Ben Cass Interview Published on: 05, Jan 2021

I was very similar to the way I am as an adult. I was happier in my own little world, playing by myself, than I was with others. I only had a couple of close friends.

I really looked up to my maternal grandfather. We lived in the same house for the first 11 years of my life, and within a 10 minute drive for the next 10 years of my life. I spent a LOT of time with him. A lot of my personality was influenced by him—both good and bad.

I was fascinated by the idea of people having extraordinary powers. I was a huge Superman fan almost from birth, and the idea that beings and creatures like that could exist was highly appealing to me. When I finally read “The Chronicles of Narnia” in 4th grade, followed by “The Dark is Rising” in 5th and “The Hobbit” in 6th, I was hooked.

Oh, you’re trying to start a war here, aren’t you? LOL. My favorite is Superman. Is he the most powerful? Not really. But if you could bring one superhero into existence…why wouldn’t you choose him?

The first one, no. I did have a multi-year storyline going with my Lego sets. My best friend at the time spent most Friday nights at my house, and we’d add to the story each weekend. I don’t recall exactly what the plot was, though.

Schabe, the 7 foot tall cockroach. I used to have a copy of it, but I haven’t seen it in years. We had been studying the Canterbury Tales, and were supposed to write one of our own, which we would then read in front of the class. I’d completely forgotten about it until the period prior, which fortunately was a computer class. Since I was done with the work, I asked the teacher if I could finish an assignment for another class, and he agreed. I whipped up a story about a woman who saw a cockroach—a rather common occurrence here in Florida—and tried to smash it with her husband’s smelly tennis shoe. Instead of killing it, though, the smell from the shoe acted like the gamma rays from the Incredible Hulk, granting the cockroach intelligence and massive size. She and her husband kept trying to get it out of the house, but kept losing. The end came when the roach drove the riding lawn mower out of the garage, chasing them down with a lasso. They eventually reconciled and became roommates.

My classmates were roaring with laughter when I read and acted it out for them.

I hadn’t really developed a love of writing at the time. Besides, my goal was to be a math teacher, and I (incorrectly) thought you had to have a math degree to do that. So I got a math degree.

Overall, it’s been an interesting ride. I taught math for 19 years, changing schools frequently. I often butt heads with principals, because I don’t mind pointing out when their ideas are stupid and pointless. I tend to question everything I disagree with, and I do so loudly and, perhaps, somewhat obnoxiously. I finally switched to being an instructional technologist, but I still teach a few computer science classes. I’m in my 7th year at my current school, and have finally found a place where I fit in. My teenage son is attending the high school, too, which has worked out well for our family.

Groverton was inspired by the year I spent living in Ohio. In the middle of 9th grade, my father quit his job and moved us from the Space Coast of Florida to the tiny farming town of Jewell, Ohio, where we lived in my great-grandmother’s house. (She was in a nursing home by this point.) My dad had grown up in the area, and so knew almost everyone. I personally hated everything about the area, in large part because I didn’t want to leave Florida, especially for a farming community. When I look back as an adult, I can recognize that there were some good qualities about Jewell and the Defiance area. I still wouldn’t want to live there, but that’s because I like being near a big city.

So, when I needed a setting for the characters, that was the initial inspiration. I also used the historic downtown of Kissimmee, Florida, which we visited several times over the 14 years we lived in that area, as a physical inspiration for Groverton’s Main Street.

Honestly….nobody. I rarely base characters on real people. (Jerry, Doyle’s brother-in-law, was inspired by my sister’s ex-husband, but Jerry completely changed his story arc without my knowledge, and now there’s nothing in common with the original person.)

Doyle actually cannibalized several character traits of the main character from a different series I’ve been trying to write for 30 years. Some of his personality comes from me, some comes from friends of mine, some comes from former co-workers. His relationship with Ellie is lifted directly from my relationship with my wife’s younger sister, complete with the “crushing on big sister’s boyfriend” aspect. When my sister-in-law read the first book, she looked at me and said, “Holy crap, this is us.”

