Interviewing a published author

It’s 2021, and the world is slowly recovering from the insurmountable chaos of a global pandemic: In many ways, the apocalypse of our lifetime. The order of daily life was upended. Too many lives lost. Should we never again be so unprepared for an ordeal of this scale, these past two years of confinement and fear will truly stand the test of time as an experience that those born in its wake will struggle to ever fully comprehend.

Not all during this time was so dour, however. For some, the months locked up in our homes were an opportunity to take some much-needed respite in our work-driven world, at the least, in the form of being able to work from one’s own residency, on a more relaxed schedule. For others, the pandemic provided the time to indulge in their interests. For many, that meant honing their skills in whatever kind of passions they have. Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing one such person. Tyler Joseph Prenata, an aspiring novelist, who spent most of his time during the pandemic head down, pen in hand, crafting a story he knew the world would one day see. And in many ways, his story is one fit for the times. For some, 2020 was the long-prophesied end-of-the-world. And as if capturing this feeling of dread many of us had to confront and distilling it to its purest form, Tyler wrote into existence a world facing status-quo-shattering menace of an even deadlier caliber.

For the next thirty-seven minutes, we discuss his process in developing his debut novel [OUT NOW], as well as his journey through the publishing world in getting his novel “The Creature Without A Voice” out onto the shelves. It’s conversation any aspiring writer should hear. The transcript reads as follows:

Interviewee: Tyler Joseph Prenata, @_tjsp_1
Interviewer: Yugo Vex, @yugovex

Date: Tuesday, October 12th

Interview Medium: Phone

Attendees: YV = Yugo Vex (interviewer), TP = Tyler Joseph Prenata (interviewee)

YV: Yo, what’s up my boy!

TP: Yo, what’s up ####!

YV: How’re you doing Tyler?

TP: I’m doing pretty good, how about yourself?

YV: Dude, I’m doing really well! So good to hear from you. The last time I saw you we were going pretty crazy.

TP: Oh yeah, definitely.

YV: You rallied like a champ. That’s the only thing I’m always going to remember about that night. So yeah man, do you just want to dive straight into this?

TP: Yeah, let’s go for it!

YV: Awesome. So, I have a bunch of questions here written out for you. You can just answer them to the best of your ability.

TP: Alright.

YV: So, first question:

What does writing mean to you?

TP: Writing is an escape. When I had hard times in my life, I’d kind of just sit down and write. Writing to me, is a place where you can go, and use your imagination, and kind of just forget about reality for a second.

YV: Okay, that’s pretty solid man.

But in escaping, is it about crafting this world where your problems don’t exist? Or is it about creating problems for these characters in this world that kind of relate to what you’re going through? In what kind of way is it an escape for you?

TP: So, when I’m writing, I always take what I’m going through in the moment, and try to equate it to, or add it into my story. So, my most recent one for example, that’s getting published, I cover addiction, and alcoholism specifically. You know, alcohol has been a huge detractor to my personal life, but also, my mother’s, my father’s… So, when I’m working through all of that I write a story and play those things out through my characters and see how they deal with it.

YV: Solid, lad. That’s a cool way of working through things that are on your mind.

TP: Yeah, yeah, not trying to pay a therapist.

YV: So, a bit different from what writing means to you:

Why do you write?

TP: Why? I guess I’ve never thought of a why more than it just being something for me to do to pass the time, and kind of get my head through whatever I might be going through at that moment.

YV: Okay, I hear that. Sometimes there doesn’t even need to be a why, so that’s perfectly valid. In terms of my writing, I don’t really ask a why either. I guess I write because I think there are things that need to be said, but there doesn’t have to be this grand meaning to it, and I can respect the fact that there doesn’t have to be this over-arching theme in your life that drives you to writing.

TP: Yeah.

YV: So, next question:

When did you start writing?

TP: I started writing when I was like- seven years old.

YV: Oh, that’s insane.

TP: Yeah. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Dragon Ball Z-

YV: Yes, bro! One of my favorite series ever.

