Please welcome Dave Maruszewski author of The Dark Beast
Dave Maruszewski will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
The Dark Beast
byDave Maruszewski
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GENRE: Children's/ Chapter Books/ Middle Grade
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INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
My wife and son. I have a weird blend of right and left brain activity, and I need to exercise both or I get flustered. My wife new I needed a creative outlet. So, she encouraged me to follow some different paths which included story writing.
My son inspired me because I wanted him to go to bed! He’s actually a great kid. However, he was restless at sleep time, and would regularly take a long time to fall asleep. We did all the classic fairy tales, but I started getting bored. I think he did as well. Eventually, he wanted something with more meat to the story. We tried chapter books, but I wanted to give my own story a shot. He liked the first one which allowed me to make it episodic. He later got to interact as well. He was much more into it then just reading.
2. What elements are necessary components for this genre?
My stories are more plot-driven than say character-driven, or world building. The latter stuff kind of comes out in the wash. So, jumping into action a little quicker is important. I let interactions between characters define them rather than long soliloquys.
This brings up my next goal for the books which is to write for those who don’t like to read. In that case, both shorter paragraph length and more dialogue are more important. At first, I played with the idea of just making the books like a movie script with minimal description. However, I’d like to transition these young people to books they might enjoy but may feel anxious when reading.
As far as the fantasy aspect, anything goes. I let my son pick out the bad guys for my stories a lot of times. The second book will involve zombies. It’s great. One week it’s dragons, the next zombies! That keeps me on my feet and gets me thinking, why can’t we have zombies in a more medieval setting?
Although, at one point, my son was so young when we started that he didn’t get anachronisms. He wanted me to put a car in the book. I thought about it. However, you have to draw the line somewhere.
3. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
I liked the idea of making a story of stories. Instead of telling people about the antagonist through straight prose, I thought it would be fun for everyone who met him or heard about him to tell a story about him. That way they can insight to the antagonist, the characters and the protagonists as well.
Almost every chapter becomes its own story. I think that it also helps build out the overall story in a more interesting fashion.
This story is about young knights coming into their own. So, having an antagonist slowly intimidate the knights without actually facing them was appealing to me. They are already unsure of themselves, on some level, being so inexperienced.
4. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I have a varied past, so I bring a hodge-podge. It almost sounds like bragging (Hopefully, it isn’t.) but I’ve had the privilege of being a physicist, teacher, artist/painter, animator, video game maker, mechanical engineer, software engineer, graphic designer, comic book dealer, online retailer, and also had plenty of college/high school jobs. Believe it or not, I’ve drawn on all of these. It might just be a paragraph or two, but I do.
All of those experiences give insight into the conditions that I put my characters. It also helps explain those situations correctly and hopefully in an engaging fashion. I think the last piece is that it shapes my perspective as a writer. I think that I attack writing in a slightly different way, in the form of style and what I view is important to the story.
5. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
I think that I might want to hide more things from my bio, than want to expose. I’ve lived a very blessed life. I probably should be dead by now with all of my stupid decisions.
Although, if I had to answer the questions truthfully, I guess I’d want people to know that I have good intentions. When you’re putting your youth’s minds in my hand, that is not lost on me. It is important that I bring them back to you in the same or better condition than you left them.
6. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
The Dark Beastwas designed to be the first in a series of books. I’ve already written the next 2 stories and have more in various stages. So, I’d like to keep to these characters for a while.
I like writing in a long episodic format. You can bring along large arcs that don’t seem forced. I’ve already set the stage for happenings of the 6thbook in this first book. That is fun. I just hope my mind can balance all of these things.
7. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?
Can I say the Dark Beast? Maybe his character with a better personality. When you write all of these personalities for the book, you tend to fall in love with them. So, I like so many of these characters now and wouldn’t mind being them for a while. I’d love to be carefree as Agnes for a day, or as smart as Romda, or have no filter like Ravai. That would be fun for a day, but I’m not sure I’d want to stay there.
10. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?
