Author Interview with Terry Gildow - Author of the 'One Page a Day' Fantasy/Horror Adventure Brown Blankets; The Crooked Crosshatch.
Terry Gildow is a 28-year old ex-musician living in the foothills of south central Pennsylvania with his wive and two children.
Since making the transition from rock star to writer, Gildow has embarked on a journey that may very well extend into the following decade.
He is the owner and curator of the website www.hewritesonepageaday.com, the home for his seven book series collectively titled Two Trees And Their War. The Book is being published online on the website www.hewritesonepageaday.com one page a day.
Interview with Terry Gildow
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| Author Terry Gildow |
Terry Gildow: Do you count musical writing? Hah! This is actually the first time that I've dabbled into conventional novel writing, but I've always had a knack for dreaming up stories inside my mind. Video games have always intrigued me, especially role playing games because of their incredible plots and character development. I've found that certain games I've played through have better stories than some books or movies. In my writing, I've really taken key elements of my favorite ones and included them into my saga. Games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy X can really be seen in the later installments that I plan to release.
Who are your favorite writers, your favorite books, and who or what are your writing influences?
This will come as a huge (huge!) shock to most, but I don't really read that much. I've always heard it said that to be a good writer, you need to always be reading. I don't believe that for a second. If you have a good story to tell, and the means to tell it, then by all means you're going to write it well. The passion is what drives you, not how many books you've claimed to have read. To answer the question? My favorite book is The Gunslinger by Stephen King. My favorite part of his writing style is that he describes everything with impeccable detail. I try to mirror that in a sense, without trying to lose readers along the way.
When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
The drive and want was always there, but time never allowed it. After graduating high school, I enrolled in an audio/visual school two weeks later. After graduating from there, I began touring in a band playing bass guitar within weeks of getting my certification. Fast forward to 2008, I finally settled down with my wife and began the planning stages of Two Trees And Their War. Having kids really grounds you, and I think this will be the start of many works to come.
"I write one page a day to a series of seven novels, every day..."
Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?
As the URL on my website states, I write one page a day to a series of seven novels, every day, never stopping until the saga is complete. In doing this, I rely heavily on my iPad and iPod touch. The Wordpress app really shines, allowing me to update daily page posts from nearly any place with wifi access. Typically, I try to type up the page itself the night before after my children go to sleep. Upon waking, I try to edit the page for grammatical errors and whatnot. You can see my posts being updated mainly at night, as I'm a bit finicky about how I want the wording to flow and look. After that, the whole process repeats again. Routine is key, and I've never missed a daily post yet. (Page 300 in two days!)
What do you find easiest about writing? What the hardest?
Since I have the entire saga mapped out in my mind, the writing just flows. It's never an issue of "well, I don't know what to write next", rather it's more of "when can I find time in the day to do this?". I think this sufficently answers both questions as far as what's hardest and what's easiest.
Terry, please tell us a little about your Online-Novel 'Brown Blankets; The Crooked Crosshatch'.
This installment is the first in a series of seven. It's more horror driven than the following six, and likely to become the most dark out of all of them collectively. The story follows twenty-four year old Marvin Rest as his moves out of his mothers home in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to relocate four hours south in an effort to finish his accounting degree at York College. He's not really a loner, just a normal guy who doesn't have an interest in much. He really likes to play the piano, but drinking and drug usage really consume him to the point where he can't tell dreams from reality more times than not. The story revolves around different relationships Marvin creates once he moves into Apartment Z, an upstairs loft crafted out of an old, stand alone two car garage that has been renovated to resemble something livable for a human being.
These relationships inadvetantly lead Marvin to a life of debouchery and sin, causing him to question what really matters most in life. If this isn't enough, he begins to have visions of the townspeople with no eyes, soaked to the bone in blood with giant smiles across their faces. Each encounter is like the last, and those who seem normal always know Marvin by name. These visions culminate one evening in early October of 2007 when Marvin wakes in the middle of the night to find a river of blood and organ tissue spilling from underneath his bathroom door. Upon investigation, Marvin finds the source of the crimson flow; a tiny hole located behind the water heater.
