CBT: Children of Paranoia by Trevor Shane
all wars have rules
rule #1: no killing innocent bystanders
rule #2: no killing anyone under the age of eighteen
break the rules, become the target
Since the age of eighteen, Joseph has been assassinating people on behalf of a cause that he believes in but doesn’t fully understand. The War is ageless, hidden in the shadows, governed by a rigid set of rules, and fought by two distinct sides — one good, one evil. The only unknown is which side is which. Soldiers in the War hide in plain sight, their deeds disguised as accidents or random acts of violence amidst an unsuspecting population ignorant of the brutality that is always inches away.Killing people is the only life Joseph has ever known, and he’s one of the best at it. But when a job goes wrong and he’s sent away to complete a punishingly dangerous assignment, Joseph meets a girl named Maria, and for the first time in his life his singleminded, bloody purpose fades away.
Before Maria, Joseph’s only responsibility was dealing death to the anonymous targets fingered by his superiors. Now he must run from the people who have fought by his side to save what he loves most in this world. As Children of Paranoia reaches its heart-in-throat climax, Joseph will learn that only one rule remains immutable: the only thing more dangerous than fighting the war. . .is leaving it.
That is hands down one of the BEST blurbs we've read all year. Doesn't it make you want to go get the book? We are hosting the Children of Paranoia tour. Debut author Trevor Shayne allowed us to interview him. Below are his answers. Welcome to Reader Girls.
Could
you give us some insight into creating your novel: why you chose to write from
an assassin's point-of-view, how easy/difficult it was in finding Joe's voice
(or was he the type to barrel into your mind)? Which character was the easiest
to craft, which the hardest?
The whole
premise for Children of Paranoia came out of my desire to write a really
exciting, really thrilling book that didn’t rely on a simplistic view of good
versus evil. It can be really easy and
really satisfying to have the villain in your story be unwaveringly bad but I
feel like, in the real world, most conflicts arise because both sides truly
believe they are the good guys. So the
challenge for me was to writing something that is entertaining but complicated. So Children of Paranoia opens with the
protagonist following a woman he doesn’t know home at night and killing her in
front of her house. And he’s your hero.
I chose
to write from Joseph’s point of view because, if Children of Paranoia is going
to work, readers first have to step into Joseph’s shoes as a soldier/assassin
in this secret war that has been raging
in the shadows of society of centuries.
If I can’t get you into Joseph’s shoes, if I can’t get you to understand
his motivations and empathize (at least a little bit) with his situation by the
time you meet Joseph’s eventual love interest, then I’ve probably lost
you. To engender that empathy, I tried
to write Joseph as an ordinary person stuck in an extraordinary situation who
is just beginning to question everything he’s been taught in his life. That was a perspective that I could (and
hopefully readers can) really relate to, so finding Joseph’s voice wasn’t hard
once I figured out who he was.
I find
that all of my characters grow as I write.
I try to write them all with some form of humanity that makes them
unique and believable. So it’s hard to
say what characters are easiest and hardest to craft. The hard ones are the ones that don’t feel
real to me as I’m writing and those characters don’t make the final draft
anyway.
With the
popularity of war-themed novels like The Hunger Games, do you feel now is a
good time to release a novel like yours? Why did you set your novel in a
contemporary time instead of a more dystopian one?
If I can
piggyback off the success of The Hunger Games or any similar novels, that would
be fine with me. My goal when writing
Children of Paranoia was to write a really thrilling story that I thought I
could sell but I was never trying to time the market or fit in with a
publishing trend. That being said, I
want to reach as many readers as possible; that’s why I write. If similarities to other popular books help
me to reach more readers, I’m all for that.
I’m confident that Children of Paranoia is unique enough to stand on its
own merits no matter how readers are introduced to it. I think the current success of war-themed
novels might actually say more about the world today than it does about trends
in the publishing industry.
As far as
choosing a more dystopian setting, I love dystopian stories. I’ve actually always considered Children of
Paranoia to be quasi-dystopian. When
writing Children of Paranoia, what I thought would be really interesting would
be to show the contemporary world as a dystopia for a select group of people
while the rest of us go on about our daily business without noticing the
targeted chaos around us. For the
character in Children of Paranoia, the world as we see it really is a dystopia
already.
Your
first chapter reads so cinematically, would you like to see it as a movie? Any
ideas as to your preference for scriptwriter?
One of
the ideas that I had when I was writing Children of Paranoia was to write a
book for people who like movies. Most
people see so many more movies than they read books. I really think that movies have changed the
way that people consume stories. I tried
to key in on some of those changes, especially during the action sequences, by
approaching the story with a very visual and pace oriented style, almost like a
director might. So in the action
sequences, the key decisions often relate to what image to focus on in any
given moment and how that image might heighten the tension while moving the
story forward.
If you
couldn’t tell, I love movies and would love to see how somebody in that world
would interpret Children of Paranoia.
That being said, I only want to be a novelist and have little desire to
involve myself in the crazy world of Hollywood.
