{"id":2039,"date":"2012-07-31T12:16:46","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T17:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2012-07-31T12:16:46","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T17:16:46","slug":"taking-it-to-the-grave-6-enter-the-ginger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/?p=2039","title":{"rendered":"Taking It To The Grave 6: Enter the Ginger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi folks! We’ve got some exciting things happening here, which I should mention before I get down to today’s interview. Touched<\/a> is being relaunched soon by my nifty new publisher, the fun and amazingly talented Booktrope<\/a> gang. Details, dates, etc will be trumpeted as soon as I have them of course. And October 28th I will be appearing at Stonechurch Vineyards<\/a> for a talk in their new Wine & Writers series. Again, as details filter in, I will post them here.<\/p>\n

For the interim of the following blog post, I, AJ Aalto, aka Writerghoulie, aka The Black Orchid, aka Trick-ass Fetish Burglar (wait, nobody calls me that\u2026but they should<\/em>) will be known as \u201cJane Pocket.\u201d Allow me to explain.<\/p>\n

Today I interview my dear friend, Jason D Ready<\/a>, aka Jason Jones, aka Schnappsy (embarrassing cottage nickname, don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll make him explain) aka Johnny Coattails. That last nickname came about when he was crowing on and on about how he was gonna \u201cride my coattails to fame and glory.\u201d HA! I fooled that mofo by having neither. Who’s laughing now?<\/p>\n

In the midst of our discussion, I said that perhaps I\u2019d<\/em> ride his<\/em> coattails to fame. He said I’d get lost on a coattail and was small enough to fit in a pocket. Jane Pocket was born, the perfect counterpart to Johnny Coattails.<\/p>\n

