Hello everyone, good evening, and thank you for joining us here on the daily with Sillstein on anchor I have the pleasure of having a wonderful author amazing and talented author I've worked with him before through speech mob publications, and he's just an amazing in my opinion a very talented amazing author and editor AJ Brown and I'm gonna have him introduce himself today, and thank you for being here this evening. Oh, thank you for having me Sylvia My name is AJ Brown. I'm from South Carolina. So I'm a good old southern boy My light's right dark dark stuff You've been here before I think like maybe when I first started the podcast because you could call on your phone before and I know You've shared a lot of good insight, but recently you've done so many things I thought it was you know about time you come and share with with us all about your writing And I don't know what you know, you want to talk about your books what you're working on first and foremost What am I working on?
Oh, man several several different And any of your series with the characters of a story collection I put out last year convoices Me and Lisa Lee Toman have been doing an interview series for about eight and I'm months with characters from stories It's really cool and All of those are a blog right now. I'm a work. We're done We're gonna put it in a book. We're gonna create a book and we're gonna add a few things to it because we intentionally have some stuff out And I'm on the next to last interview now, and so on and it's it's pretty that one's probably gonna be the most intense in the An entire series Lisa has been doing the interviewing she created all the questions for the characters she chose the characters and Essentially what we've done is I took Lisa and put her into the story and had her actually as a character in the interviews as It's really kind of cool really neat.
Um, but since each Sister's 15 stories are 15 of you. Yes. Wow. That sounds like oh, so cool That's just and this isn't even a half of it.
I mean when you get to know Jeff Brown or AJ Brown It's just you know too much like the way you create stuff, you know when your stories come from you know Not to interrupt what you're working on or anything, but can you tell us like how that comes to be in your mind? Hello, are you there? Hello? Are you there?
Yeah, I'm here. Are you? Yes, I am. I couldn't hear.
Oh, I didn't know we were pausing or are you at? No, no, I'm here. I'm here. You're fine.
Um No, do you mean as how I come up ideas create the stories and stuff? You know that one book you're working on the voices within and how you you know, that's how the stories come up Like what is it? What's your process or is it like characters? You know or that you come across or?
Honestly, everything's kind of generic. I don't um, I don't usually have a natural process most of the time I have I say something or I See something and I'm just like you know an idea forms, you know, and and sometimes I'll Play with it and go with it and other times. I'll I'm not It just depends on how it strikes me And also depends on how strong it strikes me, you know, sometimes An idea is there, but it's like it's a weak idea and it's not one It's just kind of like in the back of your mind like whispering and then there's other ideas that are shouting and it's right in your ear and It's almost like the the squeaky wheel gets the oil, you know, and the the louder they string the more I write about them Okay, okay, that's that's that's that's interesting because I read I got done reading your really awesome book beautiful minds If you haven't gotten a copy of his book, he I mean, especially the paper, you know, I call it a hardback copy of the book Um, you know, which you know, he has a bit. I think you still have available right copies of that.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah Wow, it's very powerful book and you know, I don't know like I said, you know, that's the newest book right now Right beside the one you're working on? Actually, it's not the newest one. The newest one is a non-fiction book called closed on the wound that came out in January It's based on it's actually based on the events of um on Halloween night 1995 when a teenage boy Was murdered and um right here right here in my hometown and uh then the following uh week or two after his death um and um It's a true story and and the boy The boy I was I I mentored him in art and um so his death Uh hit me hit that time my wife and I were dating she was real close to him um Several several of us.
Uh, matter of fact, the reason the entire story even came about was one boy. Uh, who um, I I spent a lot of time with him. He had some emotional issues and um, you know, just had a rough teenage life and He called me a couple years after I got married and After we literally was the day after I moved into our house Called me. It was like eight o'clock in the morning.
He he said uh, uh, one one question. He goes what happened that night? And really that's only He didn't really need to say anything else because I knew he was talking about Halloween 1995 and so um, so um We went mad at a Denny's and we spent six or seven hours there and we talked about our friend who had been murdered and His body had been set on fire and it was it was just uh, it was very young. Oh my gosh I can't I can't even imagine that you hear about these kind of stories, you know, not his but similar You know, people that have you know, been found I can't even fathom that like that what that must have been like for you for all of you guys Well, you know, the You know, you always uh you do hear but you don't read about him.
You see him on for us, but uh When it happens in real life to someone you know It has a different That just is just not the same. It's not because you're attached to it in some way or other Like how you're gonna. Yeah, like I said, that has to be so dreadful, but I hope it was therapeutic writing it or working on this Well, the the thing about the interesting thing about writing it and I didn't put this in my notes when I did my notes at the end of the book um because to be a personal side of the story After our friend's death and for several years I had nightmares about it. I uh I joined that he was calling me in the middle of the night on the phone or he was uh, right behind me and he wasn't my friend He was he had been shot in the head and he had been burned and he had It was really they were intense intense nightmares and um, so uh, I um when my mother friend asked me about it and we started talking about it Um, I said I went home that afternoon and I said I'm gonna write this down I wrote it and it was only it was only about I don't know 2000 words was very short um But then a couple years later I sat down and I really wrote a story Never had that.
I remember again. Never had any dreams again. Um, it was almost and literally when the the term closing The look at the cover is a door It's door without lock on it. It's such closing the door to the past and locking it and uh, so it was very um It's very needed.
I don't know if I said it was therapeutic to write it, but it was needed to um uh to to get it out there get it to the point to get it out there so that you know it helps You know your school it obviously helps you because you said that after that you wrote it you haven't had nightmares And now and I don't know how it is for everyone else, but it's almost like a sort of a closure On what happened to him not that you're forgetting about him, but you're kind of starting a new normal Is what that makes sense or what I'm saying? Absolutely and there's and there's the title is then there's closing the wound the wound had been open for so long after his death You know, and suddenly we would talk about it, but we wouldn't talk about it You know, a lot of times we'd kind of uh, uh, it would be surface talking You know, wouldn't be trying to dig deep and find out stuff. Um, writing the story, essentially I I faced a few things that I really I didn't realize at the time, you know about my friend about myself about the entire situation um, and it was very uh It was very I mean it was sad. It was uh, there was a part in the story where uh, it gets a very melancholy feel um because of you know Some of the some of the detail of what was going on like what's happened since and so forth and and you know He's no longer here and to believe that that was 24 years ago almost yeah Four years ago.
