Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing for many years. I published a cassette (yes, that long ago) of folk tales called As You Wish. Shadoe Publishing has published one middle-grade novel, Riding the Rainbow, which won the prestigious 2015 GCLS Award for YA Literature. They’ve also published my latest release, a YA novel, A Man’s Man. Coming up next is a much more mature work for readers 16+ called The Boxer (Shorts) Rebellion. Under other pen names I also have published eight short stories in various genres from spec fiction to erotic romance.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest release is A Man’s Man. It was inspired by an interview I saw on television. Rosie O’Donnell was discussing the questions her (then) ten year old son was asking about living in a family with same-sex parents. Since my kids had asked basically the same questions, it inspired me to create a story that might answer some of those questions for kids living in the same kind of families.
Of course, I had to make it dramatic, so when RJ loses his mom in a sudden car accident and has to go live with his father and his boyfriend, he is very angry. The first lines of the book set it up:
‘It’s like this, see. My dad’s a fag, his boyfriend’s queer, and I think I might be gay. I mean, I think it’s contagious or something.’
RJ decides he’s going to turn his dad straight, but once his plan is in action everything goes wrong. Just what does it take to make a man’s man, anyway?
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Oh no, no, no. Unless you consider watching old black and white movies with the sound off while writing unusual. Of course, when I’m stuck I turn up the volume and wait for the plot to untangle in my brain, sometimes snagging exactly the word I need from the film’s dialogue. They really knew how to write dialogue before all the special effects replaced that.
Oh, and I write sad scenes over and over again until they make me cry. I figure if it doesn’t touch my heart, how will it ever touch yours? Conversely, I write silly scenes over and over again, trying them out on new listeners until I get spontaneous laughter. Basically, I write everything over and over and over and over and over…. But by the time I turn loose of it and offer it to you, I know that it’s the best I can do. Then the editor shows me where I’m wrong and I start rewriting again, and again, and again until she’s happy…
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, every Harry Potter book by J.K. Rowling, oh and the play Harvey, by Mary Chase. Great authors telling great stories.
What are you working on now?
My wife grew up on a tropical island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. She has a wry sense of humor, and the stories she’s told me about growing up gay in a 100% Catholic community are absolutely hysterical. She had a solid cadre of young butches in training, who fought to establish a place for themselves among the Acoreans. I’m taking some of her best stories and fictionalizing them into a novel I’m calling, Island Girl. Hopefully it will be finished and ready to publish just in time for the Christmas buying frenzy.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I like joining groups on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, and begging for honest reviews in exchange for free eBook copies of my books. As a matter of fact (winky winky), I’ll be glad to extend that offer to anyone reading this. Simply contact me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/genta.sebastian) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/GentaSebastian), and we’ll exchange email addresses to set up delivery. Remember, though, I’m offering free eBooks to garner honest reviews – so don’t ask for a book if you have no intention of following through. It generates bad karma, and you don’t want that, do you?
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. Sit your butt down in the chair, put your fingers on the keyboard and start writing. Turn off that internal editor until the story is completely told. Then re-write as many times as it takes to tighten up your work and make it ready for consumption. If you can afford it, hire a professional editor. If you can’t, get as many beta readers as possible to comb though it for you.
And remember, every book you write will be better than your last. If you picked up a musical instrument and started playing, you would be pleased with your first ability to play a song. But the more you played, the wider your selection of songs would grow and the better your skill at mastering the instrument. Everyone’s first novel sucks compared to their tenth. So get started and keep writing, writing, writing.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
This too shall pass.
Oh, you mean writing advice? Be honest and unafraid of using the words necessary to tell the tale. Aim for the reader’s heart, but along the way send shock waves to their spines, anxiety to their hearts, and conundrums to their brains.
What are you reading now?
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. FANTASTIC book.
What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing, and competitions. After winning the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Goldie Award, I found I like the look of the award sitting on my mantle. I want more, so I need to write often and compete whenever possible.
Of course, I also enjoy speaking to school boards, librarians, and assemblies about my rainbow family books, and the need for them.
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?
The complete collection of Shakespeare (that’s a lot of stories and will keep me busy for a long time).
Jane Yolen’s collection of Folk Tales from Around the World (same reason).
Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, because it will help me perfect my craft.
And last, but certainly not least, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein because, well, I grok.
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