An Interview with Steven Luna

The Reading Cafe is happy to welcome Steven Luna as our guest today.

Steven is here today to discuss he new release, Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing, as well as tell us a bit about himself.

Before we start the interview, let’s learn a little more about Steven Luna, in his own words.

 

FOLLOW: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

I’m a storyteller with a few novels in the world: Joe Vampire and its sequel, Joe Vampire: The Afterlife. They’re kind of the anti-Twilight. I can’t be sorry for that. Joe Vampire: The New Paranormal is in the works. There’s Starstruck right behind that, about a rock star who finds himself abducted by aliens. Madcap stuff.

Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing is my first novel for a YA audience.

I say some pretty ridiculous things over at DumbWhiteHusband.com.

My story Life Review 2.0 is in Arizona State University’s Canyon Voices. My other story Keepers is in there, too.

My story Last Shift is available in the anthology Nightfalls. Proceeds from this book benefit childrens’ charities in Los Angeles.

My story (geez…what is it with all these stories?) Rise is available in the anthology Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior. Proceeds from this one benefit Karen DeLabar and her family. She’s gone through hell. We’re helping her out a bit.

You can reach me at thestevenluna@gmail.com.

My wife is amazing. My kids make me happy. My friends are the coolest.

La la, how the life goes on…


Hi Steven.  Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions today.  We are always looking forward to reading about the author behind the book.

TRC: Will you please tell us about yourself?

Steven:  I’m a husband and father of three with a data analyst day job. I write and edit in my spare time, along with a slew of other creative stuff. I’m a big fan of music and movies. I’ve never been drunk, only had one speeding ticket in my life and favor naps over exercise (though I’ve become something of a fitness junkie recently… those two activities blend better than most people might imagine).

TRC:  Have you always been interested in writing?

Steven:  I’ve always been interested in words and reading, definitely. And I’ve always been a sucker for a well-told story. Writing finally became an interest for me at about age 12, when I realized how much fun it might be on the other side of the mirror. I started with short form —bad poems, bad song lyrics, bad comic book scripts—and slowly worked my way to bad short stories and better poems before working my way to not-ashamed-to-show-the-world novels.

TRC: Is there anything (in general) you find particularly challenging about writing?

Steven:  Keeping my characters natural. Even in the more fantastic works I’ve done, I’ve always taken pains to make sure the characters’ dialogue feels realistic and that their personalities are believable. I think practicing that sort of grounding when I write has made my work much more resonant.

TRC: Can you tell how you came up with the idea of Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing?

Steven:  I was writing a novel for younger readers when I had the idea of a teenager who finds out his mom used to be friends with a rock star. At the time, it was a lighter story, with more humor. When I revisited it last fall, it was suddenly the painful tale of a kid who loses his way after his mother dies. It turned out to be a much more heartfelt, realistic story than I’d planned. I’m glad I waited.

TRC:  Would you please tell us the premise behind Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing?

Steven:  Songs is about Tyler Mills, a 17 year-old guitar prodigy whose mother has died six months earlier from pancreatic cancer. His relationship with his father is severely strained, so he takes comfort in his girlfriend and his music. He’s determined to graduate and head directly into the music business with his band, in spite of his father’s intentions for him to finish school and go to college. Then he finds his mother’s journals, and a family secret inside that changes the direction of his life. He sets out to find the truth.

Links to order Songs From the Phenomenal Nothing:
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / The Book Depository

TRC:  You have written another series, JOE VAMPIRE, which currently has two books released.  Can you give us a brief description of this series? How many books are you planning?

Steven:  Joe Vampire skewers the traditional vampire themes by dropping an average dude into the ridiculous circumstance of being undead. He becomes a vampire after a hilarious yet life-altering misunderstanding on a group date, and blogs (each chapter is a post) to let the world know how unromantic it really is. It’s a fun upheaval of what people have come to expect from vampires - nobody lives in a castle, nobody wears a cape or sparkles in the sun. It turns out to be more of a supernatural disease than any sort of superpower, and Joe is not too shy to share all the nasty details. Each book answers a few of Joe’s questions about being part of the Undead Elite, as he calls it. Book one (Joe Vampire) introduces the character and his cohorts as he tries to get a handle on how being a vampire works. Book two (Joe Vampire: The Afterlife) takes him into the  world at large to find out what life as a vampire is really like, and explores the notion that not everyone responds to being vampire in the same way as he did. Book three (Joe Vampire: The New Paranormal) will round out the series (for now) by showing Joe that no matter how tightly he reins in his vampire parts, he’ll always be dealing with them in some way. Each book starts out as a series of “here’s what’s happening to me” blog posts, but eventually take some suspenseful twists and turns as the real story evolves.

