Welcome to the latest stop on the It Takes All Kinds of Characters blog tour.

In the previous episode, urban fantasy and science fiction author Scott Moon talked about his smooth operating, gunslinging, ex-soldier Kin Roland of Moon's Enemy of Man and Son of Orlan books. Kin is a tough-minded fighter, who goes to great, and sometimes dangerous, lengths to protect the ones he cares for.

Scott invited me to take part in the Tour and I was happy to join in!

The character I decided to talk about today is the main protagonist from my upcoming Second Star series, Lt. John McNeal.

Enjoy!

1. Describe how you came up with the idea for your character:

John grew out of my need for a character whose name is “John”. He was originally an astronaut, then a space fighter pilot, and then eventually a futuristic jet-fighter pilot. I needed a character that could lead my other characters against their enemies and connect to the source material. (I don’t want to give too much of the secret away)


He is calm and collected and has no time for bullshit, but at the same time has a healthy sense of humor which helps him cope with the conflict around him. 

2. When and where is the setting of their story?

The story is set in the not so distant future, say the 2060s or 70s. The “where” is secret, but it is basically an alien world that John is pulled into by accident. This planet has been ravaged by a war much different than the wars of John’s home, Earth and fortunately for us (not so much for John) he has been thrown right in the middle of it.

3. Tell what things you want people to know about them.

John is intelligent and determined. He is a patriot, but also a realist. In his time wars are fought at the whims of the corporations that fund the military. John’s strength comes from having a desire to serve, but he wants to serve for the right reasons and in his time, and on his world, it is impossible for him to do that. His weakness is speaking his mind, even at times that it isn’t appropriate to do so. His time in the service has also disillusioned him and the idea of service to a higher good no longer means what it use to. 

He is extremely reluctant to get involved with their conflict, it's not his fight after all and all he wants to do is go home. But as he spends more time among them and see what they struggle to live through, he becomes more and more certain of what he must do.

4.Their main conflict, and how they develop from dealing with it.

The broad strokes of the story are that the group of people John finds himself with a small band of freedom fighters, fighting against an oppressive government. With John’s unexpected arrival they begin to see hope and if they can convince him to help them, maybe they can bring an end to many long years of fighting.

5.Title of your work.           

The story is called Second Star: Breaking Through and is the first book in a planned series of five novellas. Right now the book is with my editor and I should have it back by the end of the week. I’m hoping for a late October release. 

I invited Kory M. Shrum to follow me on the tour, be sure you check out her post next week!

Writing…it’s what I do.

Because I’m so close to releasing my first book, Second Star: Breaking Through, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m trying to get out of this whole “writer” thing. What goals am I trying to accomplish and how am I going to measure success? Of course, numbers are important, but is that all it really boils down to?

Yesterday, while watching my writing partners swim around aimlessly in their own little private world, I decided that numbers weren’t really the driving force for my writing, and that I would count it a success if I sold one copy or one million copies. Hell, I’m going to be writing anyway, I’ve been doing it for years before I even learned about the world of Indie Publishing.

I mean, if I’m going to be writing anyway, whatever money I make is just a bonus, right?

As I was writing Breaking Through, I constantly worried about it if would sell or not. Of course, I want people to enjoy the book, but for some reason I had it in my head that if it wasn’t a breakout hit, it would be a failure.

This weekend, I read an article about Elmore Leonard, an extremely successful and popular Hollywood author. It covered some details about his life and described how he struggled to become that popular writer. You see, he wasn’t always successful and popular, in fact, it took him thirty years of writing to finally have a breakout hit. Thirty years.

That’s when my own light bulb came on. DING! I didn’t have to write a breakout hit with my first book. Don’t get me wrong, that would be awesome, but I was putting so much pressure on myself thinking that if the book didn’t immediately soar to the bestseller list in its first week then what was the point? When selling books really isn’t the point at all, its writing them and knowing that people are reading them. Even if it’s only twenty people.

I write because I enjoy writing. 

You say, “But doesn’t it cost a lot of money to publish your work?” Well, sure, it does, but then I would come back with this, “what hobbies don’t cost money?” And my follow up would be, “and how many of those hobbies pay you back?”

