Today I am delighted to welcome author, Ben Lyle Bedard to Books, Life and Everything to talk about his writing life and his latest post apocalyptic novel, The World Without Wings, which is published on June 1st 2020.
Welcome to Books, Life and Everything, Ben. Would you like to start by telling us a little about
yourself and how you started as a writer?
Sure, I’m from rural Maine, a little town called Buckfield.
I started reading very young and always wanted to be a writer and produce my
own books. I went to college to learn more about writing and ended up moving
across the country, ending up in a PhD program in Buffalo. That’s where I met
my wife, who was a Fulbright scholar from Chile. I followed her back to Chile
where we both live now, by the ocean in La Serena.
What are you interests apart from writing?
I really like to read, of course. I also enjoy drawing and
mathematics, although I’m not very good at either!
Tell us about your
latest book without giving the plot away.
The World Without Flags is about a young woman who must
travel across a post apocalyptic landscape, using her wits to survive.
Fundamentally, it’s a story about hope and love.
What kind of
research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a
book?
This is a difficult question, but a very good one. I tend to
do a lot of research and planning for my books. Each book seems to have its own
demands. It’s difficult to know how much, but I tend to know when enough is
enough, and it’s time to start writing. In the process of writing the first
draft, it’s pretty common that I have to stop and go back to research when I
hit a spot that I’m uncertain about, and that I really need to get right. In
this sense, writing a book is constant research, and it never really stops
until you’re happy with the final draft.
Were there any scenes which you had to edit out of your book
which you still hanker after?
Great question! There was a scene in my latest book, The
World Without Flags, that I wrote and liked, but it just stopped the flow. In
the cut part, my main characters all do a scene from King Lear that really
makes sense as the book goes on. I liked it, but, in the end, it just seemed
out of place and maybe a little too much on the nose. It slowed the rhythm and
it just didn’t feel like it belonged. So out it went. But I do think about it.
How do you select
the names of your characters? Are they based on anyone you know?
Names! They are the bane of my existence! I really hate
finding names for my characters. Sometimes the names do naturally come, but
more often, I have to do some web surfing to help me. For example, in this
book, the lead character’s name I got from looking at regional web pages where
she was born. When I saw the name, I was like, yes! That’s it! But names.
They’re very difficult for me.
Are there any secret references hidden in your books?
Yes! One of the games I play on my family, my father, in
particular, is that I put in some detail that only he will understand. It might
be a name or some story that he used to tell or some detail from his life, that
might even be embarrassing. I don’t tell him about it. I like to think about
him reading the book and coming across these references. It’s very funny, but
I’m afraid none of the references would make any sense to anyone outside my
family.
Can you give any hints about any upcoming books you have
planned?
Right now, I’m writing a fantasy book about people trying to
tunnel under a wall to freedom. I’ve just started it after a long period of
research, but I’m very excited to be writing in that genre for the first time
in many, many years.
Thanks so much, Ben and good luck with your writing!
About the Author
Born in Buckfield, a rural town in
Maine, Ben grew up reading Tolkien, Stephen King, and Charles Dickens. When he
went to college at the University of Maine at Farmington, he published his
first piece of fiction in the local college journal. While in Buffalo, New
York, he met his future wife, Fernanda Glaser, a Fulbright scholar from Chile.
To meet the requirements of her scholarship, she had to move back to Chile, and
Ben followed her. They were married a year later, under crimson bougainvillea.
He is currently living by the Pacific Ocean in La Serena while he researches
and plans his next book.
Book Spotlight- The World Without Flags
Ten
years after a plague of parasitic worms nearly wiped out humanity, the worm
mysteriously re-emerges and infects the community of a young woman, Birdie.
Alone in a world paranoid of infection, she must use all her wits to survive
and protect the man who raised her. More than a post-apocalyptic story, The
World Without Flags is a story of loyalty and determination, a story about
fathers and daughters, about love and what we will do for it.
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