Today I’m having another guest who fits one of the anime and manga tropes: a (kind) random stranger who wishes to remain mysterious. Not much is known about this person and he probably writes under a pen name.
James Kresnik is a novelist currently residing in Atlanta GA. You can find him online on Twitter, Wattpad, Smashwords, or his blog.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: James, your book, Return – The Survivalists, is an OELN: Original English language Light Novel. Light Novels are very popular in Japan and in recent years these stories have been regularly chosen for adaptation into manga, anime, and live-action films. A very limited few are available in English, however, and most is thanks to efforts of fan translators. Then there’s this phenomenon of writing this kind of stories in English, which you are a part of, so to say. How did you end up writing OELNs? What were you influences? What genres within the LN genre interest you?
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While the Asian market for Japanese LNs is huge, I wouldn’t quite call Original English Light Novels a “phenomenon” yet, as is still at the level of “nascent,” just past “crazy idea.” On the other hand, a growing OELN scene is emerging on Wattpad because its encouragement of short chapters and serialization works well with the light novel format; to the point that even if a lot of anime-influenced Wattpad writers don’t call their works Light Novels, their books still fit the format.
I’m an omnivorous consumer of literature. Genre doesn’t matter as long as the story is well-constructed, clever and entertaining. To be honest, until I found Sword Art Online and Baccano, I was more a fan of the format than the actual content.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Give us an insight into your main character(s). What do they do that is so special? And what about the world they inhabit — what’s the idea?
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At first glance, Survivalists like Joshua and Esther are transhumanist beings: their bodies are created and tuned by technological enhancements that are within the reach but not the grasp of contemporary science. But in my opinion, that old cyberpunk trope isn’t particularly special. What I think makes them special is that they are more bluntly honest about their inner drives, motivations and feelings than most anyone dares to be.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Combat? What is your least favorite part of the writing process?
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Generally I have problems with plotting. My plots have a lot of, what should I call it, interdependencies? Unfortunately, I have a habit of adding more details during edits, which breaks all kinds of things “before” and “after” the “during”, and I end up with a mess of spaghetti code. And while we’re on editing, I wish I was a better self-editor. There are many days I’m looking at screen and wishing that I was more detail oriented than big picture-y. Developing self-editing skills is the best gift a writer can give to themselves.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: This book, The Survivalists, is a part of a series. Tell us a little about it. What inspired you to write Return? What are your thoughts on writing a book series?
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The inspiration for a series was that the original story was far grander than I reckoned for. Now, I write my books like they’re going to be an anime someday, and those tend to go on quite a while, don’t you think?
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Who do you consider your target audience? Do you have any plans to bring the story to a wider audience, say, people who read YA in general?
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I’m sure the story already has a general Young Adult to Old-Adult appeal. Strip away the packaging, and the story speaks for itself. The audience will either come, or it won’t, but I’m increasingly confident they will show up someday.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Who does the illustrations for your stories? How did you find him/her? What are you looking for in an illustrator?
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Ah, the talented Laurie Cetryia Thomas! You should speak to her someday, and you wouldn’t expect someone with such a marvelous ability to craft dynamic human energy to be so plain-spoken and laconic. Um, but I digress. I advertised for an manga-style artist on Deviantart and her submission page popped out at me immediately.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: What are your plans with publishing? Will you self-publish or do you consider trad publishing as well? Ebooks or print? Return — The Survivalists is available for reading on Wattpad. How was your experience on that site?
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I wouldn’t call what I have been doing so far “plan” so much as spastic attempts securing financing for a decent editor and keeping Cetryia producing wonderful illustrations. As many self-publishers have also discovered, I need a professional editor to polish the book to the point a respectable literary agent would even give it the time of day.
Unfortunately, another barrier to conventional publishing is iconoclastic elements that would not appeal to the sensibilities of moral simpletons and publishers with outdated assumptions about the influence of entertainment on young minds. After all, we can’t have children brandishing and killing with firearms (something which happens in universe outside of affluent shrink-wrapped bubbles every day); feature minority lead characters in a story targeted at a general audience; exploring defiance of authority in a grounded rather than fantastical and unrealistic sense; displaying a level of gender and ethnic diversity in a way that is neither preachy nor pandering and indulging in a thematic schizophrenia practically unheard of in a corporatized, demographically siloed and all-too-safe western fiction market.