Um, this halloween is is you know, it's just really hard to You know, like I said, I can't even imagine that if you're like said until it happens to you or people like it's very attached to where you're at You can't know how it's going to feel and obviously, you know, you could feel from what you're saying even though you wrote it And you don't no longer have the nightmare. It's still something very Emotional that happens, you know inside when you think about him, right? Yeah, wow close so closing the wound is your newest book and um, that sounds like, you know, something that you know For those that are listening if you know that you know, you might you know want to read and and and you know, this is a nonfiction book You said because this is actually something that actually happened correct Yeah, it's nonfiction book, but I wrote it in a fiction manner I wrote it in a way too. It's in first person and it's not I don't I don't go in a lot of none Hello, are you there?
Think you're coming in and out. Can you hear me Jeff? Jeff? AJ Brown, are you there kind of losing the sound for whatever reason?
Are you there? Yeah, I hear you now again. Are you there? Hello?
Are you there? Hello? I hear I don't hear you. I mean might hear me, but I don't hear you now.
Hello? We're talking to AJ Brown and we've been talking about his books Um, and he just shared, you know about a book that he's writing or that he wrote. Sorry. It's called closing the wound And I don't want to I want to make sure he comes back on having a think some technical difficulties.
I think So I'm going to Hello, everyone. This is Sylvia from the daily with still sign on anchor. We've been interviewing. We've been having a wonderful interview with author AJ Brown Unfortunately, the audio for the first one got cut off and we're going to be now continuing on The interview where he left off.
He was talking about the nonfiction book that he wrote called closing the wound And he was telling us that although it's a nonfiction book He wrote it in a fictional form and in first person. Can you continue with what you were saying AJ? And I'm sorry about the technical difficulties. No worries.
No worries. Um, the it's written in a in a fiction man, a first person Um, I didn't want it to have a nonfiction feel to it because you know, unless that's what you're into You're going to get bored with a nonfiction book. Um, so I told it in a fiction manner and No matter that I hope keeps the attention of the reader and so far from what I've heard Hello Hello. Yeah, you said and so far from what you heard it does.
It keeps the attention of the reader And that's the thing I was going to say that you Always with your stories from uh, you know, I've read, you know, several of your books already and not to give the plot away or anything What I've noticed is your character with this one of course, this is a real event that happened But in your other books like beautiful minds and uh, you know, uh, uh, it was it, uh, sorry Um, a dredging of memories and all, you know, all of the the different books that you've written Um, you your characters seem to take like very it's I know that a lot of people say Flots to write the story. I think in your case, it's also the kit your characters. You're so alive in my opinion What you write about them? Well, it's kind of like, you know, a lot of people They do say plot drives the story, but uh, without characters you have no story I've I don't I've said it before and I'm fussed at about it, but I I don't believe in plot.
I don't believe in and and stories Being built around a plot because it's kind of like life, you know, when you're born you don't know Where you I don't know anything, you know, you grow you learn your shape by the events that happen, you know And that makes very that that makes perfect sense And it's great that you said that because for me, you know, I'm you know, I always I've always believed characters are the ones that drive your story And my newest book and I you know, I won't go into into that But it's the characters that come alive and they're the ones that are showing you This is where this this is what's gonna happen Right, you're gonna write, you know, what I'm telling you and you feel it and it makes it more It's almost like there therapy for me, but because it is there's so many emotions They take you through and without them like you said there would be no nothing You know, there's no story about characters I mean every story even stories that have built around inanimate objects Inanimate objects are essentially the characters of the story, you know, and I had a friend of mine once write a story about a bullet And the sole purpose of the bullet in this particular story was to take a life And you're there? Yes, I'm here Okay, you follow the the trail of the bullet from the box the bullets in to getting loaded into the pistol to being discharged, shot out the barrel, and a flight through the air and then connecting with the the target And in the whole story that the bullet's just an animate object It doesn't have any it doesn't have any, you know, anything that would give you a reason to to care However, in the sense that this this bullet is the actual character And seeing the life of this bullet as it takes place and essentially ends when it hits its target So it was a really good story and a great illustration on How to make something that is not human or or alive a character and terrific terrific story And that's like I said, that's just you know, it makes me like go wow, you know, it's it's so creative, you know Yes, it and that he fully could become a character and you're you're exactly right now I don't know if this ties enjoyed too much, but you've heard of the novel the perfect storm, right? Yes, by Sebastian Junger Yes, and have you you know, because I've had a writing prompt that I did done About how the weather it was to give it the weather in that book as you know, um, especially the book because they made a movie out of it You know how that goes you know, I mean not that there's anything wrong with it But um, I think books always tell more of the story and uh in his novel the way he brings about this I think this was a actual Wasn't it an actual thing that happened and then he he made it into it's a nonfiction But it's also has like a fiction take to it He created the story around it and and and he had and the weather takes precedence Like what you were saying about the bullet the weather is a character in that Yep, and really anything in your book Can be a character and you know scenery can be a character, you know, that sounds weird But you know, I wrote a story called the woman who loved the red stucco house and two thirds of the story is talking about This woman and her love for her house and what her house looked like and how she kind of a snobby woman who didn't like people In her house or on her lawn or you know, um, and her husband was the one who painted the shutters And made sure the ground was cut to a certain length and made sure, you know, yeah Everything was perfect and he did this day in and day out But he had this eyesore of a shop in his backyard that she hated and she kept wanting to get rid of it and finally they got an argument And the story But but leading up to the argument and what happens the actual action in the story But that take place to about two thirds of the way into the story because The main character wasn't the woman and wasn't the husband it was the house and the setting that the house was was the character Oh wow that now that's that's like I said, you know, you're just like I said, you're so creative You're very talented as a writer and author and mentor, whatever and I'm not trying to score points I mean that and but I mean like the way that you come up with these ideas And I think the last time we tried to do a podcast which we didn't have any luck in You were I told you that you should write a writing book and I think you were working on that or is that I've done that. I finished that like last year.