TP: Absolutely. I used to love it. And I still do. And [when I was seven] I actually just started writing a fanfiction based on it. And at that point, I just realized, that, I just really enjoy this. And, whenever I was writing, I got to just immerse myself in the world I was making. So yeah, about seven is when I started writing.

YV: That’s really cool. And you’ve just kept that up your entire life?

TP: Yeah. I never wrote a novel, or anything like that before what’s going on now, but I’d just write little, short stories and stuff to keep for myself.

YV: Solid!

So, how old are you now?

TP: Right now, I’m about to turn 23.

YV: It’s good to be a young writer! Coming up with your first novel before the age of 23. Like, I’m 22 and I’m trying to do the same thing, so, I think it’s a good time to be running and getting into the craft.

TP: Absolutely bro. You and me both.

YV: Okay so…

What was the first piece you actually wrote? Those Dragon Ball Z stories?

TP: Yeah, I would say so. Little fanfiction things, like be it Naruto or Dragon Ball.

YV: Okay rad dude. Can you tell me a little about some of those fanfictions? Like, who would you make fight?

TP: So, it’s been years, but I remember the Dragon Ball Z one was about Yamcha-

YV: Oh insane! This guy chose a good character to dive into. Underrated.

TP: Oh yeah. Well because he well- It’s hard to remember, but the Saiyans, and anyone with genuine immense power were wiped out. And Yamcha had to be the one to figure out how and why, and he had to be the one to fix everything.

YV: Damn. That sounds like a pretty good growth story, especially for a character like Yamcha, who gets clowned on so much.

TP: Oh yeah.

YV: So, I see that the writing vision started early.

TP: Yeah, pretty early.

Right out of the gate, Tyler is someone I know I can connect to. It’s in the way the tone of his voice changes as he speaks… When he describes writing as a means to work through the challenges he faces in life, there is a sagacity to every word he says, as if he has stumbled onto a way of life well beyond his years. While in the next breath, he recounts his days as a youth, toiling away at his own take on a well-established progression-fantasy, one I often lost myself in as a child. There’s something in that duality, being able to use his writing as a mirror for his problems now, versus allowing himself to explore the limitless horizons of a classic manga in the past, that tells me Tyler has a bond with writing that’s hard to ignore. He might not see a ‘why’ in why he does it, but it’s clear to hear that there is a ‘why’ to read what he writes.

YV: Okay, so onto your novel:

Why don’t you just tell me a little about it.

TP: Sure. So, it follows this girl named Alexia, and she kind of has to live through the end of the world. There’s almost like an alien creature that comes to Earth and starts inhabiting people’s bodies. And she is essentially witnessing the end of the world. She hides away with her parents for a long time, before her home is broken into, and her mother and father are both killed in front of her, and she’s then taken captive by this guy named Georgie-

YV: And is Georgie just another survivor in this world?

TP: He is, but he’s turned into this almost tyrannical ruler. So, he takes Alexia and abuses her, in really every way imaginable. He keeps her locked in his basement. Hardly feeds her. Until, one day, this guy, Donny, comes and saves her from that place. And they end up traveling together. And eventually we find out that Donny has a problem, with alcohol, and drugs. And the person who she met when she was saved turns into someone more akin to Georgie.

YV: That’s quite the story. So, is this kind of about Alexia trying to escape this captivity while also trying to survive this end-of-the-world situation against other people and this alien? Like, how does the alien play into her being captive?

TP: You know The Walking Dead? The zombies are there, but they’re not the biggest part of the story. They’re just kind of a catalyst.

YV: Yeah, okay. That’s an interesting angle to play it.

TP: Yeah, so the aliens are the ones to destroy the world, but the people trying to rebuild it, are really the ones who are really making the world a better place in the aftermath, or a wicked place, depending on their outlook.

YV: Damn. Okay. I won’t pry too deep, just because I don’t want you to give away any big spoilers. But this alien menace sounds like a good backdrop to your world. It bringing this world-ending event and seeing humanity having to pick up the pieces.

TP: Uh huh.

