Episode 5: Nevada Author Interview

September 27, 2021

The Writers Triangle

00:00 / 00:51:35

Hello 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 Nevada, author of Poser. Nevada, how are you doing today?

I’m doing fine. How are you?

I’m doing great. Thank you for asking. Are you feeling excited about the release of Poser in spring of 2022?

Yes, I’m very excited. This will be my first prose novel that’s been published. And so I’m really excited for that.

So you have been published before?

Well, actually, I’ve self-published some graphic novels – some hand drawn graphic novels based on some screenplays that I’ve written. One is called Uptowners, and the other one is Piano Lessons. And then I have one that’s a sequel to Uptowners that’s called Queensgate. But this is the first time – I mean, I’ve been writing for quite a while. But this is the first time that I’ll have a novel published. I’ve written several screenplays, nut this is my first novel that’s been published. I have a couple of manuscripts but this is…

So that must be – that must be an exciting thing. That’s kind of different is the experience I imagine is a bit different from screenplay to writing a novel.

It’s very different. It’s kind of – for me, it was a bit of a steep learning curve. There’s a lot you – minimal description in a screenplay. The story all has to be there, and the character development, all that has to be there. But you – it’s kind of minimal on description and things like that. And so I had to, when I adapted, well, this is based on a screenplay actually. But when I adapted it into a novel, I thought it would take up a lot more space, you know, like be the more novel length, but it actually turned out to be more like a novella. And then I got inspired. And then it went really long as a novel.

Okay.

… back on it, and then I could see that there will probably be more beyond that. And so I decided it would be a series.

So how long ago did you write poser?

I wrote poser about – the screenplay upon which it’s based – about 20 years ago. It’s set in Silicon Valley. It’s set in San Francisco, and especially Palo Alto, California. And I’d been spending some summers out there. And I was just really inspired by the surroundings. And it’s about a young man from the south who kind of ends up out there. And he’s having a really rough time. He’s kind of a failed drug dealer. And he’s not doing very well at that job. And he – his part time, he works part time at a S&M place in San Francisco, and one of his co workers… can see that he’s having a really rough time and suggested maybe he go lay low and kind of stay with her – stay at her sister’s guesthouse in Palo Alto.

And I got inspired to talk – to write about that just walking around the neighborhoods in San Francisco. When I get to a place, I like to walk around and get to know a place. I used to live in New Orleans. And I used to walk around there a lot and get inspired. But that’s how it kind of kind of got started. And then it was – I decided to write a screenplay about it. I’d been doing a lot of screenplays. And then I worked on it for a long time as a screenplay. And it was only after I had decided to start learning more about TV writing. And so, I started trying to do it as a TV script. And it was through that, that I actually developed some other characters and then decided to go through trying to adapt it as a novel.

Okay.

I think that worked out for me for now. But I still want to go – I’m still working on on the TV part of it as well.

Okay. So it’s kind of a winding process from the original point to the novel version of it. And what was that process like for you? What was the experience was it painful at all or was it pretty comfortable?

It’s been – well…. Yes, it was kind of a naturally unfolding – I mean, I felt that I had the whole story contained in the screenplay. It has, it has kind of, I don’t want – kind of a happy ending. But then I realized, there’s a lot that happens beyond that seeming happy ending. And these characters’ lives and relationships evolved so much more. And as I said, some some new characters kind of showed up really strongly, and I wanted to write about them. And so it just kind of unfolded that way. It’s like it just opened out from what I originally had with the screenplay. And I decided to pursue that, and I really did enjoy pursuing that. It what – it’s a very different thing writing a novel than writing, and adapting from a screenplay to a novel. You hear about novels getting adapted into screenplays and made into movies, but that was kind of going the opposite direction. And it was tricky at first, but it’s that thing… more I would write, the more comfortable I would get with that process. And, and I came – I ended up enjoying it a lot.

That sounds quite amazing. And here, it is a bit of a different experience to go from the opposite direction that a lot of people tend to go from. And so, with that process, you have the the writing process, which itself can take a while, but then there’s another process through that where you have to find a publisher that wants to publish your book, unless you’re self publishing. And so how did you discover Outcast Publishing?