I'm pretty much done with all the edits. Um, that it's it's something that I've been working on for about two years Um, and uh, it's it's done. It's called simply put and um, yes, just uh I have I've held on to it. Um Because honestly, it's it's not a writing book and that's the thing it's Uh, it's kind of how I see it, you know, it's not it's not it's not a manual.
It's not a hey If you do this you become a great writer. It's a hey, these are things people don't tell you about in this business Yeah, you're you're basically being blunt about the way, you know, the way you see this is how it goes, you know, and this is correct Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in there that's about this is this is how I see it because um I I break rules. I've always broke rules. I mean my whole life has been about rule breaking Not all breaking, but Here's the biggest thing.
Mm-hmm. Look at the biggest question you can ask yourself when writing, especially if you're following a certain rule Why do we do it this way? Yeah, um if the reason for the why is Not good enough then the next question is then why should I do it this way? Um, and every every story you write every idea that you come up with it should have you should be You should be uh, so so I mean Oh, he's still there.
So AJ you should be questioning stuff Yeah, question. Okay Like, you know my biggest question over the last several years in squammer, you know, uh, we don't talk the way they talk Thank you. AJ. We will finish this interview Even if it takes us five or five links to send me.
I'm so sorry But it happens a lot It's all right. It's quite all right Continue and thank you for the patience and also for for talking to us about writing continue where you left off, please Um, I'm not sure where I left off, but I think it was in questioning things. Yeah, and you went you were diving into the grammar Okay, I mean, it's kind of like, you know, we don't talk the way struck and white, you know illustrates in their book on grammar Um, we we don't write that way anymore. Um, so so the grammar is extremely important in writing My question is It's always, you know, why am I writing it this way with the perfect grammar when it sounds better this way?
You know, it's always questionable. I'm going to write if I write something in perfect grammar And it doesn't sound right. I'm going to change it and most of the time that means it's not going to be grammatically correct Um, but I would rather it sound right and make more sense than be grammatically correct Um, just because that's the way we taught today. I mean, look at it.
I mean, we have all these, uh, chat these tests Initials of rebations and stuff like that that people actually say verbally lol or wtf You know people say these things, you know, uh, and it's not just attached. This is the way we taught now This is the way our culture is And you know things that meant one thing when when I was a kid means something else now And it's in 15 years from now. I mean something else all together different, you know, yes Everything You in trouble now when you say something you really got to watch it Yes, uh, my son, uh, he doesn't do this much now, but he she would just say words that he heard people saying it I'm like, do you know that meaning of that word? Well, no, yeah Because you don't know what you're saying Unless you know, it's like we're talking about you have to know the why behind Uh, you're doing this or if you can't think of a reason you need to figure it out, right?
You know, we need to change it. You know, it's just this is one of the biggest things about writing that, you know New writers go in with all these rules and and I have to do it this way I have to do it this way. I have to do it this way and they never really learned to tell a story because they're so worried about The rules pass a voice, you know grammar, uh, you know, making sure you show and tell Um description is dialogue so they they actually forget that the entire point is telling a story What's the point? You don't tell a story if you're not telling a story, then you're just writing, you know You have to go it's kind of like when you Um, you go to those, uh, do you ever done or heard of national novel month?
Yes, nanorime I did. Yeah, the nanorime on people tell you right and the first year I did it Um, I remember just worrying about writing it and editing it, writing it, and I finally just finally listened to just writing it And I felt great. Yeah, it didn't make sense, but I wasn't thinking about the editing I was thinking about the writing only of it aspect Now you're not supposed to edit it, but what they tell you to focus on it, it's unrealistic I'm not putting it down. There's a lot of people that do get these things done.
I've done it myself But I don't I didn't really finish a complete novel. It was I finished the words requirement Of what it said Right. Let's see. That's the thing is and I don't I'm not going to put nanoramo down because it really hasn't helped a lot of people However, the the object in nanoramo is to reach 50,000 words.
This is Yes, one thousand six hundred sixty seven words in a day. Yeah, every day or month And The problem with that is you can reset 50,000 But not finished a novel so you've you've great 50,000 words terrific. What did you write? And there's a lot of people that have done like you said done well, it works What I like about it is that gets you to write it does get you to write But if you're just thinking of stressing about getting to the words and you're just basically writing random stuff to get there basically You know, I didn't end around in one year and I think it was 11 or 12 years ago before it became really popular And I wrote I actually ended up writing 63,000 words because I finished actual novel I completed the novel.
My goal wasn't 50,000 words My goal was to complete a novel Right, you know, because the whole point is national novel writing month. So have nanoramo It's gonna be called national novel writing month. You should be writing a novel not just 50,000 words I write about 50,000 words most months, you know That's not a challenge for me that the challenge was to write a novel But what I found out what I figured out very fast is um, yeah, I wrote a novel in 30 days. Absolutely It was rubbish.
It was not good. So it was a lot of bad words that I wrote down because I wanted to write a novel in a month That was it and the second thing I learned about that is again I'm not putting the organization down or the event down because it does get people writing However, if that's what gets you writing, you might not be in it for the right reasons You know, you need to you know, writing is it something that you know, you should force yourself to do That's all you think about Yeah, right. I mean, it's it's and writing writing is a relationship, you know, it is very much a relationship and It's it's like a marriage. You only get out of a marriage what you put into it I mean, if you don't put a whole lot into it, there's a case.
