Name: Craig Anderson
Book(s) Title: Getting Lucky, Lucky Shot, Lucky Break, The Colony, TROJAN (Coming soon!) Series Title: The Lucky Beggar Trilogy Genre(s): Humour, Sci-fi, Techno-Thriller Tell us a little about yourself? Perhaps something not many people know? My accent is a disaster. I grew up in England, spent 2 years in Australia and have now lived in Canada for the last 8 years. I use slang and phrases from all 3 countries, so everywhere I go people ask me where I am from. My wife keeps telling me off for teaching our children the ‘wrong’ words for things (For example I told my daughter it`s called a swimming costume) Million dollar question, are you working on another book? Always! My challenge is picking which book to write next. I’m going to work on the sequel for The Colony next as a lot of people have asked me about it. I like to alternate projects, I don’t write sequels immediately after the previous book, I like to step away from a world so I can come back to it fresh. Have you written any other books that are not published? My very first book has never been published and has languished at 90% complete for 8 years and counting! I didn’t realize it at the time but it was my training wheels, I needed to figure out how to structure a 90k word novel and I am very much a hands on learner. I keep promising myself that one day I will loop back around and finish it as there are parts of it that I absolutely love, but I’ve been saying that for a loooong time now and there is no shortage of other books for me to write… What do you think about the ebook revolution? Well it’s the reason people have read my books, so I am all for it! I did however finally get around to making a paperback of my first novel and there is something to be said about holding a physical copy of your book. It somehow made the whole thing feel more real. I’ve only sold a handful of paperbacks, but I definitely recommend taking the time to create a paperback version if you can. What is your advice to Indie Authors? On writing? Marketing? Don’t aim for perfect. Firstly, there is no such thing and you are setting yourself up for failure. Secondly, it is really easy to fall into the trap of editing the soul right out of your book. If you find yourself on yet another editing pass, moving commas around or tweaking a single word here or there, then you need to take a step back and hit publish. Publishing is scary, putting your book out there is scary, getting reviews is scary, but the scariest thing of all is no-one ever reading your book because it is still lurking in editing limbo on your hard drive. In this new world of e-books anything can be fixed after the fact. In one of my books I accidentally changed the name of a characters brother half way through and no-one noticed for 2 years! As soon as someone pointed it out I had it fixed and a new version uploaded the same day. Do you still write? If so, what does your typical day look like? I have two small kids under 4, so my day is pretty action packed. They get up at 6am, and I am not a morning person, so I had to learn to survive on 6 hours sleep. When my wife goes to bed at 10pm that is my time to write, I get a solid couple of hours in before I go to bed at midnight. The house is eerily silent and I am alone with my thoughts, which is perfect. I have always been a night owl so this suits me perfectly. What is your writing style? I love to write humour, so no matter what genre I write in there is always an element of sarcasm or banter between my characters. I also love to incorporate elements that make readers stop and think. I wrote a series where karma was instant (The Lucky Beggar Trilogy) and the main character has to adjust his behaviour as his every action is immediately judged. I’ve got a lot of great feedback from readers saying it made them think about their own actions. Music or silence? Music for writing and silence for editing. I don`t know why, but my brain can tune out the music when I am writing a sentence for the first time, and it actually helps me to stay focused. I listen to the same album on repeat so it is more of a background noise than something I have to pay attention to. My last book was written to Ed Sheeran’s latest album. However I tried listening to music when editing and it did not go well at all. I kept mixing the words from the song with the words I was reading and it led to me missing things, so now I edit in silence. What have you put most of your effort into regarding writing? Editing. Urgh, I hate editing. It has to be done and it makes my stories better, but its sooooo dull. I love the messy process of creating worlds and characters, I hate cleaning them up afterwards! Does your book have a lesson? Moral? I always try to incorporate morals or lessons in my books as normally there is a core question that led me to write the book in the first place. For example, the Lucky Beggar trilogy all stemmed from an internal struggle I was having. I very firmly believe in karma, that if you put good out into the world then you will be rewarded. However I am not religious and don’t believe there is some entity always watching us and keeping score. I had no way to reconcile these two beliefs, how can good deeds be rewarded if no-one is keeping track? That made me re-think karma, which led to a new question. What would the world be like if karma was instant? How would that influence people’s behaviour? This created a lot of fun scenarios and I wanted to keep it light hearted, so I wrote a humour series (The Lucky Beggar Trilogy) based around all these questions. Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story? My characters are 100% in charge. They go where they want to go and do what they want to do. Sometimes I give them a nudge, but they don’t always listen. I have previously tried to force the story upon them, but it always felt wooden and out of character, so now I just leave them to it and write what they decide. If you could spend time a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day? (PG-13 please :) ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUESTIONS TO ASK. I have an Otterhound called Lucky in my book that is my favourite character. He is lovable, intelligent, loyal and a bit daft. I can picture him so clearly in my mind and I would love nothing more than to spend an afternoon with him as he joyfully bumbles around London getting us both into trouble. Who is your favorite author? Terry Pratchett. Man that guy could write a great story. He had such a good eye for satire, he could find all these everyday things that you took for granted and point out the inherent silliness of them. His characters are so memorable and believable. Do consider yourself to be a successful writer? If so, why? If not, what would make you successful? Yes, because I finished a book, published it and people have read it and enjoyed it. That’s all I ever really hoped for as a writer. One day I would like to make a living doing this, but to me that is more of a question of scale, if I keep writing books that people enjoy eventually I will earn enough to not have to work anymore. That could be two books from now or twenty, but I will be writing those books either way because I love to write :) Who is the most famous person you have ever met? I once had a picnic with Russell Crowe and his family while watching David Hasselhoff sing. The best part is I didn’t recognize RC as he had a thick beard. It was in a park in Sydney and we just sat down next to them and got chatting. I’m playing with his kids and chatting with his parents and then he suddenly leaves midway through the concert. I ask if he’s ok and RC’s Dad says, “Oh he has an interview in the morning.” And I say, “Oh, for a new job?” he looks at me baffled and says it is with a magazine about his new movie and that’s when I twig it was Russell Crowe! You can find Craig on all the following platforms: Amazon Author Page Link: https://www.amazon.com/Craig-Anderson/e/B00D9FXE7O Twitter Handle: @todayschapter Facebook Page Link: https://www.facebook.com/CraigAndersonAuthor/ Check out his books on Amazon below!!!
