Author Interview: Joshua Lange and With God We Burn
Rasta
Welcome Cinnabar Moths or any kind of moth you’d like to be welcome to the Writers Triangle, cinnabar moth’s podcast about all things publishing and books. Today we’re here with Joshua Lange, author of With God We Burn. With God We Burn is our December release. Joshua, how’re you doing today?
J
I’m doing great. Rasta, thank you very much. How are you?
Rasta
I’m doing well as well. Are you excited about the release of with copy Berg?
J
Honestly, I’m really excited. I’m also a little nervous, because this is the first time any of my books has been in the hands of someone who’s in our family, or you guys at the publisher. So it’s a little nerve wracking to get it out to the public, but I’m pretty confident.
Rasta
So there’s always those natural nerves with the first release of a book and everything. But you’re still feeling confident about the story itself. Is that correct?
J
I think so. Yeah, it’s, I think it’s a very relevant story and put a lot of effort into it. A lot of research went into it. So I think I think people who read it are gonna like it for sure.
Rasta
That’s great. And so with that, it’s your first release of a book to the public and everything. What are you most looking forward to it that process? No, you can’t do anything special to celebrate or recognize that achievement.
J
I Yeah. So I’m fortunate, I actually have a group of really close friends. I’m also pretty close with my family, which is great, great fortune for me as well. So we’re going to have a big party for it, which is, which is really exciting. That’s going to be fun. And as far as what I’m looking forward to, I just want to kind of share the story with the world. As I said before, I think it’s very relevant. And I think it’s an uplifting story, even though there’s a lot of difficult moments. So I’m looking forward to just kind of sharing it with the world. That’s wonderful. I
Rasta
think that a lot of writers have that similar feel. I know that I did with my book, when I wrote it, wanting, you know, just to share it and have people experienced the story, right? Yes. Oh, yeah, for sure. And so with writing a book, that’s a major accomplishment, and having get published, and everything is with calorie burn, the first book that you’ve written,
J
I was gonna be burned is actually my third book. So my first was called the sleeping son. It’s an action adventure stories that in a kind of dystopian, futuristic Japan. And it was very, very inspired by Japanese history and anime as well. So that was my first book. And as for my others, we might circle back to those a little later.
Rasta
Okay, okay. So you have written before, but would I be correct managing this first time you’ve gone to a publisher and have it published?
J
Yes, that is the case. I did have on my first book, I did have an agent. And we did get, I want to say relatively close to getting published. But that just didn’t work out. Basically, it’s a bit of a long story. I
Rasta
see. So with copy burden is, first of all, you’ve gotten published them? How long did you go? Did you start writing it?
J
So I first finished it was started in 2019. And for pretty much all of my books, they usually take me about six months to finish. So I did that finished in about six months. And then I went on to start looking for a publisher and all that. So a little while, as you surely know, rest of the publishing industry can be a little slow at times. But still, it’s worked out in the end, I can’t think of a better home than than cinnabar. Moth. So it’s, it’s all good.
Rasta
And yeah, we’re happy to have you. And with that writing process, it took you usually about six months to write a book. What is that writing process? Like for you? Do you have fun with it? Is it difficult? What is what is your feeling when you go through that process?
J
I would say it’s it’s a bit of everything. So for the most part, I would say it’s it’s a kind of a joyous experience. I think creative expression, for me is the most fulfilling thing in the world, that there’s nothing like it. But you can probably attest to this as well. It’s a lot of investment and more especially emotionally. So it can be quite exhausting and a little trying, but for me, I’d say mostly it’s a happy experience.
Rasta
So yeah, I definitely have had that experience as well with the difficulty, I guess, in a way of putting so much into a story, right?
J
Yeah, it’s a lot. It’s a lot of motions, because so much of the stories, at least for me, come from very real places. They come from parts of your life life that you’re putting in so it can be it can be a lot.
Rasta
So getting a little bit into the story of with God, we burn the story or balls around the main character’s journey of understanding in a time of religious turmoil and conflict. What inspired this specific story for you?
J
Yeah, so for any listeners who may not know what the book is about, it’s, I call it a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet set in the First Crusade. So it follows a young Christian boy who goes to war initially thinking he’s the In the right thing, but you need a Muslim girl. And she kind of shows him the error of his ways. And they fall in love kind of again, like Romeo and Juliet. So. But as for their connection, it’s very special to me because I was in a long term relationship with a Muslim. She’s someone that still means a lot to me, even though things ultimately didn’t work out between us. So, long story short, the story was inspired by my life and my connection. So there you go.
