Travis J. Thompson (Author Interview)





As an author of a wide collection of science fiction and horror books, what do you think makes a great story?

Character, not only of the people in the book, but the creator of the content. When you're reading something, whether it's fantasy, horror or science fiction, no matter how bizarre, you're getting a piece of its creator with it. The sudden and dreadful twist, the narrative between your protagonist and their closest ally, the death of a major character, the comedic supports entrance, these are all being transmitted from the writers finger tips onto a page.

What inspires you when writing?

A lot of what I've done is horribly skewed religious content, and warped it into an entrancing story line. I've mixed this flavored content with traumatic, often exaggerated, events from my life. Bam! I created a horror graphic novel. Life, everything from what I've seen, to what I enjoy studying, inspires me to create something out of nothing, which essentially speaking, is writing.

What are your ambitions for your writing career?  Full time?  Part time?

I'd be one that thinks, any author or illustrator that only wishes to do part time work, is wasting time. I love my craft, I'll do it for the rest of my life.




When did you decide to become a writer?

I was going to college full time to become a computer animator. I'd stay up all night creating storyboards, wild dialogue between two freshly created characters, writing out strange events that happened in my day. I'd written at least four books during my sophomore year. But I truly didn't decide to become a writer until I trashed all four of them, knowing they weren't good enough. I've been doing it since that time.

When writing your recent book D3TRO1T 3XORCIST: Volume 2 did anything stand out as particularly challenging?

Not at all, I greatly improved my dialogue and beautified the final product, proportionately better than Volume 1. If you do the research and look at the top "Comic Books" or "Graphic Novels" ever distributed, you'd likely think Marvel or DC right? The list is actually dominated by Japanese titles. If you look at the first few chapters of most of these manga, they're so rough you'd never assume without knowing that there'd be another book, there are though. Volume 1 of our book was rough, and was well received. Volume 2 was a remarkable improvement and the flow with my kick ass team happened naturally.

How did you come up with the story for D3TRO1T 3XORCIST?

I worked in Detroit for years. Not only did I work in Detroit, I worked with senior citizens. A lot of people in the suburbs don't understand, most of the time we throw our elderly people into the more criminal friendly places in large cities. Don't misinterpret my story description when I say Detroit is dangerous, Detroit is one of the few loves I have, but to outsiders, Detroit looks dangerous. These books are a tribute to the city I embraced, and the faith that I first hand witnessed many cling onto because they had nothing else.

What do you like to do when not writing?

I'm a workaholic, but if I'm not working on a project, I'm likely cooking, skiing, fishing, browsing the stock market or socializing. I'm an avid movie/television fan, but I consider my taste to be refined. I'm a true believer in art, if I'm at a club I dance, if I'm at an art gallery I explore, if I pick up a book I commit to the end and when I watch a movie, I dissect it.

How can readers discover more about you and your work?

My life is fairly public. My Instagram handle MercuryRisingEntertainment shows more of me than I ever thought possible, I've met a bungalow of great people and I try to keep it as real as I can, bad and good. Currently I have over 6,000 followers and I love to show my latest work off to the public. If people want they can connect with me there or through my website - www.totwweb.com which showcases my work and makes it easily available to view on Amazon.
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