YV: Okay, so:

How much research did it take for you to write this novel?

TP: So, with this novel, honestly, I didn’t do much research. You know, I looked into alcoholism, and how alcoholism leads to depression and mental struggles like that. Where, depression will affect someone’s emotions going into situations and how that can be expressed in different ways. So, like, how some people can walk around, and you can look at them and you’d think “Wow, they’re depressed.” And other people you wouldn’t even know until it’s too late. So, the mentality of people is what I really looked into when I was researching my book.

YV: That’s fair. That sounds like a subject you could really find some depth in, and really pull out some profound stuff about what you do in that kind of situation [an alien invasion], and if that situation exacerbates your problems or if that’s what clicks in your mind and makes you start fighting against this depression. So, I really like that man.

TP: Yeah, thank you.

YV: Okay, so:

Why did you choose an alien being to come to Earth, to be the bringer of this end-of-the-world destruction?

TP: Honestly, I really love the game, The Last of Us. You ever heard of it?

YV: Yes dude, I love The Last of Us.

TP: Yeah man, it kind of just got my head thinking about telling a story, not similar to that, but that I felt covered topics in the same way, that the game didn’t touch on.

YV: Understood. And in the same way, I get what you were saying about this kind of focusing on the humans in the story like in the same way The Last of Us really focused on Joel and Ellie, and it kind of diving into their psyches, while the Clickers were kind of just this backdrop that allowed their story to be told.

TP: Right, exactly, yeah.

YV: Solid man. So, without giving too much away:

Put me in the shoes of your primary cast. What are their goals? Their day-to-day struggles and tasks? What does it look like [for them] during the apocalypse?

TP: So, essentially, the backdrop of the world right now is: You have these creatures walking around, and the world is ending, and, the main character, Alex [Alexia’s nickname], she’s this really innocent girl, thinking that everyone around her has her best interests at heart, whether they’re strangers or not. So, she’s really naïve. And, through the hardships she goes through with Georgie, and what she witnesses and has to do, she changes through the story to be a much more reclusive and jaded character than she is in the beginning.

And then the other character, Georgie, is someone who, has seen the world fall apart, and sees the opportunity to make it his own. So, he puts on a good front in front of his people; Charismatic; Happy; In charge. But behind closed doors he’s extremely wicked, extremely judgmental, and extremely vindictive.

YV: Yeah. You know what scares me about Georgie, is that in a situation like that [an alien invasion], on one hand you could be this Alexia character who becomes more hardened as things happen, but I feel like a lot of people would turn into Georgie’s, where you see an opportunity, to kind of make something of yourself during this hard time, and suddenly you’re taking one step, and two steps, until you wake up this person who’s willing to sacrifice lives — and I don’t know if that’s what Georgie does — but you become this person who’s willing to take risks that might hurt other people, in the name of your own gain.

TP: Right, he says “For the greater good.” That everything he does is “For the greater good.” So, if someone needs to die, or if someone needs to get hurt, someone can’t eat, it’s simply for the greater good.

YV: Scary character. And I know that definitely reflects reality in a lot of ways. [Just look at mask, toilet-paper and sanitizer resellers during the early panic stages of Covid-19]

TP: Yeah. And I guess the third primary character that would round out the three main characters in the book is Donny. And Donny is someone who puts on a really big smile, really gentle spoken, kind of looks out for the underdog, at the beginning. But when he starts getting this alcohol back into his system and falling into his old ways of addiction, we find out that he’s actually really really depressed, and at the beginning of all of this, he beats himself up because he watched his daughter die in front of him, and instead of helping his daughter, he realizes that he’s a coward, and he runs away, and lets her die.

YV: Yeah, that would definitely eat someone up hard.

TP: Yeah. So, with Alex, when he looks at her, he sees a second chance, to redo that error. But he inevitably starts falling into his old ways.

YV: Damn, I really like all of these characters. I can’t wait to see them on the page. So, my next question, and I think you kind of answered this already, was:

Were there any other novels that inspired your own?

And, you said The Last of Us.