Rasta
So it comes from a rather personal place than
J
it does Yes, it comes quite, quite literally from the heart for sure.
Rasta
So I don’t want to give too much away about the book itself, I found several points in the book to be very emotionally moving. And I do definitely feel the king from the heart when reading it, both with hope and with sadness. Was it difficult for you to balance the sense of sadness and the sense of hope when writing the story?
J
Yeah, it was definitely a challenge. The overall goal, I’d say it was to create a hopeful story. But I think anyone who looks at the history of the crusades, and in this case, the First Crusade, it’s pretty clear that it was a very tragic time, very difficult time. So it did take quite a bit of time for me to get the balance right. And I do have to say, the great editors at cinnabar moth really helped me get the get the balance, right, I feel.
Rasta
So for you the process, then for with God, we burn together, to its current state, wasn’t just writing them, but also some time afterwards to really hone in and kind of adjust some of the things in the story to get that balance to the way that it is now. Is that correct?
J
Absolutely. Yeah, it’s a very sensitive subject. You know, the religious world is very sensitive, understandably. So it took quite a bit of effort to get defined to in the balance, I would say, with the with the difficult difficulty of the subject.
Rasta
It makes a lot of sense, religion does have a lot of emotional charges on its own right, and a lot of, to a lot of topics there to get through. Definitely. And so with, with God, we burn, you know, I think that every story has this message. And from reading with body burn, the message that I got from it is about recognizing kind of that humanity in each other despite the differences, especially with religious differences and sort of some of the dangers of blind faith. Especially its potential to cause great loss of human life and the risk of dehumanizing each other in the face of religious difference because of faith. Was this the message that you intended for the story?
J
I would say those are, those are some of the key messages for sure. I mean, I personally believe that we’re all connected on this planet as humans. And I think that even maybe goes deeper. But saying just that is enough. I think that’s pretty powerful on its own, so that those messages as you said, were key. Also, this will sound a little cheesy, but I wanted to show with the book that I think love is possible, even during the darkest times. So I don’t mind saying it even if it sounds cheesy. I think that’s that’s possible.
Rasta
Only is sounds cheesy. I think that’s something that can be forgotten about a lot of times, right, that people can still connect with each other, and still get to know each other, even during times of strife and during times of pain.
J
Absolutely agreed.
Rasta
I think that’s something that happens often, actually, that people end up finding each other during the most vulnerable times. And connecting with each other during these times because there’s so much raw emotion already at play, right? And so it’s difficult to maintain a lot of the veneer and the masks that we keep up when we go through our daily lives that keeps us distant from people. That’s true. Yeah, it’s a very insightful point. That’s I agree with that. So I’ll ask you a little bit about us a writer and your experience with with God we burn with this whole process of you know, writing it and then going through the editing process and making all these shifts and adjustments. What was your greatest takeaway from with copy burn in terms of your writing and your writing process?
J
So I actually learned probably the most in believing out in the research period. So I learned a lot about perspective. So I learned things that I might see as true or simple things, especially as I said in regards to history might be seen as completely the opposite to someone else who looks at the same period. So I actually learned a lot about that power of perspective about how something I may see one way someone else can see is very complex and very difficult. So that is what I I think helped me learn or what helped me grow the most as a person throughout this whole process. I think that was really educational for me. So that’s probably the main thing, actually through the actual study of history.
Rasta
So, the research itself opened your eyes to, I guess, sort of the myriad of experience when it comes to things.
J
Yes. Especially, especially when speaking with you guys at cinnabar. Moth. I’m kind of comparing notes, I learned a great honestly a great deal from that, and I hope it comes across.
Rasta
Yeah, I definitely felt really through the story that there was a variety of perspective, and that you did a great job of not explicitly saying certain perspectives were wrong necessarily, rather, expressing this as an understandable place to be because of the circumstances these characters are in because they are in quite difficult, painful, and in many ways, complex circumstances that are hard to say, you know, one side is right, or one side is wrong, right?