I discovered them on Twitter. And I was, you know, had pretty much finished the novel. And I thought I need to, and I started looking around. And, yeah, when I would think of genre, I think of this as a bit of a noir story. I call it kind of a Silicon Valley noir with Southern Gothic roots in a way. And looking at different genres and what different publishers were doing, I felt wow, I don’t know where would be a good home for this, and it might be harder than I thought to find a home for it. And then I discovered Outcast, I started following them and what they were up to. And Sebastian, there at Outcast was doing some posts about transgressive fiction. And when I read those posts, I thought, wow, maybe this is – this is what, what I’m doing, and I didn’t even realize it. And so I was really excited to find them.

Right, that’s, that’s awesome. You were struggling to find a place that felt good. And then you found one with Outcast, where you really felt like the book had a home.

I did. I did.

And so that feeling of finding…

I clicked, and I thought yes.

So that feeling of finding a home is what made you ultimately decide to publish with Outcast. And with that process of publishing with Outcast, what would you say has been the most surprising thing about the publication process?

I think how collaborative and how much fun it’s been. And it’s been great working with Sebastian, pretty soon, I’ll be working with one of the editors there and some of the other folks and it’s just – feeling supported by Outcast with my work. And you know, they work with me. And it’s just been that collaborative process. Because writing is such a lonely – writing is such a lonely thing, in a way. It can be fun with your characters, and I enjoy discovering things about my characters. But then when you’re trying to get it out there into the world, it can be kind of daunting, and to have support with that. It’s been wonderful. It’s been surprising just how, how nice that is.

Yeah, writing a book can be a very lonely process without people around you to kind of feed off of with their insight or just even then being like, that sounds cool. Even if it’s not anything too, too serious, it’s just, I like that. That’s really neat.

Yeah, I had had some, like, some notes from readers, you know, like in some of the screenplay contests, but that wasn’t yet…. Well, at every stage that I mean, it’s, it’s gonna be interesting to have to have somebody commenting on things and – and helping with that in the editing process and getting it all just so for publication.

So you’re moving through the publication process right now. And you mentioned the most surprising thing about working with Outcast, specifically, but do you have a specific thing about the process of publication that surprised you in a more general sense, like, you mentioned that you’ve done screenplays, and published with screenplays. But I imagine that process for publication of screenplays is different from books.

Yes, and I think it surprised me how – how quickly this is all happening compared to… y’know, the screenplay can be in development for ever. For a long, long time. And just just to get it in the right person’s hands can take a really, really, really long time. And this, this has been – has gone really quickly. To me. I mean, it’s like I said, I started the story as the original thing I was working on for Poser a long, long time ago. But um, this this process has gone very quickly. And it’s been surprising just how fast it’s gonna be out there in the world. You know, with screenplays, unless they get made, produced, it’s – it’s pretty hard to do that. And that it’s going to be a book out there into the – in the world is really exciting. I think how quickly it’s gonna happen. It seems like, still, there’s still some time, but it seems like it’s right around the corner.

Yeah, I mean, if you compare it to, it was 20 years ago that you started writing it with the screenplay version, and now it’s coming out next year. That’s a pretty close time compared to what – how, when it originally started, so I can imagine that’s very exciting.

It is.

And with that excitement, do you plan to celebrate the release of poser? And if so, do you have any, can you go into how you’re planning to celebrate it?

Yes, well, my dream I mean, my – what I would really love to do and what I always said I would do when I ever sold a screenplay, or published a novel or something like that, there’s this little diner in Palo Alto, called Peninsula Grill. And they have this special – we’ve been – I’ve been there. When I would be there before, I’d always say I always want to do this. They have this special. It’s like a cheeseburger, and fries, and a bottle of Dom Perignon, and I forget how much you call stuff out. If I ever, like hit it, you know, hit it big or get center post, get something done. I’d get that to celebrate. So that would be the dream. But until I get to do that, I’ll just probably go out for a nice dinner and kind of a celebratory night on the night it’s published.

So that – you have this special diner that you want to go to that will kind of be the special celebration. For the follow up on excitement. Is your family excited about the release of Poser?

They are. I think my husband is the most excited because he’s been with me – we’ve been married for like a little over 30 years. And he’s kind of followed the – all the ups and downs and twists and turns of – of my writing and all my efforts with that. And he’s really excited about – he’s the most – he’s the most excited in my family besides myself. He and my little Chihuahua Mitzi. She’s my muse, she often sits on my lap as I write.

Oh, that sounds very nice and comforting to have. And, and so yeah, your husband’s very excited about your – your book release. But you also mentioned that you have some other published works that you’ve done, not in novels.

