Do you have a specific
writing style?
I think the minute I
started writing EXIT I was writing in a style that was identifiable as me,
rather than a combination of my influences. It’s the first work in where my own
voice began to flourish. When I started writing a second novel I was happy to
see it was the same – instantly recognizable as the same author.
Do you write in different
genres?
I love genre fiction. I
understand why most authors stick to one particular genre, although that
shouldn’t have to be so. Film directors like Stanley Kubrick moved effortlessly
between genres, carefully crafting the best sci-fi film, the best period
filmed, the best horror film, all of which were unmistakably his own. I write
some war genre comics for a UK publisher, and I’d love to write some sci-fi
too. I think any genre can be good if the writer makers it so. Erotic romance
fiction, sure. Anthropomorphic furry
animal fiction, absolutely.
How did you come up with
the title for your latest book?
It just came to me. I saw
it above a door in a cinema.
Is the book, characters,
or any scenes based on a true life experience, someone you know, or events in
your own life?
Writers are magpies,
taking shiny things from the world around them. I often write down things
people say to me, or events that occur in notebooks in order to re-use them at
some point. Nothing is too private or too painful to be cannibalized for the
sake of a story. EXIT certainly echoes aspects of my experience; although it’s
not autobiographical, it’s allegorical. The new novel I’m writing though has a
character very much inspired by a young girl I knew who killed herself a few
years ago. Nothing is too painful. Nothing is too shiny.
What books are in your to
read pile?
The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov (recommended by several people whose opinions I respect).
Autobiography
by Morrissey (I have some trepidation about this, as he was a huge influence on
my younger years, though that influence faded with his creativity in the time
after).
Berlin:
The Seven Dwarfs by Marvano (A French graphic novel I picked up more or less
because it’s named after my favorite city).
What is your current “work
in progress” or upcoming projects?
Like most writers I have a
few works in progress. Among them there’s a Hollywood romantic comedy
screenplay which I began as an experiment to see if I could write it to the
three-act formula, and it not be dreadful. It’s not. I will likely complete
this and prop it to some agents. It’s quite different to EXIT. Think Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston. It will be awesome.
Do you have a song or
playlist (book soundtrack) that you think represents EXIT?
If you listened to the tea
and cardigan sorrow of the Sunday’s album Reading,
Writing and Arithmetic, you wouldn’t be too far wrong.
Exit
Shane Filer
Genre: YA, General Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher: Biblio Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-62249-142-1
Number of pages: 222
Word Count: 58,000
Cover Artist: Ekaterina Zagustina
Book Description:
"Did you know I spent the whole of my fifteenth year in my room?"
Briar’s impromptu, mid-afternoon confession stirs up distant memories of the lonely time she spent trapped in her home; suffering agoraphobia — fear of open spaces.
Now it’s six years later.
She’s free, but the year's isolation has left serious personality disorders; disorders which will resurface as she relates her own story, and that of those in her orbit; Melodie, a pretty valley girl who Briar desires to be, Justine, her oldest friend, who has her own dark secret, and Dermot, a man who thinks he's the reincarnation of Robin Hood — stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
Slowly Dermot begins to draw Briar into his ever-so-exciting world, but who is leading whom on their slow descent into crime? Duel periods of Briar’s life intertwine like a rope around her neck as her lost year begins to overtake the present. It leads her to the answer to one very simple question:
“Is it what I always feared — am I losing my mind?”
Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wedQg_Y7dHE
Author Interview Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpANm1NRvkU
About the Author:
Shane grew up in provincial New Zealand, a small place where options are small, were people wear PJs to the mall, a small place where dreams of being a writer or artist are not only actively discouraged, they are actively quashed. Nevertheless he fell in love with books, comics and writing at a young age and his early influences include Oscar Wilde, Alan Moore and Dr Seuss.
After many years of trying to get books, documentaries and films accepted in his own country, Shane gave up and settled for working in the fairly creative world of video-making and advertising.
A trip to Europe and the USA rekindled his love of writing, and he wrote the American-based novel ‘Exit,’ submitted it this time to American publishers and immediately, received several offers for the work. He chose one and ‘Exit’ will be released December 2nd 2013 in the USA as his first novel from Biblio Publishing.
It is the story of Briar Averill who spent a year trapped in her room, suffering from agophobia. Six years on, she’s free, yet ripples from the year's isolation still lap at the edges of her life, and that of her friends: Melodie, a pretty valley girl who she wishes she could be… Justine, her oldest friend, who has her own dark secret and Dermot who thinks he's the reincarnation of Robin Hood — stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Ripples echo down through the years, leading her to the answer to one very simple question: Is it what she always feared — is she losing her mind?
Shane has since had comic book scripts accepted in the UK by DC Thompson, publisher of the long-running ‘Commando’ comic, fulfilling yet another dream for his child-self.
He lives with a very old and very vocal Tonkinese cat, and they both dream of eloping together to the USA or Europe.
He likes oranges, orange juice, and orange furniture — in fact even the color orange. Why? Well, because it's the best color, of course. While he believes that being a grown up is not all it's cracked up to be, he still enjoys ruining his appetite before dinner, and staying up past his bed time.
December 2 Guest blog
The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
December 3 Interview
J.D. Pooker.
December 4 Guest blog
So Much to Write
December 5 Spotlight
3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too!
December 6 Interview
Mom With A Kindle
December 9 Interview
Bia's Wonderland
December 10 Spoltight
Author Karen Swart
December 11 Spotlight
Krystal's Enchanting Reads ...
December 12 Interview
Reading in Twilight
December 13 Interview
Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
December 16 review
A Mama's Corner of the World
December 17 Spotlight
Sapphyria's Book Reviews
December 18 Interview
Books Direct
December 19 Spotlight
Lisa’s World of Books
December 20 Spotlight
Books & Tales
December 23 Guest blog
Fang-tastic Books
December 26 Interview
Roxanne’s Realm
December 28 Spotlight
Book Suburbia
Www.booksuburbia.com
December 30 Spotlight and review
Simplistik
http://www.simplistik.org/lissetteemanning
December 30 Spotlight and review
Simplistik
http://www.simplistik.org/lissetteemanning
1 comments:
Looks great. Sorry I cannot tweet.
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