Ask the Author: Dean Backus
Answered Questions (7)
Dean Backus
I had a fairy godfather name A. Haron Masters for awhile. He lived somewhere in SF. We met online via a discussion website, and when it mutated/died he sent invites to some of his favorite people and created an email alias so we could all stay in touch. He sent me a mix CD and other special things over a couple years. Then one day I reached out via email when I hadn't heard from him for a few, I got a response back from his partner saying he'd died (he was up there in age). To this day I know almost nothing about him, except he was kind to me, came out of the ether, and disappeared back into it.
Dean Backus
If it's like trying to get blood from the proverbial turnip, maybe it's not the right time to be telling this particular story or working on this assignment. I'm not a journalist on deadline, so if something isn't working I can put it aside for a few, and maybe try another piece of writing and see how that goes. I had a short story I wrote during the pandemic that I liked a lot, but long story short I had to swap out a laptop, and I might have lost it unless I can recover an email I sent that had it as an attachment. The hazards of modern technology!
Dean Backus
Seeing and hearing characters in my head come to life on the page.
Dean Backus
Start with the ending!! I had numerous aborted novels in my youth that started off with a decent premise and characters, and then just fizzled out because I didn't know where the story was going. If you know how you want the story to end and what happens to the characters over the course of their arcs, it helps tremendously.
Dean Backus
"Darts and Flowers" drops on August 23rd from Torchflame books. I'm also in discussion with Pegasus Publishers out of the UK for a second book which will probably drop next year, a dark dramatic thriller called "The Deep End of the Pool." Then I have a supernatural romance and an 80's-set coming of age story simmering on the mental burners--the romance was also a screenplay, and I think it can be reworked into a romantic comedy novel very easily.
Dean Backus
Coffee and lots of music.
Dean Backus
I first brainstormed this as a screenplay back in the early 90's, when there was almost no LGBT representation onscreen, and certainly none for teenagers. I knew I wanted it to build to a certain scene with two characters finally getting together, then I worked my way backwards: what were the obstacles and problems in their way? Once I had the villainess and the anti-hero locked down and added a couple other characters, it became a riff on the Shakespearean set-up with 2 couples (and another one "offstage").
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