WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS WRITING ALL OF OUR DREAMS?
The first goal with all my fiction is to craft an entertaining story. I want to surprise and delight readers, make them laugh, make them cry, keep them up past their bedtimes. That’s makes me happy as a writer.
With this particular story, I wanted to explore the idea of dreams and goals, and how these things can consume us. In the end, our aspirations for the future mean nothing if we’ve missed the blessings and responsibilities we have right now.
WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF WRITING THE STORY?
The story is written in the first-person point of view of a young man who is watching his wife die. I’m a young man . . . I have a wife. To make a believable character, you have to get in to their head. I suppose that was the most challenging thing: just imagining how hard it would be to watch the person you loved the most in the world slowly fade away.
WHEN MAKING UP STORIES, HOW MUCH DO YOU DRAW ON YOUR OWN LIFE EXPERIENCES AND PEOPLE YOU KNOW, VERSUS DRAWING ON RESEARCH ABOUT COMPLETE STRANGERS?
Most of my characters are a mix of myself and people I know. I tend to write quirky characters with a good sense of humor. It’s no coincidence that I laugh often. Ha ha!
WHAT DO YOU HOPE READERS GET OUT OF YOUR WORK?
Enjoyment. I want them to laugh. I want them to keep turning pages. I want them to think about the story for days after they finish. I want them to tell their friends. I want them to buy the next book!
WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?
I just finished a novel codenamed Comatose. We’re getting ready to shop it around to publishers. Fans of All of Our Dreams are going to love it. It’s a book that will appeal to both men and women. There’s suspense, romance, a supernatural twist, and Singing in the Rain—what’s not to like?