Here is the link to Gwen’s site: http://www.indieauthornetwork.weebly.com/index.html G.D. Steel's blog is free promoting of your arts. As I am wont to say {as does Facebook} our site is free to comment and share and always will be free.
For the rest of the month of January and possibly into February of 2012,we will be interviewing new and seasoned authors, first at Gwen's and then over here.
I’m happy to introduce N. Barry Carver in our interview studio today, the 19th of January. Barry recently returned from surgery apparently with a fist full of medicines and an extremely happy attitude. Let us say hello to Barry ~
Hi, I'm Back!
Not 100% yet, that'll take a few... but I I've got enough Hyrdocodone, Morphine and Benadryl (for the hives from the Morphine) on board that I should be able to be... colorfully interviewed.
Here's a stab at it:
====
[Applause]
O thank you, thanks, thanks everybody.
I'm so glad to be here with you on your show today Paula!
Your fans and mine have been buzzing for a week about this and now it's finally here. =Mwah= Thanks so much for having me on!
Now don't you hold back... feel free to ask all the tough questions you know everyone else is just to wimpy to ask me directly, k?
Hmm... that's a good question. What HAS inspired me to write? Let me see.
Well, from early grammar school on, I have always just hated sitting down and writing. No, girl, you heard me right. I hate to write.
But, I guess, I hate even more the idea of passing from this life without leaving anything behind but a big ol' heap of stinkin'... carbon footprint. So rather than sink into eventual anonymity, shame and pointless that is the destiny that awaits us all... I decided I'd jot down a few things and hope that - with lots of editing, rewriting and promotion - a word or two of it might be remembered after my pen has gone dry - so to speak.
In this, I take the view that men may just be a little more motivated to produce art, architecture or corporate behemoths because, unlike women, we can't produce anything else.
I think that women may create for different reasons... because they have the ability to actually create people that will usually go on after them (and generally are predisposed to think well of them). When one can make actual people, why they would bother to make anything else is beyond me... but, of course, that may just be Uterus envy. The fact is, as with most things on this planet, the talent thing seems pretty evenly divided sex-wise.
But, you asked what motivates me and trying to be remembered (or thought to be 'of value') is right at the top of my list of motivators. So, anyone playing into my co-dependency is always welcome!
The other main motivator is that I have always been a storyteller. Of course this most of the time written down as being: "A Big Fat Liar" - but, since I get an occasional atta-boy for my stories, it's all good with me.
So, to encapsulate that, I'd have to say that my motivation to write boils down to being both an egomaniac and compulsive liar.
Now I suppose, if I were clever about it, I ask my good friend and fellow author Marc Samuel to analyze that last sentence above and see what he could make of it... but, since he's too kind (usually) to just flat out agree with it - I'll leave someone else to ask him
Hmm... do I show my manuscripts to a confidant?
Mostly, no. I write what I write and that's pretty much it. The years have softened me somewhat and I have a few keen eyed friends that I will tap from time to time to look over a piece before I thrust it into an unsuspecting public... but I'm very picky about that.
I'll usually only show a somewhat final draft to a friend or two that I know won't butter me up with platitudes.
Fans of your stories (and mine), often offer comments and suggestions... but they are sometimes just too filled with praise and support. While neither you nor I have anything but respect for those who've so loyally stuck by our various endeavors - when you're looking to better the quality, tone - or even just punctuation - of a piece, it's better to go with someone who'll be a bit more honest than polite.
You want someone offering you their perspective on your work to be, just a little, cutthroat. That way you can either defend your choices in a good argument or take the offered suggestions and work them in - either way, you're going to look at your work more carefully (perhaps in places you glossed over before) and wind up with an improved story.
This is why, on occasions when our crazy schedules (both personal and literary) allow - I look to you as a sounding board... even on pieces I know are not really 'in your wheelhouse' so to speak. And I'm really proud and flattered when you ask these little favors of me.
If we are serious about nothing being more important that just the words on the page - interactions with out peers (in a very bald-face and wide-horizon sort of way) are indispensable.
People who are afraid of editing (and editors) aren't really serious writers - in my mind.
Now you ask about genre and I honestly don't have an opinion on that.
I'll write anything. If someone says it has to be a mystery, I'll give it good try. If they have certain phrases, pictures or parameters of, say, a story competition, I'm all over it.
But may heaven help the idiot that suggests that some genre is 'hot right now' or 'always does good business' and tries to write something that smells like the latest tweeny best-seller. Those efforts are, almost universally, met with the disastrous outcomes they deserve.