J
Yeah, for sure. I think it’s it’s definitely, I think, fair to say that the Muslims of the First Crusade were the victims of the overall war. But it still was a very complicated situation. And I hope that that comes across in the book that it shows, as you said, a good balance of the points of view, I
Rasta
definitely feel like it did from my experience as a reader on screen. And so with that, you mentioned before that you’re close with your friends and family, and that you’re planning on buying a party. Is your are your friends and family excited about the release of with God, we burden? Did they plan the party?
J
They did? Actually, yeah, they were quite insistent on and even if I was, I was missing a little bit just because I tend to be not as much into larger crowds per se. So they kind of really made sure that I’d be going, let’s put it that way. But yeah, but they’re they’re bringing me in. And of course, they’re also buying a lot of copies of the book, which is, which is quite a privilege as well. So
Rasta
it’s wonderful that you have a community of people that are so supportive for you and your writing.
J
Yeah, not not everyone has it. So it’s I can only say I’m fortunate wherever you want to call it.
Rasta
You also mentioned earlier that with God reparent is the first book that you’ve written that has sort of seen the light of day with people other than your the people that are close to you. Does that mean that during the writing process, you were sharing this with your family? Or did you sort of wait until it first film finalized it before sharing with it? How involved are they in your writing process? So
J
I actually yeah, I kept it pretty close to the vest, so to speak, until it was finished. The person who sort of I think helped me the most was my was my dad, he really just encouraged me, but I didn’t really show it off until it was finished, I kind of think that if you keep it close to the vest, you sort of hold on to that creative fire, I think once you start to show it to people, when it say if it’s half done, everyone has an opinion. And I think people will say, hey, you need to change this, you need to do that. And I think that kind of can diminish the original vision. So I tend for the most part to keep my books, under wraps until they’re at least until the first draft is finished. So that that applies even to the family actually.
Rasta
Okay, I can see that with kind of wanting to make sure that you at least get your version of the story down first, before you start taking input from other people. Yeah, pretty much. I think from my experience writing my book, I definitely felt that it was nice to be able to write it and kind of get my ideas out first, because you end up with usually with your first draft of something, you have so many ideas, so many different directions a story can go right that you kind of jam my jam in there initially. And then you sort of peel away the layers until you get a little bit more streamlined.
J
That’s definitely true. Yeah, and at least for me, I find my books tend to change a lot even as I’m writing I’m even during the process, I’ll have an idea that I think is going to be a certain way and then I start writing it. And it changes kind of in real time. So that that happens, at least for me.
Rasta
I definitely experienced something similar and I think the being able to have a little bit of privacy that can also be really nice. So I totally understand not sharing it with people until at least that first draft is done.
J
That’s that’s pretty much it.
Rasta
And so with Gabi Byrne is now you know through the public education process, it’s about to be released very soon this upcoming Tuesday. How does it feel to know that with gardebring has not only been released for people to read, but will also be listed in the US Library of Congress?
J
I mean, honestly, that’s something I really didn’t even consider going into this whole writing journey. So I instead of really great honor and knowing it’s going to be preserved like that, but again, it’s kind of amazing. I just didn’t even occur to me that that was possible. But yeah, it definitely makes me feel special.
Rasta
That’s wonderful. I’m glad that you feel positively about it. And let’s that you know, it’s it’s coming out now you’ll you’ll have your party and everything. What do you hope happens next with with calorie burn or with your writing?
J
Well, I obviously would, of course, love for the book to be a success. And not just for me, but I hope that it helps us in the month that I cinnabar. Moth Grove, because I know, you guys have been really rapidly expanding. But I know when I first started working with you, I want to say we had a handful of authors. So it’s and you guys have grown so much since then. But obviously I’d like to help the girls that much more. And I hope the book does aid in that. And yeah, hopefully people who read the book tell their friends about it.
Rasta
Yeah, I think I hope that a lot of people are able to connect with us that you can also experience the, you know, that warm feeling of having an audience of sorts, that’s a fan of your your writing.
J
That’d be great. Yeah.
Rasta
So with writing, are you hoping the writing becomes your career to become an author as a as a way to sustain your life? Or is it something that you do as a hobby?
J
Well, definitely the dream is to become a full time author. I usually write every other day, even after I work. And as for my, my library, I guess you can call it I have seven books finished myself. So I mentioned sleeping son was my first book. Four of my other books are part of a science fiction and fantasy series, which is called civilization zero. Now those books are about a young astronomer who basically uncovers a conspiracy involving UFOs slash UAP is as they’re called now. And she teams up with a group of ETs to fight a secret organization, which is led by basically an evil human, a human tyrant. Now, for those I actually I’m working with an agent, he’s helping me out a great deal, and I’m hoping he can maybe give me a great deal on that. And that wouldn’t allow me to make it a full time deal for me to write. And then the last book I have is actually an indirect sequel to with God, rebirth, which is called the angel of death. And I’m actually hoping I can publish that with you guys. Sometime in the future, we’ll have to see how the availability goes. I know you guys are booked up for quite a while now. But hopefully in the near future, we can work that out.
Rasta
Yes, sounds like you have a wonderful stable books that are in process currently. And hopefully, you know, everything moves forward. Well, and perhaps the momentum from with God repairing can help push that momentum for the rest of your writing as well.
J
Yeah, that’s that’s the dream right there for sure.
Rasta
So getting back to with calorie burn, and when we think about, you know, success, right, and the idea of books being excess, we often think about them also entry into other media, like TV series movies, things of that nature. When you think of a gallery burn, do you think it’d be better as a TV series or movie experience?
J
To be honest, I’ve always envisioned that as a TV series, I think it would really work because from episode to episode, you could change perspectives from the three main characters. And I think that would really work for TV show. The book is only from one point of view of the one, the young Christian night, but I think a TV show could pull off, potentially doing two or three different points of view. And that’s kind of why I feel it would work best.
Rasta
So it makes a lot of sense, because there there definitely is within the book, even though it does focus on the Christian night. A lot of mention of the experiences of several other key characters in that experience. Of course, love interest. The Juliet to his Romeo, so to speak, is one, but there are also several others who play a very large part in his experience and the experience of the story as well, right? Absolutely.
J
Yeah. Especially the Juliet’s proverbial Juliet’s brother is very important as well, I think you could clearly even definitely do a TV show where what you know, each episode switches from main character to him, I think that would work really well, actually.
Rasta
So following up on the idea of a TV series, right, do you have an idea of who maybe would like to cast for any of these roles, any actors or actresses,
J
So I don’t really keep up too much with newer movies or TV shows. So a lot of my favorite films are from the 70s. So if you talk to me about Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, or Faye Dunaway, I am definitely your guy. But for newer stuff, I’m not as familiar to be honest. So what I’d like to do is actually just leave that to our listeners. If anyone does have any suggestions, please let me know on social media after you read the book, I’d love to hear him because I don’t really know a lot of modern actors
Rasta
It makes a lot of sense. I don’t really follow modern actors or actresses either. Although I do consume the content, it’s just hard for me to keep track of everybody. So
J
Oh, I know there’s so much right of course. Yeah.
Rasta
So yeah, everybody listening, feel free to, you know, send Joshua, some suggestions about that. And I’m sure he’ll be very interested to talk with all of you.
J
But yes, yeah, that’d be great.
Rasta
So following up on that, you know, if with God reburn were to go through this process, right, of being taken up as a TV series, what level of creative control? Would you want over that experience, if you want to be heavily involved? Not very involved?
J
I say it would depend I, you probably would agree with me on this roster. But I think it’s fair to say Hollywood usually is known for taking great books and turning them into maybe questionable movies or TV shows. So I probably want to be involved. But if we had, say, like Ridley Scott directing it, I’d probably be more inclined to trust him. But either way, I think if I shared a vision with the director or saved the person writing the screenplay, I’d probably just be happy to sit on the set for the cool experience.
Rasta
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. And I definitely agree that there have been cases or quite a few cases where it’s gone really, really well. And also a case where it’s been gone really badly. And I have, I think everybody has a few like books that they think, Ah, man, I remember seeing the movie adaptation of the TVCs annotation, and I hated it. It didn’t match my vision of the book at all.
J
Yeah, I feel like I’ve heard that a lot more than the other way around, that’s for sure. In my in my life anyway.
Rasta
So following up on that, you know, let’s say it’s gone through this process. And you had a little bit of creative control a little bit of a hand in it, to make sure that it stayed true to kind of the spirit of your story, but it was mostly left in the hands of a capable director, screenwriter, and he went through the entire process, it’s now going to the premiere. Would you want to go to that premiere? And if you did, who would you take with you?
J
I think I would honestly, I la never really appealed to me, to be honest. But I think I would want to go and I probably just go with again, you know, some close, close family and friends. I’m kind of still waiting on, you know, the one in my life, but that I’m expecting that to happen pretty soon. But also, I would like to invite you guys from cinnabar moth as well, if you’re willing to make the long trip from Japan.
