Luke Romyn
Author of
Suspense/Thrillers
Deanna: Luke, I'm honored to have you here so my readers can meet you, thank you! Writers are a busy group of individuals. What else do you do along with your writing?
Luke: I run two businesses and work as a nightclub bouncer
on weekends. That’s my ‘social’ time; otherwise I tend to lock myself away from
society too much.
Deanna: A bouncer who's also an author...interesting combination! So what do you do to relax?
Luke: I like to get
to the gym – mainly just for weights these days, though I do try to get some
boxing or kickboxing in whenever possible. I try not to knock myself out. My
wife and I often go bike riding, and I like to catch up with friends for coffee
whenever possible. Oh, and I travel around the world.
Deanna: As authors, we’ve sometimes been accused of being several people. How many personalities live in your mind?
Luke: Billions. I’m
pretty sure there are various colonies, ranging from Neanderthal-like simians
to extraterrestrials.
Deanna: I love your sense of humor, Luke! What is your strongest area in writing: plotting, character personality, dialogue, etc?
Luke: It’s my job as a writer to constantly work on every
aspect of my style, and as such, I try not to focus so much on my strengths,
which come easily, but rather work relentlessly on any weaknesses, something
I’d be a fool to point out to anyone.
However, that said, it also depends on the book. For the
Prometheus Wars books, I relied heavily on hardcore action, grabbing the reader
by the throat from the very beginning and not letting go. For the Legacy
Chronicles books, I’m focusing a lot on the complexities of the characters – I
mean, I’m working with a new messiah raised by an abusive Bible fanatic faced
with world annihilation, so he’s bound to have some issues.
Deanna: Can you work on more than one book at a
time?
Luke: I prefer not to, unless they’re in the same series.
Each book has a different rhythm and flow, and to jump from one to the other confuses
my writing too much. As a writer you get to know your characters, and you walk
the path they’re walking. To jump into too many pairs of shoes would be foolish.
Deanna: Since I work on only one book at a time, I understand that. How long does
it take you to write a book?
Luke: That depends on a lot of factors, but for a 100K first
draft it usually takes me about three months. Editing usually takes around the
same, sometimes less.
Deanna: Editing is a grueling, necessary evil for us and we all go about if differently to come out with a final product. What is your
editing process?
Luke: I usually run through the entire MS and rewrite each
paragraph, adding or removing description, fact checking, thickening the depth
of the scenes, rewording awkward passages, etc. After that I go through again,
more as a reader, making sure everything runs seamlessly, looking for
repetition, contradictions, or just downright stupidity. After that it goes off
to my editor, and we back and forth until I’m happy. And finally it goes to my
proof readers to pick up any tiny mistakes left over.
Deanna: What is your
favorite way to connect with readers?
Luke: Definitely social media. I try to blog, but time
restricts me too much, and I’m too much of a perfectionist to simply jot
something down ‘on the run’. I have over 270000 followers on Twitter, have
maxed out my friend list on Facebook, my fan page is ever expanding, plus there
are all the other sites that I forget about right now.
Deanna: Tell us about
a typical day in your life as a writer.
Luke: I sit down at the computer and write, no distractions,
simply word after perfect word, annihilating my daily word count in no time.
And then do again the next day. I wake up, go to the computer, rub my weary eyes,
look at emails, look at my book stats, look at Twitter, look at Facebook, and
then curse that I’ve wasted an hour of my day.
So I knuckle down to write, smashing away at the keyboard
for what seems forever, finally easing back and reviewing what I’ve written…
only to realize it’s a jumbled pile of nonsense, delete the whole thing, and
start all over again.
Deanna: Do your books
have a common theme or are they all different?
Luke: I like to challenge my characters at every turn. I
like to hurt them, torment them, force them through the wringer until they come
out the other end a changed entity, something stronger than what began the
story. Because, ultimately, that’s what life’s about.
.
Deanna: Luke, it's been a pleasure getting to know you! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us and allow me to introduce you to even more new readers who I hope have also enjoyed meeting you and will leave a comment or two. Readers, thank you for stopping by to learn more about Luke Romyn and what he writes!
Great interview, folks. I've read all of Luke's novels which I highly recommend. I'm betting his proof readers are a brilliant lot. :)
ReplyDeleteClaude, thank you so much for stopping by! It's a pleasure to have Luke visit this week. His books appeal to a wide variety of readers, for sure!
ReplyDelete