Ask the Author: J. Eric Hance
Answered Questions (8)
J. Eric Hance
Not exactly.
They do talk to me, in a way, during the outlining process. To start with, I only have a vague notion of the characters. I develop the rough outline of the story and the characters in it. As I go through the refining process, I learn about the characters--including lots of background and personality things (much of which never makes it directly into the story).
And, as I learn about the characters, that knowledge impacts the story. Something that sounded reasonable before, doesn't seem to work anymore because the character "wouldn't do that," or "would react differently." That causes me to change the story, which may further refine my understanding of the characters.
A great example from book one is Emma. She was originally intended to be a bit part, just a little touch of color, and I never spent any effort learning about her as a character. And, as a result, she fell very flat in most of her scenes. My editor hated her, and actually suggested I should reduce her page time or consider cutting her entirely. So, I went back, after the fact, and spent the time to fill her out as character and learn her backstory, find out where she's from.
As I did that, she became far more interesting. Instead of minimizing her role, it actually grew and she became a much bigger impact on Michael throughout the book. In the end, my editor loved Emma. Those changes came from me taking the time to know her--in essence, to let her speak to me.
I do play scenes out in my mind as I plan, and as I write, and if a scene is working well I will hear the characters talking to each other in my mind.
But no, I don't hold conversations with them directly, and I've never been woken up in the middle of the night because Michael had a burning desire to chat.
They do talk to me, in a way, during the outlining process. To start with, I only have a vague notion of the characters. I develop the rough outline of the story and the characters in it. As I go through the refining process, I learn about the characters--including lots of background and personality things (much of which never makes it directly into the story).
And, as I learn about the characters, that knowledge impacts the story. Something that sounded reasonable before, doesn't seem to work anymore because the character "wouldn't do that," or "would react differently." That causes me to change the story, which may further refine my understanding of the characters.
A great example from book one is Emma. She was originally intended to be a bit part, just a little touch of color, and I never spent any effort learning about her as a character. And, as a result, she fell very flat in most of her scenes. My editor hated her, and actually suggested I should reduce her page time or consider cutting her entirely. So, I went back, after the fact, and spent the time to fill her out as character and learn her backstory, find out where she's from.
As I did that, she became far more interesting. Instead of minimizing her role, it actually grew and she became a much bigger impact on Michael throughout the book. In the end, my editor loved Emma. Those changes came from me taking the time to know her--in essence, to let her speak to me.
I do play scenes out in my mind as I plan, and as I write, and if a scene is working well I will hear the characters talking to each other in my mind.
But no, I don't hold conversations with them directly, and I've never been woken up in the middle of the night because Michael had a burning desire to chat.
J. Eric Hance
The short answer is: no, there are currently no plans to make an audiobook for "His Name Was Death".
The long answer is: no, there are currently no plans to make an audiobook for "His Name Was Death", but I'd love to.
Unfortunately, audiobooks are either an expensive process, or a very time consuming process. The options are to hire a professional or do it yourself.
A good audiobook can take hundreds of hours, both in narration and editing. As you can imagine, hundreds of hours of a professional's time is not cheap. To date, I haven't made even a thousand dollars in royalties, so putting thousands into producing an audiobook simply doesn't make sense.
There are profit sharing options, where a professional agrees to produce an audiobook essentially for free, with an agreement that gives them a substantial chunk of the profits. I'd happily consider going that route, but given the current state of my royalties, it doesn't make sense for a professional audiobook producer to invest the time and effort in my book; the rewards aren't there.
The last option is for me to produce my own audiobook; it's another option I've considered. Unfortunately, I don't have a good, quiet space in my home to setup as a studio (I live close to a freeway, and have two small children). So either I need to rent a studio (again, a very expensive option) or I need to impose on a friend/associate who has their own studio. And even then, I would need to put hundreds of hours into recording and editing myself. Since I have a full time job in addition to my writing, that would mean delaying work on Book 2, "The Second Beast", by several months.
Hopefully, as the series progresses, I will start seeing enough royalties that an audiobook makes sense. For now, I'm afraid, the eBook or paperback are your only options. But, on the positive side, I'm reducing the price of the eBook today to $0.99. Hopefully that will make it more accessible to a larger body of readers.
The long answer is: no, there are currently no plans to make an audiobook for "His Name Was Death", but I'd love to.
Unfortunately, audiobooks are either an expensive process, or a very time consuming process. The options are to hire a professional or do it yourself.
A good audiobook can take hundreds of hours, both in narration and editing. As you can imagine, hundreds of hours of a professional's time is not cheap. To date, I haven't made even a thousand dollars in royalties, so putting thousands into producing an audiobook simply doesn't make sense.
There are profit sharing options, where a professional agrees to produce an audiobook essentially for free, with an agreement that gives them a substantial chunk of the profits. I'd happily consider going that route, but given the current state of my royalties, it doesn't make sense for a professional audiobook producer to invest the time and effort in my book; the rewards aren't there.
The last option is for me to produce my own audiobook; it's another option I've considered. Unfortunately, I don't have a good, quiet space in my home to setup as a studio (I live close to a freeway, and have two small children). So either I need to rent a studio (again, a very expensive option) or I need to impose on a friend/associate who has their own studio. And even then, I would need to put hundreds of hours into recording and editing myself. Since I have a full time job in addition to my writing, that would mean delaying work on Book 2, "The Second Beast", by several months.
