1) Please tell us about what you like to write? List your websites, what you do and anything else you'd like our readers and writers to know about you. (Please list your accomplishments too).
I like to write! It is a rather new development in my life as I have only actually been doing it seriously with an end goal in mind since February 2010. I have an entire collection of stuff I plan to write over the next few years. If I had to categorize it, I would say mostly Science Fiction. I have a couple of books planned that are non-fiction, and a awesome series which would be Fiction but crosses multiple genres, but I will not start that project until I have surpassed the one million word mark, found my style and perfected my craft more.
But to answer your question, what do I like to write? I like to write what I like to read, and that is any and everything! I just love writing!
I don't have a website, but I do have a Blog where I write to exercise my mind and warm up for working on my novels.
http://thomaswilsonstoryteller.blogspot.com
List my accomplishments:
Literary accomplishments the list is short and not very dramatic.
I wrote the rough drafts of two novels in 2010.
Edited the first novel "Whisper" and self-published it in January 2011.
Re-wrote and Edited the second novel "No Rules Of Engagement" and self-published it in Aug/Oct 2011.
Have actually sold books and slowly building a following of fans with both books with no advertising or promotion.
Other accomplishments include:
Father of Three children, Found my true Passion and Calling in Life (Writing) and that’s a big one!
Anything else I want your readers to know.
I believe books sell by word of mouth, with the help of the internet, but people talking about what they are reading. If you want to sell more books, Write better Books!
Every aspiring author wonders if their work is any good. Through time, reviews and by sales you can judge the merit of your labors.
My first book is Good, selling like wild fire, but it will always be my first and worst book.
My second novel is Great. Coming out of the gates it is earning five out of five stars in ratings, and getting awesome reviews.
Currently I am writing the sequels to both books to hopefully have finished, polished, and published sometime in 2012.
To find my books:
"No Rules Of Engagement” By Thomas Wilson $4.99 US
For Amazon Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Engagement-Alexander-Hawk-ebook/dp/B005KG60US/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321559982&sr=1-1
For paperback
http://www.amazon.com/No-Rules-Engagement-Alexander-Novel/dp/1466275375/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321559982&sr=1-1-catcorr
For other E-book formats
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85282
For eight-year-old orphan, Alexander Hawk, the question, "Is there other Intelligent life in the Universe?" has been answered with a resounding YES!
Plucked from a correctional facility for boys because of a test he never even finished, Alexander is sent to train for combat against an alien race of Alligators which is attacking another group of aliens, the Macktonics, who have allied with United States in return for advanced technology.
The United States' gathers an army of children so they will arrive at the perfect age for fighting. Alexander faces grueling training exercises as he struggles to rise to the challenge of preparing to save the placid Macktonic alien civilization from pending attack. Before his training is complete he comes face to face with the enemy. Alexander becomes student and teacher as they square off against a superior aggressor. Traveling through time portals crossing time and space to gain intelligence, and ultimately to hunt down their foe before they attack the Macktonics.
"Whisper” By Thomas Wilson .99 Cents US
For Amazon Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Whisper-Wiley-Randolph-Series-ebook/dp/B004NBZ962/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321560119&sr=1-1
For paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Whisper-Wiley-Randolph-Novel-1/dp/1466220031/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321560119&sr=1-2-catcorr
For other E-book formats
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38922
The crew of the USS Whisper tries to get back to their rightful place in time after accidently being sent into the past over 200 years while testing a device to make the ship invisible. Captain Wiley Randolph and his crew fight against time, a 200-year-old frigate, a Japanese Zero, and a German Wolf Pack of submarines. Also a Love Story!
Linked-In http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top
Blog http://thomaswilsonstoryteller.blogspot.com/
Goodreads dot com http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4864013.Thomas_Wilson
Smashwords dot com https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/StorytellerTDW
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Wilson/e/B004NR37OW/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
2) Do you have any projects at the moment? What are they? I know that you are writing sequels to your two books, but do you have anything else in mind? Are you haunted by characters, stories and events, while trying to write the sequels?
The current projects are actually quite daunting in themselves.
