William R. Potter is virtually touring for the month of November with his book Lighting the Dark Side: Six Modern Tales. He joins me here at DC today to talk about his book and about self-publishing.
Q: Hello, William, and welcome to Divine Caroline. Thank you for the interview.
A: Thank you for having me on Divine Caroline. I’m happy to be here.
Q: You are virtually touring for the month of November with your book Lighting the Dark Side. Could you tell us what your book is about?
A: Lighting the Dark Side is an anthology of fiction featuring three novellas and three shorter works. They are about human nature and how our darker side can impede our ability to cope with hardships. The book opens with a novella called “Bent, Not Broken” where we meet Dwayne Johnson, a man embarking on a new relationship even though he is plagued with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Also included is a police procedural called “Prominent Couple Slain.” Detective Jack Staal is disillusioned about his career after he takes a nosedive from big city homicide investigator to small town detective. Desperate to prove himself, he ignores protocol to work a case that is not his to solve when a wealthy man and his wife are found dead.
The book closes with the largest piece, “Surviving the Fall,” a tale about James Goodal, a man who spent his entire life avoiding uncomfortable situations. Decades of this safe and easy existence have left James lonely and facing divorce. This all changes when he takes in a young street girl named Ashley. The pair finds comfort in their unorthodox friendship until her violent world returns forcing James to fight for Ashley and for his very survival. In the three remaining stories, you will find average but flawed people struggling to overcome their weaknesses.
Q: How did you come up with the title for your book?
A: After years of false starts, I decided to get serious about writing fiction in 2001. I practiced with several short stories and with my budding confidence, I attempted different genres, styles and greater and greater word counts. Before long I had a collection of shorts and a novella that approached novel length. The births of my children in 2003 and 2005 slowed my writing for the most part until 2006; however, I did manage another novella.
When I dusted off my collection in early ’07 the first thing I noticed about the stories was the subject matter. The characters all come from my belief that everyone has a darker side to their personality that troubles those who witness it. For most it’s nothing serious; perhaps anger management or jealousy. The key to triumphing over this darkness is to recognize it, and to turn a light against it. This became the theme and title of the book.
Q: What would you like readers to take away from reading your book?
A: I would like readers to find themselves unready to leave the lives of the characters, thinking about the stories later on, wondering about Dwayne and Dee-Dee or James and Ashley and wishing that the stories would go on a little longer.
Q: You mention in your biography that you have had an active imagination since childhood and started writing early. What else do you attribute your love of writing to?
A: I love creating characters and worlds, and being able to take an idea from my mind and put it on paper. But the part that makes writing addictive for me is the feedback. When a reader says, “That part in your book where this or that happens, I laughed my head off—I cried—I was so angry at you!”
Q: Do you write by schedule, like a job, or do you write when you feel like it?
A: Any chance I get to write I grab. I have a full-time job and my wife works evenings—throw in two kids under six and you can see how my writing time is very limited.
Q: Do you have any quirks or rituals for writing?
A: Not sure if you would call it a quirk or insanity. I get up at 5:00 in the morning most weekends and fuel myself with a few quarts of coffee and then type away on my laptop until the kids wake up three or four hours later.
Q: Do you plan on publishing more in the future?
A: Definitely. I’m currently in the rewrite stage of a sequel to the short story “Prominent Couple Slain” from Lighting the Dark Side called DEAD of KNIGHT—A Jack Staal Mystery. It should be available by Christmas 2009—fingers crossed. I enjoy the Detective Jack Staal character and already have two sequels outlined.
Another completed novel manuscript is about an average family man and how he and his wife deal with his depression and addiction following the sudden tragic loss of his eyesight. Falling Down the Hole is my 2010 project and I dream about it becoming my first book published by a traditional publisher.
Q: Thank you for this interview. Is there anything else you would like to mention?
A: Self-published writers and their books often get a bad rap. There are many wonderful, well-written books out there by self-published and unknown authors, and I invite readers of Divine Caroline to give them a chance.
Thanks again for having me here.