Now, granted, I’ve only made a grand total of $5 on my first published story, The Watch, but I’m completely okay with that. There are people out there that have read my work, and from the feedback I’ve received, it appears that people enjoyed it. That’s enough for me.

Now, I’m not saying that writing is just a hobby for me; I take it very serious and dedicate a lot of my time and energy to perfecting my craft. Whether it's working on posts for my blog, doing reviews or author interviews or playing around with cover art, it's all part of my passion to create. 

I don't plan to hit it big; in fact, I don't even plan to hit it any size. I plan on writing stories, then making those stories into the highest quality book I can and putting them out there for people read. If it took Elmore Leonard thirty years to make it big, why should I care if I make it big with my first book?

When I was considering going back to school a few years about, I was talking with my Dad and I told him it was going to take forever to graduate. I said, “Dad, at this rate I won’t graduate til I’m 40.” His answer to this was so profound I literally blew my mind and changed the way I look at almost everything I set out to do, he said, "Well, son, you're going to be 40 anyway, so you can be 40 with a degree or 40 without one." 

Mind. Blown.

If by some anomaly it sells a gazillion copies, well, I’ll probably freak-out for a few days and then I’ll write the next one. If it doesn't sell a gazillion copies then I'll still be writing the next one, and the next one, and the next one. 

It’s what I do.

The world of Indie (or self) Publishing has really come into its own in the last year or so and many good authors are making connections with new readers and new markets. One of the greatest advantages to Indie Publishing is the ability to write many different genres, without being labelled a “horror” or “sci-fi” or “mystery” writer.

Michael Bunker, bestselling author of the WICK series and The Silo Archipelago, has embraced this whole-heartedly and in the last two years has published nonfiction, fan fiction, dystopian science fiction and now has even created his very own genre; Amish Science Fiction. If your first reaction was to arch an eyebrow, you wouldn’t the first; I certainly did. But after reading his latest book, Pennsylvania, I can honestly say that he knows what he’s doing. It’s a wonder no one had thought of this before.

Pennsylvania was originally released in five parts over the past year and on April 29th all the parts will be published together in the Pennsylvania Omnibus. Release dates are always big things and Michael has decided to kick it up a notch. A few weeks ago he announced plans for a “Book Bomb” on his website and newsletter, in an effort to get his readers to convince other readers to buy the book all on the same day, April 29th.

In response to this massive release party of sorts, I contacted Michael about doing an interview along with the review of Pennsylvania that I already had planned. The response I got absolutely blew my mind. Not only did he want to do the interview but also the responses I received were more than I ever expected. In fact, they were so great that I decided to dedicate an entire blog post to our conversation.

So without further ado, Ladies and Gentleman: Michael Bunker.

Josh Hayes: First, thank you for taking the time to sit down and chat with me.

Michael Bunker: Thanks for having me.

JH: You have written books in many different genres, with Wick and your Wool fan fiction and now your Sand fan fiction and you seem to have no difficulties making the transition between genres. Now, with your most recent project you have even created your own genre, how did you come up with the idea for Pennsylvania?

MB: It was actually a very natural progression for me. I live off-grid in a "plain" community in Central Texas. Yet, I have an office on my property that is powered by off-grid "alternative" energy (solar power and generators.) Every day I experience both worlds, and even in my office I have this very serious meeting of the old world and the new. As I answer this question I am typing on a laptop computer powered by solar power, but in my office I have no electric lights, no running water.  My office is heated by a wood-burning stove.  

Still, people see my lifestyle and then they see that I'm online and on Facebook and since they don't know anything about the "why" of how we choose to live, they see it as a contradiction (or worse, a hypocrisy.) But the truth is that every single one of us is making decisions every day about what new technologies we choose to adopt, and just how far we intend to go down that road.  No person on earth accepts every technology that is out there. We all draw lines. We all experience the challenge of trying to live deliberately in this world that is changing so very fast.

