Thursday, August 9, 2012

Andrew Katz Spotlight Interview


We are shaking it up a little today! Please help me welcome Andrew Katz to the blog with his novel DESCENDANTS, releasing tomorrow. I love anything that has to do with Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table so I asked especially to have him here today. 

Andrew, tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a twenty year old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I take classes at Temple University and live in house near campus with some friends. “Descendants” is my first full length novel, but I have tons of ideas in a word document and various short stories.

Fabulous!

Did you always want to be an author?
Absolutely not. Writing had always been my least favorite part of school and I couldn’t stand it. Then one night I was sitting around with nothing to do, complaining to a friend. She suggested since I was always reading, that I should try writing something. I thought “What the hell? Why not?” and in the next ten minutes I wrote what turned out to be the first page of my novel. When I took it to my Dad he gave me a skeptical look and asked if I’d actually written it. It all pretty much spiraled on from there.

What is your favorite part of being a writer/author?
I love the intellectual and creative release. It’s a great feeling to take some hair-brained idea or a weird dream and create a story, person, or world from absolutely nothing.

Tell us a little about your book.
It takes place in modern day society, and the world is the very one we live in. The catch is that the Knights of the Round Table still exist behind the scenes and protect society from unknown supernatural threats. The main character is one of those Knights and must go on a journey to stop a brewing war between humanity and the trolls, while battling an ancient evil looking to corrupt and control him. It’s a fast paced, fun novel, full of action and sarcasm, and I had a great time writing it. 


Excerpt:
            I was still standing around lost in thought, brooding, when an explosion happened directly in my left ear. Oddly enough the bomb seemed to say Boo! I turned and glared right into Devin’s stupid smiling face. 
            “How the hell are you so freaking quiet?” I asked him with a scowl.
            It’s a valid question since Dev is seven-foot-two and built like a young Andre the Giant with an additional fifty pounds of slab muscle. He also happened to be my best friend since I was ten years old, and my adopted brother. 
            “It’s a gift I guess. Did you actually do what I heard you did?”
            “That really depends on what you heard now doesn’t it?”
            “Did you truly kill off the rest of the bloody gnomes?”
            “Did Melinda Clark really slap you in the face when we were thirteen?”
            “Are you going to continue to answer all my questions with questions?”
            “That depends, does it annoy you half as much as I hope it does?”
            “You are aware that I could step on you, right?”
            That seemed like a good time for me to knock it off. I looked at him and shrugged. “I’m assuming that if you’ve heard about it, so has the rest of the castle. Yes I did. But my official stance is that they really deserved it.”

I love the snarky sense of humor!


When did you start writing and when did you finish your first book?
I started it in late September of 2011 and finished in mid February of 2012.

Where do you get your inspiration?
From the various books I read and more importantly the people around me. I’ve had friends read some of my work and laugh because they recognize a conversation that we’ve had or mannerisms of themselves or others. I borrow a lot of characteristic of the people close to me and put them into my writing. It’s so much realer that way.

Absolutely. The best nuances come from real life.

Do you plot and outline or do you just write?  Plotter or Pantser?
Honestly, I outline as I write. I go in pretty much blind, but as a story starts to develop I’ll outline vague details of where I want it to go. It doesn’t always turn out the exact way I want it, but that’s another thing I love. A good story can sometimes tell itself.

Can you tell us a little about the process of getting your first book published?
Well, I really sort of lucked into it. I was about half way through writing my novel and a friend told me about Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing. I got in contact with SJ Davis through facebook and submitted a short story I had for their anthology “Dark Light”. She liked the short story, which was the same protagonist as “Descendants”, so I submitted that when it was done and here we are.

Congrats! 
What book have you most recently released?
“Descendants” is my first and only feature novel; it will release tomorrow on August 10.

What was your favorite part of the book?
The character interactions. The characters are living creatures with emotions and aspirations, and it was a great experience bringing them to life through one another and their reactions.

Do you have another book in the works?
Yup, I’m working on a sequel to “Descendants” right now. It should be completed sooner than later.

What advice would you give new authors?  What have you learned about the business?
As a new author myself, I would say just don’t sweat it and have fun. Write what you want, because it will be better than trying to force something.

Pizza or hamburger? Hamburger all the way

If you could spend a week anywhere in the world, where would it be?  Would you write or read there, or do something else?
Just a secluded beach somewhere. It wouldn’t really matter as long as it wasn’t too crowded and I could sit in the sun with a book to read and a notepad to write on.

Great interview, Andrew. It was so nice to have you here today and hear about your book. I'm already about half-way through it and am really enjoying the change of pace (since I mostly read romance). The characters are fun and I can't wait to see what happens. 

Please visit Andrew @ 
Websites, Blogs, Twitter, FaceBook, etc.
Facebook: facebook.com/AndrewKatz.Author
E-mail: andrewkatzauthor@gmail.com




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