A: I am really proud of The Project. I liked the characters in this book, and the way a seemingly innocent occurrence at the beginning quickly escalates and keeps escalating into an outrageous adventure.
Q: Patty Campbell talks about the germ for a piece of writing being like the sand in the oyster. What is your grain of sand? Do you begin with character or setting or something else?
A: Interesting. I also use this analogy in my writing classes. Mostly I begin with a concept, but nothing much happens from there until the main character is clear to me. The idea for the book and the main character are so closely intertwined for me that I cannot continue until the character has become real to me.
Q: What do you hear from your readers?
A: I get a lot of emails from readers, with a wide variety of questions. I think the most common comment I get is that they wish there was a sequel to The Tomorrow Code, or to Brain Jack. I do have some ideas for these sequels, but nothing is in the works just yet.
Q: Why do you write for Young Adults or Children or Adult?
A: I write Junior Fiction, and YA. I am most comfortable in these genres, partly because they are so much fun to write. Adult fiction can get quite serious, and that doesn't suit my personality or writing style.
Q: Who is your favorite character you have written or read about?
A: I have many favourite characters, so let me restrict this question to my own characters.
In my Junior Fiction book “The Flea Thing” is a minor character called Jason. He is the best friend of the main character. He doesn't feature much, but when he does, it is very important. I really enjoyed writing Jason, and when I re-read this book, I enjoy reading him.
Q: What is one thing you would like your readers to know about you?
A: Lots of things! Too many to list here, so I put them on my website under “Life of Brian/Fun Facts”.
Q: In high school, where did you fall? (Prom Queen/King, Gamer Geek, Brainy/Book Nerd, Jock, Shy/Quiet Scholar, Skate Rat, Stoner, Class Clown, etc.)
A: Brainy/Book Nerd I guess. Certainly none of the others.
An author friend of mine once said “It took me 35 years to become cool in middle school” and that pretty much sums me up as well.
Q: Do you have a pet (pets)? Tell us about it (them) and how they help/hinder your writing.
A: I have two small dogs (Molly and Chester) and they don’t really help or hinder my writing, but I did try to put them in my last Junior Fiction novel. I named the main character Molly, and one of the other characters is a monkey called “Mr Chester.” Unfortunately (for Molly) there was already a series of books about a girl named Molly, so Molly got renamed to “Maddy”.
Q: What is the hardest part of waiting for a book from the end of your writing to when it is released?
Actually I don’t find this hard, as I am usually well into the next book by this stage, and have put the recently written book out of my mind. When I actually get the first author copies, it is usually a nice kind of surprise.
Q: How often do you dream about the writing you are working on?
Never. This hasn't happened to me. Or at least, if I have, I don’t remember it in the morning.
Thanks so much for your time, Brian! We look forward to seeing you at the festival.
To learn more about Brian Falkner, visit his website.
Whatever you do DON'T click the red button!
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