{"id":20395,"date":"2013-09-12T05:00:44","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T09:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=20395"},"modified":"2013-09-11T21:49:58","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T01:49:58","slug":"ten-questions-about-unsould-by-barry-lyga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2013\/09\/12\/ten-questions-about-unsould-by-barry-lyga\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Questions About Unsoul’d, By Barry Lyga"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Barry Lyga has a hit YA series on his hands — I Hunt Killers — and so it’s interesting to see that when he had an adult novel ready to roll he juked left and decided to publish it himself (becoming one of them “hybrid authors” they grow in labs in the Pacific Northwest). Here is is to talk about the book:<\/em><\/p>\n

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m just a guy who writes shit, and for some reason people \u2014 actually, big corporations \u2014 are crazy enough to pay me. Which is nuts because I\u2019d pretty much do it for dark chocolate M&Ms and health insurance.<\/p>\n

Before doing what I do now, I spent ten years working in the comic book industry, occasionally writing comics, mostly trying to get the public to remember that comic books still existed. Now \u2014 thanks to the movies \u2014 friggin\u2019 Iron Man<\/em> is a billion-dollar franchise. I\u2019m going to take some of the credit for that, even though I absolutely do not<\/em> deserve it. But let\u2019s see how powerful the reach is of Terrible Minds. Let\u2019s see if we can get the culture to believe I\u2019m responsible for Iron Man<\/em>. It\u2019ll be an interesting test of virality and meme theory.<\/p>\n

GIVE US THE 140-CHARACTER STORY PITCH:<\/h2>\n

Randall Banner \u2014 depressed, frustrated author \u2014 sells his soul to the devil in exchange for a hit book. Hilarity, horror, and sex ensue.<\/p>\n

WHERE DOES THIS STORY COME FROM?<\/h2>\n

I love \u201cdeal with the devil\u201d stories, but I\u2019ve always felt like they fall into certain patterns. They become redemption stories or cautionary tales. For years, I imagined telling the story of a Faustian bargain that turns those notions on their heads. A story where the lines between good and evil, right and wrong, seem clear, but really aren\u2019t, and where the devil gets all the best lines. And with a twist at the end that changes everything that has come before.<\/p>\n

I mean, I carried this thing around in my head for something like a decade, maybe more. And finally I said, \u201cFuck it, I need it out of my head and out in the world where it can bother people.\u201d<\/p>\n

HOW IS THIS A STORY ONLY YOU COULD\u2019VE WRITTEN?<\/h2>\n

Hmm. Unlikeable main character? Cynical worldview? Don\u2019t give a fuck if all the \u201cright people\u201d approve of it or not? Radically different than anything else I\u2019ve written? Takes shots at my industry and my profession?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing: At the end of the day, I have this bizarre, misunderstood empathy for bad people. Not necessarily evil<\/em> people, mind you \u2014 just bad people. People who don\u2019t get along. People who are outcasts, usually due to some personal failing to which they\u2019re blind. I get<\/em> these people. I don\u2019t know what that says about me, but there it is. I get them and I can\u2019t stop writing about them. And really, truly: I believe there are things we can learn from them. Not every character has to be boyfriend or girlfriend material. Sometimes we learn as much from the people we hate as we do from the people we admire.<\/p>\n

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING UNSOUL\u2019D<\/em>?<\/h2>\n

Other than finding the time to do it in between all the other stuff I\u2019m writing? Probably the concern that some people would completely misinterpret crucial aspects of the book, leading to the usual call for my head. But at some point you just have to say, \u201cHey, not every book is for every reader.\u201d My career has been a crazy-quilt of different genres, different age groups, different topics, different styles and voices\u2026 If people don\u2019t dig this one, maybe they\u2019ll dig the next one. I write for myself, really, and I\u2019m so damn lucky that there are enough people out there who are similar to me that I can make it a career!<\/p>\n

WHAT DID YOU LEARN WRITING UNSOUL\u2019D<\/em>?<\/h2>\n

That writing sex can be exciting and depressing at the same time. That the guy you thought was \u201cyou\u201d in the story sometimes turns out to be someone else. That everyone you speak to \u2014 upon hearing the soul-for-hit-book premise of the novel \u2014 will feel obligated to say, \u201cSo is that what you did?\u201d Oh, and that my fiance\u00e9 is the single coolest person in the world because she still loved me after reading this thing.<\/p>\n

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT UNSOUL\u2019D<\/em>?<\/h2>\n

I love the sheer id<\/em> of it, man. It\u2019s about a guy who sells his soul for the pettiest of reasons, really, and the whole book is a wallow in creature comforts, self-pity, and sex. With no apologies. If you were the sort of person who would sell your soul in the first place, you wouldn\u2019t be all that nice or all that pleasant, I figure, and I wanted to be honest about that. So Randall is just the kind of guy who would sell his soul, get everything he ever wanted, and still bitch about it.<\/p>\n

I get that people identify more with characters who are like them or who are likable, but I think there\u2019s real value in exploring people who aren\u2019t quite so gooey at their centers. Like I said before, I think we can learn things from examining the sad, pathetic bastards of the world.<\/p>\n

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?<\/h2>\n

I think I\u2019m still too close to it to have the perspective necessary to answer that, honestly. With every book I write, I look back at some point and think, \u201cOh, crap, I missed X, Y, or Z.\u201d Sometimes it\u2019s little things and I just want to tweak a sentence or a bit of dialogue. On one occasion, there an entire book I wish I could just rewrite from scratch.<\/p>\n

But for me, I always need some emotional and temporal distance before I can get to that point. And Unsoul\u2019d<\/em> is still too fresh for me. I\u2019m still in love with it. It\u2019s still our first night together. I haven\u2019t woken up next to it and smelled its terrible hangover breath yet.<\/p>\n

GIVE US YOUR FAVORITE PARAGRAPH FROM THE STORY:<\/h2>\n

Oh, man\u2026 I don\u2019t even\u2026 I don\u2019t know where to start! I\u2019m tempted to say the opening of the book is my favorite paragraph because I think it just sets up the story to absolute perfection. I\u2019ve always been hypercritical of my openings, but this one time, I think I nailed it. And almost every time the devil opens his mouth, I love what comes out of it.<\/p>\n

That said, I can tell you the paragraph that made me giggle like a demented schoolboy when I wrote it. It\u2019s not just a paragraph, though: It\u2019s a single sentence that stands alone, and it\u2019s actually an entire chapter unto itself:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no words.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trust me: In context, it\u2019s a killer. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S NEXT FOR YOU AS A STORYTELLER?<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m still cranking away on the I Hunt Killers<\/em> series, wrapping up revisions on the third and final book. And there\u2019s a middle-grade dark sci-fi-ish sort of thing bubbling up right now. I\u2019ll probably write an epic fantasy after that because this is how my brain works.<\/p>\n

Barry Lyga: Website<\/span><\/a> \/ Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unsoul’d: Read First Half For Free<\/span><\/a> \/ Buy Here<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barry Lyga has a hit YA series on his hands — I Hunt Killers — and so it’s interesting to see that when he had an adult novel ready to roll he juked left and decided to publish it himself (becoming one of them “hybrid authors” they grow in labs in the Pacific Northwest). Here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-5iX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20395"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20398,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20395\/revisions\/20398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}