Yes.

Please feel free to tell us a bit more about those.

Oh, those were graphic novels. Based on some screenplays I wrote. There’s one set in contemporary New Orleans, which is kind of a dysfunctional family saga. And then I have another one called Piano Lessons, which is based on one of my screenplays, it’s won some awards. It’s a gay teen romance set in the rural south of the 1950s. And that’s Piano Lessons. And then Queensgate is the sequel to Uptowners. And it’s where the story continues from where it left off. And it’s set mostly in London, with these two characters, and so – well, several others too. But it’s this, these two cousins, and one of them is kind of from – well he was from a well off family, but they kind of lost all their money and are kind of on the skids. And he and his cousins from the poor side of the family kind of go on these adventures.

Okay. So there’s three works, one of which is a pair and the other one that’s a standalone, but quite a bit of recognition within screenplays.

Yeah.

I think that’s awesome. must be very exciting to be able to also expand from doing the graphic novel and going into the novel direction as well.

Yes, it is. And again, it’s very different. Yeah, I had worked on visual storytelling for so long. I felt like I just wanted to try the graphic novel. And I had made a short film several years ago called – it was based on a short script of mine called Route of All Evil, r-o-u-t-e of all evil. Just kind of a little noir story about two -two girls with checkered pasts, and they meet this preacher with a checkered past. And I had storyboarded that, I directed it, and I had a part in it too. But I kind of wore a lot of hats in that short film production. But I storyboarded it, and that’s what kind of got me interested in doing graphic novels. So that kind of – it’s like a big storyboard. And there’s a steep learning curve with drawing and everything. Cuz I hand drew everything myself. I was walking around New Orleans all the time, especially Uptown. And it’s just, you know, it’s just an interesting place. And I thought, well, since I look at these scenes all the time out, that’ll be my – my first effort, you know, trying to draw some of these things and kind of turn it into a narrative.

That sounds like it was quite a unique experience as well to learn and improve on and expand on drawing as the main form of storytelling within a work. Going back to Poser what – what do you hope happens next, with your career, with Poser?

Well, I’m excited for the novel. I hope that people will be entertained by it and intrigued and want to follow the characters further into the series. And it’s gonna be called the Eucalyptus Lane novels will be the name of the series. And… I do have, let’s see, I have a pilot episode of a TV series based on it. And so it’d be nice to see, you know, the novel, kind of, maybe someday get picked up as a TV series. I used to think I’d want to see it as a film. But I get excited now about the the prospect of a TV series with it. But I’m just thrilled that people are going to be able to read it, and I hope they enjoy it.

And so, following up on the TV series idea. What made you – what made you think that you’d prefer that it as a TV series over film? What differences do you feel there are between the two options?

I just think that I’ll be able to explore the characters, and the storylines a lot better in a TV series. And I just think that part of it would be fun. I remember seeing Steve Soderbergh… he was doing a screening of his movie K. And he was talking about how he, you know, he want to make it as a movie. He thought it was interesting, wanted to do as a movie. And then he ended up having to do a part two of the movie and going back to the studio and ask for more funding to do a part two. And then at that point, he was wishing that he had actually just he thought, you know, I could have explored this more as a TV series. And so I just think – I think TV is a great way for developing exploring storylines and different characters. And I just think it’ll be you know, I think of even playlists, I think of songs that will go along with some of the scenes and some of the things that happen in Poser. And the more the series, the more the novel series goes on, out, there’ll be the same characters will be there. And there’ll be important, but then I’ll be adding new characters, who also have their own backgrounds and storylines, and what’s going on with them and how they relate to the original characters. And I just think that that would be a fun thing to explore.

So for you, it’s – it’s mostly a matter of the TV series aspect will allow you to kind of explore these alternating storylines, and explore these other characters a bit more, as well as the main story and still have it all be a cohesive whole, rather than – movies tend to kind of just be like, here’s the story. That’s it. And it’s a bit limiting in that way.

Exactly. I feel like it would be more limiting. And I didn’t realize that for a really long time. When I first wrote the original screenplay. I didn’t. Yeah, I didn’t think that at all. But then the more I’ve gotten into into these characters, and kind of followed their, I guess you could say their arcs or the ways they evolve and the ways they change, I’m discovering things about them that I never really realized when I was writing the screenplay. And the more it goes on the, the kind of changes, the transformations they go through. And I was able to explore that in the novel. And I think it’s possible if you, if you can do that in a visual medium, I think it’s more possible to do that through television series.

