Charles Yallowitz is here today with the most recent addition to his Shattered States series, Chasing Bedlam. If you’re unfamiliar with Charles’s work, he’s also the author of the Legends of Windemere fantasy series, with twelve books to date. And he presents a strong argument why Spiderman would win in a fight with Batman.
Lloyd and Cassidy’s last adventure was to honor a life. This time they are out to end one.
It was a normal, violent mission to Texas that should have had nothing more than beer-induced hiccups. That is until an old enemy makes off with Cassidy’s jeep and most of their gear. Needless to say, she’s pissed off and challenging Lloyd for the psychopath of the month award. With the mouthy serial killer by her side, she is going on the warpath from Dallas to Miami even if it means declaring war on the drug cartels.
So strap in for another wild ride through the Shattered States and learn why you never mess with Cassidy’s jeep.
What do you wish you’d known before you were published?
I really wish I knew how much went into the promotion side of things. At the beginning, I knew a blog would be helpful and tried to have fun with it. As time went on, I began looking into more social media sites and trying to learn them. Most didn’t help much, but the biggest problem was that it felt like it took more time to promote than it did to write, edit, and publish my books. Thankfully, I’ve found my comfort zone and realized that what works for one author doesn’t always work for another.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Never stop having fun. I’ve come close to looking at this more as a job than a career, which can wear on my creativity. It leads to me going through the motions and then I have more work to do during editing. So, I’d really tell my younger self to hold onto that spark I had when I was in high school. It wasn’t the neatest thing to work with, but there was a passion that fueled me for hours.
What do you love most about the writing process?
There are so many aspects to choose from, but my favorite stage is the initial creation. It probably stems from me having to spend ten years only doing outlining and character bios in preparation of getting real writing time. So this has become a haven for me. When I don’t have much time or feeling stressed, I grab a notebook, pick a future idea, and tinker with it. Don’t get me wrong though. The other stages are a lot of fun, but creating something from nothing is where I feel the most excitement.
What’s your favorite kind of cookie and why?
Tough one because I love pastries in general. Can’t go wrong with chocolate chip, Oreo, or anything with peanut butter. Yet, I would say my favorite are the Neapolitan cookies. They were a weekend treat when I went to Shul and the kids got to the food first. We’d make a race for those cookies, which were always moist. There was also a sweetness to them that wasn’t too overpowering. I don’t indulge as much as I used to, but now I have this temptation to buy a box next time I go grocery shopping.
Who would win a fight between Spiderman and Batman?
I know this isn’t going to be a popular answer, but I’m working with them simply running into each other and having no prep time. Spider-Man is stronger and faster than Batman, but he doesn’t have the martial arts training. So this evens them out as long as the web-shooters and batarangs negating each other. Now, the only reason I say Spider-Man is because of his spider sense. This means Batman can’t sneak up on him, which removes stealth from the equation and puts it in Spider-Man’s favor. Also, I’ve always been more of a Spidey fan. To be fair, Batman regains the advantage if he’s given time to plan since he’d probably create something to negate the spider sense or threaten to reveal that Peter Parker is Spider-Man unless he throws the fight.
If you were an animated character, who would you be and why?
Tough one because I’ve seen so many cartoons and my personality tends to put me as a background character. As far as one that I would want to be is Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. Not only because he’s short, but he’s very creative with his powers. He can create things using alchemy, which can range from turning his metal arm into a blade to transforming a battleship into a robot. I see it a lot like how I write a story, but mostly I’d love to get chores done with those powers. Not to mention all of the fun I could have in public or simply goofing off. This is probably why I shouldn’t be given any superpowers.
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you, and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.
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Reblogged this on Legends of Windemere.
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This is a fun Friday interview, Teri. Always nice to know more about Charles. Hugs all around!
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Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
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Fun interviews are always my favorite. Hugs, Teagan!
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Okay, don’t laugh but I had to look up Neapolitan cookie. I don’t think I ever had one. Now I want one, LOL.
Loved your take on Spiderman vs.Batman, Charles, You’ve also inspired me to start jotting future story ideas in a notebook. Sounds like fun! 🙂
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I used to call them rainbow cookies and they were the most cherished ones in the Jewish platters. After temple, most of the kids would rush to get at least one of them.
The superhero one was tough and I did bring it up with friends later. Most went with Spider-Man unless they were fans of the movies more than the comics. Guess it depends on the medium you enjoy. Notebooks are a blast. There are pocket-sized moleskins that I used to carry around. Rather durable.
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Honestly, I’d forgotten about those cookies until Charles mentioned them. I never tried them, but have a vague memory of seeing them in stores.
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I have notebooks with ideas too. Time is the biggest factor these days. Great interview.
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Time is so elusive. How do you organize your notebooks?
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I don’t, they are lists of loose ideas. Sometimes one has more merit, so I start a new page and add characters, etc.
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I just have them in stacks. I’ve been slowly making master notebooks to organize everything. Seems like I take far too much enjoyment from that stage, so I keep it going.
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After a page of notes, mine move to a storyboard app.
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Cool. I’m always nervous about storing my notes on computers. I used to do it, but I lost too much to crashes, corrupt disks, and broken flask drives.
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I have the cloud too, and I’m not saving an entire novel in paper format.
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Maybe I’m just an old fogey here. Dropbox works for me and my novels though. They’re far to big to keep printing out. By gar, I remember the days when printers were the size of a fridge and ink cost less than a new car.
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I’ve been known to use a thumb drive, but I’ve been known to risk it all too.
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Not even sure what I would do if I lost everything. Probably a lot of crying.
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I have a few notebooks myself. Thanks, Craig!
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Some of our ideas are fleeting. They might be great ideas, but when we’re in the middle of a different project, we can forget about them. I like to write them down.
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Super interview with Charles, Teri. I’m reading Chasing Bedlam right now and am enjoying it. Nice to know about the Neapolitan cookie. I liked all the answers. Thanks, Teri and Charles.
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Thanks and now I really need to get those cookies. Too close Passover to indulge though. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the story.
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Thanks, John – and thanks for the RB!
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My pleasure. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Fiction Favorites and commented:
Two of my favorite authors get together for a chat.
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Thanks for the reblog.
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Great interview, Charles! I love to grab a notebook when I’m feeling stressed too.
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It’s funny how I’ve come back to the Marble ones. I should have added that it’s a terrible idea to use spirals. Those can’t take as much abuse as the others.
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What a fun interview for a Friday afternoon! I’m intrigued by your books, Charles…a “must read” for me now. Thanks, Teri, for hosting this adventure….
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Thanks and have a fun weekend. Hope you enjoy the books when you get to them. 🙂
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Thanks for dropping by, Gwen.
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