TP: Yeah, so, the weird thing with me, is I don’t technically don’t too much reading. I get a lot of my, inspiration, through other forms of media. So, like, movies, especially anime, and videogames. Anime and videogames are like the biggest ones for me. Those really inspire me to write a lot.

YV: I’m honestly the same way.

TP: Yeah, yup.

YV: Okay, so The Last of Us was kind of the main inspiration for this?

TP: Yeah, you could say that.

YV: Fair, fair.

As we go on, I feel like I start to understand Tyler ever so slightly more. He’s only a year older than me, but despite the continental differences we had in terms of where we grew up, it sounds like there are more similarities between us than I would’ve thought. Tyler, like me, found himself engrossed in the world and story of The Last of Us, and the influence of its kind of storytelling on his own shows. His villains see themselves as worthy of empathy, his heroes battle vices of their own making, and the world simply prospers or burns as a result of direction its people take it, in the wake of an apocalypse. He tells a story that reflects the realities of who we have become today. “For the greater good.” Any number of billionaires today might likely be caught uttering the same words if ever questioned over why they hoard their wealth over spreading it. To build spacecrafts for the future perhaps. Easily a pursuit worth subjecting thousands to barely livable working standards to accomplish, right?

Tyler dives deep into the psyche of a character willing to paint a grand picture, if it means sacrificing the small strokes. Whether that is a justifiable perspective in Tyler’s eyes, or if it offers a critique of some of our own world’s most infamous figures, remains to be seen.

YV: So:

How long did it take you to write this novel? And how many words did it end up coming out to?

TP: So, the word-count is just under 50,000. About 49,500. And it took me about, five months to write, beginning to end, like my first draft of it. Then it took another three months on top of that to get it edited enough to where I felt it was good enough to send out. So, I would say like eight months in total.

YV: That’s really good man! I’m working on my first novel, and it’s been about nine months. I’m on the last chapter right now. So, you zoomed through yours comparatively. For every chapter I did you would’ve done it in at least half the time. That’s really good.

TP: Yeah man.

YV: And is this your usual writing speed for something up to 49,000 words?

TP: Yeah, I would say so. I’ve never done anything this long, but I’d say I write pretty fast.

YV: Okay, that’s cool. And a follow up question:

Are there any authors you’d like to see your name placed against, or beside rather?

TP: Dude, I’m shooting for the stars man. George R. R. Martin, and Stephen King, and you know, people who can just really craft a world to immerse the reader. That’s my biggest goal.

YV: Fair. I like the sound of that. And shooting for the stars is never the wrong approach to take. By the way, before I started this interview and when I was writing that question, Stephen King was definitely a name that popped into my mind based on what you told me [about your novel] the last time we spoke. I thought “This guy could definitely be in the vein of Stephen King.”

TP: Yeah man I’m praying. We’ll see.

YV: So, this is kind of a question about what interests you.

What does it take for a book to really captivate you?

And I guess you said you were into anime and videogames too, so we can talk about those too.

TP: A story that has character progression. Like, I can’t watch- I don’t like Superman or Batman or any characters like that, because the characters don’t really change, you know what I mean? Like they’re going to be the same at the beginning as they are at the end. But stories like The Last of Us and stories like Red Dead Redemption, those are games, and stories I love because of the drastic changes from beginning to end.

YV: Fair. Yeah, I think progression is definitely one of the strengths of manga over comic books — since you probably like manga if you like anime — is that the characters always have these massive arcs over the course of the story. They always progress power-wise, but also in terms of their morality, their character, their age: Everything about them grows, which is different from comics where characters go through reboots every couple of years.

TP: Right, and you just reminded me of another huge inspiration for me: The manga Berserk.

YV: Oh, you read Berserk?!

TP: Yeah man.

YV: Crazy.

TP: That was a huge influence from seeing how pain and trauma change Guts from the Golden Age arc to the Black Swordsman, and how he changed through that. So that was also a huge inspiration for me.

YV: Yeah man. This is kind of an aside, but how did you feel about Kentaro Miura [the author of Berserk] passing away?

