Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, my names Cal. I’m a novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker from Los Angeles. I’ve currently written one novel, True Grandeur, and have another first draft of an upcoming action-adventure, Hollywood literary novel mash-up almost completed.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first and most recent novel is called True Grandeur, a Hollywood Novel. It’s available in paperback, hardback, and e-book versions with an audible version currently in production with Audible. It was inspired by some of my experiences in my early twenties when I first moved to Los Angeles to work in the industry. It’s a true Hollywood experience, taking a look underneath the surface at both the light and dark aspects of being a young artist in tinseltown, and aims to capture a time and place in the lineage of Los Angeles history that many Hollywood novels have been successfully doing since the early 1900’s.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write best in the few hours right after I wake up with a french press of fresh ground coffee. To write well, I really have to have good coffee. It stimulates my mind and puts me in a creative mood. It’s a complete addiction, and in a way a source of my strength — haters, don’t use it against me.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
In terms of writing style to date, out of all the American authors I prefer and have taken a liking to F. Scott Fitzgerald. I get the most comparisons to his work with True Grandeur, and I do prefer his style and use of language in comparison to his other contemporaries. His novel, The Last Tycoon, is one of the greatest Hollywood novels. I don’t have to mention the sheer greatness of ‘The Great Gatsby’ of course. I’ve also been reading a lot of Hollywood novels and Hollywood literature over the last few years. The great part about Hollywood literature, is it is often written by screenwriters, so you’re getting a true inside look at the film industry. If you want to know what living and working in the film industry is really like, read the novels. Films are, for the most part, products that are written specifically to entertain the world and turn a profit for good reason, the novels are the truth of what is really going on. I’d say the greatest Hollywood novelist of all time is Budd Schulberg, who won the Academy Award for ‘Best Screenplay’ for his script On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando and directed by Elia Kazan. He wrote the novels ‘What Makes Sammy Run?’ and ‘The Disenchanted,’ which is a personal favorite of mine. I love John Fante’s ‘Ask the Dust.’ It is one of the greatest, but more of an LA novel than a Hollywood novel. Other great Hollywood novels are Harold Robbins’s ‘The Dream Merchants’, Gavin Lambert’s ‘The Slide Area’, Alison Lurie’s ‘Nowhere City,’ and Norman Mailer’s ‘The Deer Park’ — that last one is more about Palm Springs, but a classic, seedy tale about Hollywood’s favorite weekend get-away.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently wrapping up a first draft of a Hollywood action-adventure, literary mash-up of a lot of the surreal experience I’ve had in LA infused with heightened fiction. It’s much different than True Grandeur, but very intense and a lot of fun to write.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best method to promote old writing is to keep writing and create new writing. ‘Work begets work,’ is one of the few Hollywood phrases that I buy into, only because I’ve experienced it for myself. Secondly, Amazon has a lot of opportunities for writers. I know they are the big-dog, but they’ve made so many tools available for young or first-time authors, it’s difficult to ignore them. But yeah, when all else fails, just keep writing. You can never go wrong by laying more stories down on paper.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep writing. Save all your old stuff, set it aside, and write more. If it’s really good, it will come back around at a future date. True Grandeur was a six year process from inception to publication, and it took me writing ten feature scripts before I got my first big screenplay deal. ‘Just keep writing’ — it’s advice you can never hear enough, and what I try and tell myself everyday by doing it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
‘Just Keep Writing.’
What are you reading now?
I’m finishing ‘The Slide Area,’ by Gavin Lambert. A classic Hollywood novel, and what I consider his strongest work that I’ve read yet. It’s really fun and has a lot of absurd snippets of Hollywood life in it, which is one of the essentials to a good Hollywood tale. I also just got done with ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. I just read it as a general the first time through, but I hope to go back and do the whole suggested course once I have the time.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Aside from wrapping up my second novel, I’ve got a feature film version of the Award-Winning play I wrote, titled ‘Rise’, that is in pre-production with a member of the original cast. We currently have an investor which is terrific. I’m also working on my first major studio level screenplay. I keep doing re-writes on it, but it’s an exciting story and I’m confident it will make it to the international silver screen one day.
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?
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ to remember what society could be like, J. M. Barrie’s ‘Peter & Wendy,’ to remember what it’s like to be the ultimate boy and keep up my sense of wonder, William Golding’s ‘The Lord of the Flies,’ to be reminded of what probably not to do, and lastly, probably Paramahansa Yogananda’s ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, to remember that there’s more to life than what meets the eye.
Author Websites and Profiles
Cal Barnes Website
Cal Barnes Amazon Profile
Cal Barnes’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile