Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This book is my first.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This book is called The Cerulean Collection. I associate the color blue with memories, and cerulean is the boldest blue, so this book is filled, for better or for worse, with some of my most dynamic memories.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I can only write when my mind is tired and not bouncing phantasmagorical from thing to thing.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Count of Monte Cristo is, in my opinion, the best novel ever written. I tend not to read anything from the same genre back to back. I think that’s boring. If I read, for instance, a classic literary work, I’ll read a book on chess next. It prevents the brain from saying, “oh boy, here we go again.”
Growing up, my biggest influence was RA Salvatore. He did things that nobody else was doing, and his imagination and just the depths of the worlds he created were awe-inspiring. To contradict myself, I could read a dozen Salvatore books in a row.
What are you working on now?
I’m writing short stories in an effort to build up my publication resume a bit so that my next novel can hopefully be an even bigger deal. I have the idea all mapped out in my head, but the time isn’t right. That’s the thing about lengthy works. It takes someone 8 months because they find 30 or so manic hours during that time period to get it down on paper. People think it’s a continuous creative process for all that time, and maybe it is, but very little of that is pen-to-paper time.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best method for promoting your book is to make it something people want to read in the first place. Commence the marketing bombardment however you want after that.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you put your stuff down the first time you hit a block or if you stop sending your work out the moment you get a rejection letter, this business isn’t for you. Literature is an art form, and you’re going to have to suffer for your craft. Part of that is feeling stupid and questioning your own voice all along the way.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It wasn’t necessarily advice, but one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard that influenced me as a writer is a bit from Patton Oswalt, where he talks about sexual fantasies that people think are so dark and so dangerous, but somewhere in Europe, there’s a whole magazine devoted entirely to that thing. The takeaway from that is not to be afraid to get to the bare, unsettling honesty that a weak writer would change to have some phony payoff. The payoff is capturing real life, and if your audience misses that, then maybe you won’t make a million dollars as an author, but at least you’ll be true to your craft.
What are you reading now?
The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac.
What’s next for you as a writer?
My next book is already outlined, and it’s called Tough Guy.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would bring An Orgy of George, the three George Carlin books rolled up into one, even though that’s kind of cheating. I’d bring The Count of Monte Cristo, of course. Would it be too hokey to pick another classic and say Nicholas Nickleby? It’s the best.
For a fourth book I’d pick the biggest book of brain teasers and/or crossword puzzles I could find for entertainment. Wait, damn it, I don’t have a pen! Why is my desert island abandonment so carefully planned out, anyway? These would probably all be burned for warmth within hours.
Dan Marchese is a post from Awesome Gang