As a "plain" person, I make decisions just like you do. I consider what is good for me and for my family and for my community, and I choose (very deliberately) what technologies I will use and when. No Amish person or plain person is "anti-technology." We all use technology. A frying pan is technology. A toothbrush is technology. The plain people just draw the lines in a different place than the rest of the world, and they do it deliberately and based on what they feel is best for themselves, their community, and their families. There is no hypocrisy. We all do it.

So I, probably more than most people, experience and think about these contrasts and tensions. I imagined the Amish in the 1600's and after that -- during the period of colonization -- coming to Pennsylvania from Europe. They would have gotten on massive ships that were every bit as strange and wonderful and frightening to them as a spaceship would be to us today. They partook in this space age technology in order to go to a place that advertised religious freedom, and good, cheap, and available land.  

This, for all intents and purposes, was identical to our Sci-Fi concepts of planetary colonization.  So this is how the idea came to be.  I thought about my life, and whether I would get on a spaceship to colonize another planet if I could get the things I want for myself, my community, and my family... and I would do it!

JH: I hear people all the time complaining that they don’t have enough time to write, and yet I constantly see you posting on Facebook and your website. What do you like most about interacting with your fans and how do you find time for both writing and communicating with your fan base?

MB: I think it is very natural for me as a creator who makes a form of art to be fascinated with how other minds experience my work. So my favorite part of interacting with fans is kind of layered. I like experiencing people almost anthropologically - watching how different people with different backgrounds and different ideas relate with my work and my career. And then it is also great to be around people who love something that I love. I love literature. I love to read, and I love to write. The people who really get into the Indie publishing movement and interact are the true book lovers out there. Probably the most intense and pure book lovers in the history of the world are at the forefront of the Indie publishing movement -- as readers and as writers -- and it is a joy to interact with them.

I would also say that we are in a very exciting time for literature. The technology, the talent, and the "system" coming together in a strange and exciting confluence of events means that for the first time in history readers have unprecedented access to their favorite authors. The authors that allow this, and encourage it, and participate in it in a very authentic way are going to find themselves in a better position to succeed in this new and dynamic market.  I think that most authors (almost all of them) are getting it wrong, but that is always the way when something like this happens in the culture.

How do I find time to write AND communicate with my fan base? I make time.  Of course I anger some writers when I tell the truth about the minuscule amount of time authors spend actually writing.  One of the biggest myths in the history of the world is the myth of the writer pounding out words all day every day for years to write a single novel. Some writers perpetuate this myth, but it is nonsense and they are not being truthful.  The Internet is finally exposing that little lie and I say that it is about time for that myth to come crashing to the ground.  I try to write every day, but if I can get in a few hours of writing, that is all it takes for me to push out a LOT of books. Polished, well-crafted, professionally presented books.  Actually, most of my day is spent in the business of being an author. Emails, social media, messages, interviews, signing and shipping books, working with my team to edit and format the books, etc.  So communicating with my readers is a part of what I do every day. It is both my job, and a great joy. I don't see it as a hindrance or a pain or anything. I enjoy it. These are my friends and getting to spend time "at work" with your friends is more of a bonus than it is a chore.

JH: Many writers (myself included) have started projects, been excited about it and when confronted with the ominous uphill battle that is traditional publishing, gave up and threw away the manuscript. What was the pivotal moment in your writing career when you decided you were going to start (and finish) a story and then to self-publish?

Wow! That is a very good, interesting, and difficult question and will require a vague and rambling answer! I have been writing in one form or another all of my life.  I wrote a full 350 page novel when I was 22 years old. I was writing that novel when I first met my wife. But I never really tried to get it published. The whole system of submitting and querying in the mainstream system seemed very daunting and dehumanizing to me.  It still does.  I wanted to write, and I would have liked to have been read, but I wasn't willing to prostrate myself at the feet of the system in order to be successful, so I never really tried.  That novel went into a drawer (actually a filing cabinet,) and never saw the light of day (thank goodness!).

Frankly, that is one of the only good things I can say about the long history of the mainstream publishing industry.  A lot of really embarrassingly bad first-books—written by good writers—never got published.  Clearly, a lot of really good first-books didn't get published too, and that is a shame, but as for me... I'll always be thankful I never self-published my early writings.

