mikedeltagulf asked: Two things I'm curious about, first is Carrick based on one particular person, a multitude of people/stories you've heard, or fragments of your own self? And second I would like to know the publishing process for your book. Did you go out and try to get it published off a major publisher/indie publisher etc?
Hey,
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. Got busy with work stuff and I wanted to give you a thorough response.
That book started with a sheet of poster board pinned to my wall on which I took five names and developed a timeline for each of them. I started writing all five characters based upon certain “types” I had known in my life at the time, but I quickly learned that the one character I was most interested in was Carrick, and the rest of them didn’t hold my attention, so I let them fade away.
Carrick isn’t me in that I never actually had the moments in my life that he does in TGATG. Carrick IS me in that he goes places I have known well, talks to other characters that I created, and was basically something that arose out of my own imagination. But no, he’s not really based on anyone, myself or anyone else. With him, I tried to create someone that was experiencing a lot of pressure, both internal and external, and reacting to it. I can relate to what he was going through, and I guess that’s what I wanted to achieve more than anything. Something relatable. Something with resonance. I don’t know if I pulled it off, but I hope that someone out there finds something honest in it.
