Caleb Teal interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

I'm Caleb Teal, I write the Avala: Spirits of the Mindscape series and the hopefully soon to be released Tales of the Alénarian Series.

When did your love of books begin?

When I was a small child, my dad used to read to me every night, mostly the Harry Potter books, but other stuff too. That made me learn to love books.

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

When I was a small child. However, I don't remember much of that part of my life. What I do know, is that it was during that time in my life that I made it my lifelong goal to become an author. I had my first attempt when I was 9, but it was pitiful and childish compared to what I have now.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

The process wasn't easy. I spent the time since I was nine, until I was 25 trying hard to hone my craft. To be fair, I didn't start really trying until I was 17, but for those years, I kept writing stuff, but nothing that I deemed publishable. There was a book I was trying to write. I made two wildly different attempts at it, but neither of them were ever finished. I almost gave up, but then I started writing a new book, not even knowing where I was going, and what I found was a novel worth publishing, written in a month, and then from there I went down the path towards publishing. It was difficult though, and I often felt like it was hard to keep going.

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

Becoming an Author is something you have to put work into. You have to dedicate yourself to it, like anything else worth doing. You can't half-ass it, you have to give it your all. Not giving it your all will be immediately noticeable to readers. But even if you do give it your all, don't expect it to be easy. Don't expect readers to fall into your lap, that's where the hardest part comes in, marketing. It can be insanely difficult dealing with it all. But if you really want to become an author, I'll say this: "Never give up. Never stop trying. And no matter what, don't listen to people who tell you that you can't do it, or tell you it isn't worth your time."

Tell us about your book/books:

My main series, Avala: Spirits of the Mindscapes, is a series about a teenage girl who is half human / half alien called Avala. She comes from a primitive world that used to be a Republic of Earth colony that had interbred with a local rebel Yajiran population. However the Yajiran Empire came and destroyed it, and spent the last two thousand years ruling over it with their elite Yajixa as spirit gods. The Yajixa have the power to possess people, and consume souls. They turned this world into a barbaric primitive society of sapient sacrifices, and oppression of women. Avala, who is only 14, is rescued from this life by the Republic of Earth, and then finds out she has the power of the Yajixa. She then uses this power to fight back against the aliens who oppress not only her people, but much of the galaxy, becoming a hero in support of the Republic of Earth. It's an action-packed science fantasy adventure of fast paced books that are short to read.

I have another series that I am working on called Tales of the Alénarian which is a dark science fantasy series, with each book being 200k words in length and each covering several decades long in timeframe. It is a series of empires clashing at war, political scheming, both reverence and blasphemy against a pantheon of powerful gods, and heroes rising and falling. The first book in this series is ready for publishing, but due to self-publishing costs I will be doing a Kickstarter for it once I've generated enough interest.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

The writing community of twitter is where I mostly focus my attention and what I truly love about it, is everyone's love of working together, and helping each other. As authors we are actually competing with each other for the attention of our readers, but nobody acts like that. That's most likely because most Authors are themselves readers who are rapidly consuming stories. It's just a wonderfully friendly community.

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

I have a WHOLE lot more in store for you my readers. If anyone thinks 3 books is a lot. I have over 30 already written and awaiting publishing. I also have several comic series planned, and potential for one day having a series that has a mobile minigame companion app.

Where can people connect with you?

You can follow me on twitter at @AuthorCalebTeal

You can visit my site at eveloniistudios.com

You can email me for Author Related Emails: AuthorCalebTeal@gmail.com   
You can find the Avala Series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMXW3DVB

You can find more information of Tales of the Alenarian here: https://www.eveloniistudios.com/post/introducing-tales-of-the-al%C3%A9narian-legends-of-war