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What is your book(s) about? It’s a young adult LGBT romance! Here’s the blurb from the book: Nick is gay, and he'd do anything to hide it. That's why his best friend, Jordan, sets him up on a date with a girl. But things are never as simple as they seem, and dating Aria turns out to be an eye opening experience. With an emerging love interest conflicting with his plans, Nick has a big decision to make: has to decide whether he wants to live a lie or be true to himself. What has been the best compliment as a writer? I had a fan once who told me they had dressed up as one of my characters for Halloween. It was when I first started posting my work on Wattpad and the joy it gave me was unreal. I’ll never forget that day. What do you love most about the writing process? The best part is when things finally start to come together. Since I don’t tend to plan much, I tend to get stuck around the middle of the novel. But once I push through and get closer to the finish line, everything seems to move quicker. That’s the moment that I realise I will actually finish a draft, rather than abandoning another work in progress. Of all the characters you have created, which is your favorite and why? In Double Bluff, I really love Jordan. She’s a bit of a Marmite character – she’s gutsy, sometime rude, always blunt and always honest. She is who she is and she doesn’t hide from that. I see myself in her a little – the self I would be if I didn’t have a filter, and said everything on my mind. We’re all like her, secretly – she just voices her thoughts a little more freely. Any website or resources that have been helpful to you as a writer? Wattpad has been the home of my writing for almost five years. Before that, I used some other great websites like Figment and abctales, but Wattpad was where I found true friends and fans. It’s centred around teenagers reading teen fiction, which is exactly what I needed at the time. I may be growing out of it a little bit, but Wattpad will always have a special place in my heart. Have you thought about joining with another author to write a book? My friend and I write an apocalypse type series on Wattpad which has attracted thousands of readers over the years. It’s free to read, and we write under the name @HayleyandLaura Do you write alone or in public? A bit of both. If I had the time and money, I would probably spend all of my days writing in indie cafes where I feel most at home, but for now, my bedroom is my writing hub. Goals of certain # of words a week or when inspiration strikes? I have terrible droughts when it comes to writing. I work as a freelance writer, so when my work day is up, it’s hard to find the energy to pen a novel. When inspiration strikes, though, I have glorious days where my head is filled with ideas, and my fingers barely leave my keyboard – eat, sleep, type, repeat. Have you written any other books that are not published? I’ve written a lot over the past few years. All of my early drafts are posted on Wattpad under the username @Hazzer123. If you could spend time a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day? I’d love to spend a day with Aria from Double Bluff, because I feel like we’d have the most wonderfully stimulating conversations. I think she could teach me a thing or two about feminism, and I would love to see the side to her lesser explored in Double Bluff – the creative mastermind who isn’t necessarily an artist or a writer, but creates fascination through her actions. In some ways, she’s a performer, except everything she says and does is true to herself. Music or silence? Music, always. Silence is okay for dreaming, but for writing, I need something to set the tone. Pen or type writer or computer? I romanticise the idea of writing on paper in beautiful notebooks with a fountain pen, but my reality is I always write on my computer. A pen can’t keep up with my thoughts. What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author? My tutor at university spent a whole hour ripping one of my short stories apart in front of my entire class, while I tried to sink through the floor. I don’t regret it, though – tough love is a blessing, even if it doesn’t feel that way at the time! What is your favorite part of the book? There’s a scene where my main character and his love interest go for a bike ride together. I love the idea of going on a date to the countryside on a bike (even though I can’t ride one…) and it gives me a fuzzy feeling when I read the scene back. Million dollar question, are you working on another book? I’m always working on something, even if it’s slow progress. I’m hoping to have another novel finished by the end of the summer, and it’ll be posted on my Wattpad account. Follow Hayley on Twitter @handerton96 You can get Hayley's book by clicking the link below! |