The first book I wrote "Whisper" was supposed to be a action adventure Sci-Fi novel. It is that, but instead of people asking me about the time machine aspects of the ship, or the other elements of historical nature in regards to the book, all people ask about is the guy and girl. Apparently I wrote a romance novel to some degree without being aware of it.
Of the missions I have planned for Captain Wiley Randolph, I choose Whisper, his last mission to write first. Primarily because it was the weakest of the stories I had, and I knew being my first and worst book I will ever write, start with the weakest.
My plans originally were to come back with SAC Submersible Air Carrier, Wiley's training and first mission for the Navy. Because of the feedback from those who have read Whisper, the Sequel will pick up where Whisper left off. At some point in the book it will go back in time telling the story of Wiley's first mission. Essentially the readers are going to get two stories in one novel, which will set everything up for the third book in the series. It will be my first time writing a story of this nature.
No Rules Of Engagement involves the characters jumping through time and space through time gates. Trying to keep it all straight of who did what, where and When, has become a daunting task to say the least. The sequel has its own unique elements, which are different from NROE to keep it all fresh and interesting.
Am I haunted by future projects? Oh hell Yes! I have two series in particular which continually distract my attention and imagination.
Stolen Gangs – Where an undercover Federal agent investing gang activity gets kidnapped with the survivors of a gang. He is stuck in a secret training facility fighting for his very life and survival while being trained by a new criminal element unlike anything ever imagined.
The Seventh Service Of Yohovah – This is my 'Harry Potter Series'. It will appeal and attract an audience that crosses multiple genres. It will intrigue, delight, and entertain in an epic manner! I will not get any more specific than that. When I have written at least a million words, found my style and groove as a writer, and built a following of literary fans of my work I will do my version of Releasing the Kraken, so to speak.
3) Describe your writing environment. I am always interested in the environment of a writer.
These days starting out it is my recliner, in my living room, of a moderate, normal ranch style home. I kick back, with my lap top on my lap and type like a mad man! I always envision a study lined with book shelves, a grand wooden desk facing a bank of tall windows as where I will write in my dream house if I ever hit it big and get to stay home and write full time. When I am doing something important such as downloading a new book to a website, the formal formatting and downloading stuff, I take over the kitchen table late at night so I will not be disturbed.
4) What inspires you? Who inspires you?
Everything inspires me. I mean that quite literally. Social networking, television documentaries, the ton of stuff I read everywhere, every person I meet is elements of a potential character, history and the news are constant sources of mans frailties and short comings and the elements of the human condition we all live in together.
Authors who have made it to the point they can write at home inspire me. The thought that I won't always be in the horrible place I exist most of the time, that I someday will write for a living and live beyond paycheck to paycheck. That I might have some nice things for my family.
Author James Rollins inspires me with the break neck fashion of his adventure books. The great timeless Science Fiction writers, whose works are classics and read by multiple generations after they are gone, inspire me. I pray I reach a point where I am capable of writing eloquent, poetic life changing works that people will quote from, guard and cherish through their lives.
I want a swimming pool, a small rose garden, my study/writing room, a list of best sellers, to put my kids through school, and to live long enough to see them established as adults, maybe grandchildren. That inspires me enough I stay up almost every night to midnight to one in the morning and write, and get up every day at six to go to work.
5) Do you use characters of people that you know? How do you develop your characters?
I generally have an idea of what a character is going to be like. I try to make all characters flawed to some degree as we are all flawed in some way. I base characteristics of characters off of people I see in public, people in the news, people I know, and those from literature. I also feel in series such as “No Rules Of Engagement” where the U.S. Government rounds up an Army of orphans, which are not only children but expendable. The characters change as they grow which is what should happen. Real people should change as they grow and move through the different stages of their life.
6) What do you find challenging in your writing?
This kind of fits in with the next question. One of the quirks of my writing style that is emerging is that I routinely write myself into corners. Then I will work on something else while I try to think my way out of the situation I wrote myself into. The result of this can be experienced while reading my stories and going along with the characters while they get into problems with seemingly no way out and then the plot changes as they find an escape. If I can’t think my way out of it, which is rare, I just back up and go at it another way. I challenge myself, my mental abilities, and my creativity by writing this way. This lends itself to very twisty windy plots that make you constantly change your views of where the story is going and where it is going to end up.
