Thursday, May 16, 2013

Interview with Indie Novelist


Interview With Author Lara Reznik

1.      What type of books do you write?  I write novels about people and events that touch me in a special way. I've written two psychological thrillers, a romantic comedy, and am currently turning a historical sports screenplay I wrote into a novel.

2.      What is your newest book about? I recently indie-published what I like to call a baby boomer suspense/thriller. Set against a 1969 psychedelic love-in backdrop,The Girl From Long Guyland is shared through the eyes of Laila Levin when decades later, an unsolved murder pulls her reluctantly into her past. A dramatic collision of then and now - entwining family, marriage, profession and ethics.

3.      What inspired you to write it?  This is a great question. I’m at an age when I’ve begun reflecting on different periods of my life and examining what I’ve learned from them. For me, the late sixties was an aberration from the rest of my relatively conservative lifestyle. I wasn’t near as naïve or crazy as my protagonist, Laila, but I was a quintessential hippie, feminist, and anti-war protestor. Evidently, the novel has struck a cord with other baby boomers thinking about the same things.

4.      What is the writing process like for you?  I begin all my novels and screenplays (I’ve written 3 of each) with a character and an inciting event. For the most part, I know exactly how it will end. Then I get all excited and start writing a chapter or two. I’ve learned to stop at this point, and outline the rest of the book. My best friend is the Scrivener software program which makes it so easy.  If you don’t take the time to outline the plot, you’ll waste a lot of time going down rabbit trails. Once I have this done, I run it through my critique group who are all talented authors with outstanding books recently published on Amazon. 

5.      What did you do before you became an author?  I wrote my first novel at six years old, so I guess I've been an author my whole life. But about eighteen months ago, I took a generous severance package from a company I had worked as an I.T. Manager for over 15 years. Now I'm fulfilling my dream of working as an author full time.

6.      How does it feel to be a published author? Totally awesome. While I haven't made a whole lot of money, I've had over 80,000 people download GUYLAND on Amazon. I've been blessed with great editorial reviews, and fascinated with over 170 Amazon customer reviews.

7.      Any advice for struggling writers?  No denying it’s so easy to get distracted. Quoting from my first writing professor, the award-winning author, Rudulfo Anaya, “A writer writes.” My best advice to aspiring writers is to write every day. Even if it’s crappy stuff, keep it coming.

8.      Where do you see book publishing heading? I believe traditional publishers will find a way to survive in the revolutionary new world of indie-publishing because they’ll always have author name recognition and big bucks behind them. I’m guilty like everyone else of buying books from my favorite best-selling authors.  But now there's a window of opportunity in indie-publishing for new unknowns like myself who have been squeezed out from ever succeeding with the big publishing houses. It saddens me to think that the brick and mortar places may be disappearing. They just can’t compete with Amazon. But then the big boys like Barnes & Noble, squeezed out most of my favorite local bookstores so I guess there’s poetic justice in that.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This blog is copyrighted material by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2013


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