Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Antonio Galarza is the author of Warlocks & Sorceresses: The Timeless Grimoire, the first book in the Division of Global Magic Affairs series. Fantasy, Supernatural, Romance, and Adventure stories fuel this author’s soul. Devoted introvert. General music aficionado. Creator. Infuriatingly humble TV fan. Corn-flake lover and friendly troublemaker raised in southwestern Puerto Rico. In the Land of Coffee, Yauco.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
We have always written in school for many hours. It was something I grew up NOT liking. However, in middle school, I decided why not create my own stories? At that point in time, I didn’t have a computer. There was no internet at home. But that didn’t stop me from picking up a blank sheet of paper and pencil and writing a story with all my favorite cartoon characters on it. It was crazy and I can hardly remember the plot anymore.
But over the years I discovered the internet, and what fanfiction was. Yes, it’s something you shouldn’t do. But I liked it and it also served as practice. I don’t condemn those who want to write stories about their favourite characters. As a reader, I might be guilty of that.
Years later, I wrote my own stories in a school notebook. In fact, I have three or four notebooks filled with outlines hanging around the house. But it all came about when my friend John told me the story was good and why not take my chapter outlines and convert them and publish them as a book. Which I did, and here we are.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
There is not much to say about the process, really. It was a straightforward decision for me, actually. Apart from the fact that my ghostwriter, B. Steed, ghostwrote part of the story of my first book, which is no secret, really. I’ve to say I’m very grateful and proud of him. Such a wonderful soul.
During this time, I focused the process on creating a single story. But eventually I said to myself, this will not work, so after parting ways with my ghostwriter, the current story emerged. I didn’t end up using all the material he produced, which was a disappointment for me not to include. On the creative way, rather than financially for me. It thought about it, like a lot, but in the end it was something the story didn’t need.
In the end, I went down the path of multiple protagonists. It was the only way the story was going to flourish and progress. I wanted that cinematic feel to it.
There are nine protagonists in Warlocks & Sorceresses: The Timeless Grimoire. Actually, there are ten but one of them has only one chapter in the story, the prologue, in which this old man narrates the start of the entire story from an almost omniscient point of view.
I started destroying and rebuilding the old outline I had with my ghostwriter. From a story focused on one character, it became the story of ten characters with different backgrounds, goals, and personalities.
My nutshell process involves creating an outline along with a timeline with important dates for each day in the story. Then each chapter has its own document, where I make another outline. Yes, it’s funny, even my outlines become many small outlines which then have outlines of the scenes. A lot of research comes with it and don’t be afraid to ask for help on the web. If you become lost about a subject and need help, all the wonderful people that pass through Reddit are there for you.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh, my God, I have too many. But to give you the short version in no particular order, Mark Lawrence, John Gwynne, Stephen King, H.C. Newell, George R. R. Martin, Arthur Conan Doyle, Cassandra Clare, Engle Jaimie, Stephenie Meyer, Anne Rice and many more I can’t remember off the top of my head.
You can take notes on which books influenced me when reading Warlocks & Sorceress: The Timeless Grimoire. It will be like a minor challenge for you to experiment.
What are you working on now?
Actually, in the sequel to Warlocks & Sorceress: The Timeless Grimoire titled Warlocks & Sorceress: A Celestial Misfit which has a cover already revealed on the Goodreads page, but I warn you not to read the synopsis which has spoilers from the first book.
Among other projects which are not in the same universe as this series. Includes one sci-fi fantasy standalone, one horror-comedy series, and one fantasy book involving Vikings.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I really don’t know what to tell you. I just comment on my social media and talk enthusiastically about my book to anyone who will listen. And the odd ad or two. In any copy of Warlocks & Sorceress: The Timeless Grimoire there on the copyright page, you can find my email. If you know of a bolder strategy, let me know.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write 500 words a day. And you will have written two books in a year.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t trust your computer. Back up everything online.
What are you reading now?
I am taking a break from reading. I recently went way ahead of my reading goal this year. But if you ask me, the last thing I read was Curse of the Fallen by Newell, H.C. A very interesting story. Looking forward to seeing where the author takes her characters in the future.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully, I will be healthy enough to continue writing for many years to come. And let’s hope that next year will be much better than the last. For now, I want to concentrate on the second edition of Warlocks & Sorceress: The Timeless Grimoire, which comes out on August 27th with the new covers of the series.
In the meantime, the sequel Warlocks & Sorceress: A Celestial Misfit will be longer than the first book in the series, so I have to get back to work.
Warlocks & Sorceress: The Timeless Grimoire has also joined the Reader’s Choice Award Competition and we’ll see how it went on 1 September 2021.
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?
If someone stranded me on a desert island, I would choose my three least favourite books to make a fire at night. There was one horrible book I had read to a certain point and left incomplete. It was about a soldier who mistreated women, and I think he even raped one nurse. I don’t really remember if it ever happened, as I completely stopped reading that book. I think they made a movie out of it actually, but I really put the name out of my head. Well, I would take four copies of that book to burn and have a bonfire.
If we are really talking about my favourites to read, I will never leave the house to get stuck on the desert island as there are over twenty books and I can’t carry them all.
Author Websites and Profiles
Antonio Galarza Website
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