7) Every writer uses a different method of formatting. Do you use an outline? Do you come up with a title first, and then a storyline? I have actually started writing, not knowing where I was going. Do you know the start and the ending before you write?
Yes and No. I do know where the main thrust of the story is going when I start. I write a main overall outline of where the story is going on a very general basis. As I write, and as above, get stuck and figure my way out, things change from chapter to chapter but stay on track to the overall outline direction. As the reader they don’t know the end goal, and subsequently are dragged, kicked, drug through a myriad of trials, adventures, and obstacles while being led to an elusive goal. In between I do come up with smaller outlines to keep myself on track and on point.
I sent No Rules Of Engagement to my friend and greatest fan, Phillip Woody, to read with the Title being “Not Titled Yet”. I had forgotten I hadn’t come up with a title. He read it and came up with the Title, No Rules Of Engagement, which truly is the perfect title for the book. I purposely haven’t titled the sequel yet to give Phillip the first crack at naming the sequel. Many times I rename a chapter after having finished writing it.
Usually the comic relief moments just arise out of my sick sense of humor. I feel you need a range of emotions to be realistic, true to life even though it is fiction, and memorably epic good writing. Think of the best movies you have ever seen, there are moments you want to cry, moments that upset you, and parts that make you laugh out loud. Elements of the Great Story.
8) Do you have any last words for us?
One of the elements I deal with in the sequel to No Rules Of Engagement is social issues from the squewed perspective of the growing and changing children fighting to save humanity, which from the dawn of time has been obsessed with killing each other.
As a writer getting older and my views of mans in humanity to man conflicting with my being Scottish and an ex-Army tank driver. I don’t believe I would be able to write these stories as well as I have if I had tried when I was younger. I think it took the years of reading, living, and experience of managing people, being a father, and a husband to mature to the level of understanding where I could write and convey my thoughts and feelings through a story and the characters.
I like to write! It is a rather new development in my life as I have only actually been doing it seriously with an end goal in mind since February 2010. I have an entire collection of stuff I plan to write over the next few years. If I had to categorize it, I would say mostly Science Fiction. I have a couple of books planned that are non-fiction, and a awesome series which would be Fiction but crosses multiple genres, but I will not start that project until I have surpassed the one million word mark, found my style and perfected my craft more.
But to answer your question, what do I like to write? I like to write what I like to read, and that is any and everything! I just love writing!
I don't have a website, but I do have a Blog where I write to exercise my mind and warm up for working on my novels.
http://thomaswilsonstoryteller.blogspot.com
List my accomplishments:
Literary accomplishments the list is short and not very dramatic.
I wrote the rough drafts of two novels in 2010.
Edited the first novel "Whisper" and self-published it in January 2011.
Re-wrote and Edited the second novel "No Rules Of Engagement" and self-published it in Aug/Oct 2011.
Have actually sold books and slowly building a following of fans with both books with no advertising or promotion.
Other accomplishments include:
Father of Three children, Found my true Passion and Calling in Life (Writing) and that’s a big one!
Anything else I want your readers to know.
I believe books sell by word of mouth, with the help of the internet, but people talking about what they are reading. If you want to sell more books, Write better Books!
Every aspiring author wonders if their work is any good. Through time, reviews and by sales you can judge the merit of your labors.
My first book is Good, selling like wild fire, but it will always be my first and worst book.
My second novel is Great. Coming out of the gates it is earning five out of five stars in ratings, and getting awesome reviews.
Currently I am writing the sequels to both books to hopefully have finished, polished, and published sometime in 2012.
To find my books:
"No Rules Of Engagement” By Thomas Wilson $4.99 US
For Amazon Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Engagement-Alexander-Hawk-ebook/dp/B005KG60US/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321559982&sr=1-1
For paperback
http://www.amazon.com/No-Rules-Engagement-Alexander-Novel/dp/1466275375/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321559982&sr=1-1-catcorr
For other E-book formats
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85282
For eight-year-old orphan, Alexander Hawk, the question, "Is there other Intelligent life in the Universe?" has been answered with a resounding YES!
