Interview with John Passarella (Part 1 of 2)

I'm blessed this month to publish an interview with Bram Stoker Award willing novelist John Passarella. John and I met via KindleKorner, a Yahoo! group for Kindle (and other e-book) lovers. Someone on the list reviewed an Angel TV tie-in book he'd written, and I bought and loved it. I've since bought one of his original works, Shimmer, and I've got his other books on my wish list. (So many books, so little time!)

I follow him on Twitter (@JohnPassarella), and he mentioned he was writing another TV tie-in for Supernatural. The book is available for pre-order (Supernatural: Night Terror), and I asked him if he'd be willing to tell us about the differences between writing original fiction and work-for-hire. He gave me some great answers, too much for one blog post, so I'm splitting it between this week and next. Enjoy! And buy his stuff. He's a good writer, and he assures me I'll enjoy Night Terror even though I've never seen Supernatural.

Which do you like better, original or media tie-in?

I prefer the freedom and creativity of writing my own original novels and stories. I have complete control. I can go wherever the story and the characters take me. At the same time, writing media tie-in novels for shows I love is a lot of fun. They bring me even closer to the show, because I study the show on a different level when I'm planning to write a novel about it. And it's a way for me to put these characters in situations I dream up. For me, the ultimate goal in writing tie-ins is to write a novel that fans of the show experience as a "missing episode" or adventure with their favorite characters. I want the story to feel a part of their universe and I want the characters voices and actions to feel right.

How did you get started writing TV show tie-ins?

After my first novel (WITHER, co-authored with Joseph Gangemi) came out, the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle review said, "hits the groove that makes TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer such a kick." The Buffy TV series was in it's second year or so and I was a huge fan. That review made me think that maybe I could write a Buffy novel, but I didn't know if I could capture the characters' voices. That was still an unknown for me, something I hadn't tried yet. I contacted Lisa Clancy, who was editing the books. Told her I loved the show, mentioned that review of WITHER and asked if I could write one of the novels. She told me to write a 10 to 12 page outline of the complete book and a sample chapter featuring the main cast. That sample chapter would prove to both of us whether or not I could capture their voices. That sample chapter basically became the first chapter in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble. During the process of writing that book, Lisa asked if I'd like to do an Angel novel (Angel was early in season one), that she thought I'd be a good fit for that show. Of course, I agreed. The result was Angel: Avatar. A few years later, I wrote Angel: Monolith. In September 2011, Night Terror, my original novel based on the TV show Supernatural is due out. That one will be my first outside of the Whedonverse, but it's a good fit for me since my own novels are supernatural thrillers. 

Is it something you’d recommend for a new author trying to make a name for him or herself?

If the opportunity is there for a new author, sure. In some ways, writing a tie-in is easier than a completely original novel. There is no world-building needed -- the world has already been built for you. Same for the main characters. Their history and their voice is established. You come up with ancillary characters only. But in some ways, it's harder to write an original tie-in novel. Not every writer can capture the voices of an established show/world. And, as with all tie-in novels, the toy box metaphor is in effect. You get to play with the toys, but you have to put them back in the toy box the way you found them. A reset switch. That means you can't make changes to the characters' lives or the course of the canonical arc even when the novels aren't themselves canon. And yet, within those parameters, you have to come up with an interesting and exciting story. It's harder to write emotional arcs that resonate in a media tie-in novel when the characters themselves aren't allowed to change. In your own original novel, anything can happen and emotional arcs are much easier to write. Also, in tie-in novels, the author is not the final authority. You have to abide by rules, set the story in a certain time-frame, perhaps not use certain characters or situations you would have enjoyed exploring, and make any requested changes.

Do you find it limiting to be working with someone else’s character? Or does it free you to concentrate on plot since you don’t have to go quite as much character development?

As I mentioned above, you don't need to work on character development the way you would in your own novel, but you do need to master the voices of those characters. If they don't act right or sound right, the fans will let you know. And there are some constraints in the plot because you have to set the story in a certain time-frame within the show's moving arc. Finally, you have to set things back the way they were, no major character changes allowed. If you can work within those constraints, you can have a lot of fun playing in the world, especially if you are a fan yourself. I don't think I would want to write a media tie-in novel for a show I didn't care about as a viewer. I need that enthusiasm to really enjoy the experience. And, hopefully, if I'm having fun in that world, the reader will have fun as well.

