Author Interview – Titus Fogg by Aaron Piper

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Hello bookish friends!! Today, I have a fun author interview. Many thanks to Aaron Piper for taking the time to answer my questions. Hope you enjoy reading!!!

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titusfogg

aboutbook

Independently Published: July 25th 2018

Genre(s): Fantasy

Pages: Paperback 452 and Kindle Edition 328

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AMAZON – BARNES & NOBLE – KOBO – IBOOKS

synopsis

Titus Fogg hates magic, and with good reason. Born into a murderous family of cruel and powerful casters in modern Massachusetts, magic has contributed to every bad thing that has happened to him since birth. After finally managing to banish the most likely evil (but definitely dirty-minded) entity called Shade from his body to the sidelines as his shadow, Titus has the chance to have a normal, magic free, high school life. But, when Tess Roe, his classmate, neighbor and model of justice at their school realizes she can see the creatures Titus calls the Wyrd too, Titus must return to the world of the strange to help her. Soon Titus’s dark past comes to light as he must prove that he isn’t responsible for the death of one of Tess’s friends, and the theft of a magical book that could lead to the destruction of Arkham.

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What was your inspiration for Titus Fogg?

Short version; Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. Longer more accurate version; I actually got the idea by combining several ideas. The first influencer would probably be Rick Rhordian (Percy Jackson, others). His idea for books is to add old myth and gods to kids stories. I wondered what would happen if you did that with folklore, and strange creatures, but I didn’t like the idea of the noble hero that does everything fearlessly because he’s “the chosen one,” so I thought of Draco Malfoy. He is not the chosen one, but he still has to be there the entire time because he has his part to play, but he is afraid, excited, proud, ashamed, all because he doesn’t have a prophecy protecting him.

Describe this book in 3 words.

Haha – Magical math magicians

What is your favorite part about being a writer?

Getting to hear people’s version of my world. Listening to people talk about how they experienced the scenes or how they saw things happening.

Do you have any must haves when you’re writing?
Coffee, music…

Does any of your personality ever go into any of the characters?

Here and there, but not intentionally. I like logical conclusions, and have a off-kilter sense of humor with lots of sarcasm and sass.

Which author(s) have inspired your writing?

Lloyd Alexander, he wrote a magical coming of age story long before Rowling and his was magical, sad, real, and life altering.

Favorite snack while writing.

Gummy Bears

If there was a zombie apocalypse and you can choose 3 of your books to take with you which would you chose?

Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, World War Z, Fight Club.

If you were a superhero, what would your name be and what power would you have?

Be able to recreate any action I could see done once; Call me Monkey See (because if Monkey See then Monkey can do)

What advice do you have for writers in terms of dealing with favourable and/or unfavourable reviews of their published work?

I have a bit different view of it since I’m published in a daily variety through newsprint, but I apply the same rules. You learn more from mistakes than successes, and people have to be able to tell you what they think you did wrong. You have this urge to defend your work like it’s a baby, but like a baby bird sometimes it’s gotta be kicked out to fly or fall on its own. You learn from it and wish it the best but you won’t always be around to argue every point to every person.

If you could change one thing about our world what would it be and why?

I don’t know, I mean isn’t that what writers try to do in their books? We write about the things we image would happen if we changed something, even if its something small.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Write. It’s gonna suck, they’re be people who don’t like it, but you’ll get better, step by step, piece by piece until it gets to a place where you can use writing to tell about the world.

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abouttheauthor

Aaron Piper grew up in farmlands of Ohio, reading anything he could get his hands on, in lieu of normal social interaction. When he complained one too many times about books he didn’t like, someone finally told him, “If you think you can do better, why don’t you write a book?” Many years and a minor in English from Ohio University later, he finished his first novel, Titus Fogg. Currently, he lives in southern Indiana with his wife and daughter and have worked as a photographer and journalist for more than ten years.

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