I had only the barest skeleton of a story when I starting writing The Uncrowned Queen. I didn’t even know WHERE the story was going to take me, because I am a pantser of the highest degree. LOL. I never know what’s going to happen next. I only know a few key moments in the story…and those usually don’t include the ending. I didn’t even know if that book would be the end of the series or not until I finished it and said, “Nope, I need one more.”

There are several different opinions on that, and I think it all depends on what kind of fantasy book you want to write. Epic high fantasy, like Lord of the Rings or Shannara, requires so much thought and research and planning, because you have to create an entire world from scratch.

Personally….I’m just not that bored! LOL. I prefer to write contemporary fantasy, and I make up whatever I need as I go. Do I spend time thinking about the rules of magic in my world? Not in the slightest. Do I know all the histories of all the countries, or the backstories of all my characters? Not a clue, and I’m not interested. I think too many fantasy writers get lost in creating their “series Bible”, while I just don’t care. I create what I need, but everything else is completely undeveloped, so I can always add to it later.

My goal is to write fantasy books for people who say, “Oh, I don’t like fantasy!” I want them to read my books and fall in love with the characters and the story. My sister is one of those “fantasy haters”, and she is enamored with the books. I pointed out that she loves Harry Potter, but she told me that wasn’t fantasy….so I’m a little confused!

For me, personally, a good fantasy book should give you strong, lovable characters whose lives get you emotionally attached, and just enough of a difference from the “real world” to still be plausible. I use parallel Earths because it’s easier to say, “Hmm. What small things can I change that will make this obviously fantasy, but also really believable?”

Criticism, whether constructive or otherwise is part and parcel of any art form. How do you deal with reviews of your books- both positive and negative?

I’ve only had a few reviews so far, and only one has been somewhat negative. They didn’t like some of the banter between teenagers, calling it “inappropriate”, and they didn’t like that I don’t explain every single aspect of the sentient island that is a major location/character in the second and third books.

I always consider what people say, and if I know anything about them, I will consider their background as well. This particular reviewer is a very devout Christian, so I can see why the banter would be “inappropriate” to them. All that banter, though, was lifted directly from conversations between female high school students, so it’s not like I’m making stuff up. It just goes against their personal belief system, so I shrugged off the criticism. The story’s not for everyone, after all.

Description. I LOATHE describing things. It’s just not important to me. I prefer books that are 90% dialogue and action. In my opinion, Lord of the Rings is—and I am aware that this is considered blasphemy—one of the worst-written series out there. It’s so DULL. So BORING. I don’t care what the forest looks like. I don’t care what the armor looks like. It’s just not important…and THAT is what I aim to address with my books. Fantasy is for everyone, and I’ve often found that the people who “don’t like it” actually don’t like the descriptive nature of high fantasy.

There’s a scene in “The Lost Tayamu” where Jen is getting ready for her first date. I didn’t bother to mention her outfit…and then my critique partners absolutely SAVAGED me.

I asked, “What the hell does it matter WHAT she’s wearing?” I was then treated to a very lengthy explanation on how clothing matters very much to a woman going on her first date….so I added a few things to the scene.

Since I’m a guy, and most of my main characters are women, I try my best to be authentic in writing them, so I seek out women as critique partners. I don’t want to be one of those authors who winds up on the “Men Writing Women” Twitter account!

At the moment, I’m working on the final book in the trilogy, The Shattered Earths. It picks up a couple of hours after The Uncrowned Queen ends, and it will wrap up all the story arcs. I’d hoped to have it out way back in July, but with the pandemic going on, everything ground to a halt. My original critique partners have been overwhelmed with their own lives, and haven’t been able to dedicate the time to go through it. I’m willing to get other critique partners, but they’d have to read the first two books to understand this one. I’m targeting next summer, which would be two years after the previous book. As of right now, this will be the final story with these characters, although I do have the faintest inklings of a possible spin-off sequel series.

I haven’t really had the chance to use AllAuthor to its fullest potential yet. As an educator, I’ve been consumed with returning to campus and working during a pandemic, so my writing-related activities have ground to a halt for the most part as my brain has refused to be in “writing mode” since October. I do like the promotion opportunities, and the chance to connect with readers and other authors. I hope to get my brain back into writing mode soon, and once it reignites, I will definitely be exploring AllAuthor even more.