Rasta
Yeah, I think in that situation, we’d have to, you know, make sure that fits in with our schedule, but it’d be exciting.
J
Yeah, I mean, I’d be glad to have you.
Rasta
The firepower the idea of you know, all the success with with Cody Burton being in a best seller to TV at tation. And everything that involves with it, at least a little bit of fame, right, getting some recognition there. When we talk about fame, there’s a lot of different levels. For you would you want to be as famous and well known as someone, for example, like Stephen King, where he lost your anonymity? What kind of theme would be interested? Would you be interested in having?
J
Well, I guess I’d say I’m less interested in fame and more interested in just the success like just having the, the comfort of being able to kind of, you know, provide for anyone I need to. And so I probably prefer to live it out quietly, you know, as a, just a successful author, maybe maybe not too well known. But I think the more I thought about it, I think I’m kind of getting open to that idea of of actually being famous. And all I can say is for right now I’m just enjoying the ride where I’m at.
Rasta
That makes a lot of sense. I mean, it’s quite a process to get to fame and not something that we can fully control in a lot of ways, right.
J
So sometimes yeah, I like to call it a staircase climb at least for me, it’s kind of working my way up.
Rasta
Yeah, makes a lot of sense. I mean, I definitely agree with the the core of it is you know, being able to live your life and support yourself and what you want to do financially, while still enjoying being an author.
J
Yep, absolutely.
Rasta
So with the idea, right of enjoying your time as an author and everything you mentioned that it takes about six months to write a book from start to finish. Has that always been the case for you? And is it just natural for you to write at that pace?
J
Yeah, so believe it or not on all seven of my books have taken almost exactly six months I’m not quite sure how that’s worked out because they are of varying lengths. So my science fiction books can be up to 400 pages 110,000 words with God we burn I believe is currently around 70,000 I want to say so, but it’s strange that that’s been pretty much all my books. I’ve worked out that way. So I can’t really explain it but it just this is Stop might have works.
Rasta
And it’s wonderful that you have a writing process that works for you. It is interesting that the different lengths don’t affect it at all. But I mean, if it’s working for you, that’s, that’s awesome.
J
Yeah, it’s inexplicable. But all I can say is it works.
Rasta
That’s wonderful. As a final bit here, do you have any advice or anything that you’d give to any aspiring authors out there?
J
I’ve heard the thing a lot is to write what you know. And I think that that’s a little simplistic, but honestly, my main advice is kind of what I was saying earlier about keeping your ideas close to your events, your best because I do think the moment you start sharing with people, they are going to do everything in their power to change it. And nine times out of 10, I’d say they don’t really mean to, they’re not trying to do anything negative, but they do, they can have influence over your work. And I prefer to, for writers to stick with their guns, so to speak, until it’s finished. And then you can kind of work with with changes if you need to, but that’s probably my biggest piece of advice.
Rasta
So it’d be nice advices to maintain your original creativity, get that out first, and then make the changes you need. Yes,
J
I would say the trust your vision. I mean, obviously, if you need help editing, you know, some grammatical things that’s different, but I’m talking about purely about the creative ideas. And my advice is just trust. Trust your own vision first.
Rasta
I mean, this wonderful and great advice. I think that a lot of authors can sometimes struggle with trusting themselves. And it’s true. Your your creativity is what makes your writing yours. Right.
J
Exactly. Yep.
Rasta
And so, Joshua, I’d like to thank you for coming on the writers triangle and for talking with us today.
J
Oh, my pleasure. Yeah. Thank you for having me.
Rasta
It’s been wonderful, happy and tall or beautiful Moss, thank you for listening. Be sure to buy with God. reburn coming up this coming out this upcoming Tuesday, then So, Joshua, can you tell us where we can find you as far as social media goes?
J
Of course, yeah. So you can find me at Lange170 that’s l a n g e 170 on Twitter or I guess X as it’s now called. And then also, Josh G Lange on Instagram.
Rasta
Wonderful. And everybody listening. Be sure to visit cinnabar moth.com to check out the transcripts and we’ll also have the link to Joshua’s social media. Once again, Joshua, thank you for talking to me today. It’s been a pleasure.
J
My pleasure as well. Thank you, Rasta.
Rasta
Bye bye.