Interview with Best of the Best Ebook Contest First Place Winner Bodie Parkhurst

1. Tell me the genesis of your novel. When and why did the idea pop into your head? How long did it take to write?

This novel actually started in an Instant Messenger conversation. I had just sent my son off for his first overnight visit with his dad, and, because the world looked pretty bleak, I was bending my good friend Gene's ear about some of the less admirable passages in my years with my ex. As often happens in those conversations (Gene is still my good friend) we got silly, and I started inventing outrageous characters with funny names, writing little scenes and snippets of dialog, and then I thought, "Hey, I should write a book about this."

And that was the beginning. Since my son was gone for the weekend, I had a lot of time on my hands. Redeeming Stanley was well along by the time my son came running in the door and life went back to normal.

As I say in the book, many of the scenes are real, but it's pointless to try to guess which they are, because for me, writing a book is a little like that old saying about God creating man in his image--and man returning the favor. It wasn't long before the characters had taken on lives of their own. They have likes, dislikes, pet peeves, and favorite expressions. They have things they will and will not do. And I found that I had to honor that. For instance, when Weldon Frame is zooming around up in the mountains and runs afoul of the Justice of the Peace and her poodle, Baby, it would have been nice to have Weldon say something really awful to her. But that's just not what he would do. "You need therapy--and so does Baby," is all he can manage. He's a man of limited imagination; truly creative flights of viciousness are just not in him.

I wrote the first draft of this novel in a couple months. I've been editing it for six years. For me, writing a novel is 60% thinking, and 10% frantically typing, and 30% polishing. The real challenge--and what's taken so long--is really getting to know my characters, and forcing myself to allow them to be themselves. There's a temptation to make everybody talk like me. It takes a lot of discipline (and the help of a good editor) to really tease apart what makes each character unique, and let that shine through in their words and actions.

The ending eluded me for a while, but it finally came together when I sat down with the book, lined up my characters, so to speak, and just let them do what came naturally, based on what I had come to know about them through writing. It wasn't the ending I was expecting. I had actually hoped that Weldon would make a short trip to the Infernal Regions, only to be returned because of inadequacy. But it didn't work out that way. and this is better.

2. Was this your first novel? Your tenth?

It's my third. My first novel is still unfinished. It's been through three computer crashes, about four rebuilds, and too many rewrites to count. I still don't have an ending. I don't even have a really convincing middle. It's been my "learning book," and I love it. It has some of the most amazing scenes, dialog, and characters in it. Someday I'll get it done, but not for a long time, I hope. Working on that book is like taking a short vacation to another world. When the book is finished, the vacation will be over.

My second novel, Good on Paper, actually started out when I was still in college, many years ago. I noodled around writing scenes, characters, and dialog, and then one day I started just started writing. I had planned to write a murder mystery, and there's certainly a little of that in there, but again, it wasn't long before the characters began to dictate the action. This book is not funny, though there are funny parts in it. It's taken a lot longer to write because the situations and characters are difficult, complex, and sometimes unreliable. One of the principal narrators has such a skewed reality that she's actually quite frightening. I've thought I was done writing this book a couple of times, but each time a reader responded with some pretty good questions (or pretty deep anger) at unexpected places. I realized that I hadn't done my job properly. At one point I actually wrote five different versions of this book, from the point of view of each of the five narrators. In the end, I wound up where I had started--letting each of the speakers tell part of the story. But I knew them all much, much better as a result of having lived behind their eyes for an extended period of time.

By contrast, Redeeming Stanley positively flew together--so much so that it leapfrogged Good on Paper sometime in 2005. It's in the final editing process now, and should be available on Amazon by Christmas.

3. Why did you choose to epublish this book? Is it also available in print?

I chose epublishing because it provided me with the tools I need to meet the three biggest hurdles that I face as a new, unknown author. It provides me with a cost-effective means of quality production, an easy, cost-effective means of distribution, and the flexibility and control that authors using traditional printing methods only dream of.