Come back next week where John will tell us how he schedules writing around his job as web designer. He'll also tell us how writing media tie-ins has helped promote his original works.

Research! Research! Reseach!

The book is coming along well. I wrote almost 12K words last month, and I'm aiming for about the same this month and next. I think that will just about finish the first draft. Then to the joys of editing.

In anticipation of the next book, I'm starting research now. Book Three in the series (no title yet) will reveal much about Paul's background. I've deliberately kept him as kind of a mysterious character because I wanted to focus on Dafydd. And I thought it was cool to keep some mystery around the vampire.

Paul is actually a minor, but recognizable, historical person. Nope, I'm not revealing it even here, although faithful blog readers will get the scoop first. He "dies" during the Civil War, at the Battle of Gettysburg, and if you are a serious Civil War buff, you might be able to figure it out from that. ;)

Because he was born in a different time, I wanted to read up on that historical period to get an idea of his values. Yes, he's changed over time (he is almost 200 years old!), but the time in which he was human would affect his attitudes and how he thought.

Obviously, I'm going to fictionalize a lot, but if I have a grasp on what he was like as a person, it will make my writing on him richer, even if most of the details are never presented in the story.

In case you are interested, I'm using Shelby Foote's excellent series on the Civil War. And I was just directed by another blogger to a book that is supposed to have a lot of information about my specific character.

One interesting attitude, which could be fun to work into the story, is how he might view attacking vs. defensive strategies. The South decided to fight a defensive war in the beginning, which meant they were reacting to Northern attacks. Based on what Paul would have seen, I'm guessing he won't be much for being on the defensive.

I also have been seeing some political parallels between then and now. Paul can be an interesting observer of current politics, with his own perspective.

He's going to be a lot of fun, with my challenge being presenting him through Dafydd's first person narrative. I do think I made the right decision to go with first person for the series, but it does provide some interesting narrative challenges along the way. However, writing a narrator with some definite biases is very satisfying. Nothing wrong with having some fun at my character's expense!

Ebook Pricing and DRM

I'm digressing for another week. Nope, it doesn't mean I'm not working on the book,. I've written more than 11K words this month, and it's going well.

But I've been thinking and reading a lot about ebook pricing, and I wanted to gather some of my thoughts in one place, especially since my thinking has changed somewhat with my shiny new NookColor.

I've never been an ebook pricing snob, with a fixed price point I won't exceed. Okay, I probably shouldn't use the word "snob," but some people come across that way with loud pronouncements that "I won't buy a book that's more than $9.99" or "I refuse to buy an ebook that's more expensive than a paperback."

I am more likely to impulse buy something that is $2.99 or less, and .99 is certainly a no-brainer if I'm at all interested in the subject, but I've certainly spent more.

I guess for me, price is less important than DRM. If you don't know what that is, it stands for Digital Rights Management. In simple terms, it's copy protection on a book. If you buy a book on Amazon for Kindle, you can't (legally) read it on another brand of reader. There are ways out there to strip DRM so you can convert from one format to another, but those are illegal.

I understand that I don't really purchase an ebook. I'm purchasing a license to use it, but that bothers me. I've bought electronic versions of books I own in paper because I prefer reading electronically, but I'm only willing to do that once. If I buy a book in Nook format today, I don't want to have to buy it again three years from now because I've traded in my Nook for a Kindle.

It seems that media providers want us to pay each times we read/view/listen to something, and that's just not good for consumers. Look at all the flack about Harper Collins deciding to have library ebooks "expire" after 26 checkouts. This kind of stuff is just nuts and makes books less accessible, which, I think, is contrary to what publishers really want.

I've read conspiracy theories that publishers want ebooks to fail to preserve paper books. I'm not sure I buy it. Never confuse ignorance for conspiracy. I know the big publishers don't understand ebook readers.

