My sister told me about his book, Worlds Aligned, and I reviewed it yesterday.Since our kids go to the same school, I got a chance to talk to Greg while I was at the 5th grade camp with my son a few weeks ago. I learned a lot about the book that I wouldn’t have known. I couldn’t pass up another author interview so I sent him a couple questions for this post. I hope you enjoy the interview and check into this book. Also, don’t forget to enter the giveaway on the post yesterday by clicking here.
I’ve always loved being creative and coming up with crazy or fun stories. A few years ago I used to lay on my kids’ bedroom floor and make up all kinds of stories for them before bed. I made one story in particular began to carry over from night to night. My kids began to refer to it as ‘Keobab’ (just like in the Worlds Aligned) and they would ask to hear more each night. Eventually my wife encouraged me to write the story down in some way. One thing led to another and a couple of years later a greatly modified ‘Keobab’ turned into Worlds Aligned.
2. I think my favorite character was Hope. Do you have a favorite character that you relate the most too?
That’s a great question. I guess from what I just explained about telling my kids bedtime stories, in many ways I line up with Ian and my kids are Callan, Jasper, and Allie. But at the same time I only really relate with the Ian from the prologue. For the rest of the story I really relate to Callan. He’s a good kid that wants to do right, cares about his family, and dreams of being more important, braver, and bolder than he sometimes turns out being. I especially felt like this when I was Callan’s age.
3. Is there a particular author or book that influenced you growing up?
I loved both fantasy and science fiction books as a kid. I loved The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings, by Tolkien, but I think the series of books that influenced me the most is The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. At least in regards to my coming up with Worlds Aligned. This is in large part because my own father used to read those books to my siblings and me. There is definitely a correlation somewhere in my mind between Narnia and Revandria.
4. Tell us about your cover art, who designed it an why do you like it?
I wanted the cover to be an action scene with some fantasy elements in it, to tell people what kind of book to expect. My first idea was actually a depiction of the scene in chapter two with the griffin. I tried to draw up that scene and realized I needed an actual artist to make it look any good. Immediately I thought of Ben Szabo. I’d seen his artwork and knew he would be great if he would be willing to take on the project. He took it on right away and was a pleasure to work with. He gave me several different sketches and ideas to choose from. It was his idea to go with the montage of different people and things. I think it’s great because it’s got the action, the fantasy, and it immediately piques the interest of the potential reader. At least it does for me.
5. What was the hardest part of writing this book and what did you learn from it?
Definitely the hardest part was finding the time to work on it. I work full-time as a software engineer. Thankfully, I’m naturally a night-owl. In fact I often feel like my creative juices flow the best when everyone in the house is asleep but me.
I learned a lot from the project. One big thing is that if you set your mind to accomplishing something then continually make small deposits of time or even just thought toward that goal eventually you’ll get there. There were times I’d put the actual writing or outlining on hold for months, but during those times I feel I continued to bake the story in my ‘mind-oven’. Then when I’d get back to it more actively I would find that I had still made some progress. You just do what you can do.
6. Do you think you will write any more books? Why or Why not?
Actually I think I will. The whole experience has been really good. The feedback I’ve gotten so far has been awesome. For example, one of my friends told me he was going to read it to his boys at bedtime. I loved hearing that. After all, that’s where the story came from, me in my kids’ bedroom, weaving worlds for them. Another of my friends told me that his daughter didn’t put it down and finished it in less than two days. That just feels great, to know that something you put your heart and soul into can give others entertainment, and hopefully inspiration.
I’ve actually already started formulating ideas for a sequel to Worlds Aligned. After all is said and done, I guess I’m just curious to see what happens next to Callan, Hope, Jasper, and Ashish!
Make sure to check out the book on Amazon, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway by commenting on the post yesterday!
