1. What inspired you to write this book?
Between 2011 and 2012, I was watching Teletoon Retro cartoon channel on
television while relaxing before going to bed. It was an old cartoon from the
60’s called the “New Adventures of Superman.”
In this episode, that night, superman used his laser vision at the exact
moment my “close relative” exited the laundry room and entered the living room
and then saw superman use his powers. During commercial break, she asked me two
questions:
Is that witchcraft? And I replied “no” since it was not sorcery
She then asked is that satanism? I tried to explain superman’s backstory
- that superman was from another planet, sent to earth, raised by a loving farm
couple, he grows up and moves to the big city and becomes a reporter for the
newspaper and works with his crush Lois Lane and he uses his superpowers to protect
the innocent from harm.
My relative then went on a religious rampage and accused superman of
practicing satanism and being a witch, and made several other negative comments
about one of the greatest superheroes of all time. It was very shocking.
I knew that I wanted to get this shock factor into a book - there are
people in the world who hate superheroes and label them as demons and being
evil even though they are honest, brave, and save countless lives and should
instead be considered angels.
I thought to myself several questions including:
What if instead of watching a cartoon, I was watching the news and
superman saved the planet, for real, would my “close relative” still state
those negative comments towards him?
What is superman was real and saved my “close relatives” life, would she
still say those negative and hurtful things to his face?
I also wanted to create a more realistic and modern superhero that can
be relatable to a modern audience.
A few years ago, I spoke to a co-worker who loved superheroes but never
liked any of the female superheroes since they are not relatable. Existing
female superheroes are overly pretty with a small figure, long hair, and large
breast, and they “look pretty” but they are not interesting, such as not having
a very interesting origin story or backstory, or experience trauma. She
explained that most superheroes with tragic backstories are relatable, and
overly pretty female superheroes with perfect lives are not relatable.
I set out to make a more relatable superhero, and supervillain, for
modern times.
The main villain is also an updated supervillain. He still wants to take
over the world, but he is a multi-billionaire who has destroyed the economy due
to his greed. The superhero is unable to find work since she is young with no
work experience, thus suffers in poverty, and has to survive the harsh economic
turmoil and increased crime rates due to the economic crash.
2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for?
In one sentence, my story is about a washed-up superhero who tells his
life story to the son of a supervillain.
More detailed plotline:
One night, the son of a supervillain named Johnny is saved by a
mysterious person with superpowers. Years later, he stumbles upon the superhero
living on the streets. He then invites the superhero into his office where she
tells him her life story which is filled with poverty, abuse, anxiety. She also
reveals her secret identity, the identities of her friends and family, and her
weaknesses. The superhero wants acceptance and unconditional love in a world
filled with disasters and violence
First, she is adopted into a broken family. She lives with an abusive
parent during an economic disaster. As a young adult, she joins a gang with her
brother to escape the parental abuse and try to survive and get money for food
and shelter. While in the gang, a fellow gang member and successful criminal
falls in love with the timid, sweet, and kind young woman not knowing that she
is a superhero. Later, the gang collapses, she is separated from her brother,
but her and her new boyfriend manage to escape the city and life of crime and
start a new life together. Once he proposes to her, she becomes scared and
leaves him. After her story, Johnny convinces her to go back to him and reveal
her secret to her fiancé.
However, is it a trap? Is Johnny working with his supervillain father
and is going to report to his father the whereabout of the superhero and inform
him about her real identity and her weaknesses in order to defeat her? Or does
he let her go to be reunited with her fiancé.
Is the secret she is hiding from her fiancé her superhero identity and
her superhuman powers? Or does her fiancée already know about her superhuman
abilities and her real secret is much darker and life changing?
His novel is categorized as young adult, so it is aimed at teenagers and
young adults, ages 13 to 35 or older. Anyone who likes reading science fiction,
adores superheroes, and people who also like to read and enjoys comic books.
3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?
I hope that readers would be entertained. More importantly, to show the
reader a different perspective of a superhero suffering from depression and
ponder what it means to be a “hero.”
4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?
For the title, I was unable to create a unique superhero name for my
main character. Hero was originally the placeholder’s name. According to the
dictionary, a Hero is; anyone who has performed a heroic deed and risked their
life to save another; the main character of a story; short for superhero; and
can be used to describe an ancient Roman or Greek mythical being with
superhuman abilities. For the cover, I
originally had the idea of a homeless person with a guitar with a sign asking
for help. Then a wanted poster for superheroes. I then researched into cover
art and learned that it should show the setting, the main character, and their
unique feature/characteristics. Therefore, it became a city at night, with a
mysterious person playing the guitar with glowing hands.
