Brian Paone Interview
Brian Paone Interview
For my January Interview, I chose another friend and mentor of mine, Brain Paone. He is one of the many authors in the recently released “A Journey of Words,” published by Scout Media. Brain is a Hugo Award nominated author for his book “Yours Truly, 2095”. He has also published “Welcome to Parkview” and “Dreams Are Unfinished Thoughts”.
What made you want to be a writer?
In 7th grade, I wrote my first original story called, “The Night is Young,” and brought it into school for everyone to read. My classmates liked it so much they encouraged me to write more. Every weekend throughout 7th and 8th grade I wrote a new story, just for my classmates to read on Monday mornings. My teacher encouraged it so much, she would even go to the front office and photocopy the stories so each student could have their own to take home. I even had a friend start drawing front covers of all my stories, which would be stapled to the front of the printouts. So I think the “in-school popularity and quasi-celebrity” status I received in junior high because of my short stories was what fueled the fiction machine for me. I still have every story I wrote during those 2 years, EXCEPT that very first one. Someone spilled water on the only copy and the paper disintegrated. . I only wrote short stories from 1988 to 2005. It was then that I began work on my first novel.
Most Indie Authors have day jobs beyond their writing. Do you, and if you do, how do you balance writing, work, and life in general?
- I’ve published 3 novels, and my typical day during the writing of each book was totally different from each other. When I was writing my first book, Dreams Are Unfinished Thoughts, I was in the middle of moving from MA to GA, changing police departments, and recording an album with my band, Transpose. So a typical day would be: get everything done first for the move, switching jobs, the recording studio, and whatever time was left at night: work on the book. We also didn’t have any kids yet.
- With my second novel, Welcome to Parkview, my wife had been deployed to Djibouti and I was working full time at the police department in GA, and we had 2 kids now. So I was alone without my wife, with 2 toddlers, and working full time. The My day would be: get the kids to day-care, go work fighting crime for 8 hours, pick the kids up and do whatever household chores I had to do (laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping etc.), feed the kids dinner and put them to bed around 6:30, then I would work out for an hour, and then I would work on Welcome to Parkview after I showered until whenever I passed out at my laptop.
- With Yours Truly. 2095, the Navy had sent us to Japan for the next 4 years. I had to take a leave of absence at the police department, and we moved the family there. I did not get a job right away, as my wife wanted me to be the stay at home parent during our time in Japan (I did eventually become a Criminal Justice professor for the college on base, but that’s irrelevant to the book.) We moved in November, 2011 and by January, 2012 I was itching to write. For the first time, I had the TIME to write, and not having to worry about a new job, moving, or wiping poopy diapers. So, in February, 2012, I started my outline, and writing the book was my full-time job for a while. We sent out 2 kids to Japanese Kindergarten (called a Yochien in Japan) and they were gone Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 4:00. I would bring them to the bus stop, wave goodbye, go back up into our apartment, and write until the bus brought them back. It was the first time I could write without distractions, and the first time I was writing not being dead-tired at night after putting in a full day.
- I’ve just started outlining what will be my 4th novel, and the process has, again, changed. We have a new baby and a 2 year old (so I’m up to 4 kids total), and we are back in America, but this time, I have my first office. It’s a room in our house that is designated to strictly writing or creating music. So, I have a room I can go into, shut the door, and disappear, even when the kids are home… which I was never able to do before.
In the book A Journey of Words your short story is titled The Whaler’s Dues. What was your inspiration in writing it?
I write exclusively in a genre called rock fiction—which is a sub-genre of musical fiction—where a single song, an entire album, or the span of a band/artist’s complete work is turned into fiction, using the literal lyrics to directly create the plotline and story arc, and usually the title of the book/story is taken directly from the song/album that the work is an adaptation of. (Yes, this is a real genre … Wiki it.). But what makes it special, is being able to write a story or novel where the reader doesn’t even need to have ever heard the songs/album to understand and enjoy the work. These novels and stories, although adaptations of albums or songs, are also stand-alone books. Just like you don’t have to have read a book to enjoy or understand the movie adaptation, you don’t need to have heard the album to understand or love a rock fiction novel. With all that said, “The Whaler’s Dues,” is an adaptation of Jethro Tull’s “Rock Island” album turned into modern-day mythology-romance story.
