A conversation with Janet McNulty, Author of Dystopia
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| Featured Author Janet McNulty Author of Dystopia |
Why did you feel you had to tell this story?
With our continued use of the internet and publicizing our lives on social media, I sometimes feel that there is no privacy in this world and that all of this technology could easily be used to spy on us. Also, with the power plays being practiced in Washington D.C. I can easily see a world like Dystopia coming into existence. So I felt I had to write about it as warning, but also for entertainment. One of the criterion for an author is to entertain even if they are trying to geta message across.
I wanted the story to be more than just about a totalitarian government regime battlings the unfortunate protagonist. I wanted my story to show a human element as well. If we lived in a world like Dystopia I wanted to show that we might become as a society, a race, and how it would affect our lives, families, and the way we interact with each other. This is what I tried to do through the character of Dana Ginary.
Where do you get your ideas?
The idea of Dystopia had been rolling around in my head for a year before I actually wrote it down. I got the idea of the world from history (Stalin’s Russia, Nazi Germany), but I updated it for a modern audience.
I also get many of my ideas from people watching. Pick a park bench or even standing in line at the grocery store. Just watch and observe the people that pass you every day. Watch their habits and mannerisms. This is a great way to get ideas for stories and especially for characters.
Do you ever experience writer’s block and how do you overcome it?
I always experience writer’s block. It is one of those things that plague every writer. The only way I have found to overcome it is to just keep writing. When I run out of ideas for my books, or I just do not know how to continue, I push ahead and write anything that comes into my head. Granted, most of it is garbage and usually gets deleted, but it keeps me writing. Eventually, the ideas start flowing again, or I will get a spark of inspiration. When you get writer’s block, don’t stop writing. Otherwise you will never pick up the pen again.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers on the writing and publishing process?
Plan ahead. As writers we tend to only focus on the writing. But there is a marketing aspect to publishing our books. When you self publish, you need to start promoting your book a good six months in advance. Try and get people lined up for reviews. When your book is two thirds done, start work on the cover. I always hire a professional illustrator for my cover and tell him what the book is about, or what I want for the cover art, and he draws it. You can find good artists on sites like Fiverr or even Guru. One you have you cover, post it everywhere you talk about your book.
The next thing is to edit, edit, edit. Hire a professional editor if you can. Or you can just ask a trusted friend or family member. Also, make sure you research sites like Createspace and Lulu and decided which is the best place to publish your book.
The only other bit of advice is to just write your book and publish it. You may not become a millionaire, but at least you won’t live with the regret of having never published your book.
How do you market your work? Have you found some avenues to be more successful than others?
I hire marketers to conduct social media campaigns for me. I’m not very good with Twitter or Facebook promotions, so I hire people to do it for me. I also post the cover image of my book wherever I talk about it along with a purchase link. The only other thing I do is talk about my book with people I meet, even if they’re strangers. Why not? You never know. They just might look you up and buy your book.
If your book was made into a movie, who do you picture playing each part?
That is a tough one.
For the character of Colonel Fernau I can picture three people playing him: Michael Ironside, Hugo Weaving, and Alfred Molina. All of them are good actors and able to carry just about any role. Colonel Fernau is a horrible human beings who loves to torture people, craves power, and is fixated on making Dana’s life miserable.
I have no idea who would play Dana’s character. I just know that the actress would have to be able to grow the way Dana does in the story. Dana’s character, she is strong and questions her world constantly, but she is also a bit timid and has a vulnerability. But as the story progresses—through three books—Dana grows into a very strong willed individual who is determined to save the ones she loves. Whoever played her character would have to be able to encompass all of that.
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Synopsis:
Imagine living in a world where everything you do is controlled.
In the distant future the United States has been split into two regions separated by a barren wasteland; this is the country of Dystopia. Here the individual is discouraged, freedom is an illusion, food is rationed, and everything you do is tracked by a chip implanted in your arm. This is Dana Ginary’s world.
At age seventeen, people receive their career assignments chosen for them by a government body. Forced to work at the Waste Management Plant because she was declared too individualistic, Dana finds herself surrounded by death and brutality. Knowing her days are numbered, she looks for a way to leave the plant before she, too, becomes one of its causalities.
The eyes are always watching.
It is then she meets a man named George and soon finds herself caught up in a cat and mouse game between the resistance and the Dystopian government. Dana finds herself faced with an agonizing choice of whom she will betray and whom she will save: her friend George, her parents, or herself.
About the Author:
Recently, her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's causing her to visit her grandparent's and record her grandfather's memoirs before they become lost. The final result is Grandpa's Stories: The 20th Century as My Grandfather Lived It. She did this to preserve her family history before it becomes lost.
Ms. McNulty currently lives in West Virginia where she enjoys hiking, being outside, crocheting, or simply sitting around and doing nothing. She continues writing. She is finishing up her dystopian series (the second book, Tempered Steel, is to be released in August 2013 and the final book, Liberty's Torch, in November 2013).
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FOR MORE INFO:
Website: http://janetmcnulty84.wix.com/authorprofile
Blog: http://booksandlegends.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JMRUL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janetmcnultyauthor
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/mcnultyj/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=21277717&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106022971451952177160/posts
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