Hopefully, as the series progresses, I will start seeing enough royalties that an audiobook makes sense. For now, I'm afraid, the eBook or paperback are your only options. But, on the positive side, I'm reducing the price of the eBook today to $0.99. Hopefully that will make it more accessible to a larger body of readers.
J. Eric Hance
That isn't a simple question to answer.
I've wanted to be an author my entire life. I even wrote a book in High School (be glad it will never see the light of day, trust me). I'm always bouncing ideas around and discarding most of them.
A few years ago, my wife and I both lost grandparents, which got me thinking a lot about death, and what comes after life. I've always found it fascinating how many different belief systems there are in the world and not only how much they differ, but also how much they are very much the same.
That's what started me on the path of a Reaper as the main character.
And, while I love stories with strong, powerful characters that can overcome anything, I have a much bigger soft spot for those characters that are just like you and me, only thrust into strong, powerful situations.
Beyond that, it was a lot of planning and refining until I had a concept I could run with.
I've wanted to be an author my entire life. I even wrote a book in High School (be glad it will never see the light of day, trust me). I'm always bouncing ideas around and discarding most of them.
A few years ago, my wife and I both lost grandparents, which got me thinking a lot about death, and what comes after life. I've always found it fascinating how many different belief systems there are in the world and not only how much they differ, but also how much they are very much the same.
That's what started me on the path of a Reaper as the main character.
And, while I love stories with strong, powerful characters that can overcome anything, I have a much bigger soft spot for those characters that are just like you and me, only thrust into strong, powerful situations.
Beyond that, it was a lot of planning and refining until I had a concept I could run with.
J. Eric Hance
Living life.
I know, I know, it's a hokey answer; but it's true. I often find myself watching the life around me, and stories start to spin themselves in my mind. Every day inspires a thousand books I'll never write.
The problem for me isn't finding inspiration. The problem for me is choosing the right inspiration that's worth my time, and yours.
I know, I know, it's a hokey answer; but it's true. I often find myself watching the life around me, and stories start to spin themselves in my mind. Every day inspires a thousand books I'll never write.
The problem for me isn't finding inspiration. The problem for me is choosing the right inspiration that's worth my time, and yours.
J. Eric Hance
I'm in the early stages of planning "Ghost of a Chance," the second book in the "Dead Man's Tale" series. I planned much of the series arc for the first three to four books before I ever started on "His Name Was Death," so I know a lot of what happens in book two without ever committing anything to paper, but the process can't change. I need to flesh out the whole plan before I start writing a single sentence. I know, for me, keeping the process is the only way to keep the quality and the success high.
J. Eric Hance
I'm not sure I'm the greatest person to answer this. I mean, I've self-published one book with an Amazon sales rank of 30,359. My free advice may not be worth what you paid for it.
However, I think the greatest piece of advice I have is simply, "don't give up." It's so easy to get frustrated, to wonder how people ever succeed, to think you'll never finish.
The key is to find a way past that and realize that sometimes getting to the finish line means crawling on your hands and bloody knees.
However, I think the greatest piece of advice I have is simply, "don't give up." It's so easy to get frustrated, to wonder how people ever succeed, to think you'll never finish.
The key is to find a way past that and realize that sometimes getting to the finish line means crawling on your hands and bloody knees.
J. Eric Hance
The mountains of cash!
Oh wait, no, that's not it.
Gorgeous women constantly throwing... okay, I can't even finish that one.
Seriously, for me it's about the creativity. Creating people and places from scratch, and exploring them. As a reader, I really enjoy discovering another author's world; as a writer, that satisfaction is a thousand times greater.
Oh wait, no, that's not it.
Gorgeous women constantly throwing... okay, I can't even finish that one.
Seriously, for me it's about the creativity. Creating people and places from scratch, and exploring them. As a reader, I really enjoy discovering another author's world; as a writer, that satisfaction is a thousand times greater.
J. Eric Hance
Planning.
It's not the sexiest answer in the world, but I've spent a lot of years trying to do "seat of my pants" writing. I would always write myself into a corner, get frustrated, and give up.
Then I discovered the Snowflake Method. A lot of people love it and a lot of people hate it. I won't come down on one side or the other, but I can say that it gave me a way to organizer my thoughts and force me to plan out the entire book, cover to cover.
Once I had a good plan in place, it was easy for me to work without writer's block because I always knew what was coming next. And when I had to do a major rewrite, I could move pieces of the plan around instead of having to moving individual sentences, paragraphs and scenes.
A good plan made a world of difference.
It's not the sexiest answer in the world, but I've spent a lot of years trying to do "seat of my pants" writing. I would always write myself into a corner, get frustrated, and give up.
Then I discovered the Snowflake Method. A lot of people love it and a lot of people hate it. I won't come down on one side or the other, but I can say that it gave me a way to organizer my thoughts and force me to plan out the entire book, cover to cover.
Once I had a good plan in place, it was easy for me to work without writer's block because I always knew what was coming next. And when I had to do a major rewrite, I could move pieces of the plan around instead of having to moving individual sentences, paragraphs and scenes.
A good plan made a world of difference.
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