As part of my review on Bloodlines, by Carl Franklin, I had the opportunity to ask the author a few questions about himself, about his novella, and about the charity that he will be supporting.
1. First, please tell us a little information about yourself...
I'm 23, obviously enjoy writing and reading literature- From poems to book reviews and most fiction. I do like some non-fiction, but there's nothing like escaping reality!
2. Where did find the inspiration for Bloodlines?
I found the inspiration for Bloodlines from God himself! It was my yearning to see the message get across to the world that being hateful is wrong. No matter who or what anybody believes in, I'm humbled that they have "something" to believe in or worship; and most assuredly that "something" is unity and love driven just like the honest, true words of Jesus.
3. How long did it take to complete the novella, and what was your writing process like?
It didn't take very long to complete given that my imagination and writing is fast paced. It includes most of my premature writing as an Author, however, so a span of a couple years combined into one manuscript. My writing style, you could say, matured since Bloodlines.
It was a bit difficult in some ways, because I did share two personal events that affected my soul. 1- the death of my own mother, even though I put fictional characters around the story... it hits close to home. 2- the death of my only supportive grandfather, again with fictional characters around the story... it as well is close to my heart.
4. Why did you decide to self-publish in a digital format instead of going through the traditional publishers?
It isn't just in digital form. While it can be found on the Amazon kindle, now with perfected formatting without the errors with chunks wrongfully italicized. The print version is of course the longer process and should be publicly available through several cataloging outlets and beyond just the Amazon.com USA store.
I have done every bit of work myself for Bloodlines- writing, publishing, marketing legwork, public relations. Except thank goodness, distribution. I wouldn't want that task. I self published my first Novella because regardless of its content or structure, I wanted to be one of the first to tackle the subject that being Gay doesn't discount one person from another in God's eyes, rather it is what a person does in their lifetime that makes them the person they are. God wants people to love each other- and the other message is as prior mentioned, being hateful is counterproductive and unnecessary. Love is the most powerful energy in the universe, so why not strengthen it even more?
5. Can you tell us a little about your current project(s)?
I am in the works of my adult and much matured works of writing. It is Book 1 of 4 in my suspense series. "Monetary Discretion" and I also beta read for other writers. "Monetary Discretion" is a suspense filled work following the interesting protagonist (main character) Henry Waterstone, who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities) with a quite diverse slew of alter egos. Aside from the basics, I can't share much further information until readers have the chance to find out for themselves. :)
6. What is Smile Train?
Smile Train is an organization that is multi-national centric and holds the basic mission of correcting the cleft palates of several children. May they be in third world countries or here in The United States, clefts hold many challenges both health-wise and personally as well. Children with cleft lip and cleft palates, if gone uncorrected, live unhealthy and scrutinizing lives. They cannot eat or drink properly, they are more prone to bacterial infections and autoimmune diseases and they don't have the luxury of what you and I have- a smile!
7. How did you become involved with the charity and how will your sales support their work?
Several months ago when I decided to link my work and all future works of fiction with charities so I could help give back to the world, I came across one of the Smile Train commercials and was so affected, I did further research on their website to see what they stood for. Being further moved to want to help put a smile on those children, I decided that they would be my first charity to work with.
A percentage of each royalty from my Bloodlines work will go toward the benefit in putting a smile on hopefully more than a few children. It takes as little as $250 and 45 minutes to correct a child's smile. That in itself is enough to put a smile on your face, I hope!
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