Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Allen Tiffany is a retired Army Infantry Officer and has graduated from the Army’s Airborne and Ranger schools and the Command and General Staff College. He has also earned his graduate degree in Creative Writing and has published a number of professional articles, a short story, has been a newspaper columnist, and he has been a fiction editor for a campus literature magazine. Allen was born in Kansas and has lived in Georgia, California, Texas and Singapore. He has traveled extensively in Asia and Europe. When not working in the high-tech industry, Allen spends his time with his wife and four daughters or writing. He also enjoys long distance biking. He has published one novel and is working on his second, which he expects to publish in early 2016.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Youth In Asia” This novella was been a long time coming. As I detailed in the forward of the book, in a professional sense I matured into a young man in my early 20s under the guidance and support of the officers and NCOs I was working with at the time. They were Vietnam Veterans who taught me a lot about how to be a leader and how to be a soldier. I owed them a big debt of thanks, and this novella is my way of finally repaying that debt. This is also why half the money I get for it is going to Veterans organizations.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have a long commute to work every morning, so often upload my latest manuscript to a cloud drive where I can access it from my phone, and then play it back with Text-To-Speech software in the car while I’m driving. Of course I can’t make any notes or changes while I’ve got my hands on the wheel, but I often hear a few things that give me pause and I remember to address later.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Frank Herbert’s Dune is a big one. The complexity and intricacy of that one is impressive. Stephen King’s On Writing is powerful not only for what he shares about learning how to write, but also about his life and and how that has influenced his writing.
What are you working on now?
A very big project! It is a complex military sci fi epic that will be cut into 5 books. It did not start out this way, but it is where the characters have taken it. The first two books are close to being done. The third is about half done. Four and five are outlined and a few chapters are complete. You can read an excerpt of the first one here: http://www.allentiffany.com/lonely-hunter-science-fiction-novel/
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve not cracked the code on this one. I’m reluctant to spend much money, but I’ve generated a little bit of traffic from Bing advertising (I got a $200 credit), a bit of traffic from my website…a few other random places. I think the best thing I’ve done is optimize my Amazon web page.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Absolutely: 1) Be concise; cut the extra words. 2) At most, no more than one adverb every 250 words. May sound silly, but getting rid of the adverbs will make your writing stronger. 3) Use tools such as ProWritingAid or AutoCrit to help edit your work. They are powerful tools to really clean up your work. 4) Join an online writing workshop such as CritiqueCircle to get others to proof your work (they have a free option). 5) Understand that good writing takes work. So write because you love it, but if you are too lazy to put a lot of effort into it, don’t expect your work to amount to much. 6) Promoting your novel once you publish is far harder than you think, and takes a lot of thought to do it well. Make a plan and make sure it is thorough, and be ready to put a lot of hours into making it work.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When it comes to writing, be concise and cut the extra words is probably the best.
What are you reading now?
Dune. I have not read it in about 20 years, so going back to it.
What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing. 🙂
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?
Dune (as mentioned, I think it brilliant), Atlas Shrugged (also brilliant, and not only is it long, it is dense, so if stuck on a desert island would keep me distracted), Battle Cry (Not a great piece of literature, but a great view of a young American in the early 40’s and his time in the military during WWII), War and Peace (massive, reportedly brilliant, and I have not yet read it).
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