There must be a million Twilight-wannabees bobbing around out there right now. Most are completely disposable but there are a few, buoyed up by promotion that will champion anything that remotely resembles a sequel to 'a hit', that continue to float around and stink up the place no matter how much everyone tries top flush them away.
Yes, I've been told that I write in a very visual way... and, no, that's not always a good thing. But it usually leaves little question about where I stand on some things.
Yes, I've certainly based characters on people I've known. Most of the time this isn't malicious - but, sometimes, I can resist the fun of being a little... I don't know... spikey.
Advice I offer freely to writers is that they should write a lot. If they're unproven - which means in this case that no unbiased person has offered an unrequested recommendation or positive critique - they should write even more.
I think the wisest course for most writers is to write as best they can - and then put it in a drawer for a week without looking at it (while writing other stuff). If, after you take it back out and make the obvious corrections you overlooked when it was fresh, you can run it past a reliable peer... then you might want to consider opening it to a select group before giving it wide release.
Every single day I get e-mails from writers who've written twelve chapters and, honestly, should never have written more than a paragraph without getting some serious proof-reading. People begging for reads - that have clearly already burned this bridge with me - or announcing an 'update' (which, in writing, is a weird word choice. It's either a new chapter, a new story or a new draft... an update is something one does to their status on FaceBook or to follow up on a tweet) - these are deleted the moment they arrive.
Along with anything that starts with either "Whaddup?", "I know this isn't very good but...", or anything using texting vernacular. That sort of thing is okay in its place - but it is an anathema to literature of any kind. No self-respecting publisher, agent or eve author for that matter, is going to take such a letter seriously. It is, again, an auto-delete.
I do tend to write things where I have a message or moral and if the reader doesn't find it too heavy-handed then I'm happy. If I'm going to spend a portion of my life working out the details, selecting the proper words and writing it all down - I think it would be very unlike me not to have a reason for doing so.
You pose an interesting potential in the capturing of a character escaped from one of my stories... but I'm afraid it's too interesting for me to answer. And by that I mean only that you may have provided a jumping off point for a new story altogether. Let me cogitate on that one... but it is a good trick.
Now on the question of why someone who hasn't yet read one of my stories might wish to do so, I can only offer this little list:
1. I'm pretty careful with words and, unless it's part of the plot, I will not waste your time by using too many words or unimportant dialogue. If I leave it in the version of the story that ends up in the public eye - I will have chosen the right words to say what I really want the reader to hear.
2. I will not 'dumb-it-down'. Most people are a lot smarter than they're given credit for... even by themselves. I attempt to use the exact word required for the nuance I want to portray. If it's an unusual usage of the word - or I send the reader scrambling for dictionary once in a while - I think they'll find it was worth the trip.
3. People who have read one of my stories... have usually read several. If someone does that, in my mind, they found something in the writing that they connect with no matter what genre or storyline each piece happens to be in.
They are, just as you and I are, having a conversation with me and, once they'll initiate that interaction by reading one of my stories (few are over ten pages) - they are usually inclined toward continuing it.
And that's really the best endorsement I've ever had of my work.
My latest stuff (with two new pieces coming very soon!) can be found here: http://www.bookrix.com/-barrycarver
And some other views of me can be found by visiting these sites:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142573/
http://FlickeringImage.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&ie=UTF8&field-author=N.%20Barry%20Carver
Thanks for having me... and hugs to all those looking in! - Barry
Hi, I'm Back!
Not 100% yet, that'll take a few... but I I've got enough Hyrdocodone, Morphine and Benadryl (for the hives from the Morphine) on board that I should be able to be... colorfully interviewed.
Here's a stab at it:
====
[Applause]
O thank you, thanks, thanks everybody.
I'm so glad to be here with you on your show today Paula!
Your fans and mine have been buzzing for a week about this and now it's finally here. =Mwah= Thanks so much for having me on!
Now don't you hold back... feel free to ask all the tough questions you know everyone else is just to wimpy to ask me directly, k?
Hmm... that's a good question. What HAS inspired me to write? Let me see.
Well, from early grammar school on, I have always just hated sitting down and writing. No, girl, you heard me right. I hate to write.
