Author interviews
You might remember a previous interview I did with Micahel Reid Jr, it was full of details about his book "Debt of Fear." He is now releasing a new book, "The Beyond Experience," and I was able to have a wonderful discussion with him on it's writing. Enjoy!
1) Can you tell us about your book, The Beyond Experience? The Beyond Experience is tough to place into one genre. It's suspenseful, with elements of sci-fi and a love story spanning two-decades. The story is driven by strong, emotional characters. Their stories are relatable to nearly anyone, because everyone has experienced loss, love, regret. The Beyond Experience centers around an emotionally erratic Dr. Ethan Lewis who's hidden past drives his research to cure anxiety and depression. He's successful, allowing millions to experience the treatment, all of whom state they'd visited heaven; but had they really? The supporting cast of characters include deep and complicated people who all gravitate towards Dr. Lewis through their circumstances. Your heart will bleed for them, cheer with them, cry, smile, laugh, and believe in their hopes. There's a murder, patients go missing, and Dr. Lewis is forced to do something he's promised himself for over a decade he wouldn't do. An incredible ending forces anyone who reads the book to ask the question: what if? 2) What day will your book be released? December 11, 2016. I'm planning on having a pre-order sale of $0.99 through Kindle. my website is www.michaelreidjr.com, and includes the first 2 chapters of my book for those interested in a sneak peak. 3) What was the hardest part about writing this book? Finding the time to sit and let it happen. The idea came to me one afternoon and wrote itself in days. I remember being on vacation, without a computer. Over and over again in my head I built the story, forcing my self to memorize the plot in broad strokes, changing the plot here and there until I finally got back home and began writing. It was a good problem to have, but it did make me nervous that one day the ideas would leave as soon as they came so I had to write like a madman. There was one day i wrote 10k words. It was magical, but I was out of commission for a week after that. 4) Have you ever encountered that problem before? No. usually I have access to a computer. It's rare I get a vacation. You know how it is. 5) Did you write an outline for this book? Or did you "pants" it? I write rough outlines. Sentence fragments which essentially act as dots for me to connect as the story progresses. I allow the characters to write most of it for me. It's very important to let a character have their voice. 6) What is your opinion regarding "pantsing" and "planning"? Pantsing is my life. I know where I want a story to go, more or less. It's the job of the characters to write the in-betweens. Sometimes the characters decide to force my hand on the larger plot points and I need to make some accommodations. But for me, that's exciting, and often times the story works better that way. Planning works for some, but not for me. The idea of writing long, elaborate outlines just doesn't work. It bores me to think of mapping every stage in a story before finally getting into it. Fortunately for me, I've been very productive this last year and I can't imagine spending hours on an outline, especially one my characters will likely force me to change. It makes me feel like I wasted time. Nothing worse for productivity than wasted time. 7) What was your inspiration for writing this book? I don't often talk about emotional things, so I think this was an outlet for me. I hadn't even realized how close to home this novel was until some of the test readers and editors came back to me and asked if the characters were modeled after my personal life experiences. After re-reading it myself, my experiences did parallel with some of the character's. Without giving away plot points, I've suffered quite a bit of loss in my life. The ideas in this book are very appealing and, although impossible, makes you wonder; what if? This book is so rich with emotion and events we all go through in life. I think it's relatable across all people of any generation and, for that matter, all time. You could have picked this book up 200 years ago, read it, and felt the same emotions as the characters. This book will stand the test of time. In a thousand years people will still be feeling the emotions of loss, love, regret, guilt, sorrow, heartache, joy, elation, disappointment. They'll still taste success, failure, battle ethics and work hard. And even if they never talk about it, they'll always crave one more moment with someone they lost. 8) Will you be working on any more books in the future? Absolutely. I currently have two more sequels planned for the Logan Falcone thriller series, a historical fiction piece I'm incredibly excited about, a biography of a man I knew my whole life, and a very secret hush-hush sci-fi series I'm brainstorming. 9) What advice do you have for writers who are hoping to publish? My advice would be to find people who are tough critics, who know a good book, who are HONEST and not afraid to tell you something sucks. I have those people, and they are irreplaceable. A bunch of "yes" men and women won't lead to success. You need to hear the bad and grow from it. Constructive feedback is critical in growing as a writer.
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