TP: Dude I was heartbroken! I was so sad man. Heartbroken.

YV: Yeah man. It’s like, those [kinds of] writers do so much work. The fact that they can draw their own story while actually writing the entire story themselves is a level of craftsmanship that is really hard to match. And Miura in particular was an artist of the highest caliber.

TP: For sure man. It was beautiful. He did everything himself. Everything by hand. It was incredible.

YV: Yeah.

[Silence]

Ok. So, you were talking about character progression. Is that something you made sure you integrated into your novel?

TP: Yeah. It’s like I said: The story gets repetitive and boring if the character is always just the same, no matter what they say, or experience. If they’re always just the same person throughout the story, there’s no point in reading the story. You know they’re just going to be the same at the end as they were at the beginning, and they have little to no change throughout. So, character progression is definitely the number one most important thing in a story for me.

YV: Ok. Good to know. So… Moving away from the actual writing process of your novel and towards the publishing process:

Walk me through the steps it took for you to find a publisher.

Tyler: So, the steps that I took was, I didn’t have an agent, and I wanted to see if I could- You know, without an agent there’s nobody helping you, so the author has to get the book out to publishers themself. And I sent [the novel’s manuscript] out a couple weeks after it was done, to three different publishers. And at first, all three rejected me.

YV: The dreaded rejection.

TP: Exactly. And at first, I thought, “wait, maybe this story sucks.” So I went back to the novel, read it through, and was like “You know what, no, I think that the story’s good enough to be published, and I think people would find enjoyment in it.” So, I tried again, and sent it out to three more publishers. And again, one of them you know, rejected me. But the two others accepted me. And I had to decide which was the better one.

YV: Oh, solid!

TP: And the better offer came from that publishing house I told you about, Olympia, so that’s the group I’m going with.

YV: Cool. Dude that’s a rad process. I was going to talk about a literary agent, but it sounds like you didn’t need one. There’s this concept in publishing, and it’s called the slush pile. And actually, I’m doing a publishing class right now where they talk about how writers will send out their work to a bunch of publishing houses, and there’s this thing called the slush pile, where they’ll put a ton of writers’ works, like, all authors who’ve sent in manuscripts will have their works go to this pile, and eventually the manuscripts will get read. And my literary agent professor was telling me how in this day and age slush piles aren’t really popular anymore, and it’s not an effective way of getting your novel out. So, yours really had to be impressive to get out of the slush pile and into someone’s hands, versus a literary agent bringing it to that same person.

TP: Right, and if I had been rejected again by all three, I would’ve- I was looking into literary agents, but I didn’t know too much about them. So, I guess I’m just lucky someone decided to pick up my manuscript and they liked it.

YV: Yeah, that’s good stuff man. That’s all we need in this world. And now you don’t have to split your profits with any literary agents.

TP: Thank God, yeah.

YV: That’s a big win for you. So, you were talking about the editing process. Once you got in contact with Olympia, did they have an editor in-house that looked over your work?

TP: So, they do. So, right now I’m negotiating a contract, and they do have an in-house editor, that, as soon as I sign the contract, they’ll send it to their editor and see what, or if they want to change the manuscript in any way, to make it more akin to what they want.

YV: Right. Fair enough.

TP: Right. Other than that, the editors I used to really edit my book were people around me who I trusted. People who could be realistic with me if something in my script needed fixing or to be changed.

YV: Yeah, that’s always good man, finding those people you can trust. Back home in South Africa I have this friend of mine, and he’s also a writer, and he’s the only person I can really trust in this world to send my work and he’ll give me back all of the tips I need, all of the critique. It’s good to find those kinds of people.

TP: Absolutely dude. Makes the process a lot easier.

YV: It really does man. So… This is kind of a fun question:

Do you already have a book cover in mind? And if so, describe it to me.

TP: So, really, I don’t. But I’ve thought about it a few times, and I think- this will get into the ending of the book. But I don’t care-

YV: I care! Don’t give me this if it’s important to you.