You may not be married very long Unless you have a spouse that just doesn't care, you know It's a give it give and take your team and if you don't work on that team that team is gonna leave It's not gonna work That's right. And that's where you know writing is very much the same when you sit down to write a story You're in a relationship with the characters your relationship with the storyline your relationship with your scenery And if you can't love story or writing you shouldn't be writing it You know And this is how I look at it You know any story that I put out whether it's through a publisher or if I self-publish it or I put it on my blog or it's on a website That that accepts it and puts it out. I enjoyed writing the story Exactly the story was a good relationship If I didn't enjoy the relationship with that story if I didn't enjoy writing the story It don't see a lot of day. Exactly And I know how far about your story.
You're very critical about your work That's one of the things I learned most from you when I work with you guys on stage smile publications shout out to everybody there I've learned so much how to grow as a writer. I feel like I've grown and still growing But there's a lot of a lot of things I learned from you know hearing you reading your books and the authors there I've learned so many different things of what you know, not that you can't do it But what you know, why are you really in into this? You know, why why do you love writing? Why do you want to be a writer?
Is it just because you want to be a bestseller? Not that you can't be of course you can but if that's you're doing it just because you want to you want to start selling books Which we all do of course that's that to me that's not a good reason to write Well, you know, I also think that there's one thing to write you know anybody can do it You know, there's another thing to publish. Yes, the writing. Yes I didn't sit out when I first started writing.
I didn't sit out to get published Um, I had no desire to get published. It was my wife who pushed me. You should try to get something published You should try to get something published and so eventually I started She's always like you could tell she's very encouraging Yeah, she's pretty amazing. I um I could have done better if I picked her myself and I didn't pick her She picked me which tells you something's wrong with that woman But She um, she's the one who got me into publishing but see when I first started writing I just wrote I didn't I didn't know how to write.
I just I just wrote what came to my mind So anybody can write, you know, do it as a hobby and do it for fun But when you start thinking about publishing when you start saying I want people to read this It'd become important that it's not just the stuff that you decide you want to write And you had no clue what you were doing because at the beginning none of us have a clue You need to work. You need to teach yourself something you can go to school If you want you can ask other authors if you want you can research, you know, I did all of my research all I learned how to write You know, in a place called the horror library on a zoop website, which I believe was like one of the very first social media websites um And I learned from some terrific terrific Writers, I mean and uh, Boyd Harris, Bailey Hunter, um, Chris Paradis, uh, Damian Becknell, Kevin Wallace Um cj hurt uh, Jamie sunshine, john lebarrow, john rector I mean, I can go on and on eric williams, you know, these guys were Uh, without most of them realized that they were teaching me as we interacted, you know So but I was like a sponge and I just like, okay, I'm and I read everything they wrote What are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing that I can learn from?
How can I oh look? This guy's name is Kurt. He does a terrific sinister and you know, um, uh, Like, um, the guy needs to know it's a nil. I can't pronounce the name of life, but he could write the most disturbing most beautiful stories And I was I was so jealous because I was like, I want to write like that So I would dice his stories and try to figure out what is he doing?
You know, it's interesting. I've been writing for several years now to this day. I will find a story that I like And I start thinking it and I mean, I'm like, okay, what is this sense? How is this sense?
Why does this sense appeal to me? Um, and the bot the the the the book I I've been dissecting For a better part of you now because I can't figure it out. Um, it's when he's buttoned bots Um, by steven king and not man. I can't believe I can't remember his name now.
Uh, uh, it's not just steven king And he covered this one with um, uh, the guy from cemetery dance I'm so sorry. I can't remember his name because he's such a phenomenal writer and uh, so I do not have the book on my desk right now. Um, Um, you can google it. I'll give you a chance to google it.
Well, I could but um, I got my phone in my hand. Okay. Sorry. No, that's okay.
We'll we'll we'll add it later, you know, that was the name. I do that sometimes I go completely blank And I'm doing a podcast. I'm like, who should have written an outline? I really I could see his name, you know, right on top of my tongue and it's just driving me nuts now.
I'm gonna have to actually look it up just because It's good. Yeah, Richard. Richard. She is more.
Yeah, but Richard. You remember it. Yeah. Your exact name, that story.
Right. Yeah, because the way it's written is is very um, It's almost like, uh, very very passive and and and it's it's not It's it's not heavy and show and tale. It's more tail and show and I'm trying to figure out the dynamic of why it works so well And why there is no way anyone can call out that book for bad writing because it's brilliant writing and it's brilliant the way it's put together and um, I But the very first chapter, I was just like, this feels different And as I read it, I couldn't put it down. This just feels different.
This just feels different. Why does it feel different? I've read the book like seven times now and Yeah, and I don't usually read that many times Um But literally in the last year I've read that book like seven times because first of all, it's a terrific story, but the way it is written I can't I can't figure it out. Why it is written just seems different and unique and It works.
It just works. Absolutely. Maybe it's because it's king and she's learning their writing together and um, it just works so well, you know, and um You know, I It's just very it's just so hard to it's kind of like a needle and haystack you're trying to figure it out But you know, it's good, but you don't know what exactly it is, but it's just works It's really more like a Rubis cube It's really more like a Rubis cube. You got all these these these moving parts and you can't I can't get them all the same color on the same sides right now But I enjoy Trying to get all those colors on the right side because I need to read it again and again and again And uh, just when I think I figured it out, I'm like, nope, that can't be it, you know, I'll even write it down I think this is what's going on, you know, and but that's what You know a lot of back when I was in the horror library all those years ago That's what these guys that's what I would do with their stories.