They use piracy as the excuse. "If we release a book without DRM, millions of copies will be instantly available as torrent downloads." Hello, they already are!

Basically, DRM treats us all as criminals, even when we're not. I've bought plenty of DRM-free ebooks. I've NEVER shared or uploaded one. Do I know how and where? Yes, but I don't. Because it's wrong.

I guess where I'm going with this rambling is that price is less a concern than lack of DRM. I'll pay $12.99 for an ebook if I know I can convert it to read on today's device. And tomorrow's. And the one for the day after.

All of my books will be available electronically and free of DRM. That's my promise to you. And I won't be charging $12.99 either. I'm thinking more like $2.99. And if you want to share with a friend, I'm okay with that. I'd appreciate you not uploading to a Torrent, but if it gives me exposure, well, I can't argue too much with that either.

But I Digress...

I've been feeling funny as a (future) e-book author with no dedicated e-book reader. Sure, I've been reading on my iPhone, and it works well, but part of me was feeling guilty.

Okay, let's be honest. I had gadget envy, and being an author was merely an excuse. So, I decided to buy a Nook Color.

I had a Sony PRS-505 many years ago, so this isn't my first reader. But I am in love. I like it more than my old 505.

Yes, I love the color. The screen is beautiful. Books look better than they did on my iPhone, and it's nice to have more words per page. I tend to go for the smallest font, which is still plenty big enough for me. Book covers are vibrant and so very pretty.

The wireless is fantastic. With my old 505, I had to plug it into my computer to load books. I can do that with the Nook Color too, but I have all my e-books archived in Dropbox, and it's easy to use the Nook browser to go to Dropbox and download my books.

I use a program called Calibre to manage my e-book library, and one of the cool features of Calibre is the ability to download newspapers and magazines. It seems like magic to me, but what I think it does is goes to the publication's website and grabs articles. It organizes them into sections, and everything is linked so navigation is a breeze. I'd tried using Calibre to download the Washington Post to my old 505 and the iPhone, but I'd never been happy with the results.

With the Nook, it's no problem. Calibre automatically downloads the Post at 7:00 AM, right when my alarm goes off. I turn on my Nook, snag the current paper from Dropbox and read away during breakfast.

Cool, eh?

What about buying Nook books? Easy and a snap. I can buy from my computer or my Nook, and the new book automatically downloads. Actually, it's almost too easy. I'll have to be careful how much I spend there.

I haven't tried a newspaper or magazine from Barnes and Noble yet, but I plan too. Still trying to figure out which one I really want. Calibre makes it so easy that I almost hate to pay money for something I can easily get for free.

What's the battery life like? About what you'd expect from a back-lit device. I get about 2 1/2 days on a charge, with fairly steady reading during my downtimes in a day. I also use Calibre to convert documents to .epub for easy reading on the Nook. I just downloaded a bunch of blog posts that I'll be using to plan tomorrow's class. So, yes, I can legitimately use my toy for work!

What about books I've bought from Amazon? No, I can't get them on the Nook, but I still have Kindle for iPhone, so it's no big deal.

When Characters Help Drive the Plot

I'm kind of a free-form writer. When I start a story, I know how it begins and ends, at least in a general sense. But I make up the middle as I go along. This approach does have its down sides. I rarely know how long a story is going to be until it's done. Which is why The Case of the Lost Werewolf Puppy is ending up much longer  than I'd originally planned.

It works for me, although the approach does lead to the occasional writer's block. Like I ran into earlier this week.

I'd written myself into a bit of a corner and decided to leave it until another writing session. I needed a bridge between the scene I'd been working on and a later scene I'd written about a week earlier. Dafydd had pointed out that everyone had research to do for tracking down the bad guy in the book. Except for him.

When I started my next writing session, I read back over a couple of pages and stopped at Dafydd's observation. I had no idea where to go.

And then Paul asked Dafydd to go with him to the vampire bar to help him interview some vampires. I hadn't seen that coming, and, typical of characters, he didn't give me anything else to work with. It was like he threw out that offer and then he and Dafydd sat back to watch where I'd go with it.