I actually started out planning on publishing in print, and then added the epublication because it was so very inexpensive, and so very easy. Since I'm actually a book designer by trade, I was very interested in the various sites that offer the opportunity to self-publish for print on demand. I work with conventional printers on a regular basis, and while I think there's no substitute for a real, paper-and-cover book in terms of traditional distribution channels and bookstore sales, I believe that ebooks and print on demand options have opened up a whole world of opportunities to people like me--people who have one or more books inside them, but don't have a lot of money to self-publish and distribute through traditional channels. Also, the publishing industry as a whole is increasingly geared toward established, big-name writers, and/or books on crisis-of-the-moment topics. Given the intense competition both for a publication slot and for whatever marketing dollars are available, publishing a book by conventional means is no longer necessarily the better option in some cases.

The self-publication sites (at least the ones I use, CreateSpace and BookSurge) offer a range of book sizes, shapes, color, and binding options. They provide the EAN-13 barcodes necessary to market and sell the books commercially. They place the books on Amazon, as well as on other online outlets, in some cases. When people ask about my book, I simply route them to Amazon. The last reason I chose epublishing and print on demand online is the most important to me, though perhaps not to most. As I said, I'm a book designer by trade. I'm also an illustrator (I did my own cover for Redeeming Stanley, and I've done several picture books for both adults and children). I'm very concerned about how my book reads. That's why, even though I edit for others, I never send a book anywhere without hiring an editor to review my manuscript. A good editor is worth her weight in gold. I have a good editor. I'm equally concerned with how my books look. I want the design of the book to reflect and enhance the tone, theme, and subject matter of the story. I want it to be beautiful. Most of all, I want it to be readable. I want the design to make a good first impression--and then I want it to disappear as my readers become lost in the story. Those are things that authors simply don't get to influence much in traditional publishing (I know--I design books for publishers). Maybe I'm a control freak--all I know is that for me, writing, designing, and typesetting my books is all part of telling the story--and epublishing, CreateSpace, and BookSurge offer me the tools I need to do that.


4. Do you write full time? If not, what is your other job. How do you manage to do both?

I have a business doing design, illustration, and copywriting for a variety of clients. Since my work is pretty much all contract work, I have times when I'm very busy, and times when I'm not. I write in my "down" time, and except for the very busiest times, I try to keep one hour a day for working my own books, or painting, or both. Because of the nature of my work, it's very important that I keep some design and writing that's "mine." It makes it much easier to maintain a professional attitude and approach to client work. When you're in a creative field like design, it's very easy to fall in love with a beautiful project. When that happens, it can be difficult to remember that in the end, client satisfaction--not mine--is what's central to the process. Having projects that are mine makes it easier to remember that everything isn't. Short answer--it isn't a matter of "managing to do both," but of "having to do both." I couldn't remain a designer if I didn't keep a part of my life for feeding my own creativity.

5. Are you working on a new project? Can you tell us about it?

Sure am. Sure can. I'm editing Good on Paper, and will be starting typesetting, probably this week sometime. I'm working on a book about a girl who thinks she can fly. And of course there's the eternal First Novel, as well as the series of ghost stories I've been writing. I'm also working on a series of three memoirs. The bulk of the writing's done; now I have to sort, hone, and pare in order to tell the three stories I've settled upon. I've got two more picture books to adapt for online publication, and a third that I'm in the process of illustrating. Most of all, I'm beginning to develop a program for children that will provide them with the time, space, tools, and support to write, illustrate, publish, and market their own books. I'm still in the early, early stages of the plan, but I'd like to develop it as both an in-school and a summer daycamp program. Over time, I'd like to expand it to the adult audience, but for now, I'd like to do it with kids.

6. Anything else you`d like to say?

When I write, I think a lot about two things my College Writing teacher used to say. "Show, don't tell," was his first favorite saying. He talked a lot about showing a character in action, rather than just telling a story. "Write truly," was his second favorite saying. He explained that one could write fiction and still "write truly," that doing so meant being true to one's self, to one's characters, and to the story. Sometimes a happy ending is a cheat. I write a lot of books that dip their toes into fantasy, and sometimes even take the plunge. But even when I write fantasy, there's an inner logic, the reality of the book, the integrity of the characters. Writing truly is giving emotions, reactions, and situations their full due. It means making the consequences of an event seem to follow inevitably from the event itself. It means being honest with myself, and with my readers. Writing truly is an act of self-exposure, and it can be terrifying. If I write truly, if I pluck up my courage to put aside all my shields and defenses and just tell the story, I wind up with a strong, believable narrative. Writing truly is writing well.

You can purchase a copy of Redeeming Stanley here.