Anyway, when the Internet really got going and the blog revolution took place in the very late 90's, I started writing a blog that got really popular. By 2009 I was writing every day, and in 2011 I wrote and published my first big non-fiction book on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) which proved to me that I could make money writing books. That non-fiction book was a smash hit and went to #39 in all of Amazon.  

So after that, I was starting to think that I might be able to write for a living full-time someday.  I wrote my first fiction novel (in the modern era!) in 2011 and published it in March of 2012. So that was my first experience actually writing fiction for publication. That book (The Last Pilgrims) did well, but I learned that writing fiction is MUCH harder than writing non-fiction, and fiction is harder to sell.  It took me awhile to research and study the business, and learn how to do it in a way that could possibly be successful. I learned about Hugh Howey and WOOL that summer of 2012 and began studying his process and his thoughts on publishing. That is what really drove me to seek to be an author as a career.  I worked with an old high school friend (Chris Awalt) on the WICK series, the first of which was published in the very end of December of 2012.  In reality, my "career" started on December 26th, 2012 because that is when we hit "publish" on WICK 1.  That was probably the most pivotal moment for me, when I was casting off all of the ropes and tethers, and that was when I decided I would be an author full-time. All-in-all, I haven't been doing this very long!

JH: When it comes to the process of actually writing there are seemingly infinite was to work on a project. I think the battleground for Linear and Non-linear writers would be a fierce contest. What is your preferred method? Do you write from start to finish (from A to B) or do you jump around from scene to scene?

I'm not sure if anyone can do a pure A to B writing of a book, but for the most part I do it that way. Of course, within that process I do jump around a little when necessary.  Maybe later in the book I'll think "this will be understood better if there is an earlier scene where Dawn and Amos talk about this topic," or "wouldn't it be cool if this item appeared or this situation happened way back then so that it would make this later situation mean more." That sort of thing.  But for the most part, I write from the beginning to the end.  During editing, the book is fleshed out -- expanding like an accordion. Maybe this is why I like the concept of time-travel so much. Because writing a book is very much like traveling back and forth in time.

JH: Does the finished product resemble the original story you had in your head when you started writing?

MB: Almost always. Completely.  Although there may be a few surprises here and there, and the details are usually unknown to me until they happen, the overall "bones"... the structure of the story... ends up like I first imagined it.

JH: What's next for the world of Bunker?

MB: Thanks for asking!  I have a lot on my plate right now... I'm writing a serialized, seasonal fiction novel entitled DIGGER with the man who is probably my favorite living fiction author right now... Nick Cole.  Nick wrote the fabulous Wasteland Saga which started with The Old Man and the Wasteland. I'm very excited about that project.  I'm also co-writing a few books in the Bombo Dawson Adventure series with some friends.  Kevin G. Summers and I wrote LEGENDARIUM, the first Bombo adventure (after Hugh Howey Must Die!) this past month, and we are currently at work on LEGENDARIUM II.  I am also working on two non-fiction titles.  I am working with the very talented Tim Grahl on a top-secret non-fiction book, and I am working with my talented daughter Tracy Bunker on the first in a series of Beyond Off-Grid Living "how to" books.  On top of that, there are two of my fiction series, which are still on-going.  Cold Harbor will be the sequel to The Last Pilgrims, and Oklahoma will be the sequel to Pennsylvania.  So, I think I have plenty to do!

JH: Well, I won’t keep you from it then! Michael, I had a fantastic time chatting with you, thanks for taking time out of your schedule to talk with me. I look forward to reading more of your work and wish you all the best!

MB: Thanks, Josh! I enjoyed it.

Check out my review of Pennsylvania and be sure to share this post and review with your friends! Let’s make Michael’s “Book Bomb” go nuclear!

You can pick up copies of all of Michael’s books here: Michael Bunker’s Amazon Author Page

For more information on Michael Bunker and his books, check out his website www.journal.michaelbunker.com and his new blog at http://michaelbunker.thirdscribe.com/.

His Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelBunker and Twitter: @mbunker.

