1. What is your name and where do you call home?
My name is Dean Murray, and I’m originally from Idaho, but have lived for more than a decade in Utah. I’ve also lived in Manhattan, the Bronx, and a small town in Minnesota. Generally it seems like the slightly more rural life works best for me.
2. What is the name of your most recent book and if you had to sum it up in 20 or less words, what would you say?
My most recent book is called Torn. In 20 words or less:
Shapeshifter boy is torn between protecting his pack and a growing fascination for the new girl in school.
3. Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
I’ve actually got plans for quite a few other books, some of which are already done and nearly ready to be released. Torn is told from the point of view of the male protagonist, but I’ve also written the same story only told from the point of view of the female protagonist. Broken is still a few weeks away from going live, but once it does, readers will be able to purchase the two stories separately, or as a combined double novel. My grand plan there is that I want readers to be able to start with either story and get an enjoyable experience, but still have a few questions that pull them into the other point of view.
The sequel to Broken and Torn (tentatively titled Splintered) is currently being edited, and I’ve also got several short stories out to advance readers that are part of what I call my ‘Dark Reflections’ world. It’s meant to be an alternate timeline set in the same world as Broken and Torn, with many of the same characters. It lets me explore all kinds of different avenues with my characters that I couldn’t do along the main timeline. Bad guys are good, good guys are bad type stuff.
4. What or who inspired you to start writing? And how long have you been writing?
While I was in college I stumbled onto a guy who was writing fanfiction who was really good. At the end of some of his novels he had a challenge to give writing a try because it ‘wasn’t that hard’. I took the challenge, wrote a couple of fanfic novels, and have been writing most of the nine or so years since then.
5. Do you gift books to readers for book reviews?
I’m very open to this idea. Being an indie writer gives me some really neat control over my career, but it also means it’s just a little harder to get my name out there, and I’m always happy to send people copies of my work to help get the word out.
6. How did you come up with the cover? Who designed the cover of your book?
My wife Katie did the cover for Torn. She’s done all of my covers except for Frozen Prospects, and I think she’s done a great job. Since Broken and Torn are so closely related I asked her to do covers that had the same feel to them. I felt like having just the eyes visible on the cover model added a bit of mystery to the cover which suited the story well.
7. Which is your favorite cover of all the books you have written?
I have several covers that I really like and that I think Katie did an especially good job, but my absolute favorite is the cover for Longing. She put it together from a few different images, but the result is so clean that I think it wins hands down.
8. How did you come up with the title for your book?
Katie comes up with titles for an awful lot of my stories, but I think I actually came up with this one on my own J. I essentially tried to boil the story down to its most basic pieces and I realized that more than anything Alec was torn between conflicting desires. I tend to really like one word titles where I can get away with them, so from there it was pretty easy.
9. Do you prefer e-books, paperbacks, hardcovers or audiobooks?
I grew up with paperbacks and hardcovers. There are probably some books I’ll still buy in hardcover because I need to complete my collection, but for quite a while now I’ve been an e-book convert. The convenience of being able to have a book on my phone so it’s with me wherever I go is a huge plus in my mind.
10. Have you ever read a book more than once? And if so what was it?
I frequently go back through books I’ve read before as I find I still enjoy re-reading them. I read all of the Twilight books multiple times both because I really loved them, and because I wanted to capture some of the things that made them so good and do the same thing with Broken and Torn.
I’ve also read most of the Robert Jordan books multiple times, and for a while there the only e-books I had were David Weber’s Honor Harrington books, so I’ve read some of them four or five times.
11. What book are you reading at the moment? And in what format?
My father-in-law loaned me a copy of The Alchemist in paperback which I’m struggling to get through, so I took a break and read B Justin Shier’s Zero Sum in e-book. It’s a bit bloody; I wouldn’t recommend it to the younger crowd, but he writes very enjoyable novels
12. Do you have any advice for other writers? And what’s the best advice that you have been given when it comes to writing?
Most of the writing advice I’ve taken to heart is from people like Dean Wesley Smith, which is really what lead me down the path of indie publishing. I’d have to echo his sentiments that writing is mostly about putting your butt in the chair and working at it. A novel especially, I think, is much more like a marathon than anything else.
13. Where can your readers follow you?
Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4749826.Dean_Murray
Twitter: @writer_dean
Thankyou so much for taking the time to do this interview and allowing us a glimpse into your writing world!
i need 2read my review copy/cool intrv
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to interview me, Rachel.
ReplyDeleteRoro, I'm excited to hear what you think when you've had a chance to read your review copy of Torn!