The Tinker and The Fold Series – The Problem with Solaris 3 &
The Rise of the Boe
1. What really inspired you to write your book, to force you from taking an idea or experience and conveying it into
a book? The idea for The
Tinker and The Fold had its genesis in a car ride four years ago as a “Wouldn’t
it be cool to create our own science fiction universe” discussion. Evan and I
began scheduling time every weekend to create Lego models, character
descriptions, sketches, and otherwise have fun spending some much needed
father/son time together. After about eighteen months of playing around with
the various characters and storylines, we decided to formalize our
ideas and
work on The Problem with Solaris 3 got underway.
2. What is it about and whom do you believe is your targeted reader? The
series follows teen Jett Joseph Javelin Junior (The Tinker) as he is forced to
deal with the intergalactic consequences of his physics busting invention – The
Quantum Swapper. His device puts Earth (Solaris 3) in the crosshairs of an
alien civilization known as The Fold. The story is very visual and fast reading
with a lot of emphasis placed on action sequences. Evan and I wrote it
specifically for teen boys who generally don't make reading a priority. The
initial feedback has been very positive from parents who have marveled as their
teen sons plow through the books in one or two sittings. Of course, we hope
that the series will also resonate with teen girls. This is why we introduced
Abcde (Ab-sid-ee) as the strong and adventurous female protagonist in The Rise
of the Boe.
3. What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book? What should remain with them long after putting it down? Our
message in the books is very clear – be a good person and try to do good in the
world. The other message we hope to communicate is that parents and children
can work together to create wonderful things whether they are exciting stories
like The Tinker and The Fold, local charities, innovative businesses, or life
changing inventions, and have a ton of fun in the process. We hope readers will
be inspired long after they finish the series to make a positive impact in
their communities and create wonderful worlds together.
4. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers? It’s taken us
almost four years to get to this point with The Tinker and The Fold. The thing
we credit most for our success is our philosophy of being consistent in our
work. In other words, it is the scheduling of the work every weekend that makes
the difference. It is constant flow and pressure that allows water to create
vast canyons out of bedrock. Be consistent. Write often (even when you
don’t ‘feel like it’). Practice patience. Great stories are not written in a
single sitting. They evolve in their own way over time. You know you’re on the right
track when the story starts pulling you in new unexpected directions. Of
course, it often takes a lot of pushing a story along before it gains momentum
on its own. When push becomes pull, you’re cutting into the bedrock, and a vast
canyon of creation awaits.
5. What trends in the book world do you see and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? From all that we’re seeing and reading, the
publishing industry appears to be leveling off so far as ebooks are concerned.
Most still favor printed material over its digital counterpart. Audio books are
of particular interest to us and we plan to begin the audio versions of our
books shortly after The Tinker trilogy is completed in spring 2017.
6. What great challenges did you have in writing your book? John
Lennon once famously said, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other
plans.” The biggest challenge in writing a book (or completing any project for
that matter) is in all of things competing for your time and attention – work,
family events, trips, errands, homework, school projects, and the myriad of
other curve balls that life throws at you. Having the discipline to prioritize
what’s important and deprioritize distractions takes a fair amount of energy,
but is well worth the effort. Of course, we dealt with other more commonly
cited challenges like writers’ block, but we found that the consistency of our
efforts generally overwhelmed any temporary hurdles we encountered in terms of
plot, character, or story flow.
7. If people can only buy one book this month, why should it be yours? The
Tinker and The Fold is specifically written for middle and high school teen
boys who do not generally enjoy reading. If you have one of these personality
types in your household, this series is absolutely for them. The Rise of the
Boe (book 2) should be purchased with The Problem with Solaris 3 for two
reasons:
1.
Book one’s cliff hanger ending creates tremendous suspense.
2.
The Rise of the Boe contains a glossary with phonetic spellings of the
often hard to pronounce names we’ve created using anagrams from other popular
sci-fi franchises.
What
began as a way to spend time together on weekends, The Tinker and The Fold was
created by father/son writing team Scott and Evan Gordon and has blossomed into
a critically acclaimed science fiction action adventure series. For more
information, please see: https://www.facebook.com/TheTinkerandTheFold/
All-New 2017 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog
are his alone and not that of his employer. 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 is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2016 ©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in
Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby
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