I wrote a few lines of dialogue, to kill time and give myself a minute to think. And then it came to me. Paul wanted Dafydd to read the auras of some of the vampires. The aura reading probably won't have much to do with the rest of this story, but it's setting up some of the plot lines for the next story.

Just goes to show that a writer has to trust her characters. Sometimes they really do know more than the writer.

By the way, the aura reading thing is a good lead in for next week's post where I'm going to talk about how I've set up the magic in my world. Tune in for that!

Interview with Author Blake Crouch

I was fortunate enough to score an advanced copy of Run by Blake Crouch. It's a fantastic book, and I highly suggest you read it.

Basically, it's a post-disaster thriller about a family and how they deal with the crazy situation they (and the country) find themselves in. It has action, thrills, chills and some really good moments with the main character and his family. At $2.99, it's a steal.

So go out and buy it. Now. You won't be sorry. And just to further entice you, continue reading for a Q&A with Blake Crouch, the author. He's got some good information about writing the book and self-publishing.

Take it away, Blake.

1. I really loved Run. Post-disaster thrillers are among my favorite books, and this one was great. Can you share what sparked the idea?

It was just a coincidence...I was between books, and watching a documentary on the Rwandan genocide, and a little thought popped into my head...what would that look like if it happened in America?

2. I’m trying not to give away too many spoilers, but I have to ask. You left the nature of the lights in the sky unresolved. I think it was a good choice, but I’m wondering what your thinking was?

To be honest, it didn’t matter to me. Without giving too much away, I wanted some impetus behind the genocide that wasn’t rooted in political, religious, or other familiar ideological motivations. I also liked the idea that the killers were seeking out and trying to destroy those who hadn’t “seen the lights.”

3. I loved the family interaction in the book. One of my favorite scenes was Cole wanting comfort after a bad dream and being afraid his dad would turn him away because he looked when he wasn’t supposed to. When Jack hugged him anyway, I was so glad. I’m guessing you drew from your own kids to create Cole, Naomi and their interactions with their mom and dad?

Very much so. I have a five year old son and a two year old daughter, and being a parent was crucial to being able to write this book. I don’t think I would’ve had the right perspective prior to having my kids.

4. Why did you choose the self-publish this book? (I read your answer on Joe’s blog, but if you don’t mind answering it again here, I’d appreciate it.)

I’m going to reprint the applicable portion of that blog entry, since it sums it up best...

1. RUN is my best book. A lot of my work has a horror bent, and this certainly does, but it’s far and away the most commercial thing I’ve written. It has the most potential to earn me new fans, and now I have a substantial backlist for them to dive into if they dig it.

2. As I’ve blogged about before, I need more novels. My novels far outsell my short story collections, single stories, and novellas. This was an opportunity to add a fourth novel to my catalog.

3. For the first time in my writing career, I can support myself solely through writing. Releasing RUN has the potential to launch me to the next level, and the window for doing that is open and here.

4. Numerous ebooks, already released, have been picked up after the fact by publishers. See

Michael J. Sullivan, H.P. Mallory, the Encore crowd, etc. If numbers are strong, it can help an agent make an argument for the sale and negotiate a better advance.

5. Ebook royalty rate: 25%. This royalty rate is so completely biased in favor of publishers, it’s not even funny. The ebook rights to my catalog are far and away the most valuable thing I own.  To give a publisher the exclusive license to my e-rights when I have no control over pricing, and in light of that 25% royalty rate, is a terrifying proposition. This all adds up to my suspicion that, even if an offer were to come, I would have a very difficult time parting with those rights if the offer wasn’t stellar and life-changing money.

6. No one knows yet what the selling trajectory of an ebook is, although we do know that it doesn’t follow the traditional arc of sliding into coop and needing to sell huge in those first 6 weeks to stay alive. Konrath is a prime example. All of his titles have been his greatest sellers at different points in time, and at different price points. But if a book is never available, you can never find that sweet spot where it works for you. Your old books sell your new books, and vice-versa, and the more books you have available, the more you will sell, and the more you sell, the more you sell.