Do you have any projects coming up that we should keep an eye out for?
- A dramatic ghost story adaptation of Porcupine Tree’s concept album, “Fear of a Blank Planet,” for the anthology, “A Haunting of Words.”
- A pulp-noir crime thriller novelization of Dog Fashion Disco’s concept album, “Adultery.”
- A comedic-military novel about the eight months my wife was deployed to Djibouti, Africa, in 2010 and left me home alone with two toddlers, and the learning curve and craziness that ensued during those months. Every night I would send her an email reviewing that day’s shenanigans, usually including song lyrics from our favorite bands. I am compiling all those songs, and will use those specific lyrics to drive the story forward, while the main composition of the book will be centered around the content of those emails.
Do you have any advice for writers that are just starting out?
There is good procrastination and then there is bad procrastination. When I think of good procrastination, I think of the artist’s end result being that much more superior because they procrastinated and allowed the idea to really blossom over time. Now, don’t get me wrong. Don’t confuse procrastination with “spending extra time to get it right.” Procrastination’s little sister is the word “lazy.” And yet, sometimes being lazy allows enough time to pass in the world, so the world can be ready for your release. Unfortunately, this only happens about 5% of time. The other 95% of the time, procrastination is evil and can kill momentum and a career faster than you can say “Crocodile Dundee for President.”
So what demons will try to tempt you to taste the fruit of laziness, or making excuses? First, I’d like to talk about the internet and social media. The internet (and I also mean to include social media from this point on) is a fantastic tool to help market and promote yourself after your work is released, or just prior, to get fans or potential new fans to know that your book is coming out. Where the internet can become a black hole of procrastination, is when someone “takes a break” to check their Facebook, or Twitter, or even their email. Social media platforms have algorithms in place, designed by some of the top programmers in the world, to subliminally try to keep you on the page. Everything from the layout, and the manner in which new notifications come in, are designed to keep you put. So, I would suggest only checking your email, Facebook, Twitter etc. AFTER you have finished writing for the day. If you need to take a break, do something that keeps the creative juices flowing, but gives you an emotional break. Listen to a few songs, take a walk around the block, alphabetize your spice rack. Anything but falling down the rabbit hole of social media sites. Now, when I write, I keep my internet browser closed. Completely closed. Not minimized. Closed. If I need to research anything about what I am writing, I use my google or Wikipedia app on my iPhone. That way I know I am only trapped in those functions and I won’t wander into distraction that eventually leads to full-blown procrastination.
The second procrastination demon that I find rears its ugly head often, is believing that “I will get to writing today after I finish the list of A, B, and C things.” If today is a Writing Day, then writing should be A on your list. When I am writing a novel, I set aside three of the seven days of the week to just writing. The other four days can be filled with cleaning the house, laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming etc. Pick the days you are going to write… and WRITE. It’s so easy to say, “Well, today I’m going to write after I put in a load of laundry, vacuum the house, and go get an oil change.” And what happens is, you get home from the oil change, somehow it’s already two o’clock (probably because you spent a wasted hour on Facebook) and now it’s time for the kids to come home from school. You really think you’re going to get anything of quality written after the kids come home from school? No. I have three little kids, and trust me, my writing ended when that bus pulled up. But guess what, if today was supposed to be a writing day, then make tomorrow the day to do laundry, vacuum, and get your oil change. Those household tasks aren’t going anywhere. Now don’t misunderstand me. I hate a dirty house, dishes in the sink, laundry piled up. What I am trying to say is, if today is a writing day, make it a Writing Day (proper noun). It should never be something to check off on a to-do list. Because guess what… you’ll never check it off, and the procrastination demon will go to bed that night with a tummy full of victory.
www.Facebook.com/BrianPaonesNovels
Brian’s Amazon Author page;
https://www.amazon.com/Brian-Paone/e/B00CY3CNYM/
Brian Paone’s books:
Dreams Are Unfinished Thoughts
Of Words Anthologies