
I don’t want to sound
pompous, but I can’t really say I've had a ‘failure’. I like to say I’ve had learning opportunities. I've just been really lucky is all.
21. What is the biggest lie you've ever told?
Where are you getting
these questions!? You should blackmail me via private message. Lol. Let’s see…I
once told my first grade teacher my throat hurt too bad to be called on in
class.
22. Have you ever gotten into a bar fight?
Once. A dirty pirate
spilled his drink on a ninja that was sitting next to me. I saw the whole thing
go down. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Then I yelled,
“Beat down!” And all hell broke loose. There were like fifteen ninjas (I
couldn’t count them all because…well, they’re ninjas), but there was definitely
only twelve pirates. The bar we were in had a capacity of twenty-eight people
so it was cramped. Kuni were thrown and left ‘hooks’ were given. Get it? Left
hooks? Ya know, because they’re pirates? No. Never been in a bar fight.
23. Characters often find themselves in situations they
aren't sure they can get themselves out of. When was the last time you found
yourself in a situation that was hard to get out of and what did you do?
Just last week. My
wife left a ‘honey-do’ list and on it was dishes. It was pretty hairy for a
second, but I managed to pawn it off on my seven and five year olds. Relax,
there are no child labor laws violated here. I checked. Besides, it qualifies
as a chore.
24. Do you drink? Smoke? And if so, what’s your favorite
libation?
I don’t smoke, but I
do drink on occasion. I get a lot of writing done when I drink so that’d be my
favorite. I just have to be careful because sometimes I feel like Jack Torrance
or Mort Rainey. But man, those guys could write!
25. What is your biggest fear?
Lord Voldermort. Next
question.
26. What do you want your tombstone to say?
Because I don’t want
to come back from the dead like in Return of the Living Dead, I will be
cremated. But I could put a tombstone on a plot that read “Vacancy”.
27. If you had a superpower, what would it be?
Telekinesis. I could
use it as super strength and flight. Not to mention its applications for
defense. Just watch Chronicle. That’d be me with super powers. Matt, not
Andrew.
28. If you were a super hero, what would your name be? What
costume would you wear?
Well, Captain Planet
is already taken…but my costume would be like Michael Shannon’s in the Man of
Steel. After Zod throws off all the unnecessary armor and takes flight.
29. What literary character is most like you?
Tom Sawyer.
Mischievous and adventurous.
30. What secret talents do you have?
I can’t tell you,
it’s personal. But it’s why my wife married me.
31. Where is one place you want to visit that you haven't
been before?
The surface of Mars.
Call me crazy, but I’d totally sign up for a one-way trip there if I didn’t
have kids. Who cares if I’d die there one day? I could not go and die here
anyway? At least there I’d be among the first to see another planet in person.
32. What is something you want to accomplish before you die?
Number thirty-one.
Seriously.
33. If you could have any accents from anywhere in the
world, what would you choose?
На
работе они называют бы Горбачева из-за моего имени. Поэтому я использую
довольно забавный русский акцент , когда я пользоваться домофоном. But I’ll say
Irish. From around Portlaoise.
34. Do you have any scars? What are they from?
A few. One on my forehead.
Ran, and I do mean ran, head first into a wall playing tag. My left hand is
covered in them from a rollover I was in about a year and a half ago. I’m
sporting symmetrical burn scars on both wrists. Hazards of working in a steel
mill. Oh, and one on my knee from work also.
35. What were you like as a child?
Smaller. With less
body hair.
36. Do you dream? Do you have any recurring
dreams/nightmares?
Yes. Actually my
first book has one of them in it. It’s the same as my main character’s
recurring dream. Then my character’s entire life is essentially a recurring
nightmare I have.
37. You’re being attacked by a hoard of brain eating zombies
at this very moment, and all you have is a butter knife, a week-old lemon and a
cheese grater. How would you extract yourself from the situation?
First, when life
gives you a week-old lemon, I’d make lemonade. Then I’d use the butter knife and
cheese grater to stab and grate my way out. Those zombies would think they were
the cheese at Olive Garden, and I never tell the waiter “when”.
38. Do you have any regrets? (Besides volunteering for this
interview)
I wrote the first
book on my deployment in 2007, but published it in 2012 because I didn't think
it was any good. I wish I’d have jumped on it sooner.
39. And last, but certainly not least, do you have any books
you’d like to recommend/ shout-outs?
I don’t read much now
that I’m writing (I’m selfish like that). It’s mostly so I don’t subconsciously
borrow aspects of their stories. So I avoid the zombie genre right now. But I
did pick up Deep Black Sea by David M. Salkin. He has extensive knowledge on
aquatic reefs and equipment. Something I want to educate myself further on. The
book is great. And I had the chance to actually meet him in person! I’ve heard
good things about Time of Death: Induction by Shana Festa and March of the
Damned by Jeremiah Israel. I personally spoke to Jeremiah about his Flying
Zombies Trilogy and it’s at the top of my list when Z Plan is all finished.
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