Author Interview: Welcome author Frank Riganelli

I'm excited to have Frank Riganelli who shares his experience as a writer! His experiences along with his compassion for first time authors moves him! Let's see how he does it...

Welcome, Frank! Tell us about yourself and your book.

 

Well, I've enjoyed the telling of a good story for as long as I can remember. That led me to write five novels and my latest book that helps people write their own. I've had the good fortune to be able to travel, and have lived in six countries - from North America, to Europe, and to the far East. That doesn't include home, which is Canada, where I live now on Vancouver Island. I have one son, and my hobbies are writing and tutoring English when I'm not at my full-time job.

 

My latest book is about helping first-time authors write their own novel, and, as you might guess, it's titled HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL : For First-Time Authors. I feel like all the novels I've written are in this one book, in a way, because it looks at what's involved and what the writer goes through in writing their tale. But as for my last full-length novel, it's a cross-genre thriller. An epic, I'm happy to say. I love epics stories. I managed to combine two stories in it; one about a girl struggling through a difficult personal time, and a second about the timeless question, 'Why are we here?' Epic Sci-Fi is my favourite genre. I picked up an appreciation for sciency things having studied engineering. I'm not exaggerating when I say it took a lot of reflection to be able to mesh the two into one coherent whole. And that was before I even wrote the first word. I was able to shape the story to be able to use the book cover's tagline, 'The world's final chance', and I don't think I'm giving anything away if you see the cover, when I say that it all comes down to the main character of one of the stories; a girl going through a struggle in her life – how she's led to face it - and how that will literally save the world, in a grand-design-by-powers-that-are-beyond-us, kind of way.

 

... I'm just kind of hesitating because different people prefer different descriptions of a novel. I mean, the pitch, for example – the hook with the marketing angle. Some people want that enticing description about adventure and intrigue, then there are those more interested in literary devices used, and if a work is at the level of literary fiction. So ... hmm, who to cater to? I'll say that the epic novel is one big metaphor of the grand design. One imaginative interpretation of it. And while the story has a few motifs, like the troubled personal times for a person and their vulnerability in it, and a depiction of who started it all – the world, us, everything, I didn't write the novel to make any particular point or send any important message. It is done, I know, but my writing it was more about using the many literary devices available and hopefully tell a great story. It's theme, which would be the imperfection of man, and perhaps a sub-theme to it that addresses conflict would be man versus himself, but another main theme is man, or life, more appropriately, versus the universe, given the story's premise.

 

... I'm pausing again because I never know when to stop when going into detail about the novel. It's hard in this case to know if a visitor to the site wants to know much more beyond the luring pitch and back cover blurb. That's why a person reads the book. I mentioned the overall metaphor of the book, and then there's the metaphor represented by one of the main characters, the girl. Her struggle is a metaphor for people in general, who need to change in some way to help themselves. And it's precisely this idea of change in a person that is so significant to those who started everything. They watch in on the girl and choose her as a pilot test, so to speak, to determine the best way to give direction to the world.

 

Some people like to know what inspired an author to write their novel, so I've wondered at times how to best explain this. Then I quickly remember that my personality type is drawn to complex plots, and, if I'm not mistaken, the whole epic idea – the big story, the great conflict, saving the world, that type of thing – that's probably why I love epics. That said, after my debut novel that was a corporate thriller, which I spent a year writing, re-writing, editing, and polishing, and this one that was just as packed, I changed pace and wrote a romantic satire novella most recently - and a collection of romance short stories before it. Oh, I suppose I should give the title of these books. GLOBAL COLLUSION : The Cover Up, is my corporate thriller first novel which I wrote fourteen years ago. I drew upon my background in global companies to tell a story about a breakthrough product that offered people genetically enhanced abilities at a dear price, but a mistake uncovered by the main character in its development begins a chase across the world to silence him. People savvy of his finding are murdered, and he dodges who he thinks are spooks, trying to formulate a plan to expose the truth with his close friend who is a lady reporter. The roller-coaster story travels from Toronto to Rome, and to Geneva and Los Angeles, while Anthony Brina, the main character, is intercepted by Eva Su, an enigmatic woman who befriends him and helps by using her mysterious contacts. The book sold its first dozens of copies before website problems prevented any further distribution of it. The epic I mentioned is THE RENAISSANCE SPHERE. PASSION & DESIRE, and REEGO LENVY (a satire), I don't talk too much about, to be very honest. They're more about the creative endeavour to me than about any avid participation in their genre, which I don't have. I purposely put 'This is not BDSM' on the book's listings, because they aren't, but the romance does get steamy, physical, and descriptive.