Growing up my family moved around a lot. My Dad served in the Army and every 2-3 years he would get orders to a new base and we would pack all our things, load them on a big truck and move on to a new place. When I was about 13 or 14 my Dad was stationed at Fort Drum, in upstate New York and during our first winter we learned that "lake effect" snow isn't like any other snow we'd ever experienced before. The first time it snowed took my Mom, brother and I, the better part of three hours to shovel out our driveway. Of course, after all that work there was some serious fort building that followed. My brother and I quickly became the Official Snow Fort Engineers for the block.

Coincidentally, this was also the time in my life when I started writing. I wrote a story called “The Final Frontier” in a one-subject notebook with a red cover. I've kept it in a black briefcase and carried it around with me wherever I've moved. As you can see it was TOP SECRET, and it will remain as such. Likewise, its sequel “Armada” (which I also still have) will remained stored in an unmarked box in the garage. I never submitted these outstanding pieces of literary history--the market just wasn't ready for them. (And I had no idea where I'd submit them even if I'd wanted to.) Had I submitted them, I have no doubt they would have been picked up by any number of agents or publishers...and promptly thrown in the nearest dumpster.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, New York.

Unfortunately for our Snow Fort Engineering Career, winter doesn't last all year--even though sometimes it seemed that way and we had to find other ways to have fun. Luckily for us, warm weather brought with it baseball, and that meant plenty of afternoons watching the Watertown Indians play. This farm team for the Cleveland Indians, played in a small stadium, had a dirt parking lot and most importantly; had hot dogs that weren't $15. 

The Minor Leagues were just as enjoyable as the Major League games we went to and we could go to a lot more simply because they were cheaper.  Interestingly enough, in all the games I went to, I never heard anyone say they would rather be at a big league game or that they wouldn't come to another game or that the game-play was sub-par to the Majors. Sure, much of young talent still learning but they were honing their skills and putting the work in to get better.

For every Major League athlete making $50K a game, there are a hundred Minor League athletes making $100 a game.  It doesn't necessarily mean they are worse players either; the right scout just hasn’t seen them at the right time. Indie authors, in my opinion, fit into this category.

For every big name author out there, there are hundreds of midlist writers just getting their start. Hell, some aren’t even on a list. They put their time in, sitting in front of blank computer screens, furiously typing away for hours before holding the backspace key down and deleting everything. Then they start again. The process is the same for Indie authors and traditional authors, well mostly. Write, edit, rewrite, edit, delete, write, edit, and publish.

There seems to be a lot of resentment of Indie authors, I read a blog post the other day that said independent authors shouldn’t call themselves “authors”. Really? I'm sure that every person playing on the Watertown Indians considers themselves a baseball player! It's not like they have to score a specific amount of home runs before they can call themselves a real baseball player. 

What's difficult for me to understand about people not liking Indie authors is that the "indie scene" has been around for years. Ever heard of the Sundance Film Festival? I've seen many Independant Films that blow the socks off most of the movies coming out of Hollywood these days. That not good enough for you? How about music; I Googled "indie music festival" and only got around 114 MILLION hits. I’m sure, the person singing in a cover band downtown at your local bar considers themselves a singer. So why do so many people look down on Indie Authors?  Even with the amount of Indies that publishers are picking up and the amount of midlist authors putting out great books, there is still this stigma surrounding it. 

I don’t like the phrase “self-publish” because what we do is much more than just “publish,”, but I am a proud Indie. I also don’t like to call myself an author (not yet anyway, maybe someday); I’m a writer. But I'm a writer putting in work now so one day I can call myself an Indie Author, and when I do I'll be proud to do it.

The Minor leagues is a great place to be and with the tools and resources like CreateSpace and Amazon and Nook available right now, it’s a great time to be here. And most hot dogs (or books) are only $3 or less.

Below is a list of some great Indie Authors, writers that put in hard work and are creating great books, check them out and show your support! 

www.journal.michealbunker.com

www.scottmoonwriter.com

www.samanthalafantasie.com

www.jasongurley.com

http://www.hughhowey.com/

http://www.jakonrath.com/