Name: Richard L Pastore
Book Titles: The Devil and the Wolf and Perseus Kills His Grandfather
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy
Tell us about yourself: I’ve retired from the corporate world and going through a zero-stress process of adjustment – meaning, I haven’t settled into any particular routine or significant focus.
My career included Cognitive research, UI Designer, HTML Instructor, and Business Analyst. I tended to go with the flow of opportunities as they arose and I was extremely fortunate. Every job I had involved a ghastly commute which took a significant amount of time out of my life, so I’m quite happy to indulge in my hermit side for a few years and have the world come to me.
My hobbies include anything food related (cooking, history, growing), gardening, reading, photography (new), a little on-line gaming, crossword puzzles, and playing around with digital graphics. Writing (a.k.a. storytelling) has always been more than a hobby as it is likely my only fully artistic outlet.
Tell us about your writing career. When did you first start writing? I started writing some 50 years ago during my days in high school. Sometimes I would daydream a scene as if viewing a snippet of a movie, or hear part of a conversation that would trigger a more creative one in my mind, or be struck by an idea I would research and be surprised by what I learned. In each case at that age, I began to be compelled to write it all down and, in some cases, expand them into short stories or essays.
The output I would sometimes share with friends, who always enjoyed them. I would often hear I should become an author, but I also had other interests – mostly in science – that I wanted to pursue as well. Difficult choices but as mentioned, I let opportunity be my guide.
Off and on over the decades, I considered self-publishing but the area was often filled with sketchy organization and you needed to front a significant amount of money up-front. The derogatory term “Vanity Publishing” was used back then and that was the last thing I wanted – to have people assume I wanted notoriety. My goal then, as it is now, was simply to tell stories for people who would enjoy them and hopefully make their day a little bit better. That’s probably why 80% of what I have written over the years was comedic.
In 2016, my comet-like mental orbit reapproached the concept of self-publishing and I was surprised to find how much easier it had become in the digital age. I was currently attempting (for the 3rd time) to break out of the short story / essay mode and craft an entire novel. I came across a company called CreateSpace (since subsumed by Amazon) which would both print on-demand and provide a digital copy for Kindle. So, click of the button and boom, my work was uploaded. I didn’t expect anyone to buy or read it, my plan was to surprise my friends and family, have copies printed, and hand them out to them just for the fun of it. To my shock and surprise, someone I did not know bought a copy and gave it a five-star review.
And now, here we are.
Do you write full-time? If not, do you have an outside job or other responsibilities? I only write when I feel a drive to. I continue to write snippets of work as a personal artistic outlet to my mental musings, but now I also have a few book ideas I’ve been slowly crafting. I don’t think writing can ever become a “job” for me as I never want one of the only two ways I can express myself artistically to be bound by deadlines, subject to marketing pressures, and income stresses. It’s the same with my other love and outlet – cooking. Despite requests from friends and family, I never wanted to open a restaurant or bakery. My emotional outlet would become my career.
Granted, something I love doing (which is true of the areas I chose for my career) but that would eliminate it as an unfettered outlet. I guess it would be different if I could also draw or play a musical instrument, but I need to have something I can do to express myself without constraints and pressure.
Have you ever based a character on yourself? If so, tell us about it. In a way, nearly all of my characters are based on myself. My brain has always been wired for having multiple internal voices, which has helped me view issues from many sides. This also assisted my greatly while I was working in research. So, yes, I would say that all of my major and many of my minor characters are reflecting some part of me, and/or giving voice to my point of view.
Have you ever based a character on a family member or close friend? If so, tell us how you navigated what could be a tricky portrayal.
I did once, the first time I was attempting a novel and – without going into detail – it was a minor disaster. One significant issue was people I knew would start to become suspicious if a character was supposed to be them even if it wasn’t. I didn’t want to have any sense of mistrust from those closest to me. So, on the occasions when I need to create a character wholly separate from anything I have internally, I will amalgamate features and behaviors from people I knew in passing. One upside to working in large to mid-size companies is that you meet a lot of people – a lot. I also believe having a sensitivity to anyone’s personality and physical behaviors is a relatively common talent among writers. I think one “secret” is to hone that sensitivity and then use what you pick up like Lego blocks when building a character.
How do you keep track of all your ideas? Do you have a little notebook? Do you keep a running document on your computer or phone? For the last decade, I’ve been relying on my phone. Whenever something hits me – be it a concept, a scene, a joke, a snippet of dialogue, etc. – I jot it down in notes or, on occasion, voice record it.
Describe your editing and publishing experience. What has worked for you and what hasn’t? I’m afraid it’s very simplistic. Having interacted with a range of writers – some indie and some published – I’m very aware of the enormous amount of effort they put into it. (And I’m respectfully in awe of that).