But, I guess, I hate even more the idea of passing from this life without leaving anything behind but a big ol' heap of stinkin'... carbon footprint. So rather than sink into eventual anonymity, shame and pointless that is the destiny that awaits us all... I decided I'd jot down a few things and hope that - with lots of editing, rewriting and promotion - a word or two of it might be remembered after my pen has gone dry - so to speak.
In this, I take the view that men may just be a little more motivated to produce art, architecture or corporate behemoths because, unlike women, we can't produce anything else.
I think that women may create for different reasons... because they have the ability to actually create people that will usually go on after them (and generally are predisposed to think well of them). When one can make actual people, why they would bother to make anything else is beyond me... but, of course, that may just be Uterus envy. The fact is, as with most things on this planet, the talent thing seems pretty evenly divided sex-wise.
But, you asked what motivates me and trying to be remembered (or thought to be 'of value') is right at the top of my list of motivators. So, anyone playing into my co-dependency is always welcome!
The other main motivator is that I have always been a storyteller. Of course this most of the time written down as being: "A Big Fat Liar" - but, since I get an occasional atta-boy for my stories, it's all good with me.
So, to encapsulate that, I'd have to say that my motivation to write boils down to being both an egomaniac and compulsive liar.
Now I suppose, if I were clever about it, I ask my good friend and fellow author Marc Samuel to analyze that last sentence above and see what he could make of it... but, since he's too kind (usually) to just flat out agree with it - I'll leave someone else to ask him
Hmm... do I show my manuscripts to a confidant?
Mostly, no. I write what I write and that's pretty much it. The years have softened me somewhat and I have a few keen eyed friends that I will tap from time to time to look over a piece before I thrust it into an unsuspecting public... but I'm very picky about that.
I'll usually only show a somewhat final draft to a friend or two that I know won't butter me up with platitudes.
Fans of your stories (and mine), often offer comments and suggestions... but they are sometimes just too filled with praise and support. While neither you nor I have anything but respect for those who've so loyally stuck by our various endeavors - when you're looking to better the quality, tone - or even just punctuation - of a piece, it's better to go with someone who'll be a bit more honest than polite.
You want someone offering you their perspective on your work to be, just a little, cutthroat. That way you can either defend your choices in a good argument or take the offered suggestions and work them in - either way, you're going to look at your work more carefully (perhaps in places you glossed over before) and wind up with an improved story.
This is why, on occasions when our crazy schedules (both personal and literary) allow - I look to you as a sounding board... even on pieces I know are not really 'in your wheelhouse' so to speak. And I'm really proud and flattered when you ask these little favors of me.
If we are serious about nothing being more important that just the words on the page - interactions with out peers (in a very bald-face and wide-horizon sort of way) are indispensable.
People who are afraid of editing (and editors) aren't really serious writers - in my mind.
Now you ask about genre and I honestly don't have an opinion on that.
I'll write anything. If someone says it has to be a mystery, I'll give it good try. If they have certain phrases, pictures or parameters of, say, a story competition, I'm all over it.
But may heaven help the idiot that suggests that some genre is 'hot right now' or 'always does good business' and tries to write something that smells like the latest tweeny best-seller. Those efforts are, almost universally, met with the disastrous outcomes they deserve.
There must be a million Twilight-wannabees bobbing around out there right now. Most are completely disposable but there are a few, buoyed up by promotion that will champion anything that remotely resembles a sequel to 'a hit', that continue to float around and stink up the place no matter how much everyone tries top flush them away.
Yes, I've been told that I write in a very visual way... and, no, that's not always a good thing. But it usually leaves little question about where I stand on some things.
Yes, I've certainly based characters on people I've known. Most of the time this isn't malicious - but, sometimes, I can resist the fun of being a little... I don't know... spikey.
Advice I offer freely to writers is that they should write a lot. If they're unproven - which means in this case that no unbiased person has offered an unrequested recommendation or positive critique - they should write even more.
I think the wisest course for most writers is to write as best they can - and then put it in a drawer for a week without looking at it (while writing other stuff). If, after you take it back out and make the obvious corrections you overlooked when it was fresh, you can run it past a reliable peer... then you might want to consider opening it to a select group before giving it wide release.
Every single day I get e-mails from writers who've written twelve chapters and, honestly, should never have written more than a paragraph without getting some serious proof-reading. People begging for reads - that have clearly already burned this bridge with me - or announcing an 'update' (which, in writing, is a weird word choice. It's either a new chapter, a new story or a new draft... an update is something one does to their status on FaceBook or to follow up on a tweet) - these are deleted the moment they arrive.