I would pick them apart, you know, and I read And I'd see a phrase that just stood out to me or I'd see a description that stood out to me And I'd like what is it about this description that makes it stand out and then I would try to write descriptions in the same manner Or I'd try to write dialogue in the same or I'd try to write Simulate kind of you're simulating what you just learned to try to do your own Right until I figured out how to write Better and what worked for me and once I figured all that out, you know, I just started putting all that together And it was just where you get the style I write in now Um because because it was all these terrific right as some of them when I hey, you should try this Why don't you try writing something this way? And it's funny because um, I There's this one guy and uh, I actually got a chat with him a little today on social media I haven't talked with him in several years. His name is Damien Becknell, and I've never had a a writer challenge me the way this man challenged me And I would read one of his stories and I would be so pissed off and I wasn't I wasn't I want to wrote it You know Yeah, you were saying sorry go ahead. No, and it's just so so I would I would ask him dude.
Where did that come from? What what what is what is you know, and he just he'd say something like I don't know I just wrote it, you know, and I'd be like, oh man, you suck, you know, but he was he but he's such a phenomenal person Not just just a writer phenomenal person that he and I became really close through through social media and um, wow I don't know. He's still even to this day. He still influences some of my writing because I'm like, you know what?
Do you remember that story and he wrote something like this? I'm like, let me see them, you know, and that's what really honestly Finding your style and finding who you are if you do that Absolutely that's exactly what it is, but you find that through other people you find that through reading You find that and reading is so important But you you find that through reading other writers you find that through reading other genres You find that from reading people who not that you're just that you like but who are We're good at what they do and you know, you learn, you know, okay. It's okay to do this It's okay to do this all these these rules that I have a question all this time But he does it this way and she does it this way and they do it this way That this is why I love having you on the show because we've covered so many different things today so far and I You know, of course, we're still going going now But like you always have these little snippets of things that we've covered in a podcast Every time that I do a podcast with you, I get blown away because I'm like, oh my gosh, look at all Look at all we covered today, you know, look at all the things that and I really mean this that for you You at some point have to have a podcast because I have a feeling that a lot of people were listening to what you have to say Because you have so many wasn't a repertoire of things to talk about Well, my wife tells me I never shut up so Well, that's why I did a podcast because I thought this is the same thing You didn't say it that way because you know, it's better but you know, I'm not more of the You in the relationship. I I say things and I'm like, oops, I should have said that but I Usually if I say it, I I'm notorious for saying things.
I mean um and I generally I get in trouble because of it because I don't believe that I should have to censor myself because there's a lot of people who get um Offended yeah, and I don't say I don't say anything I don't say anything racist. I don't say anything homophobic. I don't say anything that would be Considered offensive because I just don't believe in that. No, of course not I speak my mind on things and for some reason we're in a time period right now.
We're uh speaking your mind on things people and Yeah, that's that's the thing that always gets me, you know about things you can say it one way Of course, it's never okay to offend anyone period, but there's there's a lot of people that grow shade Then a person tries to defend themselves and it's wrong This is why I never comment on anything on any social media that has to do with politics or anything else because you'll never win that I don't I don't I don't comment on anything religious. I don't comment on anything. No, exactly comment on any of the Hot button topics You either on social media or even in real life when those those topics get on I'm like if somebody starts out Hey, look, I'm not talking about that. I'm the same way because I just feel like no, I don't I don't I don't have time for that I got so much stuff that I want to work on this positive I'm not gonna bring that negativity into my space and and just let it ruin your day.
You know, I just I'm just not gonna do it Right and and you know and people the term uh misery loves company Because there's a lot of miserable people out there who want you to be miserable with them And this is where I'm like, you know what if you're miserable in your circumstances, but you're not doing anything about your circumstances That's on you. You can't blame other people You know, I've I've tried helping some people Recently and I've offered advice. I've offered my thoughts on their situations and Um, they've kept going back to the well doing the same thing over and over again and then they're wondering why is this still happening to me? Why can't uh, why why I'm having these issues?
Why am I having this drama in my life? Because you keep going back to the well and you keep doing the same thing Or you're you're holding on to grudges that you should just let go for yourself because holding on to things that aren't going to change And you're bottling that up and keeping it isn't going to help you because you think it's helping you and it's actually making damaging you from the side At least that's fine Bitterness the only person bitterness hurts is yourself because the people that you're bitter against don't know it and don't care Yeah, it's so it's affected me so much that in a sense of writing Why is that I'm working on actually writing about people that are dealing with a bitter stuff and why these things occur to them? Because you hear I hear it from my own family not my husband's family But my my my side of the family every day is the same like like, you know, like a running record playing over and you're kind of you know What this could be a great story not on them But facing it off the things that why people love to be miserable or why or why they just can't change I don't know that makes sense or not. No, absolutely and I wonder for Someone to change they have to want to change, you know, we've gotten way off the substance of writing But it's just things are important to talk about, you know, and when when I met my wife You know, we've been we've been dating a couple of weeks and I got in a fight And uh, they really went much with fight.
I was being a douchebag and I went after somebody who had a Family member and I said, I don't think it's um me and my buddy Eric took care of it, you know And unfortunately one of my wife's friends happened to um hear about it And then tell my wife and at the time I went on the date a couple of weeks. I said, so I'm on a date not on the door. Um, and she was like, you got something to help me? I'm like, no, she was like, sure.
And I'm like, yeah, she goes, you get the fight recently? I was like, oh yeah, yeah, well, yeah, I guess so. And she said, she was, I will not date a brawler As she closed the door and I left and I thought very hard about my reputation The person I was the temper I had the attitude I had and that night I said, I don't want to lose this woman I will change and uh, it was work in progress. It's been a 24 year work in progress, but uh The guy I was 24 years ago.
He's dead. He's gone Because I wanted to make a change and I had a reason to change it. Yeah, you wanted to be with her And you would do whatever it took to be with her and basically you become where you are now Exactly, you know, and again, it goes back that goes back to her It's every part thing that I've had in my life in the last 24 years has fallen back to her And even my They just beliefs and and the things that I've done. Um, it's the I'm a christian as far as my life.