TP: Ok. So, there’s like this house, essentially where this story ends, and there’s very big build-up to it. High emotional build-up. Alex, who, is alone, coming up on this house. And I thought of just giving the novel this cover of this house, in the foreground, and maybe the monsters walking around in the background.

YV: I like that. I like that a lot. Would it be like a forest-y kind of background?

TP: It’s actually more like a field. It’s in the distance but there’s like a wide landscape on the house.

YV: Oh, damn. So those monsters being in the background of that cover would be really ominous against this picture of the house on an open field. If the reader looks at this cover it’d be like “Oh, is she running away from the monsters right now? Is she going to make it to the house in time?” That’s pretty gripping stuff.

TP: Mmhmm, yeah.

YV: ’Cause, there’s a technique to making good book covers. I’m excited to see what you end up coming out with. You and the publishing house.

TP: Yeah, me too.

YV: Okay so, speaking of the publisher, you did say Olympia picked up the manuscript. What was the other publisher that lost out?

TP: DAW, it’s a subsidiary of Penguin publishing.

YV: Oh seriously? That’s crazy.

TP: Yeah, so those were the two that wanted the book. But Olympia publishing were just more my speed, my style, so I went with them.

YV: Cool. Solid man. So, this is kind of getting into the nitty gritty of your publishing process:

Did you feel like you were being respected through the negotiation process? Or to put it more bluntly, did you ever feel like you were getting robbed while you were making the deal?

YV: I wouldn’t say so. I would say that the whole process was really… Easy. You know I think I mentioned it to you when I saw you last that normally a publishing house would give like, 10% of the book-sale proceeds back to the author. Olympia’s giving me 25%.

YV: That’s incredible man.

TP: Yeah, and they said, “we really have faith in your book to do great things, and we’d really like to talk to you more and explore possibilities of a contract.” And I reached out to them, and I talked to them, and a few people on the phone, and everybody was really easy to talk to. Everybody was really easy to deal with. So no, I really wouldn’t say I had too much disrespect at all.

YV: Dude that’s really good to hear.

So, when you say you’ll get 25% of the proceeds, does that mean for every book you sell you get 25% of the profit?

TP: Yes.

YV: Okay, solid. That’s really good man.

Have they already spoken about if this is going to be out at, say, Barnes & Noble or anything like that?

TP: Yeah, so they said every major book seller will have a copy of the book.

YV: Dude that’s amazing!

TP: It’s really sick. Definitely blessed to have the opportunity to have that.

YV: Right. Uhh, there’s a question that just came up on my mind, you mind just giving me a sec to get back to it?

TP: Yeah, no worries.

[Pause]

YV: Ah okay it’s gone. It doesn’t matter, don’t worry about it. So, based on your experience with the publishing process:

Do you actually see a viable future in continuing to write?

TP: I definitely would like to see that. I’m working on my second novel right now actually. And it’s already 40,000 words deep. I’m only like one-third of the way through the story.

YV: Dude that’s insane! When did you end your first novel and when did you start this one?

TP: So, I ended my last novel last year, maybe around the August/September [2020] range. And as I sent it out to my friends and family to look it over and tell me what they thought I had already started my second one.

YV: That’s incredible.

TP: Yeah. This one’s taking a bit longer, but it’ll be worth it.

YV: Yeah, I bet. It’s good that you’re kind of like, upping the ante with this second novel, like you’re not backing down at all.

TP: Right yeah.

YV: Right. So…

Through this entire journey, have you picked up any tips for aspiring writers, for their writing process and through the publishing process?

TP: So, for the writing process, the thing that I realized, is that I wanted to map out every aspect of my story, to the tee. Like, I had bullet points saying my character should start here, they have to get here, they have to get there. And as I was doing that, as I was writing, you know, the characters were changing in ways where that didn’t make sense. So, I think it’s good to have an ending in mind, but be open to changing a lot of your ideas based on how the characters evolve through the story.

YV: Fair, because at the end of the day, the characters are who drive the story.