TRC:  Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing is Young Adult.  Having written adult books, what made you decide to write a YA novel?

Steven:  I began writing novels for middle-grade readers, so a young audience is really much more my background than writing for adults. Back then, it was much easier for me to affect a convincing kid’s fantasy voice than it was an authentic adult voice. I put writing aside for a while, and when I came back to it, my sensibilities were decidedly adult. But an underlying flavor of the younger voice was still present. When I remembered the idea for Songs, it had suddenly grown up…or down, considering how adult the Joe series is. I think it’s a happy compromise between the two modes of writing. I’ll be exploring other stories in a Young Adult voice after the Joe series wraps up.

TRC: Can you tell us what are you currently working on?

Steven:  Joe Vampire: The New Paranormal has been written and will be undergoing revisions in October; I’m hoping for a February 2014 release for him. I have a sequel to Songs in mind that I’ll be taking notes and making outlines for, as well as another Young Adult story about a girl born into a cult. And I’m hoping to finish another adult comedy I’ve begun called Starstruck. It’s about a rock star alien abductee, and it may see the light of day in 2014 as well.

TRC:  Do you have any thoughts of writing in any other genres?

Steven:  I have ideas for several speculative works. I’m waiting for them to tell me whether they should move in a more fantasy, sci-fi or magical realism direction. I like to let the story tell me before I tell the story; at that point in the process, everything is possible. And I’d love to return to middle-grade fiction someday and play around with fantasy for young readers again.

TRC: What is your writing process?  Do you like to write at specific times, in a special place?

Steven:  I write all over the place in my house – in my office, at my kitchen counter, on the couch (which is where I am now). Usually it happens early in the morning or during the evening hours. I tend to tune out mostly everything when I write so anywhere with a comfortable corner works for me. My process is largely based on a one-line synopsis of the idea I want to expand on (for example, Joe Vampire’s was the tag line “Just a dude who’ll never die, trying to figure out how to live.”). This helps me visualize the overarching notion of the story. From there, I list out the main plot points I want to aim for and the cast of characters I’ll need to take me there. I’ll do a brain dump – notes, dialogue, descriptions…whatever comes out goes on a master note-taking Word doc. When that becomes ten pages long or so, I have enough to jump in somewhere and start writing my way to the shore. Sometimes it goes in order from start to finish, like Songs was. Sometimes I go with whatever piece comes to me the most readily; Joe was very much that way. At some point, I decide I have enough to start compiling a manuscript, and I lay it all out in a single document and fill in the gaps until it’s finished.

TRC:  Many authors bounce ideas with family and friends.  With whom do you bounce ideas?

Steven:  I’m fortunate enough to have the coolest crew of friends to brainstorm with. We don’t hold back; we all just say “how about this?” whenever the spirit moves us and we throw out the ideas as one-liners, passing each other feedback and adding to the possibility. And when we write, we share our work along the way to make sure were keeping with the tone of whatever we’re working on. We all trust each other’s judgment and respect one another enough to be honest (but kind) with our input. It’s really the greatest thing to have: people who care about you and understand what you’re trying to do, who support you through the entire process, who celebrate your wins and encourage you beyond your losses. They know exactly what you’re going through, because they’re going through it all themselves.

TRC: You also work as an editor for other authors.  Do you feel being a writer helps you during your editing?

Steven:  Absolutely. I believe my being a writer gives me empathy for what a writer is trying to accomplish, and sympathy for how to guide them to that end. I don’t know that I would feel as qualified to direct them in making their book stronger, cleaner, etc. if I hadn’t been in their position as well.

TRC:  Would you like to add anything else?

Steven:  Thanks much for having me on the blog!

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: Burritos

Favorite Dessert: Caramel apple pie

Favorite Literary Character (not your own): Billy Purgatory & Max from “Where the Wild Things Are”

Favorite TV Show: Alias/Lost

Favorite Movie: Stranger than Fiction

Milk or Dark Chocolate: Dark…like, 72% or more. The best.

Steven: Thank you very much for having me on the blog!

 

 

Steven has graciously offered to give one lucky member of The Reading Café an e-copy of his book, Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing.

1.  Please register using the Log-In at the top of the page, or by using one of our social log-ins.

2.  If you are using a social log-in e.g. Twitter, please leave your email address along with your comment.

3.  Giveaway is open Internationally.

4.  Contests runs from October 25 to October 29, 2013