Now that we have that settled, on with the grilling.<\/p>\n

Jane Pocket:<\/strong> \u00a0This is a bit of a different interview, because normally I interview writers after<\/em> they\u2019ve finished their novel. I\u2019m catching you before you\u2019re done, and it\u2019ll be interesting, I think, to look back on this interview in time as a sort of prognosticating attempt. You and I are in the early stages of collaboration, and you\u2019ve started your own projects as well. Tell me a bit about your solo writing, what phase you\u2019re at.<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: Well, clearly, if published authors are interviewing me before I put out a single scrap of writing, I\u2019m approaching the end game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m writing fragments and scraps of many things, sometimes dependent on the whim of my collaborator. Short stories, long form serials, and stand-alone novels\u2026all fall at the whim of Jane Pocket! I\u2019m in process of writing a dark sci-fi\/horror book, sort of a \u201cslasher-in-space\u201d story that changes half way through, and gets real metaphysical. I figure I should get the deep stuff out of the way before getting ready to work with you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>Very good idea. Wait–what?! I think there’s an insult in there somewhere…or possibly three; for someone who professes to be snagged in the fluctuating purls of my whims, you’re awfully ballsy. Are you an outliner, or a \u201cpantser\u201d?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails:<\/strong> I think my fingers want me to be a pantser — wow, THAT\u2019S a phrase I\u2019m never typing again — but I realize the dangers of not outlining. If I want to write a series of books<\/strong> about the same characters, and I don\u2019t want to sound like I\u2019m making shit up in book four, I have to plot out the steps early.\u00a0Although, that would be an interesting way to write a series: Just randomly throw shit in, and work out the significance later. \u201cHe woke up to a talking purple duck on his bed.\u201d And then 6 books later, decide \u201cOh yeah! His family was torn apart in the woods by purple talking ducks!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Million dollar idea, right there.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket:<\/strong>\u00a0It’s so<\/em> not. You\u2019re a family man with a full-time job , a wife, and two kids. When do you find time to write?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: I don\u2019t, clearly, or you\u2019d stop bugging me about it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<I almost never threaten. I buy gifts. It’s called “encouragement”, asshole><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: Actually, I\u2019ve found the morning and evening commute on the train a nice time to write. I take my iPad with me, and tap out whatever fevered musings are in my head. Of course, I have to shield my screen from anyone sitting next to me. Either for fear of them judging me, or stealing my ideas, I haven\u2019t decided yet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>As you begin to dip your toe into the world of novel writing, what aspect are you finding most challenging?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: <sigh> Research. I almost want to try writing either pure fantasy or pure sci-fi, just to avoid having to look up how things actually work. Actually, I\u2019m tempted to just powertrain through all the seasons of Mythbusters and call it a day. That\u2019s like research, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<This is research, too! In case I ever set a book in Paris…so I should go, right?><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: The alternative that looks the most attractive is basically to have a book fact-checked almost entirely on Wikipedia, and find out how entertaining that is\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: *braces for the Mrs. Coattails rebuttal to that last*<\/strong> Have you discovered any personal writing quirks as of yet? For instance, some writers need music, others silence, some need pen & paper, others must type, some have *cough* little plastic good luck zombies on their desk \u2026<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: One might say I need to fear the crack of a very tiny and neurotic whip from a zombie-lovin\u2019 writer, but one would not want to get killed in one\u2019s sleep.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket:<\/strong> One<\/em> might wanna cover up his thinly-veiled snipes or one<\/em> might get clobbered with one’s own…something perfectly scary and intimidating. A body part would be logical. Got nothin’, what were you saying?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: I do need to type \u2013 I type almost faster than I can think, which is why I spend so much time planning out story without writing. Because when I do write, I need it to come out like greased lightning. But no quirks yet. I leave the quirks to you. So many quirks\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: *glare* <\/strong>What genre do your current project(s) fall into, and are these the genres you prefer to read?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: I have ideas in about 4 or 5 genres, but they all tend to be dark. Horror, horror\/sci-fi, dark urban fantasy, black comedy. I think horror is the kind of thing that could be brought to any story.<\/strong>\u00a0Every great movie has some element of horror, even if you don\u2019t admit it. My daughter once pointed out to me that almost every Disney villain has one scene of just terrifying menace. And that\u2019s why we root for the good guy. Because the alternative would be horrific.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny that the book I\u2019m writing now started as a science-fiction as a way for me to voice my thoughts on technology and spirituality, and how one sort of forces us to abandon the other\u2026and then realized that I could tell that story better with grisly murders. It\u2019s probably telling that the character most like me in the book is the killer.<\/strong>\u00a0I read dark-themed books as well. Stephen King and his twisted world\u2026he\u2019s written books in every genre as well, and every one can qualify as \u2018horror\u2019, if not \u2018horror adjacent\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Jane Pocket: <\/strong>\u00a0What\u2019s up with this collaboration thingy that you\u2019re doing with that weird Writerghoulie, AJ Aalto? *cheesy grin*<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails:\u00a0 Well, shameless self-promotion machine, that is true about us collaborating. I think, if you\u2019ll allow me this bit of ego, that no one has quite the same level of bent in their sensibilities as you and I do. At least a mental professional diagnosed yours. There\u2019s no excuse for my damage yet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>Our collaborative series is best described, I think, as \u201csemi-satirical noir\/horror elf punk\u201d, though you\u2019ve coined the term \u201cPixie Grind\u201d to describe it. How did the subgenre \u201cPixie Grind\u201d come into being and where did it get its name?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails:<\/strong> Oh Crom, I can\u2019t believe you want that story out in the public.