What is your name, where were you born and where do
you live now?
My name is Ben Dobson, I was
born in British Columbia, Canada, and live there to this day.
Did you always want to be a writer? If not what did
you want to be?
I have pretty much always wanted
to be a writer. I started reading when I
was very young—I read my first Hardy Boys book in kindergarten. Since then, I’ve wanted to tell stories.
What is the name of your latest book, and if you
had to summarise it in less than 20 words what would you say?
My latest (and first) novel is
called Scriber. It’s the story of a misanthropic historian
forced to save the kingdom with the help of the King’s warrior niece.
Who is your publisher? or do you self publish?
I self publish
How long does it usually take you to write a book,
from the original idea to finishing writing it?
Hard to say what’s usual, since
I’ve only finished one novel worth reading, but Scriber took me six months from start to finish. Although actually, much longer than that—I
batted the original idea around for several years in a vague way while doing
other stuff. I tend to do that with a
lot of my ideas. I don’t really count that time though--I only
really sat down and really came up with a plot and such six months ago.
Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part
of a series?
I am starting on a new fantasy
trilogy. Scriber was a stand-alone, so it’s a new experience plotting something
out over three books. I don’t want to
give too many details yet, though, since everything tends to change once I get
into the plotting stage anyway.
What genre would you place your books into?
I write Fantasy pretty
exclusively. Not much room for debate
there.
Do you have a favourite character from your books?
and why are they your favourite?
Dennon Lark from Scriber.
He’s a bit of a jerk, which was fun to write. I don’t have a big stable of characters to
pick from, so that’s just for now, but I enjoyed writing him.
Where do you get your book plot ideas from?
My brain? Really though, I played a lot of tabletop
games like Dungeons and Dragons growing up, so a lot of my inspiration comes
from characters and ideas through up for those.
Do you gift books to readers to do reviews?
I did a giveaway on Librarything
for Scriber, and will continue to do so with my later books.
How do you come up with the Title and Cover Designs
for your book/books? Who designed the Cover of your books?
Ronnell D. Porter did the cover
of Scriber. The Quill and Inkwell is the
symbol of the Scribers—the group of historians my main character belongs to—so
I always wanted that on the cover. The
handwritten looking text in the background was all Ronnell, taken from actual
excerpts of things the main character in the book writes. I love the way he placed it so only the most
ominous bits are visible.
How do you market/promote your books?
Poorly! I don’t know, I’m pretty bad at social
networking and the like. I’ve got a
website, and done the Librarything giveaway.
I have a short story called The
Last Hero that I offer for free on a number of sites for anyone who wants a
sample of my work. Beyond that, I’m just
making it up as I go along.
What do you think makes a book a really
good/bestseller ?
That’s hard to answer. I think trying
to create a bestseller rarely works. It
helps to be writing in a genre that’s currently popular, but you can’t just
manufacture a story in that genre purely to make money—it’s got to have some
soul or whatever you want to call it. I
think luck is a big factor too.
Have you ever suffered from a "writer's
block"? What did you do to get past the "block"?
Sure. Sometimes I’ll just take a
bit of time away from thinking about it, and the solution will come when I
least expect it. If that doesn’t work in
a day or two, though, I just have to sit down and hammer out a chapter or
whatever just to see how it goes. It
lets me see what works and what doesn’t.
If I just never go back until an answer hits me, it’s a lot of wasted
time.
Is there a certain Author that influenced you in writing?
George RR Martin,
definitely. The Song of Ice and Fire
books really showed that you can write a fantasy that is less about magic and
more about characters and plot, which appeals to me. Also Guy Gavriel Kay, because he just writes
beautifully, and has a knack for creating extremely powerful moments.
Which format of book do you prefer, ebook,hardback,
or paperback?
I’m all about eBooks. The future is now! Really though, I love my Kindle, it’s easy to
get all the books I want. I live in a
small town, so it’s a real pain to get new books when they come out—our
bookstore has a pretty limited selection.
The Kindle makes things much easier.
What is your favourite book and Why? Have you
read it more than once?
I don’t know that I have a
single favourite book. I love the Song
of Ice and Fire series and I’ve read them all more than once. The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay is
one that I go back to a lot. Also, a bit
outside my usual genre, but I really like Swan Song by Robert McCammon.
Do you think books transfer to movies well? Which
is you favourite/worst book to movie transfer?
I think it depends. Being too faithful and trying to keep things
that don’t work on screen can ruin an adaptation, and completely ignoring the
source material is just as bad, and you tend to either get one or the
other. Sometimes though, you get a Lord
of the Rings trilogy, which for my money might be better than the books, as
sacrilegious as that might be. So that’s
probably my best. Worst—the Golden
Compass. That whole series could have
been amazing in theatres, but they just botched it so bad, took all the soul
right out of it.
What are you currently reading? Are you enjoying
it? What format is it?(ebook, hardback or paperback)
I’m currently reading the entire
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett on my Kindle. I stayed away from them for a long time
because I was being pretentious, all “I want my stories serious, this jokey
business is for lesser humans”. But I
tried them recently, and they were a wonderful surprise. The thing I love about them is that the
characters are never sacrificed for the humor.
As amusing as the books are, I keep going with them because I love
Rincewind and Granny Weatherwax, among others.
Do you think ebooks will ever totally replace
printed books?
Probably not totally, but I do
think they’ll eventually become the predominant form. They’re simply too much more convenient. I know a lot of people like the physical
paper books for various reasons, and I enjoy a printed book myself from time to
time, but you can’t carry more than a few with you at once, and they take up so
much space. I don’t have the shelf space
for the books I have now. I think issues
like that will end up making the difference—eBooks are just generally more practical,
and as much as some people like to be romantic about the old ways (myself
included), practicality tends to win out, historically.
Are there any New Authors you are interested in for
us to watch out for? and Why should we watch out for them?
Myself! Honestly, I think I’m too new to be an
authority on this, but there are dozens of great new authors self-publishing
these days. I just read Moses Siregar’s The Black
God’s War, which was incredible and a fairly recent release, so I’ll go
with him I guess.
website: bensdobson.com
Thank you for doing the interview Ben. Am looking forward to reading and reviewing my copy of Scriber as soon as I have time.
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