Author Interview: Fate of the Watchman by Chad Pettit

About the Book

Lester Sharp is a workaholic, obsessed with the success of his business and oblivious to the world around him. All of that changes when a peculiar stranger comes into his shop asking for food and help. Lester soon finds himself on an impossible journey around the world to bear witness to some of the greatest tragedies a person can know, all frozen in a single moment of time.

In this challenging and gripping novella, debut author Chad Pettit, delivers a supernatural, pulse-pounding adventure in which Lester Sharp is in for the longest second of his life and learns lessons to last a lifetime.

Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GSFMRSK

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40961725-fate-of-the-watchman

About the Author

Chad Pettit grew up in Oregon with books and the mountains to help his imagination grow. After high school, he spent ten years in the Army, travelling and deploying all over the world, including two combat tours in Iraq. After the military, Chad earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas A&M University-Central Texas, and then he started teaching English at an early college high school in central Texas. Chad currently serves in a local church as a deacon and the Sunday school superintendent.

Follow the Author:
Website: www.chatpettit.net
Twitter: @pettit_chad
Facebook: ChadPettit.Writer
Instagram: @chad_pettit_ 

Author Interview

1. How do you develop your characters? Do you use images found online, a Pinterest board, character sketches, or develop them as you write?

I don’t even know how Pinterest works. I think I’m probably different than a lot of writers. I have no idea what most of my characters look like. I start with a story, and the characters come to life as I put the story together. It’s always funny to me when people say they can imagine the characters so vividly because I rarely describe the way they look in great detail. 

That sounds a lot like me! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. 

2. What is your best advice for getting rid of writer’s block?

Leave it alone. You just can’t force what’s not there. That’s your mind telling you to take a break. But if you just have to write, just start writing descriptions for things. Describe your coffee and the way it smells, feels, tastes. Maybe you feel stressed, and the coffee relieves some stress. Change your name to Bill or something and then talk about why Bill is stressed. See? I just did it! If you tell yourself you can’t write, you’re right. 

That is a cool way to do it. I'll have to try it sometime. Just without the coffee since I don't drink the stuff. ;)

3. If you could share one piece of advice that you wish someone else had told you to an aspiring writer, what would it be?

Your story is unique, and it’s perfectly fine for it to take a long time to develop. I’ve been working on this story since I was sixteen, but I hadn’t lived through enough back then, and I needed experience to find its purpose. Be patient, learn the craft, and practice. People start and never finish writing novels all the time because they haven’t developed the skill or stamina yet. 

I love that advice! Thank you!

4. What is your favorite genre?

I don’t know if I have a favorite. Growing up it was high fantasy. I learned the importance of description from reading the dark elf books by R.A. Salvatore. These days, I’m a huge Ted Dekker fan. I like the mix of fantasy and thriller, but I’m open to a lot of genres.

 

Fun questions:

Pizza or Pasta?

I have to choose?

Favorite movie?

The Martian. I love the exploration of what a person is capable of under extreme conditions. It’s also just a cool premise and well done. 

Favorite Bible verse?

Galatians 2:20. Get a good grasp on that one and everything else starts falling into place.

Coffee, tea, or water?

I like water with coffee or tea in it. Columbian roast in the morning. Chai in the evening.

Favorite movie adaptation?

The Hobbit. The whole trilogy. It was just as magical for me as the book was, and I think they honored Tolkien.

Giveaway

The winner of the giveaway will receive an eBook of Fate of the Watchman.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

Monday, October 1st

Intro Post // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Book Spotlight // Grace Maples @ Proclaiming His Excellencies

Tuesday, October 2nd

Author Interview // Angela R. Watts @ The Peculiar Messenger

Wednesday, October 3rd

Author Interview // Faith Blum @ Bookish Orchestrations

Author Interview // Germaine Han @ The Writing Mafia

Thursday, October 4th

Review // Rayleigh Gray @ Literature Approved

Friday, October 5th

Review // Grace Buckner @ Literatura

Saturday, October 6th

Review // Jo @ The Lens & The Harddrive

Wrapup Post // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

A. Kaylee // Book Spotlight @ Kaylee’s Kind Of Writes 

Child of Prophecy Giveaway Winners

Thank you so much for all the great posts for this tour. We now have two winners! The winner of the grand prize giveaway is...

Miso!

And the winner of the first prize is...

BJ and Alexa!

Be watching your inbox for an email from T.E. Bradford so she can get the prizes to you.

Author Interview: T.E. Bradford

Good morning, everyone! Today, we have a special guest, T.E. Bradford! Make sure you check out the interview and then check out the giveaway on my other blog post here.

Author Interview

1. What is your writing process? Do you outline before you start? I’m somewhere between being a plotter and a pantser. I call myself a POTSI. LOL  I usually do a rough outline or idea, and maybe I’ll plot out a few chapters at a time, but not the whole book. Plotting out the whole book would ruin it for me. I’d feel too much like I was already done, and wouldn’t have the motivation to write. I need the thrill of not knowing completely where the story will take me.

2. How do you develop your characters? Do you use images found online, a Pinterest board, character sketches, or develop them as you write? One thing I do take the time to do is determine my character’s weaknesses and how they will change over the course of the story. Then I think of as many ways as I can to throw them into exactly what challenges them most. For example, in Child of Prophecy, my MC Nova is great at defending others, but horrible at standing up for herself. So of course, I thought of as many ways as I could to put her into situations where she had to stand up for herself.

