Another week, another author! This time we’re joined by the wonderful SME who goes live with his novel, A Tail’s Misfortune, a unique drama that’ll have you on the edge of your seat! So, give him a warm welcome everyone because here’s to stay.
And if you’re interested in the author himself, hop on over to read the interview found here: Interview
Social Media team member, George Bakerson, interviews SME about his novel, A Tail’s Misfortune.
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Interview:
Q: After changing things up a bit with an interview from LV, we resume normal status with me being the host. This time we are joined by SME, author of “A Tail’s misfortune”. Welcome SME, please introduce yourself to the audience.
A: Hello, I am the author of A Tail’s Misfortune and The Helena Chronicles. I work in the social care field, taking care of the physically and mentally disabled. I wrote my first few chapters into a story when I was fourteen and since that time I loved the idea of creating world and characters.
Q: Oh, that’s pretty interesting. How does helping these sorts of people influence you and your writing?
A: I wouldn’t say it helps me in writing; it does help me have patience and understand that there are certain things each of us can do and things we need help from others to accomplish. I’ve seen what real psychological issues look like, such as paranoid schizophrenia to obsessive behaviours that people have little control over to pathological liars. I’ve also seen significant improvement in people’s behaviours as they make strides to change and better themselves.
Q: I see. Well, I know you’ve been posting on royal road and even reaching trending at what point. What made you decide to post on our site too?
A: I had a few friends that have mentioned that to me several times. It seems I’ve been on the front page trending for the last few days; I’m glad people are enjoying the story. I first decided to start posting on RTD’s site; I enjoyed reading the Kumo series on there. I decided to get a bit more serious about my writing and asked if I could start posting. After they read through a bit of my novel they were excited and gave me the green light.
It was around this time that a friend there told me about CN and RR. I didn’t think it would hurt to expand and started the review process for RR, sending you a message as well. Royal Road’s community seems to have really enjoyed the series; I’ve reached rank 55 before and slowly bouncing up and down in the double-digit rankings. Even the Helena Chronicles is rising in ranks, near top 500. I’m happy people like the series.
Q: Great! And now we get onto the actual novel. What is A Tail’s Misfortune about?
A: The opening shows opens the audience to Sora and how she has been bullied for three years. She has tried multiple means to try and stop this from happening, but something dark seems to be happening in the background, something unnatural. People change their minds of the antagonist seemly overnight, investigations get swept under the rug, and people fear to expose Sora’s bully. This is immediately apparent in the opening scene. You could call it luck or misfortune that her father is wealthy, but spends much of his time away from the penthouse; she has means to unwide and deal with school life, but still, that emotional need for her father is there, her mother dying during childbirth.
Q: You’ve already written quite a handful of chapters. How difficult must it have been to write so much?
A: I enjoy writing. What I’ve written has been drafts that needed refining. I’ve currently caught up on all my draft material and in the process of writing the third instalment of A Tail’s Misfortune. I originally wrote it in under two weeks … the first draft that is; I then added and refined it as I went through posting the chapters. When I first wrote the series I had a lot more time on my hands; now that I work consistently, I don’t think I can write at the same pace, but I’m still writing. I’d love to make a career out of it, but I also need to make money to live.
Q: I’m sure you’ve developed an interesting quirk or two in your hardships. Is that true? If so, what are they?
A: Hmm, I love to snack on raw cranberries and heads of lettuce. I usually keep many drinks stocked … I tend to like drinks with cane sugar. I have old gaming friends I keep with contact on and play with on Black Desert Online. I used to devote a lot of free time to the game, but mostly AFK fish and talk with old friends in top PVP guilds have fun. Every once and a while I’ll go world PVP if a weak friend is getting ganked.
Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
A: I’ve spent many years refining my skills. Every series and thought can be made great. If you have trouble with grammar, then get the web-browser add-on Grammarly. Don’t be concerned with negative feedback that is unconstructive or ridiculous; however, always keep an open mind to what you can improve on. My big thing, don’t worry too much about grammar, it is easily fixed, and Grammarly can help with that. Story, characterization, and style should be what you focus on.
Personally, I use music as my muse for characters and scenes. Forget The Lies by Questdrive; Rolling Stone by Hurts; The Siren’s Call by Darren Hayes; Can You Feel My Heart by Bring Me The Horizon; Hold Me Down by Halsey; Fear the Fever by Digital Daggers; Follow You by Bring Me The Horizon … just a few. I find emotionally charged songs to use as a means to develop character substance. Everyone will find their own way, give it time, writing is a marathon, not a race.
Q: Excellent. We’re almost at the end of the interview, so I’ll ask my favourite question. What’s the origin of your pen name? Why “SME”?
A: Haha, when deciding a pen name, I just took the first, middle, and last letters of my full name and combined them. Scott M. Edwards = SME Fairly simple.
Q: Tell us a joke.
A: I’m not good with jokes at all! If I need to make a joke in a book, then I’ll look up other people’s jokes online. I tend to write less comedy and more emotional drama … I’m not kind to my characters; it’s a cruel world, but they try to make the best of it. I’m not the OP MC type of writer … everyone has issues they are trying to work through and live.
That’s it for the interview! Thank you for joining me, and I hope your novel is a huge success!
Thank you. ^_^7