Of course, I would seriously consider the traditional route, provided I keep full control of the story and art. Right now, the most plausible plan is to complete advanced drafts of Volume I (The Survivalists and the upcoming Dreadknight) on Wattpad before launching a crowdsourcing campaign for a fully edited and illustrated print novel early next year.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Tell us something about your writing habits. What does your writing process look like? How much research do you do? Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured? Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day? Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you? Do you have a specific writing style?
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I don’t have writing “process” so much as ample amounts of daydreaming fueled by autodidact rambling, followed by desperate attempts to convey the rapidly unfolding mental scenes onto a page. Seriously though, my actual writing process is to daydream then brainstorm, then talk out the plot — out loud — during my daily goings on, then finally boxing myself in a public but quiet space and converting the plot into a draft. Finally I move into a completely private space to edit as much as possible.
My technical workflow is much different now than when I started. I used to employ a conventional word processor, run the sell-check, edit the manuscript, etc. The problem is that word processors are very meddling. I have a fondness for colloquialisms, and — as mentioned earlier — I am not yet a competent self-editor. As a result, I’m using a different approach for Books 2 and 3: drafting on a plain-text editor, and then making a number of revision passes before submitting to Wattpad and a professional development editor, proofreader and line editor for final publication.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: What made you decide to sit down and actually start something? Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
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I decided to write when my imagination needed a core dump and I needed a change of life pace, which happened shortly after my move to Las Vegas. Before then, I only wrote bad poetry and short stories as student projects which were never intended to see the light of day. I think I always had some intent on being an author, but I wasn’t just going to write something just to feel like a writer. I needed and actual story that would matter to myself and others.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: What are your favorite themes to write about? What draws you to these themes? Where do your ideas come from?
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My favorite themes are romance and the intricacies of conflict, but I love writing about anything involving people, which may explain my tendency for writing borderline schizophrenic thematic clashes. There are some things I don’t care to write about like pure fantasy, science as magic or other expressions of faith, whether dogmatic or idiomatic. I’ll leave that to people who can’t handle a life lived, such as reality television fans and adherents of evolutionary psychology.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors? For your own reading, do you prefer eBooks or traditional paper/hardback books? Do you read manga/graphic novels? If yes, which are your favorites?
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I’m a broad reader who will consume novels, short stories, and online content, historical records, religious pamphlets handed to me from well-meaning strangers whenever I have or make the time. I’m not bigoted toward sources of knowledge or wisdom as I think I have developed the discretion to sort out valid or semi-valid epistemology from various grades of partisan and dogmatic bullshit.
I used to read a lot of Ray Bradbury, Author C. Clarke and the like before moving on to Sylvia Plath and the sort, but my current fiction favorites are Victorian romance authors such as Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, etc. Not to sound sexist, but I’ve become far more interested in then emotional and interpersonal than technological and the alienating.
I’ve also always had a mild interest in modern philosophy — not ancient, analytical or post-modern — but 17th-19th century philosophy such as Kant, Hegel and Nietzsche. I find that philosophy is as much shaped by the times as the philosophy shapes the times and that was a time where the absolute best and worst of humanity was in full display, feuding and stabbing and cavorting and feasting with each other before settling down in the cold wilderness, staring into a meager campfire, pondering the smallness of their existence.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: What do you think is a future of OELNs?
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It’s only a matter of time before this format — or something very much like it, impacts the western literary market. OLENs are an intersection of the growing prominence of Young Adult fiction, the blurring of themes in popular culture and breaking down of those silos mentioned earlier. Then there is the growing and largely untapped market for short-format and mobile-ready fiction, a reemergence of serialized entertainment in the mainstream and the durable presence of anime, games and Japanese/Asian visual culture. I’m confident that OELNs are the literary future of Young Adult fiction. They offer a fresh, author-driven format that can thematically go places that traditional publishes fear to tread.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Do you have any other writing projects besides Return series in mind?
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It’s likely that my next foray is a Visual Novel — essentially an illustrated chose-your-adventure novel packaged as a video game. Of course, it is another loaner from Japanese visual culture. I guess I just can’t help myself, can I?
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: How can readers discover more about you and you work?
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I’m currently publishing the advanced drafts as Wattpad exclusives. I hope that everyone who enjoys the work financially supports the completion of both the online version and the print Return volumes when the crowd-source campaign is announced. I would also like to thank my current fans for their support and well wishes. Thanks and Take Care.
Thank you for participating, James. I’m looking forward to the rest of the Return volumes and that Visual Novel. 🙂
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