Interview: B.A. Bellec, Author of SOMEONE'S STORY @b_bellec #Interview
Author of Someone’s Story and co-collaborator on the music it inspired, B.A. was born in Richmond, BC and raised in Langley, BC, before settling in Winnipeg, MB. His first adventure was a career in Finance, where he spent 15 years developing his business skills. His highest achievement was the Certified Payroll Manager designation. He currently still consults with businesses on their systems and processes. Over that period of time, he also attended film school where he started to nurture his early creative abilities.
A self-starter always interested in research, he taught himself many of the aspects of storytelling through reading books, screenplays and material online. Whenever he found an inspirational piece of art, he quickly went to the source to find the story behind the artist who created the work. It took many years after attending film school for him to finally combine his creative skills with his life experience and tell that story he had been holding back. Some of his favorite creative people: Lukas Rossi, Justin Furstenfeld, Peter Jackson, Stephen Chbosky, John Green, J.K. Rowling.
Currently he is pounding away on the keyboard writing his second novel, Pulse. This project is a change of pace and more details will come in a few months!
B.A. is also an avid jogger and walker, frequently using them as a way to work on those tough spots in life and his manuscripts. If you found it this far into his material, reach out to him on Twitter and make sure to like and subscribe to get updates on all his future endeavors.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
Website: http://www.babellec.comBlog: https://babellec.com/b-a-bellecs-blog/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/b_bellec
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/babellec/
"When I get to
the front door, no one is there. The building is small, so I can see all the
way around to the lot behind it. There are a few cars. On a good day, we get
twenty. I try my luck around back. The door is unlocked. Once I get in, it
looks like a ghost town. I check all the rooms. Not a soul. This place is eerie
and unsettling. Maybe it’s the prison bars on the windows and the
ketchup-themed school colours."
--From SOMEONE'S STORY
Welcome to The Writer's
Life! Now that your book has been
published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us to the
beginning?
Wow! What a journey. I have no
background in creative writing or publishing. My career started in Finance and
then pivoted around a few general business jobs. This idea really came out of
left field and I just followed my gut. There is a passion in my pages that
comes out pure because while I was writing, all I wanted to do was relax my
soul and tell a story that was uniquely different and uniquely me. I miss those
innocent early days when I was working a 9-5 job and then coming home and
writing/editing 2-3 nights per week.
When did you come up with the
idea to write your book?
My book started as a journal to
deal with a stressful time in my life. It started to become a book about 2
years before I published. Ultimately, I decided I was too boring. When I turned
my work to be a work of fiction and combined myself with a few people I knew to
make a robust main character, that was when this project caught fire!
Who is your publisher and how
did you find them or did you self-publish?
Being new to the craft, I didn’t
understand some of the basics of publishing. I went the self-publish route
because I wanted the experience and I could do most of the work myself. The
drawback is I got no exposure out of the gate. The last few months have been an
exercise in marketing but I don’t regret the decision as waiting for an
agent/publisher to call me back wouldn’t have pushed me to further my platform
or my second book idea as much as self-publishing did.
Is there anything that
surprised you about getting your first book published?
It is really hard to get reviews.
Even people that know you are reluctant to post reviews. I don’t like asking
for reviews so I will casually drop it into the conversation once every few
weeks and if the response isn’t good, I drop it. Patience is a virtue.
Do you believe a book
cover plays an important role in the selling process?
Yes! Yes! Yes! My book cover is one of my proudest achievements. The
background is a painting my girlfriend made for me while I was writing. The
rest was me in photoshop. I built my whole marketing campaign around the colour
scheme. It also is a scene from the book. I think it looks amazing to a
potential customer, then as a reader, you get this second layer once you find
the chapter the cover is inspired by.
How hard was it to write a
book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make
the journey easier for other writers?
Write action. Write passion. Take
your time and deliver something you are proud of. I would rather put out one
good book then 5-10 so-so books. Like life, writing comes and goes. Some weeks
I would be hacking and thrashing, other weeks I could barely move my word
count. At the end of the day, don’t worry too much about having a bad few days.
Step away and try to refocus.
What other books are you
working on and when will they be published?
My next book is well developed,
over 55K words. It is a Sci-Fi Horror called Pulse. It might publish
near the end of this year depending on how the next 2 months go. I don’t have a
deadline though as I want to make sure the content is good. If I feel I need an
extra few months, I will revise my plan.
What’s one fact about your
book that would surprise people?
I had to reformat all my dialogue
at the 25th hour because Kindle Create didn’t accept the custom
formatting I had used in Word. This was really annoying and I didn’t see it
coming.. It was a few days before I was supposed to submit my file and I spent
almost 10 hours straight just reformatting my book. At first I tried
researching but ultimately dropped my old idea and went with what you see now.
A beginner move for sure…
Finally, what message are you
trying to get across with your book?
My message is mental health
awareness for sure. My main character has his struggles, as do a few of the
others. This book is like a pathway for how to deal with a tough situation.
There is a ton you can learn from reading this. I also partnered with the
Canadian Mental Health Association to donate early book proceeds.
Do you have any final
words?
Check out my YouTube channel for
some original music that is supplemental material for my book. While writing, I
added a musical component to the manuscript. While publishing I then reached
out to a musician to have that music recorded. Once you check out my music,
come find me on social media and don’t be afraid to reach out, I spend an hour
online almost daily and prioritize responding to fans!
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