Tell
us a little bit about yourself.
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| Author Ismael Manzano |
My name is Ismael Manzano. I live in the
Bronx and have done so my entire life. I have a six-year-old son who is the
center of my world, and a wonderful wife who is also a writer, which makes
brainstorming and editing much more fun. I love history--which has nothing to
do with my writing--but I’ve always been drawn to Ancient Roman history,
Medieval English history (more specifically, Tudor England), and I dabble in
Egyptian history, although I confess that most of that revolves around
Cleopatra and her involvement with Julius Caesar.
What
is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called Soulless. It’s book
one of the Soul Broker series. In a roundabout way it was inspired by a short
story called The Monkey’s Paw. The final version has nothing to do with the
source material, but I was fascinated by the idea of taking something
established and twisting it around and approaching it from a new perspective.
How
would you categorize your book?
Urban Fantasy
Introduce
us to your book's main character. What is it about this character that
appeals to you as a writer?
Charlotte Furio, is a woman who has
spent most of her adult life caring for her infirm father. She has a strong
code of ethics, independent of religion, but tends to see only the negative
aspects of herself. This character appealed to me because I liked the idea of a
character who is governed by her own set of morals, even if her choices are not
always smart, safe or prudent.
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| Available Now |
How
did the book come to be titled and how
does the title relate to the story?
The title was the easiest part of the
story. Once I knew that I was going to write about buying souls, the title just
came to me. It also helped to establish a foundation for the protagonist’s
character, who is both an atheist and is hyperaware of her penchant for selfish
behavior.
Tell
us more about the cover design. How
involved were you with creating the cover?
Tiffany Heiser created the cover for me.
She works for Fantasy Works Publishing. She was amazing throughout the process.
I had an idea for the cover from the moment I started writing the story, and
she helped bring it to life. We went back and forth a few times, with alternate
versions of the cover before finally settling on one, but she took the time to
work with me on it, so I had the cover I wanted.
Tell
us something about Soulless that isn't mentioned in the synopsis.
Charlotte is a media buff. Having spent
years caring for her father, she chose to pass the time watching television
shows and movies. So she makes a lot of references to them.
Give
us a summary of Soulless in a tweet.
A woman stumbles upon the world of soul
brokering when her ailing father is healed by a woman with a contract.
How
much of your experience is in Soulless?
Actually very little. With the exception
of the movie and television show references, our experiences are vastly
different.
Describe
your writing process.
My process has
gone through many changes throughout the years and probably will go through
more as time goes on. But for this book, I started with an outline. I kept it
small and very bare bones at first. I reread the outline over a dozen times, adding
things to it as I went along. By the end, the outline was a bloated monster
with chunks of prose and metaphors and character sketches strewn throughout.
When I couldn’t add anymore, I started writing the novel properly. When I got
past an important part of the story, I stopped, reread the outline to remind
myself what direction the story was headed and to make adjustments, because
sometimes little changes made on the fly affected the rest of the story.
Describe
your writing environment.
I write whenever I can get a free
moment. I am cursed with being unable to divide my attention, so usually I need
to wait for everyone in the house to fall asleep or find a quiet break room at
work. When those aren’t available, I write on the train or whenever I’m waiting
on line for something. Those are usually just notes jotted down to remind me of
an idea or a conversation I want to happen. But with an energetic six-year-old
running around the house, I had to learn to write at specific times, and just
make notes on my phone at all other times.
How
much research did you put into your book?
It’s not the type of book the requires
much research, but I did spend months figuring out the trajectory of the
series, how each character fit into the whole, what everyone’s purpose and
motivations were, etc.
What
are your hobbies or interests outside of writing?
Like Charlotte, I love television shows
and movies. But I also love history, specifically Tudor England and Ancient
Rome, but I’ve branched off into other avenues like the Civil War, Ancient
Egypt, and eastern religions.
What
is the best advice received as an author?
What is the harshest criticism?
What have you learned from either?
The best advice I’d ever received as an
author was also the harshest criticism, and it was not to be too ‘flowery.’
When I was younger, I thought the bigger the word, the more intelligent the
work sounded, when the opposite was usually the case. Words should have purpose
and should not be shoehorned into the prose to make it sound more professional.
I learned to focus on the flow of the story, and that sometimes, small words or
brief sentences have more impact than a lengthy paragraph jammed with SAT
words.
What
kinds of books did you read as a child?
My early reading loves were C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, and Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain series. A little
bit later, I got into Piers Anthony’s Xanth series and it only went uphill from
there.
What
specific authors or genres do you read now?
For most of my life I read Epic
or High Fantasy books. Terry Brooks and Brandon Sanderson to name a couple authors. Only recently did I get into Urban Fantasy, such as the
Dresden Files and Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series. Then of course, there
are random Dean Koontz and Stephen King books. I love reading stories with thoroughly fleshed out anti-heroes.
What
is next for you?
Currently I’m working on Soul Search
(Book 2 of Soul Broker), and outlining a separate standalone novel.
Ismael Manzano can be reached at the following places:
Twitter: @ismaelmanzano76
Website: Ismaelmanzano.com
Soulless is available at the following sites:
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