This will probably make some plotters moan and go looking for ashes and sackcloth, but I don’t storyboard or pin pictures up around my desk. I will go looking for images, but that’s generally after I already have a pretty solid idea in my head of who my characters are and what they’re like. The key character point for me came from Maas, in listing out the challenges for a character from most to least, and then turning that list on its head and making the last, first. That opened up a whole new side of Quentin – Nova’s next-door-neighbor and best friend – to me.

3. What is your best advice for getting rid of writer’s block? Write through it. Seriously. Write gibberish if you have to. Write a poem. Write a sonnet. Do a writing challenge. Anything to get those creative juices flowing. Once they’re going, you can always go back and rewrite the gibberish.

4. If you could share one piece of advice that you wish someone else had told you to an aspiring writer, what would it be? You can (and will) learn tons about the technical aspects of writing as you grow. You’ll learn to do things better, and you’ll learn what you’re not so great at. There will be tons of ups and downs, praise and criticism. In the end, remember that writing is your passion. It’s your dream. Don’t let everything that comes with that make you lose sight of what you love. Because if you’re doing what you love, nothing can bring you down.

5. What is your favorite genre? Well I love to read Fantasy just as much as I love to write it, but I also have a few guilty pleasures. Like dystopian, and post-apocalyptic stories.

Fun (optional) questions:

Pizza or Pasta? Pizza!

Favorite movie? Contact (followed VERY closely by Twister, Aliens (the second one), Galaxy Quest and Spaceballs).

Favorite Bible verse? That’s changed for me over the years. When I was young, it was Isaiah 40:31 – They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings, as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.  As an adult, and one who faced cancer, I found a new favorite in Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Coffee, tea, or water? Dr. Pepper. Gimme cold caffeine, baby. LOL

Favorite movie adaptation?  I really enjoyed the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I know some avid Lewis fans felt it was not the greatest, but I thought Will Poulter was absolutely brilliant as Eustace. I fell in love with the character all over again as I watched the movie. And who can’t love that moment with Reepicheep at the end of the world, preparing to go into Aslan’s country? Seriously. Awesome. Stuff.

Good morning and welcome to my blog! I’m excited to have you here and hope you have some fun with these questions. Since this blog is about and for writers, most of the questions will be about writing with a few optional, fun questions at the end.

Blog Tour: Conviction by Lauren Salisbury

 A friend from one of the author Facebook groups I'm in is releasing a new book! Find out more in this blog post. You can also find out more about her in the author interview.

About the Book

Can two people with opposing principles overcome their differences to be together?

Than has spent his life ostensibly having fun while secretly fighting for his people’s freedom. A member of the underground resistance, he is only ever serious around his comrades and his family. When an injury forces him to step down from active duty and his reluctant nurse sparks his interest, Than finds himself in uncharted territory. The fascinating woman will have nothing to do with him.

Menali’s past has taught her to keep her head down and trust that God has a reason for allowing the human race to suffer on U’du. When Than explodes into her life, he refuses to take no for an answer and challenges all of her preconceptions. He soon has her re-evaluating her priorities and wondering what life with someone like him would be like.

Blog Tour: Child of Prophecy

About the Book

One misfit. One prophecy. Two worlds. Being different is bad until you find out it's the only thing that might save you.

 

How far would you go to fit in? Another world?

Fifteen-year-old Nova Hawthorne has a unique trait that sets her apart, yet she wants nothing more than to be normal and fit in.

She soon finds out that there’s a very real reason why she feels so out of place in this world—she’s from another one. And prophecy says she is destined to destroy them both.

Armed only with a magic she does not yet understand and the synesthesia no one else does, she must race to figure out how to stop prophecy from unfolding, find a father she’s never met and discover who she really is. Is it truly our differences that make us who we are? How can you be strong when you’re broken? And what happens when your actions bring about the very destruction you’ve been fighting to prevent?

Purchase on Amazon: http://bit.ly/ChildOfProphecyB1

About the Author

Tracy is a writer, singer-songwriter, cancer survivor and proud wife and mother. Born and raised in Central New York, she will tell you that her parents gave her the two best tools in her arsenal by reading to her and raising her in a Christian household. In spite of the long Central NY winters she continues to live there with the husband that God created just for her, and the son who is her forever best story. In her heart, she feels that her gift of writing is a little piece of magic, and that it is both her privilege and grandest adventure to find new ways to stretch a hand out to touch the wonder of this vast universe God created.

Giveaway

T.E. Bradford has a great giveaway! There are two notebooks, a Jade Dragon, a pack of pens, two books, and a mermaid. And that's just for the grand prize! We also have a bonus prize of a $10 Amazon gift card. Make sure you enter below or at this link.

Excerpt/Author Interview/Review

Tour Schedule

September 13

Bookish Orchestrations – Intro Post

Letters from Annie Douglass Lima – Book Spotlight

September 14

Literature Approved – Book Review

September 15

Bookish Orchestrations – Author Interview

Selina J. Eckert – Book Spotlight

September 17

Rachel Rossano's Words – Author Interview

September 18

Bookish Orchestrations – Giveaway Winner