5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers?
Being persistent, accept constructive criticism and feedback, always do
revisions because revisions will help eliminate bad characters or scenes which
do not add to the plot of the story.
Use life experiences as inspiration for your story, especially any
emotional events (sad or happy), and base your characters off of people who you
have met in real life. My favorite quote
from Toni Morrison — 'If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't
been written yet, then you must write it.'
6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think
the book publishing industry is heading?
- Digitalization such as eBooks and Audiobooks
- Combined Audiobook with video slide show
- Paperback is seen as residual media, but some readers still prefer
this media
7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in
handy when writing this book?
My personal experiences have indeed influenced this novel. The novel
takes place in a recession/depression era which I have grown up in – the
inability for a young person to find work and struggle to survive while being
in poverty. Mostly, the abuses that I have experienced over my life are also
reflected in the writing, and experienced by the main character, mostly
religious and psychological abuse.
8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is
your writing similar to?
I have a unique writing style since I never enrolled a “creative
writing” course and I consider myself “self taught” writer. I was informed that
my style is similar to a screenplay (script) where the opening paragraph
describes the scene and characters, then followed by dialogue.
I do not believe that my writing style is similar to anyone else’s
writing style.
9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?
- Constructive criticism and lots of revisions (which included removing
scenes and characters that did not add to the plotline).
- Embarrassment and fear of rejection
- Time constraints since I was in university when I wrote majority of
this novel and had little time for myself.
- No family support towards my goals and their doubt that I would
succeed.
10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it
be yours?
Why readers would appreciate my Novel? The story is unique and has a
unique writing style - The words that are used are common plus the narration is
very descriptive make the read fluid and effortless. This makes the
visualization of the events, places and characters possible to everyone. The
narrative delivery is on point and imaginable while the story is being read.
Also, no reader will notice that he has already read multiple pages since there
is almost a moving picture in front of him. It is an unconventional and
memorable superhero story where the superhero needs to be saved and needs
support and protection. Even superheroes need to be saved.
About The Author: Danielle Bouthillier is a laboratory technician, digital artist, and science-fiction writer with her new debut Novel, considered to be her magnum opus, titled Hero. Her debut work started in 2012 and went through several revisions over the years to create this tension-driven and unconventional superhero story. She has two smaller publications from winning writing contests which gave her a dream to, one day, publish a story that is unforgettable and entertaining to read. Her first small publication is a short story called “A Night to Remember” in "Touched by Titanic," a children's book created for the 90th anniversary of the Titanic Disaster. In 2016, she published an article titled "Canadian use of 'Bath Salts'" which is featured in the textbook titled "Drugs, Behavior and Society" by her professor Dr. Hebb. In her personal life, Danielle likes to write short stories as a constructive outlet for relieving stress. She also likes to write romance and fantasy genre stories with elements of drama and action. For more info, please see: https://pagepublishing.com/books/?book=hero
Need
Book Marketing Help?
Brian Feinblum, the founder of this
award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available
to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He
has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in
all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!
Read
This!
Should Authors Blame Anyone For Book Marketing Failures?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/should-authors-blame-anyone-for-book.html
How Do Authors Reel Readers In?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-do-authors-reel-readers-in.html
Do You Really Know Why You Wrote Your
Book?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/do-you-really-know-why-you-wrote-your.html
How Do Authors Fix Their Social Media?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-do-authors-fix-their-social-media.html
How & Why Should Authors Guest-Blog?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-why-authors-should-guest-blog.html
A Book Award Authors Should Avoid!
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/a-book-award-authors-should-avoid.html
Book Marketer Brian Feinblum Interviewed
By Book Shepherd Cathy Fyock
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/book-marketer-brian-feinblum.html
8 Ways to Market Your Book
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/8-ways-to-market-your-book.html
Can You Sell Books Through Laughter?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/sell-books-through-laughter.html
12 Habits of Highly Successful Authors
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/12-habits-of-highly-successful-authors.html
About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter
@theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and
Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer
and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by
www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades,
including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book
publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with
many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with
best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen,
Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard,
Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C.
Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a
panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA,
Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction
Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland)
Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association.
His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News
(Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The
Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult:
www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.