Friday - S. B. Redstone - Talking About Heroes, Heroines and Villains

1. Do you write a single genre or do your fingers flow over the keys creating tales in many forms?

I write in many genres and subgenres. This what I said to myself. If Shakespeare, Hemmingway, and James Patterson can write stories that intrigue them, so could I. I have no interest in being a Stephen King, my mentor, who has been writing, as far as I am concerned, tedious horror. My first novel, as yet not published is a horror story with romance and fantasy elements. My first published novel, A Sinister Obsession is a mystery thriller with subgenres of romance and a paranormal female detective. My current novel, Stardust Dreams, is a senior romance with a science fiction background. The novel I am now working on is a serious comedy drama about the lives of seniors in a magical fifty-five and over retirement community. I write my novels in my head first and let my imagination have no boundaries.

Does your reading choices reflect your writing choices?

Yes. I’ll read any book from horror to romance if the characters are interesting and the plot is unique. And the same goes for the stories lurking in my unconscious. However, I am now leaving violence and focusing on more senior romance stories, the world I live in.

Are there genres you wouldn’t attempt?

No. I would like to write a great story in all genres from children books to young adult to adult but their connection would probably be my desire to continue to explore human nature and relationships, having been a clinical social worker and school psychologist in my first two careers.

2. Heroes, Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorite to write?

Honestly, I love them all. When creating great characters like Lance Forrester, Sage Saint Charles, Medora, and Detective Aubrey McKenzie they become so real, I often forget they’re characters, and instead, wonder if I’ve met in real life. Villains offer me an opportunity to write more dramatic scenes, more graphic use of language, and diabolical dialogue. I’ve been asked about writing female characters before, and I’ve said being married for nearly forty-five years, having a daughter, working in education surrounded by women, and being a therapist with female patients, have all given me great insights into the nature of women, but I always consult with my wife to double check my accuracy.  

3. Heroes. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or plain imagination create the man you want every reader to love? Do they come before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?

The plot arrives in my mind first. Then, I think of the characters that would fit the story. My heroes reveal themselves in my mind. I don’t create them. Lance Forrester in Stardust Dreams and Detective Joshua Diamond are loveable dreamers who overcome their heartfelt tragic pasts to help the less fortunate. They have deep passions and are undaunted by obstacles. As Michelangelo was to have said, his characters were in the marble, he just had to release them. My heroes are not me and are me. They do not come from real life. However, many of the cast do as they are pieces of past patients, infamous celebrities, and people I’ve known.  

5. Villains or villainesses or an antagonist, since they don’t always have to be the bad guy or girl. They can be a person opposed to the hero’s or heroine’s obtaining their goal. How do you choose one? How do you make them human?

In Stardust Dreams Lance Forrester will seek a traveling companion to join him on his quest for immortality in the galaxy. I didn’t want an ordinary woman to join him. Sage Saint Charles sort of auditioned for the role in my mind. She is a complex character who had made a mess of her first life and who struggles not to make a mess of her second one. She fights against Lance’s wish to have her fall in love with him. As I’ve said, my careers as a therapist and school psychologist have given me great insights into human nature and relationships. I see all sides of human nature and that makes for realistic characters. In addition, my wife was a New York talent agent and through her knowledge of the business and my interactions with actors and actresses, I had a good sense of their unique natures.     

6. What is your latest release? Who is the hero, heroine and or the villain?

Stardust Dreams is an epic love story that takes place in the near future, on a beautiful alien planet, and then back to Earth two hundred thousand years into our future. Lance Forrester, scientist and astronaut, has built a spaceship to take him on a one way journey into the stars. Not wishing to go alone, he asks Sage to join him. Not wishing to spoil the mystery of my novel, I will say that Lance will meet a loving alien culture with countless mysteries and surprises. In the third part, Lance will return to Earth’s future to find its inhabitants suffering from the devastation of human nature and mother nature. He just might be their savior. 

7. What are you working on now?

I am completing a novel, If We’re Dreaming, Don’t Wake Us! It is my first comedy drama in the style of a Neil Simon play, Plaza Suite. It showcases an ensemble cast of senior citizens in a magical fifty-five and over retirement community. They are given the miracle of youth and good health to live their early lives over again. Some will find greater happiness and some will foolishly destroy it. It essentially explores the lives of senior citizens and grandparents who struggle with infirmity, depression, lost dreams and family crises.

8. How can people find you?

http://sbredstoneauthor.com

https://twitter.com/sbredstone

https://www.facebook.com/steven.rosenstein1

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5336425.S_B_Redstone

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=stardust+Dreams+S.+B.+Redstone