1) What drew you to writing?
"It all began in fourth grade for me. Every year, my school participated in a project called Young Authors where we had to write and illustrate our own book. I always loved receiving a new book with blank pages and endless possibilities, though I was definitely too young to take writing 'seriously.' I just did it for fun. I think this was the second time I had written and illustrated one of these books, and since the first one had taken place in space, I thought that this one should too. I decided to call it 'Lost in Space' and wrote about a boy who receives help from three aliens in an attempt to get back to Earth (somehow he had become lost...). My mother helped me type in all up after I hand-wrote the story, then I illustrated it and outlined everything in black before handing it in to my teacher. A few weeks later, she announced to our class that I had won the Young Authors award that year for 'Lost in Space.' I was shocked! Completely ecstatic (though I secretly didn't know what exactly 'winning' meant. Like, did I win a medal or something? Or just a new set of gel pens, which, let's be real, I would have happily taken...) I ended up bringing my book to the Young Authors Conference in Bloomington, IL (where, ironically enough, I would later go to college to study Music Theater) and had an amazing time there. Kids from all over the state brought their winning books and we all got to share them with each other and talk about writing. I had never experienced anything like it before. We even got to meet some of our favorite childhood authors, like Debbie Dadey, the author of the 'Bailey School Kids' books. Months later, I was sitting at my desk while my teacher read aloud from whatever book we were in the middle of when I started jotting down ideas for another story. When she saw what I was doing, she stopped reading, walked over to me, and bent down with a stern look on her face. 'Are you writing a story?' she asked. I nodded very nervously. She smiled. 'Good. Keep going.' Then she resumed reading. That moment has stuck with me until this very day and it is her support that I believe fueled my desire to continue writing through the rest of grade school and into middle and high school. I named a character after her in 'CyberWorld.'"2) In 'CyberWorld...' you have such an interesting story line. What was the inspiration behind it?
"In the Young Authors book I had written, the main character was playing a video game in an early scene and I needed to think of a name for it. On a whim, I chose 'CyberWorld.' Months after I had written it (when I was starting a new story about aliens running a secret Dimension in outer space), I re-read the book and decided to call my new story CyberWorld. It was a land completely run by aliens...and that's it. (Clearly I went through an alien phase...). I didn't really know what the story was going to be about, but I remember constantly asking myself, 'What IS CyberWorld? Who lives there? How are aliens running it?' Then, when I decided that I wanted humans in CyberWorld, I nixed the aliens and was struck with a new idea: I wanted to merge two of my childhood interests together. (SPOILER ALERT: If you have not yet read 'CyberWorld: The Legend of Alaxeria,' I would stop reading this paragraph here and skip to the next question). I lived in a cul-de-sac my whole life, and one of my sister and I's favorite activities was spying on our parents and on our neighbors. We had spy kits and everything-it was legit. And since I was on a 'space' kick with my writing, I started to wonder what it would be like if a group of agents learned how to spy in outer space. As I considered this possibility, the muddy image of a boy and his dog trickled into focus. I still don't know why, but I knew that (SPOILER ALERT) the dog could talk. I also knew that the boy didn't learn that people could be trained to spy in outer space until he reached a certain age...and for a long time that age was 13. I was nine years old when the ideas for the story began percolating, and from its inception, it only continued to grow and grow as my imagination grew. I was constantly interested in seeing what new ideas I would get and where they would take my characters. Since I was so busy with school, it was unreasonable to set a deadline for the book; I worked on it when I could and toyed with the plot almost on a daily basis. I literally couldn't get the characters out of my head, nor could I stop asking questions about how they all ended up together in this unimaginable place fighting evil forces that they didn't even know existed. It evolved into an extremely long, nonlinear process, but the basic plotline (which was almost fully developed by the time sixth grade rolled around) remained the same."
3) What is your writing process? Do you sit down each day and force yourself to write for a while or do you sneak in time whenever you get inspired?