Along with anything that starts with either "Whaddup?", "I know this isn't very good but...", or anything using texting vernacular. That sort of thing is okay in its place - but it is an anathema to literature of any kind. No self-respecting publisher, agent or eve author for that matter, is going to take such a letter seriously. It is, again, an auto-delete.
I do tend to write things where I have a message or moral and if the reader doesn't find it too heavy-handed then I'm happy. If I'm going to spend a portion of my life working out the details, selecting the proper words and writing it all down - I think it would be very unlike me not to have a reason for doing so.
You pose an interesting potential in the capturing of a character escaped from one of my stories... but I'm afraid it's too interesting for me to answer. And by that I mean only that you may have provided a jumping off point for a new story altogether. Let me cogitate on that one... but it is a good trick.
Now on the question of why someone who hasn't yet read one of my stories might wish to do so, I can only offer this little list:
1. I'm pretty careful with words and, unless it's part of the plot, I will not waste your time by using too many words or unimportant dialogue. If I leave it in the version of the story that ends up in the public eye - I will have chosen the right words to say what I really want the reader to hear.
2. I will not 'dumb-it-down'. Most people are a lot smarter than they're given credit for... even by themselves. I attempt to use the exact word required for the nuance I want to portray. If it's an unusual usage of the word - or I send the reader scrambling for dictionary once in a while - I think they'll find it was worth the trip.
3. People who have read one of my stories... have usually read several. If someone does that, in my mind, they found something in the writing that they connect with no matter what genre or storyline each piece happens to be in.
They are, just as you and I are, having a conversation with me and, once they'll initiate that interaction by reading one of my stories (few are over ten pages) - they are usually inclined toward continuing it.
And that's really the best endorsement I've ever had of my work.
My latest stuff (with two new pieces coming very soon!) can be found here: http://www.bookrix.com/-barrycarver
And some other views of me can be found by visiting these sites:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142573/
http://FlickeringImage.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&ie=UTF8&field-author=N.%20Barry%20Carver
Thanks for having me... and hugs to all those looking in! - Barry
Well, since I'm now completely and thoroughly interviewed-out... I'll just mention that I'll have two new pieces over onBookRix.com before the week ends (and, yes, I know it's Thursday already)!
The first will be an entry into a new area for me... erotica! Don't worry, I'll keep it on the very much PG side of that genre's normal X-rating. The piece will be titled (and you're welcome to cogitate on it): RUBBED - the wrong way!
The other piece, aimed at the Memory Contest on another part of the site, is simply titled: Dad. I didn't (couldn't) even write a blurb for it. You'll just have to know that every word is exactly as a remember it and just trust me that its something I thought it might be good for us to share.
Beyond that, and looking just at those folks that will head over to BookRix to read the collection of my more recent works and re-writes, I have to remind folks that comment and hearts are very important - to both the author and the establishment. So please, always make your mark in one way or another.
As always, the rules of netiquette remind us that, if we have something good and positive to say about something we've seen on the web: TELL EVERYONE! If, especially with me, you see something that ticks you off or you just don;t like... I'd appreciate a private note. No matter how many I get... I do (I really do) read every single one.
Okay, let's all wave Bye-Bye for now and send out a big dating-game kiss:
Thanks!!!
The first will be an entry into a new area for me... erotica! Don't worry, I'll keep it on the very much PG side of that genre's normal X-rating. The piece will be titled (and you're welcome to cogitate on it): RUBBED - the wrong way!
The other piece, aimed at the Memory Contest on another part of the site, is simply titled: Dad. I didn't (couldn't) even write a blurb for it. You'll just have to know that every word is exactly as a remember it and just trust me that its something I thought it might be good for us to share.
Beyond that, and looking just at those folks that will head over to BookRix to read the collection of my more recent works and re-writes, I have to remind folks that comment and hearts are very important - to both the author and the establishment. So please, always make your mark in one way or another.
As always, the rules of netiquette remind us that, if we have something good and positive to say about something we've seen on the web: TELL EVERYONE! If, especially with me, you see something that ticks you off or you just don;t like... I'd appreciate a private note. No matter how many I get... I do (I really do) read every single one.
Okay, let's all wave Bye-Bye for now and send out a big dating-game kiss:
Thanks!!!
The link for Rubbed - The Wrong Way http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-n-barry-carver-rubbed
Unread replies start below for topic 'Interviews:Come in and join us as we interview auth
Thanks Paula!
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, there's more to come....