This week on the blog, I wanted to try something a little different!  Today I wanted to share an author interview with Rosey Mucklestone, a fabulous author and friend with a book coming out on December 13th!  Without further ado…

 

Hi, Rosey!  Thank you so much for joining me on the blog today.

 

R: Hey, Savanna!  Thanks for having me!

 

So you have a book coming out in just a few days!  How are you feeling about that?  Are there any nerves, or are you mostly just excited?

 

R: Pretty much just excited as far as the release goes. A lot more people than just me have been waiting for this for a while.   xD

I’m just a little nervous going forward about continuing to market it and I’m going to try to get it into a few bookstores.   But yes, mostly excited.

 

That’s so exciting!  How long have you been working on this book?  Is it a relief to finally be moving forward with the publishing process?

 

R: I started writing it in June of 2016, so… wow, yeah it’s been about two and a half years by now.  I finished the first draft and the second draft both in a time slot of 6 months.  And then there was about a year of trying to find a publisher and/or agent.  But judging by the tools I already had at my disposal, and how hard it was to find someone who would take this genre, I decided that self publishing would be the best.  And so here we are!  I’m very excited moving forward.  It’s nice to be able to work things out myself.

 

When did you start writing in general? 

 

R: I’ve always been interested in stories and words.  I was playing out stories with my stuffed animals and siblings since I was tiny.  I actually started a small family newspaper when I was about six.  I wrote a few comic books and stories with construction-paper pages taped together.  And I think I officially opened up a word document and started “officially” writing when I was around eleven.

I actually like some of my paper books that I made better than my first attempt at a novel.  xD  The paper books were sort of a Veggietales-ish thing with adventurous peas and blueberries teaching good lessons.  And then my first book was basically a rip-off of the Viking Quest series.  I’m very glad I didn’t finish that one.

 

I loved Veggie Tales as a kid!  Your family newspaper and comics sound super cute.  What is your favorite genre to write in – do you have one?

 

R: I’m not quite sure how to describe my favorite genre, honestly.  It’s mostly modern day, but I take artistic license, set it a few years in the future, and add in my own technological developments while keeping the world mostly the same as it is now.  Mission Impossible is really the closest thing I can think of.  (Which probably isn’t a mistake.  I love Mission Impossible.)

 

I think we can all agree that Mission Impossible is amazing.  🙂  How would you describe your writing style? 

 

R: Generally humorous.  Conversational.  Hopefully engaging.  Dialogue or thought-heavy a lot of the time.  I really focus on the characters a lot.

 

What would you say your target audience is for this book?  Is there any content warning I should let readers know about?

 

R: Probably about young-adult to adult, though I have read this book out loud to all my 8 younger siblings as well.

Content warnings… there is some blood and violence, thought not throughout. And I think one official swear word.  Though it’s not a very bad one, so don’t worry too much.  😛

 

Do you have a favorite snack or drink you enjoy while writing?

 

R: I actually have a really hard time writing and eating/drinking at the same time, so I don’t really have one.  xD  But ice cream is an excellent writing reward, in my opinion.

 

Let’s talk a little bit more about your book.  Is Blank Mastermind the first book you’ve self-published?

 

R: It is actually not.  Though it is the first book I’ve published through Amazon.  And the first book I’m really taking seriously in the whole self-publishing process.  I self published a few small books early on through Lulu.  I wouldn’t really recommend looking them up.

 

What was your inspiration for writing Blank Mastermind?

 

R: Oh this is a fun one.  I have a few inspirations for writing Blank Mastermind, but actually the very first one that planted the idea in my head was Studio C’s sketch, “Evil Memory Lapse”.  I really love Studio C and that one is still one of my all time favorites.  I thought it was hilarious.  And my idea was “you know how this could be more hilarious?  If the villain had total amnesia!”  And so I decided to write a short story.  (Haha.  Short story.  100k words later…)

Another main inspiration was Jennifer Nielsen’s Ascendance Trilogy, as far as character voice.  I really wanted to write something with that kind of narrative voice that made it engaging.  So I did.

And finally, a character picture of a guy in a leather jacket who looked like a confused villain to me, so I made him into Wolfgang.

 

As an author myself, I find naming my books really challenging.  Did you have trouble naming Blank Mastermind?  What was your inspiration behind the title?

 

R: I actually came up with it before even starting to write the story, because I stuck it right at the top of the document as I started typing it up.  I really can’t remember any particular revelation moment, since I didn’t think I was starting anything more than a couple pages of story.

It was sort of like “Hmm… amnesia and no memories means a blank mind.  And this guy is a villain.  So he’s mastermind.  And his mind is blank.  So it’s Blank Mastermind.”

 

That is fantastic, ha!  What was your favorite part about writing Blank Mastermind?

 

R: I really just loved the whole process behind this book.  I loved the voice I got to write in.  All the jokes I got to make.  The fact that I actually got a really good theme involved.  And this was probably the book I’ve most done by the seat of my pants.  Wolfgang had no idea what was going on for half the book, and neither did I.  I did a lot of brainstorming.  I had a lot of support from friends.  I did a lot of writing in weird places.  It was an interesting time.

 

Do you have a favorite character in your book?

 

R: I’ve never had a project where I loved so many of the characters so much.  So on one hand this is incredibly hard because I love them all.  But the prize will probably have to go to Wolfgang, since he’s the guy I’m writing the most of.  It’s really shocking how much this guy’s grown on me.

 

Thanks again for joining us, Rosey!  Congrats on getting published!  I can’t wait to pick up your novel!

 

R: Thank you!  😀

 

You can learn more about – AND BUY! – Rosey’s novel here!  And you can also check it out/review it on Goodreads here!

 

Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Rosey, discovering more about her characters, or even getting to read a tiny excerpt from Blank Mastermind, you can check out the rest of these fabulous blogs participating in the tour: