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Action and Adventure with Jake Lynch · WriterCon

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This week on the writer Con podcast. My one piece of advice to writers
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would be never, and I mean never edit the story while you are writing
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this story. Welcome to writer Con, a gathering place for writers to share
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their knowledge about writing and the writing world. Your hosts are William Bernhardt,
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best selling novelist and author of the Red Sneaker books on writing, and Laura
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Bernhardt, award winning author the want Ln Files book series. Thank you,
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Jesse Ulrich, and hey they're writers, thanks for joining us. Laura is
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on the road this time, but she'll be back soon. As we're releasing
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this. Tax Day is coming up all too soon. This is a perpetual
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problem for writers, probably any artist or freelancer, anybody who's got yeah,
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Jesse's agreeing, anybody who's got unpredictable income stream and of course the IRS comes
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down really hard on the self employed. So you got uh, so you
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know you got two days. Jesse is ready to go. Listen. We're
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we're obviously recording this before tax day, and so for anyone who's worried,
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I've begun working on my taxes, which is Michelle and I are both both
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being self employed but also having like part time w two s jobs. Our
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taxes are interesting, but since we both work from home, I've I've squeezed.
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I will squeeze as much out of our taxes as we can, as
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far as like this office, for example, I just about to say every
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room in your house should be a home office. There is a deduction,
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right, yep, yep. And like I need the Internet for my business,
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so part of that comes. And I'm a homeowner now, so I
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can write off the interest from our mortgage, which is nice. So that's
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good, you know, I do it good. Hopefully Michelle is a budding
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writer, so you could theoretically, who I am confident we'll publish soon,
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so you could be deducting the cost of books, movies, a lot of
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other things. Yeah, sometimes talking about that research. Oh my god,
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I'm talk about research, research trips, research trips. Yeah, we're going
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to Iceland in May, and we're stopping in Boston. That's one of the
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cheaper places to fly to Iceland from. And her book takes place in Boston,
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so I'll probably write off that flight next year. Perfect. Yeah,
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I'm so jealous. Barry's been to Iceland too. What is the deal?
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Why has everybody been to Iceland, but me, I don't know. It's
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it's it's the cheapest place to get to from America and it's apparently delightful.
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I'll let you know more in our May sessions. But yeah, yeah,
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we'll all expect to report. Oh yes, all right. Our interview today
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is with Jake Lynch, an author who specializes in spiritual fiction and action adventure
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novels. He's the author of Broken to Beautiful, coming of age story about
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a high school girl named Crystal who struggles to find her place in the world
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and to find hope, as many people do at one time or another in
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their lives. We'll talk to them about this fascinating book. But first the
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news, all right. Our first news story, Entangled Publishing has signed a
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dozen self published romance authors. Some of you are probably listening to this headline
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and thinking, yeah, so let me spell it out. Entangled Publishing,
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an established publishing house with many major authors, including Rebecca Yarrows, has now
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signed a dozen self published authors. People are published on their own, but
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now, perhaps for the first time, are signing with a publishing company,
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which is different. You may remember back in our Start of the Year Predictions
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episode, I predicted that we'd be seeing a evolution of self or small publishing,
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and for that matter, changes in traditional publishing as well. And I
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think this is an example of it, a traditional publishing publisher partnering with self
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published authors for their mutual benefit. And this is Entangled, an independent publisher,
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true, but distributed by McMillan, one of the Big five. And
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they have and as I said, they published the world famous romanticy author Rebecca
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Yars, who had the best selling book of twenty twenty three, and now
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they've picked up a dozen romance authors, acquiring the print rights to their books.
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I suppose the theory is they're doing justifying with ebook but how do you
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get a book in the bookstores? And the answer is this deal with Entangled
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publishing. Most of these twelve authors write series books. So even though there
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are twelve authors, we're talking about something like eighty titles, some of which
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have been published before. But they're going to get a fresh read, which
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probably means a fresh edit by someone and new cover art. So Jesse we
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said this was the year everything hits a new plateau. Is this a sign
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of that? Do you think this is pointing the way to the future.
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Yeah, I feel like this. I feel like there's an analogy in like
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sports or something, or like maybe it's like a movie and TV writing,
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where like you take someone who is successful at something in sort of the independent
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thing, and then you use the companies that also want to make money off
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this, or like they're doing well without us, I bet they can do
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even better with us. And so it's like it's like moving up from like
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the minor leagues of the major leagues almost. I guess it's the first analogy
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they came to my mind. That's the way, well, at least in
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print books. I mean part of the like I said, they're doing fine
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an e books, but that won't get you in the bookstore, which granted
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is a one digit percentage of overall sales these days, but still it'd be
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nice to have. I remember, and this has been a while. Hugh
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Howie, one of the first self published authors to break out big, made
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a deal I think with Simon and Schuster, and that was shocking at the
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time because he was just giving them his print books and they wanted everything,
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but he was like, no, I'm doing just fine with digital. You
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can have the prent rights. That was something that I don't think publishers had
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ever agreed to before, and now it looks like it might be on the
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path becoming more commonplace. So that's pretty huge. Yeah, and when we
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do know that younger generations are more into physical copies of books, like you
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know, it goes in ways, right, So right, Well, they
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brought back vinyl and I've now got, as you know, a wall full
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of vinyl over there and a wall full of books here. Okay. News
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story number two. Spotify, which you may have heard, is offering an
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audiobook access tier. If you followed this podcast, you know Spotify has been
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trying to deal with audiobooks for a while, or trying to figure out how
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to monetize it, and what they've done so far hasn't worked so well.
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But you may remember on the last episode we talked about Brendan Sanderson and his
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negotiations with Audible, which have now produced a better royalty deal for everyone.
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Well, Spotify has now added a standalone audiobook access tier. It's something separate.
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If you want this, you're going to pay nine to ninety nine a
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month and you get about fifteen hours of monthly listening time fifteen hours from a
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catalog of two hundred thousand titles. Of course, while you're there, I
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bet that would Spotify would allow you to listen to some music and other things
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as as well. Jesse, you've produced many audio books. Does this look
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like a good deal to you? Well, let me just say the books
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I read are longer than fifteen hours, So it doesn't seem like a great
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deal to me. Anything in science fiction would be, wouldn't it. Yeah,
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just about or new romanticy novels. There she is, It's true.
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I just I what worries me about this is one like the more subscription based
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things that are out there for books. I feel like the less authors get
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from it, And I worry about when Spotify is going to pay authors,
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right and how and how? Yeah, and like we just like brands.
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Arison just fought this battle with Audible to get more things and now he's gonna
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have to fight Spotify. Right. It's just like it's Spotify is trying to
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make more money for Spotify, not necessary more money for authors. So and
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again, like Spotify has learned with podcasting that like these things are not wald
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gardens, and you can't make them waldgardens. People aren't going to walk into
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said garden, so right, well, or the audience that listens to music
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may not be the same that listens to audio books. Yeah, when I
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read that, I checked my iPad and so this is a dramatic example.
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But last audiobook I bought because I thought the book was so big, so
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I just bought the audio book that was Barbara S. Dreysen's New Memoir,
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which plots in at forty eight hours log. Yeah, so I'd need four
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subscriptions before I could get right, like, you know, like as a
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as a reader of sci fi and fantasy, like if a book's under fifteen
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hours, I'd be amazed, other than like the Martian right right, right
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something? Yeah, all right, all right, Jesse, cue up the
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music and let's talk to Jake Lynch. Jake, welcome to the podcast.
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Thank you for having me. I'm really happy to be here. All right.
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You know what the first question is going to be, if you could
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off of writers one piece of advice, what would it be. My one
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piece of advice to writers would be never, and I mean never edit the
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story while you are writing the story, okay, because then you'll just get
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stuck in an editing loop and you'll never create the story. And then you'll
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end up wasting a lot of time like I did when I first started writing.
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So never edit while writing. Write it first one and then edit it
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later. I know it's uncomfortable, but please just get the story out first
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and then you can polish it up. Or the worst, if you're me,
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you would spend a week on that chapter and then finish the first draft
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and realize I don't need that chapter. Oh gosh, I've done that so
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many times. I've done it so many times that I've just forgotten all about
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it. It's crazy. It's probably better. Well, tell us about your
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book, Broken to Beautiful. Yeah, so my book Broken to Beautiful.
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It's a contemporary style fiction, so it's nothing too like out of the ordinary.
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It's not a fantasy or anything. It's a slice of life kind of
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story about a high school girl named Crystal who struggles with like suicide and depression
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and just kind of finding hope in life, just how to deal with these
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kind of problems in our everyday life. And she's a shy social loner who
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doesn't have any friends, and she doesn't know how to make friends. You
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know, like we've all been in high school, and high school is a
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very awkward stage for a lot of us. And so it's the book is
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a journey of her like and learning perseverance and how to find hope amidst these
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like social problems that a lot of people are dealing with, and how she
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goes from broken to beautiful in a sense. Interesting. Where did you get
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the idea? What was the inspiration for the book? The inspiration and was
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kind of unique, Like I originally started writing the story based off like a
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janitor essentially, like there was a janitor character who that's in the story,
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and I originally was writing the story about the janitor, But the more I
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started writing it, the story started to evolve more around the main character named
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Crystal, and then it became centered around her, and I didn't want to
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change it, so I decided, let's just keep it from here and go
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forward with it. And that's kind of how it started off, Like I
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originally met a janitor on a train, which was kind of the original inspiration
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for the story, and how he was a super kind guy and that kind
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of sparked something inside me a long time ago. Nice, very cool.
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This is your first book, So you say that you are a full time
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writer now, yeah, so like, is this pain I'm gonna be really
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nosy. Is this pain? Bills is not yet? Not yet? I
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have two wonderful, supporting parents that are housing me right now. So I
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put my job to try and pursue this thing full time. And I've learned
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that trying to be a full time author really is a lot of work.
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And so I'm always busy. You know, I still work a full day
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like everyone else. Is just I'm not making money yet. I'm not making
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money yet. This is understood the start of a long journey. So yes,
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it's okay to be nosy. I saw that saying bio. I think,
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and I have to say, your hobbies would make you very popular with
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our boys. You're like surfing and Brazilian jiu jitsu and watching anime? Right,
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yes, those are all very unique hobbies that I have gathered over the
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years. I would say, well, I've surfed. Are my oldest boy,
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Harry is taekwondo expert. And I think all the boys like anime,
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don't they? Alan what's your favorite? What's your favorite anime? Oh gosh,
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can you? I would have to say Naruto. That's the main that's
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a standard, It's the standard class like it's grown to be like a handful
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of like my top favorites, but they're all like my favorites in their own
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way, like ones of sci fi. One's all one could be a thriller
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and that sort of stuff, But I haven't saw like a ghost hunter.
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There was a ghost like hunter hunter or something something. It was definitely a
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ghost based one demon Slayer. I shouldn't have brought it up because now I'm
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blanking on the name. I've watched it. Okay, okay, okay,
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minor diversion. All right, So you talked about your lead character in the
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book. Now, the janitor was based on someone you truly met? Was
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your Was your protagonist also based on someone that you know? Or how did?
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How did? How did you find that lead character for for the story,
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I didn't have to think too hard about the lead character. And I'll
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admit there are a lot of personal elements from me within the lead character and
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even some of the other characters as well. So I didn't have to work
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too hard to develop the main character because I wasn't trying to make her anything
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totally different from me or whatever I like. And it was also my first
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book, so I was trying to write with what I know. So I'm
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like, I don't want to try and make someone who's totally different than me.
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They can be mostly me. Like so, yeah, like I originally
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wrote the character, like actually a year after I started trying to write the
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story, and I took a notebook down and I just started brainstorming. I
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just started writing down characters, detailing everything about them from their personality. They're
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like, how tall they were, what are their hobbies, what are they
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like? And she just was the first character that I created aside from the
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janitor, and I kind of just rolled with that, just taking her through.
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And the more I started working on her and writing the story, the
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more she developed and became something more than I ever imagined. Well, what
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was your goal when you started this project? It sounds I mean it's like
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you just suddenly started to write. No, there must have been some gestation
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period or something. What happened? Yeah, Like, are you asking me
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about my inspiration or what caused me to start writing? Well, Laura kind
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of asked about inspirall or maybe she will. I don't know, but I'm
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asking what was your goal with this goal? Yeah? My goal with this
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book is essentially to be a story that helps bring hope to people who are
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dealing with these kinds of problems. Like you know, it's a story meant
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for the high school kid who's having a hard time making friends, and then
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they read this story and watch this person learn how to make friends even though
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it is uncomfortable, but finding that there is hope in a lot of the
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hard times of this life. So that's my end goal. My end goal
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is to reach out to people who are struggling with some of these issues and
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to give them a metaphorical hug saying it's going to be okay and they can
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learn from this sort of thing. So it was a very like there was
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a huge goal like behind it from the very beginning. I didn't just write
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this story just to write it. I wrote it for them, like this
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was not for me at all. Very nice. I have quite a few
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aspiring writers in our audience. Could you describe your path to publication and tell
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us how you got started maybe what choices you made along the way. Yeah,
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So the way that I got started writing is kind of unique compared to
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other writers. Like some other writers will talk and how like, oh,
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I've always wanted to write stories since I was in third grade. I actually
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was not like that at all. In fact, my upbringing was totally like,
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I wasn't very big on writing. Like English was one of my least
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favorite classes. I am sorry for any of my English teachers, but I
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had a hard time paying attention to that. I liked doing math more.
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You know, tupus two weeks was four. I'm like, creativity, no,
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I don't. I don't do well with that. And so there's some
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backstory to this. So like rewind to two thousand and eighteen. I believe
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I was a sophomore in college and I had just finished my first semester there.
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It was a very very stressful semester. But it was also around that
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time where I met a janitor on the train. And so the semester finished,
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and I get this impression on my mind too write a book. And
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I'm like, oh, what if I wrote a story about a janitor?
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And so my story gets a little religious, So I apologize to that I
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causes any issues about like, and so I get this impression on my mind.
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I'm like, what if I write a story about a janitor who was
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a gentleman and help people and the idea didn't go away, and so I'm
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like, Okay, this is kind of odd. So I'm like, I
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need to sit down and pray about this. So like I go back home,
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I sit down, I just get quiet, and I'm like, okay,
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I pray, God, do you want me to write a book?
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Okay? And at my church, I go to bless you. At my
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church. One of my pastors, Rick Warren, says that one of the
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ways to hear God speak is to read his word, like read the Bible
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and instead of just listening for him to speak to you verbally. And so
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I'm like, okay, I'm going to try that. And so I'm like,
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God, do you want me to write a book? And then I
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flip open to where I was currently reading in the Bible. And I had
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actually gotten a second impression to start reading a specific book in the Bible around
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that time as well, which was to start reading the Book of Isaiah,
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which is in the Old Testament, and prior to that, I was writing
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in the New Testament like nowhere near that. And so I get the impression
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to start writing the book, and then I pray, and I flip open
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to where I was reading in Isaiah. And the first thing that I read
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was Isaiah chapter thirty verse eight, which says write these words down, write
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it in a book. And I look up and I'm like, okay,
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God wants me to write a book now. And after that I started writing.
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I started writing for an hour to two hours a day and had never
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done that before. I had never written any stories before. Like I'm talking
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zero experience, and that's how I got started. Now, you mentioned to
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honor our gifts. I think, yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. I
21:03
did mean to step on your bed. I had no follow up. You
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mentioned Pastor Rick Warren. Are we talking the purpose driven life? Rick Warren?
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I am talking about the purpose driven life. Does everyone in the church
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write a book or no? You know, there's not that many authors around
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here. And you know, I go to Settleback every single weekend, so
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you don't find that many authors like that. Well yeah, yeah, but
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he must have given your writing credibility. You've seen that it can happen.
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I've read The purpose Driven Life, and I know a lot of other people
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have as well. Yeah yeah, I mean I grew up under his teachings.
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You know, I grew up going to saddleback churches. My home Church.
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I love it there, and you know, like Rick Warren has been
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a very influential character in my life, and I'm extremely grateful for him,
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very nice. And then when it came time to publish your book, how
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did you decide what path was right for you? I had to do a
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little homework on that. I I had to figure out how to publish my
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book, Like it took me five years to essentially finish writing the story,
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so once I finally got to that point, I had to do some homework
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and figure out whether to do a traditional publisher or to go self publishing.
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I chose to do self publishing because my book is you know, is religious
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in a sense, and there's a lot of like elements in there that I
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personally don't feel comfortable giving the rights to anyone else about that, And so
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I decided to do self publish it just because I don't want another person to
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dictate what the cover will be, what the title will be, and everything.
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Like. There's pros and constant both sides. I'm not saying traditional publishing
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is worse than self publishing. There's actually good things to it too, But
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I wanted to maintain more of the control over the story. Well, it's
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good you did your homework. That's what we always tell people. Do your
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homework and then choose the one that's right for you. Yep, doing homework
23:07
and just sitting in your computer look information. Yeah, I usually do your
23:11
homework, come to write or con and then write your book. But whatever,
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fair he does say that. So full time writer now, and you've
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already mentioned lots of lots of hard work every single day working a full time
23:27
job. What does your typical writing day look like for you? Like,
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what's your schedule, what's your process? Yeah, my typical writing day is
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I'll start my work at like seven am, and I'll write for about five
23:41
to six hours, and I'll take breaks every two hours of doing the creative
23:48
writing, just because it's it's a lot of you know, emotional use once
23:53
you're creating a lot of material in such a long period of time. So
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I'll like take breaks every two hours. I'll go in a quick walk,
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have lunch, and then I'll come back and then I'll actually, since I'm
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self published, I'll try and do some marketing. So I'll try and post
24:07
a video on social media and I'll reach out to other podcasts. There you
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go that worked out. Yeah, I like that you pointed out that breaks
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are important. I know what I'm working on right now, most heavily.
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It leaves me kind of emotionally raw and drained. Yeah, after I've worked
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on it for a couple of hours, so I do kind of need to
24:26
step away and recollect myself. Yeah. I noticed that you like to write
24:32
supernatural stories at I do. I write women's fiction, which and that's what
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I'm trying to finish my next there, but I also write supernatural suspense.
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Yeah that's really cool. That's really cool. I enjoy it. I write
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what I like to be, so it usually works best that way. So
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what about you, Jake, So first book down, what's next? Yeah,
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so this first book was kind of a standalone for the time being.
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I'm actually working on my next novel we'll call The Lost Saint, Like the
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full title is called Chronicles of the Lost Saint, and it's the start of
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an action adventure series. Actually, So I'm tapping into the inner boy inside
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of me and be like, oh, what if I wrote an action story.
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And I'm having a lot of fun doing that right now. I'm gonna
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do a lot of work with that in the future. So that's what I'm
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working on next. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining us
25:26
on the podcast. Thank you so much for having me us. Wonderful to
25:29
speak with you guys. Nice bye bye, all right bye. Just a
25:38
few parting words. Of course, I have to mention the writer Con conference
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because and big shout out and thanks to Animatics and her husband and Zella Marketing.
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But the new writer Con website is finished, it's revised, it's up
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to date. We have a registration block ready to take your registration for the
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conference, and if you do it now, you get the early bird price,
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which will save you at least one hundred dollars, maybe more, depending
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upon which one of the registration packages you choose. We've got more than fifty
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speakers lined up, authors, agents, publishers, book marketing experts, and
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so much more. Even if you're just starting out and think, no,
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first, I need to write this book, well here are all these classes
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on craft writing that you can benefit from. If you're further along and you're
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thinking more about I need to get an agent, I need to get a
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publisher. Guess what, we got them there, and they are more than
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eager to talk to you. If you're at the marketing stage, we got
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that covered too. And the best thing is it's all in one place,
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to get what is whatever you need to take your writing career up to the
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next level. That's writer Con Labor Day weekend in Oklahoma City, so for
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more information please visit the website writercon dot com. All right, until next
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time, everyone, keep writing and remember you cannot fail if you refuse to
27:21
quit. See you next time.