Author Bio:
Antony Millen is a Canadian living and writing in New Zealand.
He is an avid reader who spends far too much energy on less important things. He has won no awards for his unpublished short stories and poetry.
Antony’s healthy addictions include watching ice hockey on the internet and writing. He has seven bad habits: three are mundane misdemeanors, two exasperate his wife and one should be against the law but thankfully isn’t. His seventh is forgetting items in a list.
In his spare time, Antony leads a High School English department and bumbles his way through family life.
Redeeming Brother Murrihy is his first novel – a labour of love for almost 15 years.
What inspires you to write?
I write to figure things out and I enjoy the rewards of putting words down in an order that has never been done before. I love stories. Literature and people inspire me.
Tell us about your writing process.
I write irregularly and inconsistently every day. For “Redeeming Brother Murrihy”, I stopped and started several times over a decade. Finally, I entered the NaNoWriMo competition in 2012 and wrote consistently every day for a month – often between 11pm-3am. It was great. I finished the draft and then made major revisions until the end of January. I tried plotting it all out before-hand but found it much more enjoyable to discover things as I wrote. I used Scrivener which was great.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I tell my characters what to say and do – but then the story-line dictates choices they make. As I get to know them, I listen more, asking myself things like, “Would Sally really say that?”
What advice would you give other writers?
I kept John Steinbeck’s 6 tips nearby and followed them like a blueprint – http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/03/6-writing-tips-from-john-steinbeck/254351/
I especially recommend #3:
“Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.”
For me, the single reader was my brother. My book is a story about brothers. From him, I expanded my thoughts to Nova Scotians, Canadians, North Americans and of course New Zealanders.However, whenever I had an important choice to make in regards to content or description or whatever, I would consider my brother as my audience.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I submitted my manuscript to several large and small publishing houses both in New Zealand and in Canada. However, I only had one rejection and the rest were non-replies. I independently published my novel, not because I didn’t think I could eventually get published, but because of time. I was excited to get this show on the road and then write some more novels. I was careful not to let impatience affect quality – I also wanted complete creative control. CreateSpace’s Print-on Demand service has been brilliant.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I love what I am doing and I’m not sure I would sign on with a publishing company now if given the chance. However, I would hate to see everything become self-published. I’m confident I’ve done a good job but I imagine the quality out there could be pretty variable.
What genres do you write?
Ficition, Metaphysical, Literary
What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Author Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7114349.Antony_Millen
https://www.facebook.com/maplekoru
https://twitter.com/antony_millen
http://pinterest.com/antonymillen/boards/
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