And so having done the graphic novel, having done screenplay, and having done writing for the book, of the mediums, which do you feel… has really helped you grasp the characters, the main characters, let’s say the most so far?

I’m sorry, could you repeat the question? What was that?

So you’ve written – you originally wrote a screenplay, and you’ve done work with graphic novels. And you end up writing the novel for Poser. And through that process, you’ve discovered the characters quite a bit. For the main characters, do you have any particular… like, part of that process where you felt you got to know them the best?

Wow, hmm. The part of the process where I got to know them the best… I think just in the screenplay. Like I said, I mean, it’s – it’s craft, and it all has to be there on the, on the page with the story and character development. But I do feel like I got to delve into their consciousness more, and where they’re coming from and their motivation, all that I mean, it has to be – I got more into their backgrounds, and the things that made them the way they are in in Poser. And then as they evolve in the the next, like the next novel, in the series, and the third, I feel like, yeah, I get to see them kind of even revisit things about their past and their families and things like that. That I didn’t get to explore in the screenplay, or that I guess I could have, but it wouldn’t have really had a place the way – the way I had it structured, it wasn’t really had a place in the story. And I feel like it very much has a place in the story in the novel. In fact, I, if I were to go back and do it just as a feature film screenplay, I think I’d have to restructure it radically. Include more to feel like it’s, it’s more complete, or the whole story. I feel like it, if I were to look at it now, I would feel like it’s missing a lot. And I would have to go back and rethink the whole thing.

So for you, it’s been a massive transformation from the original screenplay to now.

It really has. It’s – I feel like it just it opened out? Yes. There was more to explore that I didn’t realize until I started exploring it through the novel.

And so with that, with writing and everything, would you – if you had to choose a direction, would you want to continue writing novels? Or do you think you’d prefer to go back to primarily doing screenplay writing? Or what do you kind of see is your direction with this? Do you want to just do all of it? What what’s kind of your feeling now having experienced, you know, the full kind of range?

Wow…. I, I do want to still write screenplays, but I want to intensely continue pursuing the novel form for a while. And like I said… screenplay craft is when I really want to work on – I feel like it’s taken me a really long time to begin to find my fiction voice. And I want to continue exploring that for the, for the, I guess, immediate and foreseeable future right now. Yeah.

Okay. And so if you right now, it’s just a matter of you discovered this new aspect of yourself. And you want to give yourself time to really refine your craft in that direction, and explore your own creativity with this medium that you haven’t used before?

Yes, yes.

Okay. I can understand that as well. Because when I wrote my books, I’ve written a book as well. I had previously done a lot of writing with, with people in kind of a more short story type fashion, right? Writing a novel is such a – even, like some short story to novel or something that’s a bit more interactive, or interact with other people and writing a story together in a collaborative fashion. It’s such a different experience, having to write everything.

To me, short stories are, are so incredibly challenging to write because the brevity of them. You have to – you have to create a world in such a short space. To me, it’s very difficult to write short stories. As I was when I guess – I guess when I do the first draft of a novel I – the first draft of this one, I put a lot. I put so much more into it than I do the screenplay as far as details. Then I was afraid it was running too long, and I took a lot out, and then I went back kind of revisited it and put some more in. And it’s just been finding that balance has been tricky. But that’s – short stories to me are…. That’s great that you employ short stories, I found them really difficult to write.

Yeah, I, I personally also struggle a lot, even when I was doing some more short stories style of, I’ve never had any of them published, right, or really share them with other people. But when I did them, it was very much a… a challenge to keep myself from writing more than was necessary, so to speak. Because I found myself getting caught up in well, there’s all these other characters I could introduce, or there’s all these other ideas that I could introduce.

Yes, that said, it’s that then it’s like, you open up a gate. And the more you write, the more you find to write about, which is great. But if you’re lucky, say if you’re working in that shorter form, it’s a challenge to pick and choose in editing. I read a quote the other day, but I think it was Emma Thompson, CDs or you know, things about the screenplay tips and stuff. And I think tip number one was for a screenplay, write everything, then take it out. Take it all out. I was like, that’s, you know, it’s like well, put – put everything you think it needs. And then you’ve got to go back and be ruthlessly, y’know, ruthless. Taking stuff out, like I guess, taking out everything except for the bare bones blueprint of a story, which is what the screenplay – I mean, it is, I mean, essentially, a blueprint for something else. And a novel is, is the thing itself. Does that make sense? I don’t know if that makes sense. But I thought, wow, that’s why it’s – I’ve had kind of a hard time maybe between forms, like screenplay and novel. And it’s, it’s a different learning curve. I guess it’s just you just have to think of each thing kind of start from scratch with your story, and not try to back and forth.

