Writerly Wednesday Welcomes C. A. Sanders

Writerly Wednesday Welcomes C. A. Sanders author of The Watchmage of Old New York and Song of Simon.

Interview

1.   What is your favorite marketing task that has resulted in a sale?

What I’ve found works best (and it’s really the only thing that works) is to actively engage readers.  Make friends with reviewers.  Answer comments on your blog and facebook page.  Comment on tweets.  It’s very easy to get lost in a sea of spam (there’s an image for ya).  You have to make your own waves.

2.   What do you like about your publisher or why did you decide to Self Publish?

The reason why I believe in selling to publishing houses is because I want my work to be the best it can be.  A novel has a lot of working parts.  The writer is just one of them, the biggest one perhaps, but not the only one.  A good novel needs proofreaders, editors, layout artists, cover designers, marketers, and a ton of other things a writer can’t get from self publishing.  I am very grateful to Damnation Books for making Song of Simon as good as it could be.

3.   What do you have under your bed?

I’m speaking theoretically as I haven’t been down there lately, but I’d say a lot of dust bunnies and lost bandanas.  If there’s a monster under there, he’s not doing a very good job.

4.   Are you a plotter or a pantser when you are writing?

I am a plotter.  I make sure all of my plot points, world notes, and characterization are in place before I start.  This doesn’t mean that I won’t change them, but if I’m gonna go for a long drive, I want a map.

5.   Do you write in a bubble or do you prefer critique groups, writing buddies or other companionship during the process?

This is hard to answer.  I would prefer to work in a critique group, but they are hard to find and harder to keep together.  Instead, I write the first draft in the bubble and then submit to my beta writers.  I write several drafts of a story before it’s finished.  Each one goes through the beta process.  I’m not a perfectionist, but I’m pretty damn close.

6.   When do ideas come to you and how do you capture them?

The kernel of “Song of Simon” came to me in a fever dream, and it later grew from a rant about a certain vampire series.  An odd combination, as there a no vampires or kernels in the novel, but it’s the truth.

I tend to have my best ideas as I’m falling asleep, and I make sure to write them down.  There have been times when I forgot, and I always regret it.

7.      What is your favorite word processing program and what other tools do you use, pen, notebooks, white board, index cards, finger on fogged bathroom mirrors?

I use a combination of Microsoft Word, legal pads, and text messages to myself. I used to be a music journalist, and I carried a recorder with me (the machine, not the instrument, though I can rock out a sweet cover of “Smoke on the Water” on one).  A recorder is a bit of overkill now, since I don’t need exact quotes.  I’ve written ideas on envelopes and napkins in the past, but modern technology makes it much easier.  These are wondrous times that we live in.

Bio

C.A. Sanders is an author, journalist, and professor. His debut novel, Song of Simon, is available in e-format and print at DamnationBooks.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or your local bookseller.

In addition to Song of Simon, his award winning and immensely popular webserial “The Watchmage of Old New York,” is available with FREE registration at JukePopSerials.com

C.A has a BA in Creative Writing from SUNY New Paltz and an MA from The City College of New York. After graduating in ’00, C.A. took on a variety of unique, interesting, and occasionally terrible jobs, in order to gain experience for his writing. C.A. has worked as a tarot reader, a writer/actor in a dinner theater, an ambush salesman, a non-profit solicitor, a Human Resources pencil pusher, a music journalist, a guitar instructor, a limo driver, and a Special Education teacher, to name just a few. He currently tutors and teaches creative writing.

A lifelong New Yorker, C.A. lives in the suburbs of NYC with a turtle that he has had since he was six years old. He is patiently waiting for MetroNorth service in his area.

C.A. is convinced that this is the year that the Jets win the Super Bowl…he says this every year.

Email: casanders77@gmail.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/casandersauthor
Twitter: @CraigASanders

Blurb for “Song of Simon”

Life was never sweet for Simon. He lived in suburban New York, dodging high school bullies and strumming his guitar. Things were about to get much worse.

Simon is drawn into the land of Algavar, where High Priestess Teretha has imprisoned their god in amber. He falls into a holy war led by Ilyana, a renegade priestess who claims to be the Messiah. Simon agrees to accompany Ilyana on a quest to kill Teretha, and he sinks hip deep into the violence and despair that permeate Algavar.

Will Simon become the hero Ilyana believes he is, or will he lose his soul in a bloody world so different from his own?

Buy links:
“Song of Simon,”

from Damnation Books.  http://tinyurl.com/sosdb
from Amazon. http://tinyurl.com/sosamz
from Barnes & Noble http://tinyurl.com/sosbandn

Blurb for “The Watchmage of Old New York”

This serial is unlike any you’ve ever read: a serio-comic mashup of history, fantasy, gumshoe, and steampunk wrapped in a lovingly detailed 1855 New York City.

Nathaniel Hood is the most powerful wizard in New York City.  As the appointed Watchmage, Nathaniel is tasked with

regulating, protecting, and providing justice to the overwhelming mass of magical creatures immigrating to New York.

When an obscenely wealthy couple’s baby is stolen, Hood suspects mystical involvement.  Read on as the Watchmage plumbs the depths of the magical underworld that lies beneath the “streets paved with gold.”

And that’s just the first story arc…read on for goblin terrorists, Sidhe mobsters, cruel mages, and a colorful cast of heroes, villains, and every day New Yorkers in one of the most tumultuous times in the city’s history

“The Watchmage of Old New York”
from JukePop Serials (FREE) https://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/357

Excerpt from “Song of Simon”

Liam was crying. Simon crawled over to him and saw that the boy’s arm was broken.

“Come on, buddy, we gotta keep moving,” Simon said. “It’s only a half mile or so. Let’s go.”

Liam found his way to his feet through the sobs. Ommar cut the horses free, and they ran screaming into the woods.

“Damn, I was hoping we could ride those. Simon, you run ahead as fast as you can. I’ll catch up with Liam.”

Simon nodded, and took off down the dirt road. His side ached from his wound. He had never seen so much blood, so many bodies butchered, and the smell–sickly sweet, coppery and everywhere.

About a quarter mile from the cave, a sentry stopped Simon. Before the sentry—a newly-bearded youth named Shain—could question Simon, the young man from Westchester (just North of the City) threw himself onto the surprised sentry.

“The farm’s attacked…everyone’s dead…Ratlings…they…oh god!”

Shain’s face turned to chalk at the news. He slowly, with jittering fingers, pulled the horn from his belt and blew three staccato notes. He was quickly answered by three notes from the cavern’s opening.

“Can you keep running?” Shain asked.

Simon nodded.

“Let’s g—”

From far in the woods, a deep note rumbled from what must have been a huge horn. Simon and Shain looked at each other and ran for the safety of the caverns.

The Order of the Burning Spear had come.

Buy links:
“Song of Simon,”
from Damnation Books.  http://tinyurl.com/sosdb
from Amazon. http://tinyurl.com/sosamz
from Barnes & Noble http://tinyurl.com/sosbandn

Contact Info:

Email: casanders77@gmail.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/casandersauthor
Twitter: @CraigASanders

Thank you Craig for being my guest and I hope to see you here again.

…If I Should Die and Milk Carton People by Sally Franklin Christie are available at your favorite book-seller in print and e-formats for your favorite e-reader.