I believe And I don't call myself a christian very often. I say I believe in christ because a lot of things are very bad people but You know, these are things these all this Shaping to do that result of I will not date a brawler Everything A very good man is always a great woman or a good woman And obviously your wife is that you could see you can hear it when you're crazy or and you know every time you talk about her and your family You're very proud and you know, and that's that's awesome You know, because to be able like, you know, you love writing because you have a full-time job also, you know, you can work But but you know writing is something that you love, right? Love the other but I mean like this is something that you just you know, obviously she pushed you to it But you are a very talented writer too. You really are.
Well, I appreciate it and uh, you know That too that to the writing part we can relate what we just talked about not changing, you know As you grow as a writer You should be constantly changing. You should be learning and um, if you're learning a little things in your writing change Yes How you how you describe something changes how you your character. Okay, I just I've used the same time characters four or five times I might should change this up or something sound like the same character every story. All right You learn how to write those characters.
So your character development changes you learn dialogue. This what I learned dialogue is to listen to people talk Yes, yes, I agree I wanted to see you wrote a book on how to write your novel and he talks about that Other what's your most he says. He just wrote a direct Like he's having a conversation with you and he just says do we really talk like this and he shows these examples of people That are you know in a very Tight situation, but they're talking like they're in a like having a tea party. He says there's no way that anyone talks like that Right, you know, it's like when you're making a dialogue, you know, listen to people and what they're saying because there's no way that that goes there Absolutely.
That goes back. That's something I said about Situations and circumstances and how your your characters React to stuff if and I use this example if you are being chased into galactic monster who rips people apart indiscriminately You're going to stop and say hey, especially if you're with somebody. Hey, you're a really cute girl. Can I kiss you?
But we see it in books all the time, you know To me, it's like the situation if you're going to write about an intergalactic monster killing indiscriminately You're turning it more like a crap. We got out of here You know, it makes that that's a perfect analogy of local. We're discussing exactly And that but that is that's gross, you know, I I was simply put by actually The first line to it the very first story I wrote. Um, and then I wrote I added in there also a couple chapters later the very first page of the second story both which were very bad by the way And but the point was to illustrate I was then to where I am where you are now.
Yeah So you have to you have to grow and you have to change but you have to be willing to change One of those authors who when somebody says hey, you know You might want to look at this you might want to look at this because this is this this is not good Or are you trying to help someone and then they just chew you out and just tell you all this is perfect the way it is and blah, blah, blah, blah And then they're upset because they're never going to they're never going to grow then right and you have to be willing You have to be want to change I completely agree with that. There's many authors or writers or you know, there's there's many that um And I've heard it. I've seen it. I've you know and you learn if you have to grow a big skin or you're not going to Um make it and it's not about being rude about it.
You can say something without offending someone You know, you can say it in a more practical way, not saying sugarcoated but say it in a tone that you know It's more what is it helpful than it is critical? Right. Well, I mean some of the lessons and when you When you're reviewing a book or when you're Editing something, you know, you never start with a negative and you never end with a negative You always start with the positive. You always say what the positive all the negative is in between And the reason you start You end with the positive is because you do not want to completely discourage the person you're working with you want them to say This is great.
I love this and then okay, you need to work on this or hey What about this and then you know question this and that and then you get to the end and this is you have you had the makings of something Really good. You have this is I love this character. I love this. You have to make sure and have positive and negative Yeah, the combination of both of that way kind of ease into the you know, what you need to change It's like when the diary of the broken father.
I remember the comment I think your wife made about you know the the grammar or the the stuff I thought that was that was actually very helpful because when you publish a book You don't want to put it out there with all these mistakes and mistakes happen Yes, but there's a more like a huge number of them. I was very grateful to have gotten that That you know sit told that way I could work on that and grow from there and that's what and she was she At the point she was reading her book and she told me that I brought it to your attention because My wife is such an avid reader Yes, she noticed these things that you know, like other people wouldn't notice but because she don't just read she she's She puts her stuff. She sees stuff. She understands because she has a right author for her husband So she understands the way the writing should work And so when she's reading she's not reading just as a reader She's also reading with a critical eye.
She almost always smetches stuff that most people don't catch, you know That's something that you look forward to hearing because that that's very important to have that and that that's what makes you a very strong And very creative author. I mean, I'm sure your ideas are your ideas But a lot of you know, you both you know, she shared her support is there and I'm sure it's helpful to you as well. Obviously Oh, yes. Oh, yeah, she's she's amazing, you know, and uh, she she will tell me in a heartbeat if something sucks You know, that's that's what it says like You guys work because you're honest with each other and without honesty you can't really I don't believe you can get anywhere Well, just honest we we don't argue we don't Literally we've been together 24 years and we've maybe had three arguments for We don't argue.
Um if if I feel an argument Coming and I know I can stop it then I'll stop it You know, I don't that is that is the woman I love and I am notorious for speaking my mind and I Know that When there's an argument people say hurtful things and sometimes they don't mean what they say the problem But it was still said I was but the problem with me is I've never said anything. I did not mean And so I know That if I was to say something out of anger Then I would mean it and I know I don't want to do that. So I clamped it up until I know I can talk Reasonably rationally saying things out and so we don't That's beautiful that it might be more of us need to do that not that I do that But I'm saying like you learn things not to do or things to work on and that's very helpful what you shared on that as well Well, I think uh the whole again, I got to what she said. I'll never dead brawler I think uh she laid it on the line right then She laid that's that's that's beautiful.
I'm sorry. I don't need to interrupt you. It's like I just want to make sure we're still connected I mean she threw the gauntlet down and it was my decision to pick it up and One thing that I know or knew about myself then was I was a very argumentative person I was a very angry person I was you know, so a lot of those things the argumentative tones the angry tones that the temperament all that had to change and um, so even now 24 years later I still do the second things to keep from Having the tipper with with her having an argument with her with, you know, um, I can't say I do everybody because I don't you know, but with her um She is my major exception to the rule. Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful one.
You got a right story on that one day too. That's what you should I don't know Now because then uh, I don't know it's more of a romance. I get it Well, I wouldn't I wouldn't not that see see there's a difference though. See romance and love stories are two different things I'm actually writing love story, you know, and it's killing me because I'm not killing anybody in it You know Not yet.
