John Palladino interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

I currently live in Avoca, NY, I'm 34 years old, I have a bachelor's degree in business management, and I absolutely love Fantasy - books, games, tv shows. It's my favorite genre, and in many cases, the only genre, I consume. When Covid happened, I quit my job because of how they were treating me, and I decided to take a stab at writing. The Trials of Ashmount is the direct result of that attempt.

When did your love of books begin?

I've always loved books. I've been reading since before I can remember. My mom read to me when I was a kid and pretty quickly I was a voracious reader myself.

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

I was a junior in high school, I think. I actually wrote a complete science fiction novel during this point in my life. My writing was atrocious, but I never had to deal with that self-doubt that I COULDN'T finish a novel, because I've always known that I have already written one, which, I think, was an enormous blessing. I stopped writing for a long time while I was in and out of colleges for my degree and working full time.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

I love the drafting portion. I always have. The editing part? I absolutely hate it. I struggle so much when it comes to rereading books I haven't written. The last thing I want to do is reread something that I wrote, something that is already embedded in my head. The drafting process goes rather quickly for me. I've now written two entire novels, and each took be roughly 4 months total to write. The editing drags for me, but fortunately editors pick up a bulk of that responsibility. It's just the self-editing I do before sending it to editors that I dread the most.

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

It's a lot of work, but if you're dedicated, you can do it. I think the thing most people struggle with is learning all of the rules to creative writing. I didn't even know most of them until a year and a half ago (I had to rewrite 80,000 words in The Trials of Ashmount when I learned them). My best advice to anybody who wants to write professionally is to get feedback for your work. Ask people to completely brutalize it, because otherwise a lot of people try and "be nice", so they don't necessarily tell you everything that's wrong with it. If you ask them to tear it apart, they will, and it'll hurt. But if you can deal with that one time, you'll hear all of the rules you're breaking... which, if you listen to that feedback, you can then go back and fix. When I did this myself, the second time I posted my writing, people were much more positive about it.

Tell us about your book/books:

Currently I'm writing The Tragedy of Cedain, a grimdark/epic/military fantasy tetralogy. The Trials of Ashmount is already out, and the sequel, Buzzard's Bowl, is completely written and is entering the editing phase soon - and ideally will release this winter. I'm hoping to also release an anthology of short stories called Before the End, which is set in the same world, with characters from both books (and some unique to the anthology), which I'm hoping to release this year.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

So far I'm blown away at how helpful/nice/supportive everyone has been. I never thought I'd see the success that I've been having with my first novel. I figured it'd take several entries before I got to where I'm at now... and that's fantastic.

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

Thank you so much for taking a chance on an unknown author. I really appreciate it. And remember to rate/review books you read - particularly those written by indie authors. It does so much more good than most probably realize, algorithmically.

Where can people connect with you?

They can find me on Twitter @AGrimBastard (where I'm probably most active) or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AGrimBastardAuthor (simply delete the "author" in the URL if you'd like my personal account). I also have a website where people can read some short stories I've written, or the first several chapters of The Trials of Ashmount: johnpalladino.com