As he examines the circular cut further, he finds a perfectly square room where the downstairs of the garage should have been. The walls pulsate like the inside of a heart chamber, with veins and arteries tangled in its design. In the middle of the room stands a man in a mechanics jumpsuit. Like those before him, his eyes are gone, yet not a spot of blood can be noticed on a single inch of his being. Marvin comes to call this man "Keepers", as his name tag suggests.
What comes next can only be described as a lonely mans struggle with a demon who only wants what is best for both of them. They both seek the same resolve, working together to fix what what wrong so long ago.
.jpg "Brown Blankets; The Crooked Crosshatch (by Terry Gildow)") | ||
| Click to Read the Book Online for FREE (Cover Art by Casey Klahn http://www.thecolorist.blogspot.com/) |
What inspired you to write the book and why are you publish your book online one page a day?
Back in 2005, an ex-girlfriend of mine thought it would be best if we moved in together. I'd been playing in a band called Rosematter at the time, with our first tour lined up for that September. We didnt' have much money between the both of us, so we rented out this studio efficency unit for three-hundred dollars a month, all immenities included. What my then girlfriend didn't know was that the apartment was actually an upstairs of a garage. This really caused tentions to mount over the summer months, and we eventually parted ways because of it. What I pulled from my stay in Apartment Z (yes, this is the real name of it) was a story I felt needed telling. The man in the mechanics jumpsuit was always on my mind while I lived there, and I credit his creation to heavy drinking and video games I've played in my past.
Although the story itself has long since written in my mind, the one page a day concept didn't come to me until last summer. With the birth of my second child, I needed to create a way that would ensure that I'd finish writing the story. I feel the biggest motivator in life is to satisfy others around you. Once I started the page a day idea, I knew I couldn't stop it. My credibility would be shot as an up and coming author, and those who've known me my whole life would lose their confidence in my word and promises. This is essentially why I did it (and still contiue to do so). Most people say you write for yourself, and that you shoudln't care what other people think. For me, I write for the chance to tell a story to others. I don't do it for myself whatsoever, because I already know what happens to the characters. I get a sense of satisfaction knowing that others have decided to step into the world I've created. It's one of my biggest motivating factors, and I hope that what I write can consume people to the point of not sleeping, simply because they wish to find out what comes next.
Who do you see as your target audience and where can we read the books?
Fantasy readers, horror enthusients, and basically anyone in general who has an open mind.
"You'd have to be really into the story to wait each day for another page post."
How would you describe the success of your book so far?
It's slow going, but it has to be. One page a day really limits readers from completely immsersing themselves, so my reader base is mostly (as I'd like to call it) die-hard fans. You'd have to be really into the story to wait each day for another page post. I've had some reviews written, mostly positive. The seed was planted last summer, and it's just now starting to sprout into something.
How long will it take it to write the book?
Brown Blankets; The Crooked Crosshatch will most likely be finished by the fall of 2015.
"The book is offered free to the public, and always will be."
Are you planning self-publishing the book?
I guess this is considered self publishing? The book is offered free to the public, and always will be. I don't think I'll ever really look into publishers or companys who want to push my books. The story is just so out there anyway that I'm not sure todays publishers would even bite on it.
Did you hire an editor and/or Cover Designer for your book?
All of my book cover images are created by Washington state artist Casey Klahn. His work is incredible, and he's an awesome to speak with if you get the chance. His creations can be found at http://www.thecolorist.blogspot.com/
As for illustrations pertaining to various scenes throughout the story, I've hired two or three guys through Fiverr.com to do this. At the end of the first chapter of BB;TCC, you can see a picture of a hunting shed out in the woods during evening hours. This was done by user peipei from fiverr. He's handled all the illustrtions for the first book, and and I'm hoping he'll contribute on futher installments.
"Just don't give up."
Can you give some tips for other Indie Authors regarding the writing and online publishing?
Just don't give up. From my own personal experience, it's going just like it did when I played in the band Rosematter. If you're just starting out, you'll be toiling in obscurity for the greater part of two to three years, minimum. I'm hoping this goes the same for my writings, but you never know. It feels the same, so my best peice of advice? Stick with it. There will always be people interested in your writings, you just need to get out there and find who they are.