 

You mentioned you’ve had challenges writing this book. Would you like to share what those are? How did you work through them?

The challenges. Yes, I remember. In my PM to you, I was referring to the challenges in the writing, but I also faced some other challenges.

 

I found myself in foreign countries while writing the different novels, and the idea of tropes and cultural references bogged me down a bit. The main character of THE RENAISSANCE SPHERE, who's named Madison Skyler, could easily be imagined to live in a metropolitan American city, given how I wrote her and that part of the story. But I was in South East Asia when I wrote the book, where certain tropes didn't really apply with the same effect, and the character's situations and reactions to them was a bit different too than what went on around me. The consideration of what market to target for the book was a challenge also. Like I'd mentioned, I had problems listing the book on the Internet, and so writing to a different geographic market meant using appropriate tropes and character profiles. It was all a bit opposite to the trope of an author writing away in a secluded cottage where it's quiet and they're not distracted, and can easily give total concentration to the writing, knowing exactly what reader their writing to.

 

Then there was the challenge of tech problems, which, I suppose, every author faces. I got computer viruses and lost entire manuscripts of novels I wrote, aside from the ones I mentioned. I wrote a horror novella, and a sequel to THE RENAISSANCE SPHERE, but lost both to viruses. I still can't believe it. LEGEND STATION was the horror novella that was several stories twined together in one plot. It was another creative endeavour – I wanted to let loose with descriptive writing – I had just finished a writing course on the skill - and didn't focus so much on plot. One reader described the story as written with the sole intention of 'Scaring the sh** out of you!'. That was nice to hear. I took it as an affirmation of the work.

 

Challenges ... hmmm. Ah, yes, how can I forget this funny little happening. I was designing the cover for my debut novel, and wanted to get a real photo of a portion of a newspaper to fit into the artwork design. The story had a character, Mina Kent, from California, who was a journalist. I rushed out with a friend to where magazines for foreigners were sold, expecting to pick up a newspaper, but was dumbfounded when my friend reminded me that in Beijing there are no foreign newspapers. I enjoy a little chuckle over it in hindsight – I was so absorbed with the writing at the time - but it was another difficulty one finds when being abroad. Things ended up that I corresponded with Liu Jing from Italy as she poured herself into finishing my book cover in Beijing. She was more of a Photoshop guru than I was. I owe her one.

 

Specific to the writing itself, there was the challenge of weaving the twisting and turning thrillers so they didn't have plotholes, and fit together like a completed puzzle. I guess that's a  challenge to writers, in general. 

 

Writer's block comes to mind, but truthfully, that's never really been much of a problem. Lack of inspiration, and motivation because of distractions, have been, however. I remember writing well into the night at times because the ideas were flowing like a gusher. I woke up days and went straight to my computer, not showering or even eating until late in the day. The inspiration has been more for sitting down to map out a story idea in detail, and then once I'm writing, the inspiration helps write those great scenes. I do struggle with feeling at peace to consider writing a next novel, I guess that's not as much about inspiration as it is about circumstances and motivation, though.

 

Managing the story's pace while being sure to include what needs to be there is always a challenge. Realism - the right amount of detail – moving the story but keeping it from becoming a War and Peace length work – they're all challenges. I guess your question included, 'How did I work through them?' Hmm ... I'd have to say a good story map helps, and always keeping a good sense of the balance between these different elements.

 

But the unexpected problems with the listings and Internet marketing of my novels have been extremely disappointing. That has been a challenge. I'm grateful to those online publishing platforms that have tried to resolve the tech problems, but in the end the chronic persistence of issues were more than could be dealt with. I've been with several online publishers, including Amazon. It's like someone out there doesn't want people buying my books.

 

I understand completely about losing entire manuscripts. The woes of a writer! I hope you were able to recapture the heart of those lost, at least. As part of the journey of writing, what is your favorite part of the process? The least?

My favourite part of the process is using imagination to come up with a detailed story premise. I like world building, and because I like Sci-Fi it's fun to come up with story ideas. Once I've started writing, I look forward to writing the great scenes that are key to the story. An important plot point, or a plot twist. And laying on the descriptive writing like decadent icing on a cake is fun too.

 

Ooh, world-building. That is one of my favorite things about writing, too. Would you like to tell us how being a hobby writer has influenced you to choose indie publishing?

As a hobby writer, I have more control over listing my books once I've finished them. That said, I have one submission that's been with an agent for a while, but the nice thing about Indie publishing is that I don't have to wait. The royalty structure is different, and today with the developed Internet publishing tools available, an author can do anything they need to on their own.