My wife was very supportive. So, she is the inspiration … or the blame for these books. It may sound like a typical start: a family member gets a writer to start this endeavor. This is how it is different. My wife is more objective than most. She’s encouraging but blunt. In fact, one of the books that I wrote she said that it was too hard for an audience to follow. She told me to think about burying it. So, when she said I should publish this book, I knew it was up to snuff. That’s one of the thing that I like about her. When she says something positive, it is both encouraging and truth-filled. That gives me the confidence to pursue this endeavor.
12. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I like playing with a process to see what I can get out of it. I’m still at this stage where I haven’t perfected a routine or common practice.
I think at some point in my writing, I need structure. So, I like outlines. However, I don’t use them consistently. Sometimes, I start with an outline. Sometimes, I build an outline as I go. Sometimes, I use small outlines per chapter or situation. I think that is the fun thing about writing. It is so on your own and non-supervised that you can constantly mess up your sandbox.
13. How do you maintain your creativity?
I write in parallel. I am constantly writing multiple things at once. If I get stuck on one project, I just move to another. In fact, with writing you can do prep work, like create a backgrounder for a character, to break up any block of creativity or productivity.
I think that having my fingers in a lot of things beyond writing keeps my mind open and hopefully more creative. If that doesn’t work, I go talk to my son. If I start doing a verbal story with him, he can take over and come up with some crazy idea. I think, Nah, that doesn’t work … but then again … and shortly thereafter I take credit for his amazing ideas.
14. Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?
Wow. Two of these characters are based on my son and wife. You’re asking me to pick favorites here! So, I’m going to say both Raven and Romda. They start off a little blander then the other characters but as they go, the readers will see how complex and introspective they are. They will produce the most depth in the long run. Plus, I get to tease the real life inspirations by making them do silly things.
BLURB:
Recently knighted squires Raven, Romda, and Ravai are tasked to help a nearby priest. However, this simple errand turns into much more. They cross paths with the Dark Beast. After that brief encounter, they soon realize the Beast’s plans to destroy an entire town. They journey to this town, meeting residents who tell large tales about the Beast. How much of stories are true? The three will find out. The Dark Beast is coming.
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EXCERPT:
“Wow, that was crazy,” Ravai practically shouts.
“Crazy, but true,” says the driver. “But you all look like you could fall asleep.”
“Why do you say that?” says Ravai.
“Well, for one, your friend keeps falling asleep,” he says, and the driver’s friends snicker. “And your female friend hasn’t said a word since we teamed up. Maybe you should rest. We can stop here.”
Ravai doesn’t feel that tired, but he sees the look in Romda’s eyes that it might be a good idea. He acknowledges the stranger’s words, and they stop. It is in the middle of nowhere, trees and small fields all around.
Raven crawls to the nearest log and tries to lie on it. Romda isn’t so easily satisfied. She instead starts to pitch tent and gets out her small bedroll. Her movements are so slow it looks like she won’t be done for an hour.
Ravai continues to talk to the driver. “Turning people into beavers? That’s not possible. You are pulling my leg. How can that be true?”
“It is, I swear,” the driver says.
“How would you know?” Ravai challenges the driver.
“Because my grandfather gave him the rune and spell to do so…and now I serve the master,” the man says coldly.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Dave Maruszewski is blessed with a great family. He was originally inspired to write stories by his wife and son, when they encouraged him to put his bedtime stories on paper.
His stories are created from an accumulation of experiences from careers/backgrounds as a physicist, engineer, teacher, artist, video game designer and software developer. He strives to develop stories with sound moral values that will be enlightening as well as entertaining to youths and adults.
In between writing stories and running his own company, Digital Tumult (DigitalTumult.com), Dave enjoys video games, watching internet videos and hanging out with his family.
Book: www.ravenromdaandravai.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dave-Maruszewski-Books-100693982454237/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21946064.Dave_Maruszewski
NetGalley: https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/publisher/84200
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Beast-Raven-Romda-Ravai-ebook/dp/B09JSX3ZGG/
The book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour.
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Dave Maruszewski will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f4062
