Aicha Zoubair

Jessica Bell

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Author Interview – Lee Tidball

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? This book taught me a process for writing a novel from a screenplay, which is considerably easier than writing a novel from scratch.  A screenplay makes a perfect “extended outline” for a novel, where all your basic settings, characterizations, and dialogue are already there—they just have to be expanded on to make them read well in narrative form.

Do you intend to make writing a career?  It already is.

What is your greatest strength as a writer?  My greatest strength is screenwriting, and within that, it’s coming up with high-concept premises and dialogue, especially where the kid/family audience is concerned.  It’s very authentic.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? Certainly!

How did you come up with the title? It’s a play on words, has to do with both the setting for most of the story as well as the unique way that the main character wreaks revenge upon his enemies.

Can you tell us about your main character? Hector Chevas is a brilliant but very rough around the edges young man who ran away from his dysfunctional home when he was 12 and basically raised himself in the streets of a Big City.  He took it upon himself to protect others who ran into trouble on the streets and befriend to odd and friendless.  When he was given an apprenticeship with a world-famous architect, his life totally changed for the better, but when corrupt and cruel people in his home town cause the death of his master as well as his best friends, he carries out a murderous plot of revenge.  But his whole plan is turned upside down when he reconnects with a girl whose life he saved, and they fall in love.

How did you develop your plot and characters? I basically used the plot structure of old gothic horror novels like Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, etc., and the characters just came out of my head, one the brooding, driven Hector, the other nearly his polar opposite, the free and easy wild-child Janey.

Who designed the cover? My publisher designed the cover, with my input and approval.

Who is your publisher? Short On Time Books, a new media small press.  My publisher’s name is Karen Bryson.

Why did you choose to write this particular book?  Horror is always a good way to break into Hollywood, so my friend and I were thinking of horror concepts.  I, though, didn’t want to just write a mindless slasher script, but something with a certain amount of heart, theme, and character development, thus the more complex story, but also the bigger budget that turns Hollywood off when it comes to horror.

What was the hardest part about writing this book? It was hard to translate the action and suspense of the screenplay into novel form without getting bogged down now and then.  You want the novel to have more in it than just what’s in the screenplay—you can explore characters thoughts and emotions much better, but it does also tend to slow the story a bit.  It was hard to figure how keep things moving at some points.

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? Yes; that a screenplay serves as an excellent outline by which you can write a fine novel relatively quickly, but that care must be taken not to slow things down too much when you add novel-style elements that you can’t have in a screenplay.

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Amazon bestseller - Teen/YA Literature and Fiction

“Imagine the unimaginable.”

That was the mantra of young prodigy Hector Chevas’s mentor in architectural design, Gellini. But even Gellini couldn’t imagine the horrors that his prize student and adopted son would fill Suburbia’s new Heartland Mall with to wreak revenge on those who killed Gellini and murdered Hector’s only friends. “Black Friday” was never blacker.

But Hector couldn’t imagine that, in the middle of his deathly rampage, an “angel” from his past would re-appear into his life; wild-child Janey, whose life he’d saved years before, and who’d never forgotten her promise to “always love him…for reals.” But was that love strong enough now to learn the unimaginable truth; to call Hector’s “dead” soul back to life and resurrect him from his mad plunge into oblivion?

MALLED is a story filled with tragedy, terror, raw emotion, unspeakable horrors, and, above all, the awesome power of ferocious, undying love. Go for it. Get into it. Dare to “imagine the unimaginable.”

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre –  NeoGothic Horror / Thriller

Rating – R for violence & language

More details about the author & the book

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