 

I like that about indie publishing as well! There are many wonderful books out there written by talented writers. What are your favorite books to read and would you say they’ve influenced your love for writing? In what way?

Well, I think we're talking about fiction, right? Because I read my share of non-fiction works. But as for novels, I like epics, like I'd mentioned, and thrillers with motifs that interest me. They've influenced my writing as much as a romance author is influenced by all the romance novels they've read. It gives you a reference to keep to or stray from as much as you can, but the datum point is always there. That's made me love to write the thriller and epic.

 

Things I've learned from the novels I've read are many. Dan Brown, Lee Child, James Patterson, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Stieg Larsson, among others, have each taught me something with their novels. From the use of the narrative and dialogue, to a balance between pace and detail, to descriptive and graphic writing that titillates the senses, to structure that doesn't stray, and to passages that are clear and efficient with words. I feel like I'm pitching my HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL book, because in it I look at techniques I saw used by these authors in their international bestsellers.

 

Nice. I've found myself dismantling books for the sake of learning the craft in my early days. Do you have a pitch for your book? What do readers ask you about your book?

THE RENAISSANCE SPHERE one sentence pitch is 'A girl with a troubled life is unknowingly made part of an otherworldly plan to save the world.' REEGO LENVY, the erotic satire, is a fun read about 'A romance author who fears his career is over and who is suddenly inspired by the beauty of women, but the addiction overtakes him completely.' I don't pitch my debut novel any longer, I wrote it nearly fifteen years ago and it's not listed anymore. PASSION & DESIRE I don't pitch much either - I'm low key about it. But in the right conversation I go into some detail. It could read like this – 'Short stories about passion's desire look at loss, acceptance, regret, and the vulnerability of human nature.'

 

As for the readers, like I pointed out in my PM to you, the problems with listing my books on the Internet, and problems with their digital marketing have kept reader comments to a minimum. However, a few have expressed that REEGO LENVY is a blast of humour, and that THE RENAISSANCE SPHERE is controversial while written so that everything that happens fits together meticulously. One person called it 'Over the top!', which was nice to hear. Now that I think about it, one reader wanted to know about the new form of energy I wrote about in my corporate thriller. I explained that while the science behind it was real, the concept as a whole was fictitious. I was flattered to be asked, nonetheless. Oh, and of course, there have been those who've asked if PASSION & DESIRE is based on my own real relationships. But I'm not the kiss-and-tell type. Over the years, some have been surprised that I wrote about big business – it can be controversial when opinions become very candid – but what they didn't know is that I portrayed the global company as caring. If a person read the book, they saw that the mistake discovered in their groundbreaking product's development could not have been anticipated. It gets a bit sciency given a new form of energy was invented, and then the company's business systems – the way they handled the massive project – are looked at too. But later in the story the company does the right thing.

 Aside from readers, students who I've tutored English to occasionally have asked questions, like 'Do you ever get tired of reading your own novel so many times when you're writing it?' I'm never quite sure what's behind that type of question, but I earnestly say 'Yes, I do.'

 HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL has a lot of examples of situations I've come across that make a point about novel writing, and some are from students of fiction. Not necessarily all mine, but students just the same.

  

I like how you're open with your tutees about writing. A lot of the times I've gotten tired of rereading my own novels as I edit them, you know, it's like picking through every letter with a magnifying glass. Despite that, it's always difficult to say goodbye! You're quite focused on first-time authors. What words of advice would you offer them?

Well, I imagine people would expect me to say, 'Buy the book.” So ... buy the book. But seriously, if someone has gotten to the point of asking about the writing itself, they've already explored the notion of applying their imagination, and storytelling. So I won't go on about expression and having something to say. For these curious writers, I'd say to be sure to learn about all the techniques available to you in writing a novel. You can use them as you choose, and also, you'll recognize them when used in novels you read. It's kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz – that might be a vintage classic to younger writers – but Dorothy finally gets to see behind the curtain, and understand what has been a mystery to so many.

 

What a great analogy. Do you have links to your books?

These are the links to four of my books which use pseudonyms. I delisted my debut novel corporate thriller years ago.

 

THE RENAISSANCE SPHERE

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-renaissance-sphere

 REEGO LENVY

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/reego-lenvy

 PASSION & DESIRE

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/passion-and-desire

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL : FOR FIRST-TIME AUTHORS

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/how-to-write-a-novel-30

Frank, you are such an inspiration. I enjoyed having you over today. Thank you for joining me!