Plucked from a correctional facility for boys because of a test he never even finished, Alexander is sent to train for combat against an alien race of Alligators which is attacking another group of aliens, the Macktonics, who have allied with United States in return for advanced technology.
The United States' gathers an army of children so they will arrive at the perfect age for fighting. Alexander faces grueling training exercises as he struggles to rise to the challenge of preparing to save the placid Macktonic alien civilization from pending attack. Before his training is complete he comes face to face with the enemy. Alexander becomes student and teacher as they square off against a superior aggressor. Traveling through time portals crossing time and space to gain intelligence, and ultimately to hunt down their foe before they attack the Macktonics.
"Whisper” By Thomas Wilson .99 Cents US
For Amazon Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Whisper-Wiley-Randolph-Series-ebook/dp/B004NBZ962/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321560119&sr=1-1
For paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Whisper-Wiley-Randolph-Novel-1/dp/1466220031/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321560119&sr=1-2-catcorr
For other E-book formats
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38922
The crew of the USS Whisper tries to get back to their rightful place in time after accidently being sent into the past over 200 years while testing a device to make the ship invisible. Captain Wiley Randolph and his crew fight against time, a 200-year-old frigate, a Japanese Zero, and a German Wolf Pack of submarines. Also a Love Story!
Linked-In http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top
Blog http://thomaswilsonstoryteller.blogspot.com/
Goodreads dot com http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4864013.Thomas_Wilson
Smashwords dot com https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/StorytellerTDW
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Wilson/e/B004NR37OW/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
2) Do you have any projects at the moment? What are they? I know that you are writing sequels to your two books, but do you have anything else in mind? Are you haunted by characters, stories and events, while trying to write the sequels?
The current projects are actually quite daunting in themselves.
The first book I wrote "Whisper" was supposed to be a action adventure Sci-Fi novel. It is that, but instead of people asking me about the time machine aspects of the ship, or the other elements of historical nature in regards to the book, all people ask about is the guy and girl. Apparently I wrote a romance novel to some degree without being aware of it.
Of the missions I have planned for Captain Wiley Randolph, I choose Whisper, his last mission to write first. Primarily because it was the weakest of the stories I had, and I knew being my first and worst book I will ever write, start with the weakest.
My plans originally were to come back with SAC Submersible Air Carrier, Wiley's training and first mission for the Navy. Because of the feedback from those who have read Whisper, the Sequel will pick up where Whisper left off. At some point in the book it will go back in time telling the story of Wiley's first mission. Essentially the readers are going to get two stories in one novel, which will set everything up for the third book in the series. It will be my first time writing a story of this nature.
No Rules Of Engagement involves the characters jumping through time and space through time gates. Trying to keep it all straight of who did what, where and When, has become a daunting task to say the least. The sequel has its own unique elements, which are different from NROE to keep it all fresh and interesting.
Am I haunted by future projects? Oh hell Yes! I have two series in particular which continually distract my attention and imagination.
Stolen Gangs – Where an undercover Federal agent investing gang activity gets kidnapped with the survivors of a gang. He is stuck in a secret training facility fighting for his very life and survival while being trained by a new criminal element unlike anything ever imagined.
The Seventh Service Of Yohovah – This is my 'Harry Potter Series'. It will appeal and attract an audience that crosses multiple genres. It will intrigue, delight, and entertain in an epic manner! I will not get any more specific than that. When I have written at least a million words, found my style and groove as a writer, and built a following of literary fans of my work I will do my version of Releasing the Kraken, so to speak.
3) Describe your writing environment. I am always interested in the environment of a writer.
These days starting out it is my recliner, in my living room, of a moderate, normal ranch style home. I kick back, with my lap top on my lap and type like a mad man! I always envision a study lined with book shelves, a grand wooden desk facing a bank of tall windows as where I will write in my dream house if I ever hit it big and get to stay home and write full time. When I am doing something important such as downloading a new book to a website, the formal formatting and downloading stuff, I take over the kitchen table late at night so I will not be disturbed.
