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José R. Alvarez
Assignment #9 - "Interview”
CWMFA: Literary Research
Instructor: Julie Wight
December 20, 2010
Interviewee: Franklyn Thomas, Jr
Author: The Heart of the Sword - Shallin Awakes
Interview Type: In-person
Date: December 20, 2010
Time: 2:30-3:00pm
Location: Millennia Mall-Orlando Florida
Hi, Franklin. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for the Literary
Research class in the online Creative Writing MFA program at Full Sail
University.
1. When did you become interested in writing novels and how did you
get started in this industry?
I would say approximately 8-9 years ago when I was studying
engineering. I wanted to mainly to get away from the numbers.
2. What influenced you to write The Heart of the Sword - Shallin
Awakes?
I find it hard to find something to read and there’s nothing other
than older writers like Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe. So I
decided to write a book that I would like to read myself. As
opposed to look for something that may or may not be out they’re
to read.
3. What sort of research did you do prior to writing this novel?
I read of Hamlet, a lot of older books. My only research was reading
some of the greats, for example: Shakespeare and Hamlet. I was
looking for originality and this is something you can find with every
great title or writer. There is something different too look for on these
great authors.
4. How would you describe the Fantasy genre?
Ever changing. You can put the impossible, to the possible for
readers to imagine and visualize it. In Fantasy you can take the
improbable and put it together correctly, create a world that
people can relate to and mentally visualize. Even thought the
whole time they reading the impossible.
5. What would you describe the structure (plot) of the story and how
did you decided on settings (locations) of story?
I didn’t plan the story out or put it in any fashion. What I’m looking
for is for the reader to be surprised when they are reading it, so for it
to be a surprised to the reader I keep the surprised to myself in the
sense that I write creating as I go; that there’s no map for the story
that the story is random and spontaneous. Life is not map out that
way so why should the story? Lets say you seeing a movie and the
first two scenes of the story are obvious it would make the movie
boring.
6. How do you write believable Characters in this genre?
The way I make the character believable in my stories is by putting
myself in their position, even if it could never happen. Also if its
something that would never happen in real life I still put myself in
that position and situation and figure out what I would do an how I
would handle it. I also look at situation that I witness and I how I’ve
seen other people react to those situation. That way I make an
impossible situation believable.
7. Is here any character you can relate to? And why?
I would say Sanch. The reason being at a young age I was giving a
lot of responsibility and in the book Sanch is a young man with the
weight of the world on his shoulders. He comes across confident but
his is constantly questioning himself.
8. In your own words what is the meaning of the Heart of the Sword
and Shallin Awakens?
I’ve always looked at a sword as a representation of the soul.
In the story you have Sanch who finds the sword, in order to
complete his quest, our mission in life. Everyone has a soul good or
bad (your heart) the sword pretty much described the inner working
of a person. Finding our soul and heart that is the motivation the
story itself is trying to portrait.
9. What is the theme of the story and why?
Is about what a son is willing to do even though the father is not in
the picture. It doesn’t change the fact that he wants to make his
father proud. We are always looking for our father approval. You
want to be worthy of him our father to be proud. For the longest my
father was the voice on the side of the phone and every thing I did I
did to make him proud of me. I wanted to earn my keep as a
young man. That’s how it came about the underline of the story. It’s
more important to me to see his name then my name on the book.
10. Are there any potential sequels or backstories, if so where are you
planning on taking the story?
Yes there’s a sequel. I am planning on writing 3 more books after this
one. I left it open for possible pre-quells and backstories on each
character. I can write each character backstories to where they
came in the beginning of the 1st book.
11. What advise would you give to someone writing stories in the Since
Fiction and Fantasy genre?
No story is too someone no story, or is out there, no story is
impossible to tell. Every idea, every possible world created is going
to be someone’s interest or a group of people who want to read
about it and wants’ to hear it.
Thank you vey much for sharing your experience and the best wishes and
continues success in your career.