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket<\/strong>: I want all my horribleness out in the public, dude. What are you, new?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: Okay, well, we were talking about story ideas, and thought a world of magic would be amazing. But then we decided the world was Steampunk, and that the magical creatures would be subjugated by humanity, because that\u2019s what we do best. We have a similar dark opinion of human nature. One of us decided that rather than cocaine or meth or<\/strong> other drugs like that, in our world, humans would get high off pixie wings. And you mentioned that the hardcore drug users would snort or inject crushed pixie bones. And then, really rolling on our sickness, I mentioned that I could clearly see a dejected and overweight man, covered in his own filth, slowly feeding screaming pixies into an old fashioned meat<\/strong> grinder, while twitchy junkies waited in line, sniffing and scratching their arms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And voila, Pixie Grind was born<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>As we head into the wild world of Steampunk for research, what are your first impressions? Have you done any cosplay in the past? LARPing? Were you a D&D boy growing up?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: Oh, I was so a D&D boy. And any other kind of roleplaying game. (Head out of the gutter, Aalto<\/em>). I was a superhero, a ninja, a superspy, and anything else. Major nerd. And although I haven\u2019t cosplayed or LARPed at this point, I gaze sadly at forums on sites about them, and say \u201cWhy not me?!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I could completely get into dressing Steampunk. Or decorating my house that way. In fact, my man cave is in the Steampunk planning stages. And I realize that at this stage in my life, I\u2019ve surrounded myself with people with a similar sentimentality.\u00a0I find Steampunk fascinating\u2026I\u2019ve always liked the allure of the \u201cWhat If?\u201d story, and adding it to the Victorian combination of their raging sense of adventure but saddled with that stuffy uptight attitude is just spectacular. I\u2019m very much looking forward to putting my\u2026sorry, OUR\u2026mark on the genre, and seeing if we can\u2019t spice things up a bit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>You play bass guitar and have been in a band, tell me a bit about that. Were you involved in the songwriting process?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails:<\/strong> I was. Although mostly we just did metal covers of light 80\u2019s pop hits, we had a couple of original songs. \u201cThree Fingers Deep\u201d was a love song about bowling. \u201cBabies Eat Babies\u201d was pretty self explanatory. And rhyming \u201cMatron of Honour\u201d with \u201cAte Jeffrey Dahmer\u201d is one of my proudest moments as a songwriter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>You have a background in drama and theater. When you write, do you find the action plays out in your head like a movie?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails:<\/strong> Oh, definitely. Hell, sometimes I even cast it before I write. I mean, sure, I mostly put in real people I know, but don\u2019t think there\u2019s no celebs already on my shortlist to play my characters. Denzel man, stop ducking me!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know that books are a different medium though, and you can be in their heads so much more. But the action beats \u2013 they almost have to be cinematic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>Do you find your TV and movie interests differ from your reading interests, or do they run in the same lines? Admit it: you secretly read old-timey bodice-rippers when nobody\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails:\u00a0 Is that code for porn? Because I haven\u2019t read porn in years. You ruined me, Internet!!\u00a0I watch a lot of smart geek stuff. I like shows that force you to think, rather than consume. Lost, Pushing Daisies, Firefly, Eureka. Geek stuff that\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0spoon feed you, and lets you feel entertained and smart<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Jane Pocket:<\/strong> Is there a particular genre that you think would be very difficult to write, and if so, why?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails:<\/strong> Love stories. Period pieces about the prairies. Anything where people can only talk to each other by turning away towards a window. That stuff just puts me to sleep, and I can\u2019t imagine not interrupting one with a pitched ninja battle. I think that might have saved Sense and Sensibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>Collaboration. There are several ways of writing a novel or series with another writer. Can you give the readers a peek into our process and how we\u2019re attempting to work things out?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: Well, I know we\u2019re still at the beginning stages, but at this point, one of us writes a chapter, and the other one overwrites it, laying their own style on the thing. This is after much discussion by committee though, so we know where everything is headed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>Where do you see yourself in five years?<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: I\u2019m sorry, AJ, but time travel is impossible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket:<\/strong> *long-suffering sigh*<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: But hopefully, at a book signing with you, having people try to figure out who actually wrote the most disturbing parts of our book.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jane Pocket: <\/strong>Last one! Tell me how you got the name \u201cSchnappsy\u201d\u2026? Clearly, it\u2019s something emasculating and therefore amusing to me.<\/p>\n

Johnny Coattails: What\u2019s emasculating about getting drunk on Peach Schnapps? You can\u2019t tell me the Germans don\u2019t know their booze\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>(editor’s note: AJ Aalto and Stonechurch Vineyards is a natural pairing. AJ is a wino–no wait! What I meant was, AJ loves supporting local businesses and artists, that’s it, and the Stonechurch ’07 Riesling-Gewurztraminer\u00a0blend IS ART<\/em>. Art for your mouth. Don’t take my word for it, Niagara, go try it.)<\/p>\n

(author’s note: AJ + Johnny Coattails + Fireball Whiskey just might = best book ever. Or worst book ever. This remains to be seen….)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi folks! We’ve got some exciting things happening here, which I should mention before I get down to today’s interview. Touched is being relaunched soon by my nifty new publisher, the fun and amazingly talented Booktrope gang. Details, dates, etc will be trumpeted as soon as I have them of course. And October 28th I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2039"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2059,"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions\/2059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ajaalto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}