4) What inspires you? Who inspires you?
Everything inspires me. I mean that quite literally. Social networking, television documentaries, the ton of stuff I read everywhere, every person I meet is elements of a potential character, history and the news are constant sources of mans frailties and short comings and the elements of the human condition we all live in together.
Authors who have made it to the point they can write at home inspire me. The thought that I won't always be in the horrible place I exist most of the time, that I someday will write for a living and live beyond paycheck to paycheck. That I might have some nice things for my family.
Author James Rollins inspires me with the break neck fashion of his adventure books. The great timeless Science Fiction writers, whose works are classics and read by multiple generations after they are gone, inspire me. I pray I reach a point where I am capable of writing eloquent, poetic life changing works that people will quote from, guard and cherish through their lives.
I want a swimming pool, a small rose garden, my study/writing room, a list of best sellers, to put my kids through school, and to live long enough to see them established as adults, maybe grandchildren. That inspires me enough I stay up almost every night to midnight to one in the morning and write, and get up every day at six to go to work.
5) Do you use characters of people that you know? How do you develop your characters?
I generally have an idea of what a character is going to be like. I try to make all characters flawed to some degree as we are all flawed in some way. I base characteristics of characters off of people I see in public, people in the news, people I know, and those from literature. I also feel in series such as “No Rules Of Engagement” where the U.S. Government rounds up an Army of orphans, which are not only children but expendable. The characters change as they grow which is what should happen. Real people should change as they grow and move through the different stages of their life.
6) What do you find challenging in your writing?
This kind of fits in with the next question. One of the quirks of my writing style that is emerging is that I routinely write myself into corners. Then I will work on something else while I try to think my way out of the situation I wrote myself into. The result of this can be experienced while reading my stories and going along with the characters while they get into problems with seemingly no way out and then the plot changes as they find an escape. If I can’t think my way out of it, which is rare, I just back up and go at it another way. I challenge myself, my mental abilities, and my creativity by writing this way. This lends itself to very twisty windy plots that make you constantly change your views of where the story is going and where it is going to end up.
7) Every writer uses a different method of formatting. Do you use an outline? Do you come up with a title first, and then a storyline? I have actually started writing, not knowing where I was going. Do you know the start and the ending before you write?
Yes and No. I do know where the main thrust of the story is going when I start. I write a main overall outline of where the story is going on a very general basis. As I write, and as above, get stuck and figure my way out, things change from chapter to chapter but stay on track to the overall outline direction. As the reader they don’t know the end goal, and subsequently are dragged, kicked, drug through a myriad of trials, adventures, and obstacles while being led to an elusive goal. In between I do come up with smaller outlines to keep myself on track and on point.
I sent No Rules Of Engagement to my friend and greatest fan, Phillip Woody, to read with the Title being “Not Titled Yet”. I had forgotten I hadn’t come up with a title. He read it and came up with the Title, No Rules Of Engagement, which truly is the perfect title for the book. I purposely haven’t titled the sequel yet to give Phillip the first crack at naming the sequel. Many times I rename a chapter after having finished writing it.
Usually the comic relief moments just arise out of my sick sense of humor. I feel you need a range of emotions to be realistic, true to life even though it is fiction, and memorably epic good writing. Think of the best movies you have ever seen, there are moments you want to cry, moments that upset you, and parts that make you laugh out loud. Elements of the Great Story.
8) Do you have any last words for us?
One of the elements I deal with in the sequel to No Rules Of Engagement is social issues from the squewed perspective of the growing and changing children fighting to save humanity, which from the dawn of time has been obsessed with killing each other.
As a writer getting older and my views of mans in humanity to man conflicting with my being Scottish and an ex-Army tank driver. I don’t believe I would be able to write these stories as well as I have if I had tried when I was younger. I think it took the years of reading, living, and experience of managing people, being a father, and a husband to mature to the level of understanding where I could write and convey my thoughts and feelings through a story and the characters.
Comments
Post a Comment