Check out this author spotlight for Ben Green!
You can find all his links furthest down the page, and don’t forget to check out his books!
1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!
I’m Ben Green. I’ve been storytelling since I was a little kid, burning agents of Cobra at the stake and writing fan-fiction episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation. I grew up in the deserts of Arizona and Nevada, but now I live in small-town Minnesota. If we’re looking for nerd credibility here, I’ve read about 30 Star Wars books, to the point where one of my high school teachers actually refused to call me anything but “Star Wars” in a very high-brow Chicagoan accent. Ha! And I love writing, gardening, and raising creative children.
2. To get to know you just a little bit better, I’d like to ask you some this or that questions. Answer 5 of these and explain why you chose this or that, or maybe an entirely different alternative!
Winter, spring, summer or autumn?
Spring. I love the promises that come with it. Though autumn is a close second place, with its smell of leaf-death and its crisp campfire ready temperatures.
Morning or evening?
Morning. My brains are a pile of mush by the afternoon. Some insane part of me refuses to sleep past the sunrise. I have no control over this—it’s just a fact of life. So, I use it to get a lot of thinking and organizing done before I start the day.
Hunter or gatherer?
I’m a gatherer. I have a garden and I think that’s a whole mood. Leave it to those other dudes to go out and kill things, I’ll be keeping the village entertained with lively story and song. And keeping us feed with smarter herding practices and new time saving innovations. I like reinventing the wheel and organizing the community into gathering berries or making flash mobs–whatever strikes our fancy. Can you tell I play a bard when I D&D? Haha!
Mountains or beaches?
Mountains for sure. I grew up around dusty western ghost towns. There’s something amazing about wandering off into the mountains, scrambling over rocks, and searching for all the untouched places. I mean the setting of my books is deep under the Rockies. So, there’s that too.
Plotter or pantser?
Plantser. Can I answer like that? I mean I refuse to pick a genre so…par for the course. I sketch the bones of my stories, for sure. The hook, the inciting incident, the other major plot points. I try to follow the hero’s journey, stick with the program, and that pays off with readers I think. I know all the plotting formulas. And I think that’s very, very crucial for a writer. But at the same time, the plot points I plan usually end up shifting drastically. Like a choice I was going to have the villain make, the hero makes instead, or a rescue that was supposed to go smoothly takes a detour when an unexpected character shows up.
3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?
Intrigue, mystery, and worldbuilding so well done you can’t quite get to the bottom of the world until it hits you like….oh, no way! And all the character’s lives are turned upside down. I like to be scratching my head, assembling the pieces, and I love when I guess something just before it’s about to happen, but there was a layer I didn’t see coming. I love genre bending and novelty.
4. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!
I write YA sci-fantasy. I would say its 70% fantasy with elements from many other genres that make it sparkle with exceptionality. So, monsters, dungeons, castles, magic—but beefed-up with cyberpunk feels with a setting that has nuclear magic and food that makes you feel nostalgic. I’m currently finishing up the first draft of book three of my RIMDUUM series (pronounced rim-doom; make sure you say this with a deep voice and repeat the word doom like an echo).
5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!
Forged in the Fallout is my debut. When I made the decision to pursue self-publishing, I told myself that I would bring it up to the quality of the traditional market. Many, many eyes on this. Many beta readers, professional editors–the works. And it paid off. It’s a genre-bending adventure, that takes place deep in the Rocky Mountains. The main character’s family has a lot of dangerous secrets. And when they spill out, he has to go into hiding, but that’s pretty hard in a magical, high-tech world of neon where everyone is always recording everything they see. Plus, if the nuclear magic gets out again, that could spell the end of life under the mountain.
6. What real-life inspiration do you draw from, and what are your primary fictional sources of inspiration (books, authors, films, music, etc.)? Name a few.
I’ve been a social studies teacher for 11 years, mostly US history and geography. The world is a fascinating place filled with wonder and intrigue. I like a little politics in my books, but nothing over whelming. I love Star Wars to the point where I can even forgive the prequel trilogy (and if I’m being honest, the new trilogy too—please don’t ban me). I love worlds so packed to the gills with magic that it’s become a part of everyday life. Mundane magic. Like spells to cheat on your homework. But I also love the realism and conflict in dystopia novels.
7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!
I wake up. I check social media for six hours then I furious write for an hour. Ha! Not quite, but there’s a glimmer of truth there. I’m a busy full-time teacher and father of four. My wife runs a doula/massage business. I’m a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race guy. I can write for a solid three to four hours until fatigue sets in and then I become rubbish. If I’m writing a first draft, I really do spend a huge amount of time thinking, for every hour of writing, I spend two hours thinking about what to write, even after I have a clear outline. A lot of the time my wife or kids will discovering me watching tv when I supposed to be writing and I can be heard to say: “TV has stories. I’m learning.” Though that’s terrible advice. Final answer: I just trick myself into writing first drafts, then I have to show them to people and figure out where they’re broken. I can’t believe the quantity and quality that has come out of that process.
8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to become an author, what would it be?
Find your people. Get into a group and start showing them things. No seriously, right now mister. You will not get better until you do that. Also, you’ll need to get about 500,000 words under your belt before you start getting the hang of writing, so just go for it. Don’t plan on publishing that first novel.
9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!
https://www.loamseedpress.com/home
https://www.facebook.com/bengreenwrites
https://www.instagram.com/bdigitalgreen/
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098GB7YZP
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58304381-forged-in-the-fallout
I have a short story available for free with newsletter sign up
https://www.loamseedpress.com/short-stories
Also, my book is available for preorder from most retailers. My website has all the buttons. 🙂
https://www.loamseedpress.com
