Tony Bianchi interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

Author, scriptwriter, composer, artist, film director and film-maker. Currently post-production of "4D" full-length (about 2hrs runtime) feature film.

When did your love of books begin?

Before the days of video, kids TV was a brief daily event, so my books were where my mind went to fulfil what kids get from their screens today.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

Never really happened. My first book was titled "Why", a scientific philosophy on the origin of the universe and to define where a godlike creator possibly had a role to play in that process. I wrote most of it in my head between the ages of 9 to 11 years old, until it became too complex to think more about it, so I was forced to stop. It remained as a library of thoughts in my mind for several years, and I kept referring back to it occasionally to explain it to an interested ear. When I found the right person to talk to about it (not many of my peers were interested in philosophy at that age), I developed it a bit more as I talked to them. I realised it was becoming too big to keep in my head, and also too abstract, I never knew where to start when I started talking about it. So, as a student engineer in the early 80's, I convinced a friend to write it out while I dictated it to him. I promptly lost the manuscript, and so left it in limbo until about 20 years later. During the 80's I had learned to touch-type and therefore found typing effortless, and enjoyed liberating my sporadic ideas into digital words on the screen. So, eventually I found the perfect moment to write out "Why" in a word-processor on my PC. No thoughts of publishing, I just wanted to get it out of my head and see it in written form at last. A few weeks later, I now had the bug, and started writing a story for my (then) 4 year old daughter. Well, 3 weeks and about 70k words later, I had written the first draft of "Cloud 10". At that stage, I had absolutely no wish to publish it, nor desire to be an author, it was just a story for my daughter, besides, I didn't like the ending! About 17 years later, I woke from an evening doze while working at my computer, with a remarkable dream in my head. I saw it as a movie, I could replay it entirely in my head, so I quickly wrote it down in about 3k words. I let my daughter read it, and her reaction convinced me I needed to write it out fully and try to get it made into a movie. It read like a Spielberg movie, I could not just sit on it, something had to be done. That moment changed my life. About a week later I wrote another, and from that point on I discovered stories exploding out of my head. I learned how to write a screenplay properly. I ended up writing dozens of them. After about 50 screenplays, I decided to use my new creative writing skills to rewrite "Cloud 10" as a novel candidate. After having learned how to develop so many movie stories, I effortlessly crafted the perfect ending, so I was more than happy to publish it. Since then, my movies have taken priority and they take up all my time, so now I am collaborating with Bibiana Krall, a celebrated novelist of 27 books, we speak creatively for about 2 to 3 hours a week on character/plot development and first draft analysis, on a chapter by chapter basis, and she is doing a wonderful job of doing the actual writing of our first project novel, all novels are based on my screenplays. We will be publishing this and all subsequent (I now have 80 ready to be made) as co-authors, probably through her publishers. The first is "I-LUV-U-LUCY" a supernatural love story, you can see something about it on my instagram (link below)

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

I think I have already covered a lot of this question, but let me make an addition or two. It is all about creativity, for me creating an original story is king, creating mind-bending stories is what gets me excited. I don't sit down with a blank page and a pen and decide "what shall I write about?". NO!! My stories force themselves into my head and demand I sit down and write them. I write my stories in my head as the sort of movies I would love to see at the cinema. Science fiction, thrillers, tales with amazing twists. In 30 minutes or so, from opening scene to closing credits, in a linear format, that part of the creative process is quite rapid. It starts with a seed .. either the title .. a concept .. even a line from a song! Then once seeded, the story builds quickly, the hero's journey, the sub-plot, a few acts, then the ending. Then once I have it perfect in my head, I start writing. The treatment will usually be a few thousand words, but sometimes it gets absurdly long (depends on the story). I leave it like that until I find time to write out the screenplay, which is when I start to develop the characters and give the story more body. When I am not making movies, I write about 2 per month. Not by choice, but simply because they breathe their own life into my mind. I find creative, fascinating, stories just pop into my head without even trying. I don't think that will ever stop.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Simple. If you have a story in your head - write it down! What happens to it after that is up to fate, but every story needs to be written! Perhaps I am not typical, but if at the outset I had planned to sit down and write a best-selling novel, then I would never have started. The pressure would have been too great and the responsibility of each word I wrote would have been overwhelming. So, I just write out the stories I have in my head, and that is easy. Just get those words down on the page until the story is finished, then open a new file, and start again but the second time I write it properly. Second time is easy now though, because the story is already written, it is also more fun because the hard work is already done.

Tell us about your book/books:

When asked what type of stories I write, and what genre, I have so much difficulty as they are all so different. The stories are quite multi-genre, so the best way is to give a comparison, and I have found the best comparative stories which I feel are at least somewhat similar to mine, are those found in the "Black Mirror" series by Charlie Brooker. Or perhaps "Twilight Zone" or "The Outer Limits". I discovered 'Black Mirror' only recently, and was surprised at how Charlie's stories have a similar sort of feel to mine. "Only 5 minutes in the future" he says, and that is exactly how I would describe a lot of what I write, always keeping it real and tangible.

"Cloud 10" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51377077-cloud-10 is about a girl (Jannie Tzuke) who acquires phenomenal abilities, brought about by the side effects of a research laboratory near her home. She stumbles into a murder mystery, yet extraordinary developments and other priorities begin to take her down a path which changes her life forever.

A mind-bending story, which starts innocently, then takes a darker turn as it twists and develops through to its nail-biting finale.

Along the way, you may think you know where this story is going, however the journey is wide and deep, designed to stretch your imagination. It will guide you into a world beyond, but only in a way palatable even to the most cynical of minds.

A bit of science fiction, a bit of supernatural, yet all based on real-life plausibility. Technically accurate, but not technically demanding.

"I-LUV-U-LUCY" is a love story based in a fishing village in Maine, USA. A village with a dark superstition hanging over it, and a ghostly secret which nobody dares talk about. The hero character "Lucy" has suffered at the hands of that secret once before, and the supernatural darkness has not finished with her yet!

I decided to get this novel written now, as it is the one story that cuts straight to the heart and imagination of everyone who has heard it. Nobody ever lets me forget about it. They can't wait for me to make the movie, but that will take a while longer, so getting the novel written over the next couple of months will get the story out there faster.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

My experience with the writing community has been extremely positive. At first I was reticent as I had never defined myself as an author, it simply had never been on my radar until it happened. However, once I began to communicate with other authors, I realised we were all so very similar. It takes a creative mind to write a story, so all narrative writers have that in common, and I discovered how much I adore chatting with other creative people. It was something I have always craved for without knowing it.

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Feedback from the reading community helps with my development, negative or positive does not matter, as long as it is constructive, then I will learn from it. So far all the feedback I have had has given me increased confidence to continue in what I do, and that the stories I write are worth sharing.

Where can people connect with you?

Social media:

https://twitter.com/iOscapeStudios

https://www.facebook.com/tony.bianchi.official/

https://www.instagram.com/tony.bianchi.ioscapestudios/

Author:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22040293.Tony_Bianchi

https://www.amazon.com/Tony-Bianchi/e/B084T3F7MV

Film:

https://www.imdb.me/TonyBianchi

https://filmfreeway.com/TonyBianchi

Websites:

https://ioscapestudios.com/