7. I don’t know what the future of RUN will be. Will I always control the e-rights? Will I ultimately sell them? Hard to say. But I know that having it available right now is a great weight lifted off my shoulders, because there is no longer any benefit to sitting on good work, and waiting for a “Yes.”

5. Any thoughts on a movie? You’ve definitely written it cinematically. I think it would translate well to the big screen. Or as an Internet release.

No thoughts yet. I’m just happy that people can finally read this.

6. Anything else you’d like to say about the book or self-publishing?

The limits on creativity and reaching readers are coming down all around us. This is an exciting time to be alive as a writer.

So there you have it, from a writer who's been both traditionally published and now self-published. He thinks it's a good time. What are you waiting for?

Excerpt From The Case of the Haunted Vampire

As promised last week, here's an excerpt from my first book. Just a tiny bit of background on the story so far. Paul (the vampire) and Dafydd (the warlock) have met and are working together to figure out how to get rid of a ghost that's been haunting Paul. They are off to the library to do research, and they need to get Paul from the Metro to the library, in the sun, without him bursting into flames. Dafydd has kind of an unusual plan.


Excerpt from The Case of the Haunted Vampire

I was yawning the next morning as I hung around the Dupont Circle exit. Brewing the potion had taken a lot longer than I had expected, and I hadn't gotten to bed until a few hours ago. I probably shouldn't have bothered trying to sleep, but I hoped I'd gotten enough down time to avoid falling asleep in the library stacks.

I was checking my watch for the fifth or sixth time--vampires are supposed to be evil, not late--when I felt a cool hand on my shoulder. I probably would have looked funny with my head through the roof, but I managed to keep my warlock cool. Just.

"You're late," I said as I turned around. Have you ever seen a vampire look harried? Hmm. Guess not since you probably haven't seen a vampire before. Suffice it to say he did.

"Sorry. The Red line was hung up. Track maintenance or something. I thought they only did that at night."

I guess he didn't travel much during the day. "Usually, but last winter was so bad they're still catching up."

He shrugged. "I'm here now. Guess we should get this potion thing over with." He looked as thrilled at that as I would be at getting a tooth pulled.

I glanced around for someplace relatively private. It didn't seem a good idea to have him drink the potion and shrink down right in the middle of the ticket area. Paul must have caught the direction of my thoughts. "Over here. There's a service tunnel. I use them all the time. They don't usually say anything if you don't hang out there too long."

We hurried down the tunnel, and I pulled out the potion bottle. "Quick. Drink it down."

He took it and glanced at it doubtfully. "You're sure about this?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It's one of my best. I even figured out how to more than halve your mass, so you'll definitely be light enough to drag."

The vampire frowned, his dark eyes troubled. Then he shrugged. "Well, it's been fun. Give my regards to Natalie if this kills me."

"You're already dead," I pointed out.

"Right. If this makes me deader." He lifted the bottle in a mock toast and gulped it down like a whiskey shot. And made a horrible face. That worried me. It couldn't be the taste. I'd added syrup to hide the less savory ingredients.

"Yuck! Hazelnut! I hate hazelnut."

Oh. I hadn't known. I blushed. "Sorry. I was trying to make it taste good."

He swallowed, hard. "Guess I should have said something. Next time, maybe mocha?"

"I can do that."

He glanced down at himself. "Shouldn't it be doing something?"

"Give it a minute."

Just as I finished speaking, he gave a loud "Oh!" and shrank down to about two feet tall. I grinned and refrained from pumping a triumphant fist in the air. I knew it would work!

"See, oh doubtful one."

His eyes were wide as he looked up at me. "Um. Wow. Everything looks so different down here."

I opened up the suitcase. "Quick. Inside."

He glanced warily inside. I had cushioned it with a couple of towels. "Great. Looks like the inside of a cat carrier."

"Don't argue. Just get in." I glanced over my shoulder. "That attendant is starting to look suspicious." I was blocking his view of Paul, but if he came over, the game would be up.

The vampire sighed. "Here goes." And he jumped into the suitcase. I quickly zipped it closed and left the station before the attendant could ask me what was going on.

What do you think? Was it fun? Want me to print more excerpts in the future?