Well, somebody did die, but it was a set up to why the character is the way he is Yes, that's my jerry Maguire line, you know, um, and I was like, that's my jerry Maguire moment. I'm gonna leave it in there. Um, but yeah But you know love story now based on the genres. A love story is about love And this is about sex, you know those romance are essentially soft porn for women, you know, um, You know, that's when you when you sit down you read a romance book as I've been told by romance authors if there's not sex in it it's not gonna sell and That's not what I want right.
I want to write a love story. So It's a love story. There's not gonna be any sex. Sorry Sex is that sex is not love sex is sex, you know, um Love if it's real it's developed long before sex It's more of a connect love love is a connection, you know, in our opinion loves a connection and you know with the person that you want to be with And and you were willing to do anything to be with, you know, and As especially like my husband and myself, you know, I'm eight years older than he is and but we connected We really did connect as friends.
We were friends. Then we you know, then we got together So here's the thing like like I'm gonna use what you just said the difference between love and sex love is a connection of the heart Sex is a connection of the body, you know So I think that you know with the love story, which is what I'm currently working on like actual night outside of the interview series um It's it's difficult for me. You know, I have 35,000 women's and it's it's been Fun to write but it's been difficult to write because I'm like, oh, I can do this and oh, I can do that. Oh, no I can't do this.
I can't do that because it's a love story. It's not a horror story It's not a southern graphic story It's more like you're tapping into your feelings with your own love story And I think it's sometimes when you hit close to home, not that it's a bad thing It's kind of like like I don't know. It's too many emotions, not that you can't write it But you're used to the other the horror and all of this stuff going on and you know Well, you know, if I just I finished the novel about two months ago called five deaths and At the story when I really got back and I looked at it and I read it after I finished writing it It's a love story the it's And I was like dang it. Did I just write a love story and just have a whole bunch of death in the middle of it?
And that's essentially what it boiled down to. It was a love story and dredging up memories And you read dredging And I'm not going to I don't want to give it away, but there's a part in there where hank walker is kneeling by a grave He is grieving horribly at this grave And in order to write that scene I had to put myself in his place And by the time I got finished writing that scene I had tears in my eyes because I had to put myself in his place And that's what I want to do something never want to experience but But to write it. I had to go there Yes, you had to hit that emotion So you could see what experience what what hank was only right and to make it feel real, you know, because people tell me that that scene You know, it was so powerful And that's what I wanted. That's I wanted a scene to be so powerful that it was undeniable what he was going through And So you had to I had to tap into a place.
I didn't want to go But again, that's all about how bad do you want? How much do you love writing, you know, do you put yourself in a situation where You're going to be hurting yourself as you so you can get the story across You know, yeah, that's that's wonderful. That's guys, you know, like I said, you've got so many layers Yeah, on what on what you write and the excitement that you feel every time you write the different stories and everything you've covered About your stories. It's just like, you know, you worked out.
You're working on it to interview series That you're doing with your characters. Thank you, you know, you touched up on your your the story of, you know, the closing the wound and how close You were to it and, you know, the story in a nonfiction, you know, it's a nonfiction but with a fictional take on it or not a fictional take on it but basically you wanted to Tell it from first person point of view and and and talk about that pain that you all experienced but also bringing to light Something that happened, you know, to make it more of course the reality is there But the way that you described the way, you know, in that that of course your wife the support of your wife And all the things that you're working on now. It's like, how do you do it? It's like, you know, of course your wife, you know, what she did for you, but the way you keep going with your stories It's just like I said, you always amazed me everything you have What is it what you were you're working on?
I always think okay, I read beautiful minds I read dredging up the memories I read all of these stories that you worked on Um, you know, the forgetful man's disease all these different, you know, I always think I know when I'm expecting but I never I never am Well, that's good. You're not supposed to know Yeah That's me like In a good way. I mean in a good way, but it's just like you have and now you're writing a romance, not a romance Sorry, I love story and and and and then you just brought it to another level by describing what the differences are Well, um, when I first talked about writing a love story, I actually posted on social media Does romance have to have sex And all the romance authors were just like, yes, yes, yes, some of them were even like Vint about it, you know, and if it has to have sex, it's not this I actually contacted a few of them and talked to them as why is this and and women want sex women want sex women want sex Well, the funny thing is men want sex, but but at the end of the day What we want to read are two different things Yeah, and so I was like, well, I'm not going to write about sex because I don't write about sex and I have no desires to write about sex um If there is ever going if there will ever be a sex scene in one of my books, it would be something along the lines of they kiss And it was Yeah, and I'm the same way I will not write full on and I have nothing against romance writers that do there's a lot of friends authors that write more power to them for that, but I will not myself I don't see myself writing that and not if there's anything wrong with it. I'll say it again Just that's not what I do.
Like that's not what I'll you'll never see me write Right, and I'm the same way I um if if Do write it. It's not me somebody else Yeah, for me. Yeah, for me. It's like, you know, lady Annabelle, right?
Okay, remember the song the song kiss just the kiss the kiss on the lips and the moon like that song It's more about the the romance the love the connection of that of that couple and then leaving it all up to the imagination Yeah, and that's what the great storytellers Or great movies of the past, you know, alpha history that's television stuff like that They never really shut the story. They never showed you anybody dying. They just gave you the Like they insinuated what would happen, but they and this is where I love about my new story And I'll tell you that on another time, but you'll like that because I include when the characters are talking I add these dialogue. I'm adding you might know I hope you're impressed because if you're impressed and I know I'm doing a good job And and if you just going back to the the people of the past I add lines of of people from the old days And and there's some lines in there that the characters the women characters say that I just like wow How did I come up with it?
