T. A. Styles Interview Published on: 15, Feb 2024

I grew up in a small urban environment in a single parent home. I'm a product of the 80s so for me, G.I. Joe, A-Team, Rambo, and endless wandering with friends defined my early years.

I think my current writing is more influenced by my experiences with children and elementary education, and I also have owned my own recreational Child Care business for 15 years. Working with children closely has given me an understanding of how they behave and interact with adults and what they value and love. I've also raised two children so I tend to draw on my experiences with kids in trying to create dramatic works that have a family or adult-child dynamic.

I have about 30 years working with children and as such, I'm very well-versed in writing kid dialogue, and having some insight into child psychology.

For me being a successful entrepreneur has given me the courage and the resources to create my own press. I'm a do-it-yourself type of guy. Instead of waiting for others to fulfill my goals, I like to take the bull by the horns And transcend traditional methodology. Hence, the name of my press transcendence.

My travel experiences have influenced me in a more general sense. Travel inspires me and gives me a sense of freedom. But I tend to set my books closer to home.

I present those relationships as complex because that's what it is. Meeting the needs of a six-year-old is much different than meeting the needs of a teen. My children are now in their 20s. I've had direct experiences with all the ages and stages Of being a suburban father. Of course, I grew up in a much different way, so I also have that perspective too. Many people only have a single perspective on family Because many kids tend to live out the environment in which they were raised but however, my children and the resources I had are much different than what I had available to me as a child. So this all gives me a multi dimensional perspective On the family dynamic.

when writing. One of my upcoming novels features a couple of characters based on a kids I worked closely with during Covid when schools were shut down. Obviously, the pandemic was unexpected for everyone, but it did present an opportunity to look more closely at how we spend time and to value the moments that we have with each other more.

Creating various child characters is a lot of fun. One thing I strive to get across even in a book as serious as The Fortress Is that kids will always be kids. I made it a point to put a lot of scenes in the story that reflected children just being children. Of course, being a 6 year-old, who can't quite fully read yet, is losing his teeth, and needs a good night story, And a 15-year-old, who is pushing for independence, is hormonal, needs time alone, And trying to envision a few future as an adult. Having an understanding of that natural development from a small child on up through the teenagers, informs my writing, and makes it stand out with regards to how I portray children which of often times isn't done as well as it could be in stories.

Honestly, I don't know that I gravitate toward one author or another. I've read a lot of books, and when I choose a book it tends to be more random. Recently, I like to read books that can inform me at a more technical level about ideas I can incorporate into my work. Recently, I've been reading books by Michael Singer and Don Miguel Ruiz Jr. A recent fiction book that I've read is called the whisper man by Alex North. I like this book because it portrayed a complex family dynamic as the central theme of the mystery/thriller.

I do not so I'm probably pretty boring that way. I'm a voracious writer I'm Not short on ideas at all. I typically just sit down and write. I do a lot of handwriting on a steno pad to keep track of details, and I do like to save all of those notes for posterity, as opposed to throwing them away once the book is published. I'm a very sentimental person and very much given to nostalgia. I still have the first book I wrote at 13 which I hand wrote in a five subject school notebook! So I tend to hold onto scraps and notes, so I can always look back at them and see all the small pieces that added up to the book.

That is a book I actually had to rewrite. I had to re-create probably 50% of it after my developmental editor read it. She didn't like the first treatment for the most part, and it ended up being a much better completed sequel than it was originally written. The fortress wasn't developed as a series initially.... Continuing the story was something I only decided to do after I decided upon my course of action with regards to publication. I hadn't had any experience developing a series, so just Conceiving how this story would evolve was a big challenge, but it was also a lot of fun as well. Was also a challenge To develop all my central characters. For instance, Miracle was always little and coddled in the first two books but by book 3 he took a violent stand against the villain. Avi who appears in kingdom for the first time is of the same age as the character Sky, so a little first love dynamic was appropriate for them. My goal was to continuously create scenes where the reader could understand where all the characters were at developmentally on their journey, while also, remembering where they had started. Since there were so many characters, it was a challenge, making sure they all got there just exposure.

I am not a big planner at all. I come up with a general idea and then set off on it and let my mind work as I create. It is the only way I really prefer to do things and I find the results are pretty amazing. Of course, I have several people that review the work after I've written it so that checks and balance system is there, but sometimes it amazes me how my stories all tend to come together, considering I start from scratch every time. If ever, I get stuck, I just take time to think through the plot details, tweak things if needed, but then think of a way to resolve it swiftly. I strive to be very meticulous with details, because I hate loopholes in any given story, so when I set off to write a book one of my biggest goals is to make sure at the end there are no loopholes in the story. I don't want my readers scratching their head when they get to the end.

Yes, I have another three-book series coming out called Shift, Shift: Untethered and Shift: Reckoning. In these stories, I take readers on another family journey that has fantasy elements. This will be a much different series than The Fortress and a labor of love. After that, I have another series which I've already written the first book of called Familiar. My goal is continue to present well-grounded fantasy adult fiction. I'm not creating crazy worlds in my books just presenting family life where amazing and unexpected things happen.

I love the site. I'm falling lots of people and entered the book cover contest I love the mockups And is a great community to gain exposure and connect with fellow authors. So yes, I definitely plan to continue using the site!