Wonderful Writers on Wednesday! Interview with Author J. W. Zulauf!

Welcome to Wednesday's new blog series, Wonderful Writers on Wednesday, which features authors at Evolved Publishing! Today, please join me in welcoming author J. W. Zulauf. His whimsical Balderdash Saga is full of adventure and amazing characters--and I should know! I've read them all.

Can you describe the setting of your current book or work-in-progress? What do you love about this setting? What do you hate?

I’ll speak on The Balderdash Saga as a whole, being as I’ve very recently closed the lid to this coffin tale. The main installments—there are three—have a strange Tim Burton-like backdrop, and they take place in an underground kingdom called Balderdash, following the lives of corpses that have been brought back at the hands of a shaman. Now, I call it a backdrop because it really is just that. The premise can sound scary at first, but really the reader is focused on the characters, causing these macabre details to fall to the wayside. This is actually what I love about it all, though. I love odd places, and I can honestly say that I don’t hate any aspect of this story’s setting.

How do you write a convincing setting? Do you wing it or do you plan everything out first to make sure you haven’t forgotten something?

A story for me is like a storm coming in off the horizon. I see the shape and color of the clouds. I see small streaks of lightning, maybe feel the rumble of thunder, and for a brief moment, I watch it creep across the sky, barely a thought. I might look away, but before I know it, the clouds are rolling in so fast, I can hardly run for cover. They tumble across the sky like waves crashing on a beach, and then a blanket of details and information washes over me so hard and quick that I’m swimming in character development and setting and plot, and then I start writing. I don’t really map things out on paper, but my mind files things away, and to be honest, if I forget something, it wasn’t meant to be in the story.

Literature comes in all sorts of media forms; other than written literature, what media form do you find to be the most inspiring (film, graphic novel, comic strips, etc.)?

I would have to say video games. This is going to sound weird, I’m sure, but I missed out on a lot of these things. When I was younger, I played outside, and when I wasn’t playing outside, I was diving into video games. I didn’t invest a lot of time or money into comics and graphic novels, and I missed out on a great deal of film. Back then, the games were story like and character focused, and they always seemed to carry me away. I mean, video games are where the inspiration for The Balderdash Saga came from. I wanted to create something I could love as much as I did the Zelda games with a princess, magic, and adventure.

What first inspired you to begin writing? How old were you?

This is a weird question that always seems to have a different answer for me. I feel like all my life creation has been in my mind. I’ve wanted to do everything under the sun, from acting to playing music to drawing, but no matter what my interest temporarily went to, it always came back to writing. I think the first time I can remember ever being interested in writing was when I was very young. Somewhere in the 8-11ish range. My mom had purchased me a typewriter from a yard sale, and I remember typing up some stuff that was surely inspired from reading through R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. Say Cheese and Die, if I remember right.

What do you love most about writing?

I would say the sense of purpose it gives me. I’ve never been overly crafty with my hands like most of my family. I’ve never been a computer whiz, and no matter what types of jobs or hobbies I’ve taken on, writing has been the one thing that makes me feel like I’ve truly accomplished something. It also helps control my mind. My brain just seems to go so fast all the time, and I can honestly say, I don’t know what peace and quiet means. All I do is think, think, think, and writing gives me the avenue to channel some of this nonsense going on upstairs.

Thank you for your time! Is there anything you’d like to say to readers?

I tend to say this a lot, but it can honestly never be said enough. Reading can change the world! Always read. Put books in your kids’ hands. Put books in your hands. Give the gift of reading. Be proud to be smart. Most of all, thank you for reading my stuff and this interview.

Grab a copy of any of the Balderdash Saga through the Evolved Publishing Website. You'll just adore this set of tales for readers young and old!