Yeah, you know, that's a good thing is when you you you say wow as the writer, um And you get excited and those are the things that you leave your your readers will get excited about it as well moments that you have um So those are all good. You know, unfortunately something out, you know Every time we talk we can talk like for a long time I've noticed that but I won't keep you because I know you you know, you have to work You have family stuff like that But I wanted to say what are you currently working on as far as pro you told me the books you're writing But as far as events that you're going to and where can we find your work that way? Everyone can you know, uh, look you up follow you whatever it is that you have? Well, um Have any event scheduled until august which will be scarce that cares and Williamsburg Virginia, we're really excited.
We will be there with publications Lisa basket Tera Bennett the rest of Bennett, um a couple of other individual authors from um Stitch our publications. I believe Tommy Clark is going to be there as well. So it's got a lot of of Stitchers there and um that's going to be Then that's awesome. Then we have several set up for the fall which is usually when we like to do a lot of hours is in the fall Um, but as far as fine to me, uh, there's always my blog type aj negative.
There's uh, it's facebook is aj brown 36 Um, it's the same aj brown 36. Uh, I don't um, I don't uh, uh, don't do twitter very often. Um, I don't understand it You know, I'm trying to understand You're not the first person that says that and then again, no offense to twitter. I do understand Um, there's a lot of more more authors than you think that say that to me.
I get it Which kind of reminds me of a book I mean, um, Henry Rollins and Henry Rollins, uh, least single black black, uh, punk band. Um, just just Great musician, uh, if you like the punk style and I do um, but he wrote So one of them was called black coffee blues, but I think that's But in black coffee blues essentially all it is is Henry Rollins's thoughts is Several, you know, just like quick thoughts and it's all throughout the book is like that. Um, that's what twitter really has to be out of this Like everybody's just whatever comes in his rolls off the fingertips. That's what goes on twitter, you know Um, to me to me, I mean, and that's social media in general, but twitter is kind of like to me.
It's it's the thought Social media you just throw your random thoughts out there. Throw your random thoughts out there Kind of like a jack candy. Uh, there's no thoughts Yeah, you know, that's what you that's what twitter reminds me of and then you know, there's a millions of people who like twitter I'm just not one of them. Um, I Honestly, if if social media was not a necessity for what I do, I probably would not got social media Um, uh, but here's an necessity these days And uh, you know, it's funny that We talked about social media.
There was I was uh, soft more in high school I was in geography class and one day I was sitting at my desk. I just got in the classroom. I sat down at my desk and There was two letters written on the side of the corner of the desk and it was just simply high And so I took a pencil and I wrote hello the next day, uh Somebody who clearly the person who I said, how are you? How are you?
I'm fine. How are you? So literally for like weeks we wrote on my on my desk like that and It's almost like you created like a piece book or might be before we're created My former social media was writing on the desk and it turned out it was this this it was a girl and um It's just really cute and we we talked actually met each other and we we talked and uh, you know became friends, but The conversation on the on the table went away and that's sad because It's kind of sad for that to happen and the funny thing is I actually Years ago, I used to say years or probably three years ago I jotted down notes for a story called story called tabletop social media and um It was going to be about me this girl having this conversation and um Through social on the desk, you know, and uh, I still want to write that story, but it's been a whisper. It hasn't been a screen Well, and maybe it will later on exactly wow a lot of exciting stuff happening for you But you were saying about your your, uh, sorry the media sites you were and you said you don't understand twitter What's another way of connecting with you?
Well, facebook, um, Facebook is where you can find me the easiest Agent round 30 is my personal Facebook and of course there's a j-round bank Um, it's a round author page rather. Um, so you can find me on both of those right? So those are the places that's easier to catch me Um, just because you know, I understand face I still understand and I know I have an instagram account. I just can't I just don't know the name of it.
I think it's a storyteller Instagram, I think your wife Kate probably seen I don't have any of my videos. Um, I actually I have a I think I have my right story about that I think I have a uh OCD issue with instagram. I gave it up for lense, but I think I may need an intervention in something again With instagram, but I actually like it because you have you can do like videos I finally learn how to work all those like the filters I like them because i'm not always in the best place in the morning like the way, you know, and i'm not trying to be like A celebrity or anything like that. But you know, you can put filters to cover up kind of like what James Matthew Byers used to be when he did his poetry readings He remember out to him and uh, it's kind of exciting in that way, but you can also should do shorts like short videos They're not really buying so they're a little longer than buying and then you can add them to the IGTV Which is like a youtube and you can do your own live video when you you know, you want to let your readers in on stuff But that's a story for another day But um, no, but I really really have appreciated your time On the dedication you have you're you always stay very charismatic and you you're humorous and you're talented and and the affection you have For your lovely wife and your family and and congratulations on your kids Graduations and everything and like I said, I really always enjoy The the mentorship and the teaching you you relate within your writing and you have no idea You know how many people that listen to this podcast, you know, I hope that you know Someone grasps a little bit of the onion you just peeled because that's exactly what you just did Right, right layers.
We have layers. We're like ogres. Yeah, exactly. So why can't believe actually it came from my brain.
Wow We're like ogres from shrek. We're like we're like we have layers awesome. Well, I guess No, go ahead. No, go ahead.
Um, it's getting on. I'm probably going to need to get on out of here and uh, thank you for having so Like I said, I'm gonna title it uh AJ Brown and his many layers. Is that okay? Oh, that's fine Yeah, because I remember you said it was all about trying to put more titles to your Author interviews and I think that's something that I'll do.
So I'll definitely do that But I appreciate you being here on the daily list still find myself and thank you AJ Brown for your wonderful time As soon as I'm done processing the audio, I'll send that to you and you can share share the links Are you there? Well, I think um, I don't know if you disconnected, but thank you so much AJ Brown. It was wonderful to have you Have a great night. Are you there?
All right. Well, what last thought would you like to leave us with? Um, well, I think we've done through all the thoughts except, you know, y'all keep reading keep writing, you know, and uh, look me up Thank you so so much. We appreciate it very much and thank you for joining me here today On the daily with still staying here on anchor.
Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Yeah, you too.
Bye. Bye. Say hello to your fam