Are you working on another book project? Can you tell us a little about it?
Two Trees And Their War is pretty large, seeing as the story spans seventy-thousand years. In the furture (and I've mentioned this on previous interviews I've done), I'm planning on writing a trillogy that takes place during the events of the fourth book. It can best described as Bambi meets Requiem For A Dream, a story concerning a squirrel and a deer named Saddie and Rhea, respectively.
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| Author Terry Gildow |
For now, I'm just going to stay the course. As I stated above, the first installment won't likely see completetion until late 2015, so it's anybodies bet as to what I'll be getting into by then.
Where do you see the book market in 5 or 10 years? Will there be only eBooks and will book stores disappear like record stores disappeared?
Kindles and e-readers have really taken off. I'd love to see a bigger shift in online readers, but the printed word will never die out. People love to have smething tentible in their hands, something about sticking your nose between the pages will always lure readers into worlds better than an electronic display can. I've heard some book enthusiets sniff their pages? If this is true, then I have to laugh a little!
Do you write full-time or do you have a day job?
Watching my three and one year old is my full-time gig, although I just had a job interview last week (and it's looking pretty good that I'll be getting the position). This book writing thing is just for fun, and I plan to keep it that way.
How can readers connect with you?
Follow my blog at www.hewritesonepageaday.com, and you'll receive daily page posts to your inbox each time I publish a page. You can contact me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hewritesonepage, as well as on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hewritesonepageaday.
Thank you very much for the Interview, Terry.
About the Book Brown Blankets; The Crooked Crosshatch
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| Click to Read the Book Online for FREE |
Brown Blankets; The Crooked Crosshatch follows the perils of 24-year old Marvin Rest as he moves out of his mothers home in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to relocate four hours south to York.
He initially plans to finish college and obtain his accounting degree, but a certain man keeps him from doing either of those things. As the story goes, a sleeping curse is accidentally awakened, although to Marvin, he feels as if it were predestined. Apartment Z serves as the central focal point of where the madness originates, an upstairs loft crafted out of the attic of a two car garage. One ominous evening in October of 2007, Marvin stumbles across the hiding place of the one who plagues his every move (and grows rather fond of it as the tale winds along).
The story can best be described as a face-off between man and demon, showcasing how far each will go to sacrifice themselves for the ones they love most.
The book is horror driven, yet the series itself is a lot like a modern-day Lord Of The Rings. The second installment, A Trio Worked And Hand Crafted In Comfort, follows the adventure of six individuals trying to rid their world of a creature which nobody really understands. The horror eventually catches back up in the third installment, Shores Of The Nebraskan Ocean, mixing with bits of science fiction and fantasy along the way. If you're familiar with Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, you'll feel right at home.
- "Some ideas take time to come of age. I'd seen this kind of thing back almost twenty years ago when people were still trying to figure out what the internet was for. It all seemed so pretentious and artsy in retrospect. And forced, like the idea of writing a novel on the internet was an excuse for failure in writing it on paper. So perhaps it's because everyone and their dog has a Kindle, pad or phone, and one needs to take out a loan to afford a ream of paper at the Rite Aid that first, writing and publishing in electronic form has gone from novel to practical - the same with reading it. And second, writing it live now seems intimate and more to the point of what writing it for - to make a connection between writer and reader with imaginative ideas.
No this practice has some inherit peril in it I figure. First, writing live, and in this book's way, a page a day, could make inconsistency a big risk. I think it was Burroughs who said that writing when you aren't in the mood isn't worth shit.
Terry Gidlow's book is amazingly consistent and well written. And more to the point, the intimacy of the writing works perfectly in the page a day format. The narrative is about Marvin and his relationships as much as it's about anything else. The world of pot smoking, strained family dynamics and personal growing pains as a young adult make for the creation of multiple worlds of strangeness. Horror is best when the reader can't tell from where the real horror emanates. Two Trees And Their War works on that level." - Jane Geddis
Link to the Book
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