"After reading Julia Cameron's incredible book, 'The Artist's Way,' I have taken to doing Morning Pages every morning right when I wake up. Basically I write three pages of stream-of-consciousness longhand before doing anything else. I do this to wake myself up, get my brain moving, and take dictation fro whatever my muse is throwing at me that morning. Sometimes I don't use punctuation and write complete gibberish or lists; other times the words just POUR out of me in perfect order and I'm shocked at how profound it sounds (especially when the rest of it is complete crap). I never know what to expect, which makes it exciting, but I'm not gonna lie, writing first thing in the morning can also be tedious. Otherwise, my process is very disjointed. I must have written twenty or thirty drafts of 'CyberWorld' before I even hit the halfway point; this was mainly because I was, well, a child, and my writing continued to evolve as I advanced through school. Even though I had the entire book planned when I was in sixth grade, I did not finish my first draft until exactly one month before I graduated from college. At that point, I had been writing it for so long that even finishing was a big deal. After that, I spent a year and a half editing, revising, submitting it to agents and publishers, editing again, revising again, etc. I was adding new things all the way up until my final read-through of the book a few days before I self-published it as an e-book. In terms of a writing ritual, my new favorite thing to do it sitting down in a new cafe that I've never been to and just go. I find that my writing is more dynamic when I throw the rule book out the window and let myself be messy with it. Lord knows I'll go back and fix it later! The thing that I find to be the most important is to always carry a notebook with me. I'm constantly writing down interesting words, thoughts, ideas, and epiphanies. They hit me at the weirdest times and in the strangest of places, so I absolutely fascinated by the idea of the 'artist's process' and have learned that our processes are as unique as we are; we all have to find what works for us and what makes our inner artist feel like he or she can come out and play."
4) Charlie is a truly great character! What was the inspiration behind him?
"Thank you! I absolutely love Charlie, and I love writing him. He ended up being the dog that appeared in my mind when I envisioned Max going up to CyberWorld for the first time. Honestly, Charlie evolved entirely on his own. He came to me years ago, in summertime, when I was sitting on the side of my future high school's running track while my mom, sister, and I were getting our daily exercise (or, rather, my mom and sister were and I was sitting there writing...). I saw him clearly in my mind and knew that he was a sassy young thing. (SPOILER ALERT!) It only made sense to me that he could talk. Why not? Who doesn't love a talking dog? Especially one who can be facetious one moment and earnestly serious the next? After a while, he simply started writing himself. I have a few characters like that-Charlie, Sarah, Danny, Gyro-and there is nothing more incredible to experience or difficult to describe as having a character's words flow right through you, as if they live inside you and want to have their say before you can edit them. Not all of the characters are like that for me, but it's the ones who bugged me to get their story finally published that excite me the most."
5) What authors inspire you in your writing?
"Oh gosh, good question. Well, the ultimate answer for me is an obvious one: J.K. Rowling. Even though it took me a little while to get into Harry Potter, she taught me everything about structure, character development, pacing, language, mystery, and the best trick of all: leaving breadcrumbs for your reader to either pick up or pass over without realizing that it's a clue for something that happens later on. She revolutionized books for everyone, not just children, and she heavily influenced my young and imaginative mind. Before J.K., I was obsessed with Roald Dahl. I don't know if I have ever read more imaginative children's books in my life; he tapped right into my soul and invited me to spend time with characters that I wished were real because I knew that we would've been friends (like Fantastic Mr. Fox for instance). In middle and high school, I became nuts over Ray Bradbury and John Steinbeck, and in high school I gained an appreciation for classics like The Catcher in the Rye (my favorite book) and Anthem. Lately, I'm reading all kinds of authors and genres, but I'm absolutely mad about the Beats. Jack Kerouac's writing is pure magic to me; I could read him every day, all day (and sometimes do). There are absolutely no rules for him; he just writes it like he feels it and didn't care much for vast amounts of editing, which speaks a lot to the idea that writing from a completely honest place often yields better work than an 'edit-as-you-go' approach. In terms of non fiction, I absolutely swear by Julia Cameron. Her books, including the 'Artist's Way' series and 'The Right to Write' have changed my life and made me see how important it is to grow in my art every single day. Collectively, these authors have shown me how to step out of my own box and embrace all that could be while also thoroughly investigating what is. I know that CyberWorld would not be what it is today without each and every one of their influences."
6) What can we look forward to from you in the future? I know in your author biography you mentioned more adventures in CyberWorld but anything else coming soon? Although truth be told I can't wait for the next adventure involving Max and his friends!!
"Well, I know it won't take 13 more years, but I am hard at work on the sequel to Legend of Alaxeria and am hoping to have some kind of rough draft completed by the end of this year. I have planned for five books in the series, so I'm also simultaneously adjusting the plot lines for those books and figuring out how all the loose ends come together. Though I don't often stray from the Cyber Dimension when I'm in the zone, I have also been working on two television pilots (a sitcom and a musical drama), another book series, a stage play, and something that I should probably celebrate: having TOO many ideas! If I could sit and write all day, I would, but there are things to do and bills to pay, so I write in whatever free time I have. My ultimate goal at this point is to have Legend of Alaxeria published on a mainstream scale and then complete the CyberWorld series with the remaining four books. Then, the sky's the limit. (Though I wouldn't be surprised if in between writing the remaining CyberWorld books I dabble in some other ideas)."
Thank you Josh Conrad for taking time away from your precious writing time to answer the questions! I loved getting a glimpse into your life as a writer! I'm sure my readers will love it just as much!! I know we all look forward to the next from you!!
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