Not having available funds, I have to rely on my own editing with copyediting being an Achilles heel. I’m quite aware of the mistakes when I find them, but have a difficult time finding them.
Other than that, I rely on beta readers. My experience being a UI designer puts me at an exceptional advantage here. In UI design studies, your goal is to find the issues – negative feedback. You quickly learn to put your ego aside because that’s your only route to success. You also learn the most efficient way to take disparate feedback and sift out the critical issues.
As for the actual publishing process, as I mentioned I use an indie-publishing service. I have had knotty issues with getting the cover artwork correct for submission with the paper editions (working out bleeding edges and such), but I got through them after reading the help information several times until something clicked.
Do you belong to a writer’s group? If so, tell us about it. Yes. Kind of. I was invited by a group of writers who were on Twitter (yes, I call it Twitter) to join them in a monthly video chat. The group is Writers Supporting Writers (@wsw2021), and we post the videos on YouTube. I absolutely love this. It gives me a way to connect, discuss, and learn in an enjoyable way. I also connect with other writers via social media and I find that a good way to sense the common experiences that we share.
Name three people who have had the greatest influence on you and why. I guess the classics – family.
My mother for starters. She helped build my intellectual foundation. She encouraged me to read as early as possible and supported any endeavor I undertook with very visible pride. She also never pushed me or criticized me in any area I pursued.
In terms of writing and education, my dad. He introduced me to all of the old-time comedies (which, given my age, I should re-term “ancient”) along with fascinating backstories. If it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t understand comedy as a crafted artform following some specific rules. He never finished high school, but was a voracious reader – mostly history books – allowing him to converse on that topic as well as any professor I had.
I would also consider my three aunts collectively . They were unique, quirky, funny and big-hearted. They gave me living examples of having an “express yourself” and “love life large” attitude.
What event(s) in your life have influenced you as a writer? Without details, I’ve been through some hellish times during my life and that has driven me to attempt to provide a pleasant respite for others. I’ve often said, if someone is reading something I’ve written – be it at home, at the beach, on a train – and they find themselves releasing even a single chuckle, well, my job is done.
For writing itself, as I mentioned, it’s driven by an internal need for artistic expression probably borne out of all of the reading I have done.
Did you have a favorite children’s book when you were growing up? If so, tell us about it and why it’s your favorite. Yes, but I couldn’t point to a favorite. I do have a memory of which was the first. I think I was 3 at the time. It was Dr. Seuss’ One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. In my early teen age years I went heavily into SciFi, Fantasy & Mystery classics (Le Guin, Asimov, Zelazny, Clarke, Christie, etc.) and those have heavily influenced my writing. In later years and my 20’s I was very much into literary classics (Dickens, Melville, Wodehouse, Bronte, etc.) My favorite contemporary authors are Christopher Moore and Richard Russo, but favorite is a difficult term since I read and enjoy quite a large number of contemporary authors. Those two are the ones whose comedic craft in novel form I admire the most.
What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer? Finishing. But that’s kind of true of everything I do. I call it “The DaVinci Mode.” He would often come up with creative ideas but at the point of them becoming real and grounded, he would lose interest and move onto the next. I often have this issue in writing. I may get the first few chapters in a novel or pages in a short story down, but then I feel like I have to push myself up and over a hill to get the momentum going again.
Tell us about your writing routine. What time of day works best for you? Do you write at home? Someplace else? On a computer or do you use paper and pen/pencil? I feel that daytime is meant for the routine aspects – fleshing sections out, editing and the like – while night time is more fertile for the creative aspects. All my writing is done at home on a computer. I was especially diligent about this when I worked in an office. I wanted to keep those areas of my life compartmentalized. Before the advent of computers, I used a typewriter. I can get words out far faster and can easily read them afterwards – my penmanship is deplorable.
What beverage gets your creative juices flowing? Coffee, tea, soda, energy drink, water or something else? Tea, in all of its glorious forms.
What do you do to relax? Write. Seriously, it is very cathartic. Other than that, reading, listening to music, and nothing. I can, and have, watched grass grow (okay it’s my garden plants, not grass). That might be my favorite. It frees up my mind and separates me from my concerns. Doing nothing on a beautiful summer’s day – chef’s kiss.
What are you reading right now? I’m about to start Honeysuckle Cottage by P.G. Wodehouse on advice from my fellow Indie author, Berthold Gambrel.
Please share your website and social media links:
Website: https://rlpastore.com (fair warning, I’m not much of a blogger)
I’m on Twitter, BlueSky, Mastodon, Threads, and Instagram (links to all are on this page): https://rlpastore.com/contact
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