I would only hope that, if somebody does decide to make Children of
Paranoia into a movie, that they do it because they love it and they think that
they could bring something unique and interesting to it.
From
many of the Children of Paranoia reviews I've read, so many mention
"thought-provoking" and remark how the story has staying power. How
do this comments make you feel and as you were writing, did these types of
thoughts come into consideration? (I mean, with so many people described as
being into 'instant gratification', even with books, why didn't you pen a
'quick' read?) Who do you envision as your market?
I believe
in entertainment for entertainment’s value.
I really do. Life is hard and
tiring and people need breaks. So I
would love to write a ‘quick’ read that people could devour like popcorn, I
just don’t think I’m a strong enough writer.
I need to center my stories around a big idea because, without it, I
wouldn’t know where to take the plot. I
wouldn’t know what to do with the characters.
I wouldn’t know how to motivate them.
And, as much as I believe in entertainment for entertainment’s sake, I tell
stories because I want to make people think.
All of my favorite stories are the ones that make me look at the world a
little differently when I’m done.
As far as
who I envision my market, I think that Children of Paranoia could have pretty
broad appeal. I’ve read the Girl with
the Dragon Tattoo series and the Hunger Games and Robert Ludlum books and I
would think that people who like any of these books would like Children of
Paranoia. I’m thrilled when people say
that Children of Paranoia is though-provoking but I think you’ll find that most
of those reviews also say that it’s a really exciting book. As a writer, you can’t make readers think
unless they’re first hooked to your story.
Is
Children of Paranoia a stand-alone or a series? If it is a series, can you
share any tidbits of what is to come?
Children
of Paranoia is the first book in a trilogy.
Dutton will be publishing the entire trilogy. The second book, tentatively titled Children
of the Underground, should come out next fall with the third book coming out
the fall of 2013. While Children of
Paranoia was conceived as a trilogy before I even started writing, I really
want each book to stand alone as its own complete narrative. There is an overarching storyline but each
book really tells its own individual story.
Each book is also largely written from a different point of view. For example, book II is primarily written
from Maria’s point of view (for those who haven’t read Children of Paranoia,
Maria is the love interest).
"The
only thing more dangerous than fighting the war...is leaving it."
Brilliant tagline, instantly hooks you in. I'm curious, did you write it? If
you didn't, what are your thoughts about it?
I can’t
take credit for the tagline. That’s from
my fantastic editor at Dutton. They have
asked for my insight on marketing oriented things like the tagline, book cover,
etc. but the team at Dutton did the heavy lifting and I try to stay out of
their way and let them do their job.
Besides, I find it very difficult to describe my work in soundbites
because I’m afraid of leaving anything out (I was a horrible
query-writer). One of the great things
about going with traditional publishing (as opposed to self-publishing) is that
you have a team of professionals who can help you market while you concentrate
on writing. You just have to make sure
that you find people who really believe in and understand the story you’re
trying to tell. I definitely found that
at Dutton. So when they came to me with
the tagline, I thought it was great: succinct, exciting and still true to the
story.
As a
debut novelist, what was your reaction when you first saw the galleys? First
held the published book in your hand? Read the first bunch of reviews?
As a
writer, I’m probably supposed to have words for this but I don’t (well, I do
have a word for what it’s like to read the first bunch of reviews...
“terrifying”). All the other stuff is so
surreal and wonderful. To have tangible
evidence that your dream has come true is beyond exciting. I did a book signing during the Book Expo of
America in June of this year, a full three months before the Children of
Paranoia came out. I was fairly certain
that I’d be sitting there twiddling my thumbs for my allotted half an
hour. To my surprise, I had a line of
people waiting for me to sign their ARCs and never had a moment’s rest. Holding the book is great and reading the
(good) reviews is very exciting but what I find the most special is meeting real
people who are excited to read what I’ve written. I hope that I get to keep publishing
books. If I do, I could imagine that
some of this stuff will eventually feel commonplace but meeting strangers who
like my book or are excited to read my work, I can’t think of anything better
than that and can’t imagine it will ever get old.
Children of Paranoia Book Trailer:
About the author: Trevor Shane lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son. This is his first novel, and the first in the trilogy.
Links:
WebsiteTrevor Shane on Facebook
Children of Paranoia on Facebook
Read an Excerpt:
Follow the tour:
10/11/2011 - Kritters Ramblings 10/12/2011 - Ravishing Reads
10/13/2011 - My Utopia
10/14/2011 - Reader Girls -
10/16/2011 - Mental Foodie
10/17/2011 - Rants~N~Scribbles
10/18/2011 - Sinnful Books
10/19/2011 - A Bookish Affair
10/20/2011 -Between the Covers
10/21/2011 - The Fiction Enthusiast
10/22/2011 - Proud Book Nerd
10/23/2011 - Book Hooked
10/24/2011 - Girls in the Stacks
10/25/2011 - All I Ever Read
We thank Trevor Shayne, Dutton Books and Crazy Book Tours.
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