Please welcome to the page John Abramowitz, author of 'The Weaver Saga' and 'Atticus for the Undead'.
I would like to thank John for allowing me to interview him.
Jane
--x--
Q:- Being only 5 feet tall myself, I
consider anything over that very tall. Your Amazon bio says you are 'very, very
tall' ....... How tall is that?
J.A I'm
6'7.5" tall. My mother will deny the half-inch until the day I die, but it
is true.
Jane:- Wow that is tall!
Q:- Your latest book The Void is the second book in The Weaver Saga, what made you release
the unrelated Atticus for the Undead
before completing the series?
J.A Two
things. First of all, I had the idea of putting a zombie on trial for eating
brains, and it tickled me so pink that I had to drop everything and write it.
Secondly, as a general principle, I
don't like to write two books in the same series in a row. I like to alternate
worlds to avoid burning out on any one story or set of characters. That's one
of the advantages of indie publishing -- you're not stuck writing only the
series you've contracted for. You can do other things, let your imagination
roam a little bit, and then come back to your original idea.
Atticus for
the Undead was originally meant to
be a stand-alone book -- a little diversion for my brain in between volumes of The Weaver
Saga. But as I was writing
it, my beta-readers and I fell in love with it. Several told me that they
thought it was better than Weaver. One begged me to make it into a series.
So that's what I'm doing.
Jane:- Fantastic. I for
one will be reading the sequel!
Q:- Random
question: If I asked you to include the phrase 'A day without sunshine is like,
you know, night,' somewhere in your next book, would you?
J.A Look for it
to appear in Identity Theft (Book 2 of The Legal
Fiction Series, hopefully coming later this year).
Jane:- Seriously?
*Jumping around the room*
Quick Fire Questions:-
a) Harry Potter or Starwars? Classic
Star Wars trumps Harry Potter trumps new Star Wars
b) Tea or Coffee? Coffee,
except when I have a bad allergy attack. Then tea to clear my sinuses.
c) Morning Person or Night Owl? Me,
a morning person? Ahahahahahahaha...
d) Cats or Dogs? This is literally a painful question.
While I love both, I have a slight preference for cats. However, they are my
absolute worst allergy in the world. I cannot be around one for more than a
couple of hours without all sorts of horrible things happening to my face. So,
it's a very masochistic sort of love.
e) I-pad or Laptop? Laptop.
Q:- I found the ending
of Atticus for the Undead shocking
and I in no way predicted it. Did you plan this or did the story take itself in
that direction and shock you as much as it did your readers?
J.A Basically, I planned it. The ending I initially planned was slightly different
than the one that actually got written, but I altered things a bit for the sake
of believability. I can't say more without giving away major major spoilers.
Q:- Moral Dilemma - You are leading 100
people in a survivalist situation, when suddenly your lives are in danger and
you must choose between two courses of action. One would cause 10 of the people
to die and everyone else would live, the other would have a 70% chance of
saving everyone but were it to fail then everyone would die. Which would you
choose and why?
J.A Hold on a
second -- let me write that down to use in a future novel.
Okay, now that I've made
myself that note, I'd probably choose option 2. I'd like to at least try to
save everybody.
Q:- Your book The Void (Book 2 in the Weaver Saga)
follows Alex' quest further. How many books do you have planned in the series?
J.A At the moment, four books total, though it may become five. We'll
see how things go as the story continues.
Q:- As I reader I like my characters to
have names that are easy to pronounce and remember, also I don't like more than
one character in the same book to have the same initial (If names are too
similar I find it can get confusing!) How do you decide on names for your
characters, and do 'you' think your choice makes a difference to the readers'
enjoyment of the novel?
J.A If you don't like names
with the same initial, then Alex and Ainsling must drive you crazy.
As for how I pick my
names, I usually go to seventhsanctum.com and have the random name generator
spit out names until I find something that I think suits the personality of the
character. When I find a keeper, I go with it.
Do the names affect
readers' enjoyment of the novel? By and large, no, except for cases when you
need the name to invoke a certain feeling in the reader. For instance, what do
you think it would have done to viewers' enjoyment of Star Wars
if Darth Vader were named, say, Poindexter?
Jane:- Mmmm that’s hard to say isn’t it
because ‘Darth Vader’ fits the character so well (then we have grown with it so
it would!) For me if I can’t get make the name fit in my head it drives me mad!
I have been known to put down the book never to look at it again just because I
didn’t like the MC’s name!! (Alex and Ainsling were totally different so that
was ok….. Alex and Ava would have been too much for me LOL… I know I’m odd!!)
Where to find John and his books:-
The Void (Weaver Saga #2) Smashwords
Lindsay - I like this interview. Very amusing. The morning or night person question set me off with the giggles. Soooo like me! LOL.
ReplyDeleteJane ~ Glad you enjoyed reading it Lindz x
ReplyDelete