Friday - Frank Talaber talking about Writing and genres #MFRWauthor

1.  What's your genre or do you write in more than one?

Urban fantasy and science fiction. But yes, I do write in many. I’ve been told to specialize, but as a writer I enjoy the challenge of writing in many genres. Besides, I get bored easily and enjoy the challenge of different genres. I’ve written in erotica, in romance, in comedy, in spiritual and done many short stories as well.

2. Did you choose your genre or did it choose you?

I always ask ‘what if’ as a writer. I’d written a romance, which is now published under Shuttered Seduction by Books We Love Ltd. But one day after reading an article about the cutting down of the Golden Spruce tree on Haida Gwaii. Which was done by a white man in protest of logging. The native oral legend is that a prince was trapped inside and hence the leaves have turned gold in sorrow. I remember staring at a totem in the museum and asked myself, what if a prince was trapped inside? After that and doing a lot of research on native legends and stories I began to write and think along the lines of urban fantasy stories. I always lived and believed in the fantastic, must be the gypsy blood in my veins.

3.  Is there any genre you'd like to try?  Or is there one you wouldn't?

I’d like to try young adult, the hard part would be trying to tell a story without getting literal or in other words not using big words or terms. I like using unique words on occasion.

4.  What fiction do you read for pleasure?

Sword and sorcery, I love the old Robert E. Howard novels. Fantasy and science fiction, also enjoy reading some romance novels as well.

5.  Tell me a bit about yourself and how long you've been writing,

Well I’m a licensed automotive technician and run a nine bay auto repair shop. I read and collected a lot of comic books as a youngster. Many had some wild crazy stories, I think that always stuck in my head and began me asking, ‘what if.’ I really began writing back in high school, took a creative writing course and always remember on the first day  flipping through the course material and raising my hand and saying, ‘but it’s blank.’ The instructor replied with ‘yes, it’s your job to fill it.’ The idea was to establish writing flow and at first it was murder putting down one paragraph. But by the end of it, I was pounding out several pages and often took it home to pound out even more. One of the first things I ever wrote publicly was a letter to a comic book (Legion of Super-Heroes) and they published it. I was hooked then and there as a writer.

6.  Which of your characters is your favorite?

Charlie Stillwaters, why see below, a paragraph I had him write for a blog entry.

I’m Charlie Stillwaters, Haida shaman or Ska-ga as we call ourselves, officially Union member three, local one. Yes, not a big union, but then how many shamans do you know personally.
Hello ladies, gentlemen, tree spirits, annoying ravens, goblins, hebegebes, spectral entities, witches and any other assorted bizarre beings that want to hear about me. By the way a couple of these I just threw in since it is getting near All Hallows Eve and thought it might make good exposure. Most of these beings are what I’ve spent my life fighting, playing poker with (by the way ever play spectral poker, you are allowed to read the others minds in order to see their cards, brilliant. Well until you play a drunk chipmunk and all he could focus on is the ace. Boy did I lose a lot of hazelnuts that night. PS. A good hint, if you play a bear, make sure all the salmon are expired, otherwise you throw them on the table to call someone’s bluff and they just flop off the table, making a mess, spilling all the fermented apple juice and usually getting the bear quite upset. Not a good thing.) I try to stick to Tiddly Winks with bears. Much safer. They Tiddly and I wink.

7.  Are there villains in your books and how were they created?

There are. My answer is simple for every hero or heroine, there’s a villain, the old laws of balance and yin and yang. The greater the hero, the greater the villain. And yes, Charlie has battled some pretty great villains.

8.  What are you working on now?

The third in a series, titled Thunderbird’s Wake. A pre-release blurb is below.

Agatha Christie, roll over in your grave, new sleuths on the prowl.  Haida shaman Charlie Stillwaters convinces Carol Ainsworth, a Vancouver detective, to join him as he breaks his way into a high security prison. The duo are determined to find out who killed the previous native elder before all lightning and thunder breaks loose, as they encounter deranged inmates, mystical beings, ancient serpents, wood sprites and someone who should have been dead long ago.

Not your usual crime/mystery!

Not your usual criminal investigators!

You thought Jack Nicholson was mad in The Shining…

Wait until you meet Charlie Stillwaters in the Sweatlodge.

9.  What's your latest release and how did the idea arrive?

My last release is a Romance Novel, entitled, ‘Shuttered Seduction.’

Don’t remember where I got the idea, but I think it all started with the notion of: what if a man and woman were to fall in love, only he was out originally to seduce her and steal her company out from under her feet.