TP: Right. And then for the publishing process I would just say, don’t get frustrated too easily. Rejection sucks, especially if it’s like your first book. But it’s just something you’re going to have to go through.

YV: That’s completely correct. Okay, fair. So, you were talking about the latest novel you’re working on:

You mind giving any sneak peaks into that?

Or is that locked up in the vault right now and you’re just hunkering down on it in secrecy?

TP: It’s all good. So, my first book is written in first person. This second book is going to be written in third person. And it’s a Western, and it has to deal with a child slavery trade going on, which was something that was done in the United States during that time, because sometimes they didn’t have enough workers to get the work done. So, kids were taken from their homes, and sold to different places, where they were made to work. And [the novel] is essentially about a character who figures this out and does everything in his power to stop it.

YV: I cannot wait to read that. Have you done a lot of research for this one?

TP: Oh yeah, because you know, it’s a Time-Piece, so, I had to learn how they talk, you know, the drawl, the voice, how I could integrate that into their speaking, their dialogue, the text. And like, weather patterns, and saloons, and small towns, things like that, I had to look into.

YV: Crazy man. Well, I’m super impressed at the fact that you’re putting in all that work. But that about brings us to a close. I’m really excited about the rest of your career, sounds like you’re really on the way to making some waves, so yeah, I would love to talk to you again sometime-

You there? Sorry, we broke up real quick.

TP: My bad. We’re good now.

YV: No problem, I was just saying that we pretty much wrapped up the interview, so you kind of dipped out right on time. Your career really interests me man, I think you’re going to be going a crazy ton of places with the work that you’re doing, the concepts you’re playing with, the kind of themes you’re diving into. Everything about your work sounds immensely gripping and captivating, and it sounds like stuff people would want to read, so I’m really excited for where this goes. But yeah, it was great talking to you man.

TP: For sure, and thank you man. It means a lot.

YV: Of course, man. Another young and up-and-coming writer? How could I not take the chance?

TP: For sure. You and me’ll be on the best-sellers’ list.

YV: You best believe it. I’ll let you know when I’m done with my novel and I get it out to publishers and that whole shebang man. Hopefully we’ll both be on some bookstore shelves soon.

TP: For sure dude, and that’s before the movie deals come in.

YV: You know the vibes- Ah, wait dude, that reminds me of that question I forgot during the interview, thank you!

Have you and the publishers spoken about any movie rights, animation rights, or voiceover rights?

TP: So, all that Olympia has told me so far is that it depends on not only the book sales, but also if there’s anyone who finds the book interesting, say a director, or writer, they could get into contact with the publisher and I, and we could work out a deal from there.

YV: Ok. That’s a good way of dealing with it. In that publishing class I’m doing right now I hear that sometimes the publishing house will negotiate to own the [film, animation, voiceover] rights beforehand, just in case the book becomes big. But the fact that they’re leaving the door open for you and for people to see the book and get interested in it means that you’re probably going to get the best kinds of reception to it from people who are interested in working on it [for cross-media content], and from there you’d be able to negotiate the deal, not from before the novel even gets out.

TP: Exactly, yeah.

YV: Alright. Thank you. You brought back the final question I had for you. So that’s pretty great.

TP: Awesome.

YV: Ok, so it was good talking to you Tyler, we should definitely do this again.

TP: Absolutely.

YV: And hopefully I’ll just see you soon and we could catch a drink or something. [Courtesy of being over 21]

TP: Sounds good to me.

YV: Alright man, cool. Thank you, bro.

TP: My pleasure. I’ll catch you on the flip side.

YV: Yeah, peace!

[call ends]

And with that, Tyler and I conclude our bombshell interview delving into the mind and life of a young writer at the helm of his craft, early into the 21st Century’s newest decade. If this piece was a success, it should’ve been as enlightening for you as it was for me to conduct. I for one, know I’ll be keeping my eye out for any work that comes out of that good fellow’s pen.

I look forward to seeing what all the next generation of writers do with some of the inspiration and motivation gained from this interview.

So until the next time we meet, I bid you…

Adieu.