Just a few more questions, sir …
Tiff has been writing Interrogers lately and I notice she’s asking more and more questions. I’m going to answer them now so she doesn’t have to start using any ‘enhanced questioning’ techniques. I don’t want to know what those are.
What made you decide to write a book in the first place?
Well, I wrote my first book in college and it’s terrible and no you can’t read it. But I learned a lot from that one, the most important lesson being that I could finish a novel-length manuscript. As for why I’m writing a book now - I’m going to do some kind of creative work because I can’t stop. Without a plan, I’ll just fiddle around with a bunch of unfocused projects, like 3d printing and painting a 1/300th scale Nebulon B Frigate from Star Wars. So, I came up with a grand plan to write some stories that I’ve always wanted to write, and this started as a short story and kind of got out of hand, and here we all are.
Tell us a bit more about how Cas came to be. When did you first come up with his character and how has he changed since then, if at all?
Cas started life as an RPG character of course - a tough, short tempered mercenary on an epic quest he didn’t particularly want. That was a fun campaign (though it was many years ago, now), and I enjoyed the character concept a lot. I wound up writing a lot of backstory, because it was one of the few times we played at a higher level, and I didn’t like having all these skills and abilities and items without any kind of story as to why the character had them. So I wrote a number of epic quests which started before the actual game. The whole experience combined solidified the character in my head, and I wanted to spend some more time with him. His character has changed a good deal. Like most RPG characters, the early version was a bit of a power fantasy. I’ve backed him off quite a bit from the ‘superhero’ level of ability that RPG characters tend to have. He’s a lot more thoughtful and reflective than a game character usually gets to be, and of course the story centers on him as a lone protagonist instead of the multiprotagonist tales RPGs have to be. So, I removed a lot of power to make him easier to challenge, gave him a lot more depth, and filled out a lot of the backstory. So generally the same concept, but much more complex execution.
What recommended reading do you have for us? Limit five or less recommendations.
Read the best things you can find, and as much as you can, in the genre you desire to work in. As for professional books, I started with novels, moved to screenwriting, and back to novels. So there’s a lot of great resources out there. Lately I reference Vogler a lot, because having a framework is always helpful (even though you don’t have to follow it perfectly) and I dig into the great books as often as I can. I like digging into ancient sources (especially ones not already heavily used by Tolkien) like the Epic of Gilgamesh (thanks Ashurbanipal!) or stories of Iktome or things like that. I’m currently reading Robinson Crusoe.
I know you read pretty much everything and anything, but what is your favorite genre?
I’m pretty omnivorous, but I think history and biography is one of my favorites. I think that’s where all the worldbuilding in my head comes from.
At what point do you feel like you transitioned into a mentorship role? What advice do you have for anyone else who might be finding themselves in a mentor role?
I didn’t mean to! I was trying to become a dark lord, and I think I missed a step. You become a mentor when you’ve learned from enough of your mistakes to serve as a cautionary tale to others. If your advice is good you might be able to help them make different mistakes of their very own. That’s meant to elicit a sensible chuckle, but I think it’s true. You mentor because you’ve earned your scars and you’d like to help other people avoid those problems. That doesn’t mean you can fix everything, but you can help, and ultimately even the greatest success is meaningless unless you can use it in aid of those around you.