Like, I would look back at the play and, and put in, okay, well, this is thing, pretty much what I had for that. But then I realize, wow, this only takes up like one, this page only takes up one paragraph. I have to fill it in and flesh it out. And, you know, fatten it up. Not with filler, but just to make it you know, I don’t know… add a little more lifelike details to it. Because in a screenplay, you’re collaborating with other people who are going to do the wardrobe and the set design and all these other things. You know, it may have a score, it will have all these other things that you just figured, well, that’ll be done. Yeah, my job is to keep in mind and just do the story. But when you’re doing the novel, there’s – there’s doing the whole thing. And so I think it’s just it’s a whole – I guess it’s a different mindset that you have to get in to do those different forms. Like you were saying, with short story you have to get, okay, well, I wanted to write all this. But then if I want to pull, pull my camera lens back and just do short story, I’ve got to focus on you know, I guess what would you say theme and premise and all those kind of things? It just depends.

Yeah, I think the, the reverse of the other very popular quote, a picture’s worth 1000 words really applies here, because you don’t have any of the pictures. So you need to add 1000s of words to fill in the gap.

Exactly.

So going back to Poser a little bit. If it became a best seller, do you have any ideas what you’d do to potentially celebrate that or a follow up to that you’d like to do?

Hmm, if it became a best seller, oh, I’d be so I’d be really excited. I probably want to go on a big trip or something like that. If it was safe to do so in today’s world. But yeah, if it became a best seller, I would want to do something. I’d want to do something nice for my folks, you know, and for my husband, who’s been patient with me have been supportive all these years. I’d want to do something nice for all them. And, you know, that would be there’ll be a wonderful and exciting thing.

Do you have any ideas of where you’d want to go on a trip if you could? Let’s, let’s say it’s – the world is completely safe for you to go anywhere that you want. Do you have any ideas of a place that you’d want to go? Or places?

Oh, there’s so many, so many places that I would love to go. There are a lot of places here in America that I still want to go visit. I’ve never been to New York City. But I’ve never been to Paris, and I have always wanted to go to Paris, so that that might be my best seller celebration trip.

So Paris, do you have any places?

I’d want to go to… oh, gosh. I read a lot of books about Kiki’s Paris and Paris, in the 20s. And, you know, when Henry Miller was there, and stuff like that, so I probably want to go to some of those areas that I’ve read about, like on the Left Bank, and is it pronounced…. So places like that, that I’ve read about and writers that I have always enjoyed reading. I’d just like to go and explore Paris, and especially kind of the more bohemian side of Paris is what I’ve always been fascinated with. And I would just love to go and walk around. There’s a scene in Poser where one of my characters is walking around those places. And I just did a lot of research on them and looked at pictures. And I’ve always read about those places. But there’s a bit of intrigue going on in some of those scenes. But, you know, I tried to put as much details as I could in there, that – that I felt comfortable with about the things that I’d read, somewhat familiar with.

And so in a sense, it’d be visiting the places of Poser as your celebration for the book becoming a bestseller.

That would be that that would be the dream, I could start out in Palo Alto, San Francisco, go to Paris. There’s – some parts of the novel take place in Texas. So I’d have to make a run to Texas, although it’s a teeny tiny small town in Texas, so I’d have to find some Texas small town to go to. It’s a fictional small town in Poser called Riviera, Texas, where the main character is from. He had a very difficult childhood. He goes back there later, but he doesn’t really want to.

There’s quite a few places that you could end up going if you’re traveling through Poser itself. That sounds like a very exciting.

A Poser road trip and then across the pond to Paris.

And you mentioned your your husband’s been very supportive to this entire process as well as he been… providing you with any assistance with any of your research, for example, or reading your – your work and then kind of getting your feedback or what has he been – has he been involved that much in the process? Or has he been more of a supportive like a you can do it, I believe in you type of…

It’s more that way. And sometimes I’ll run an idea by him. And he’ll give me his candid reaction. And so that helps me out a lot. He hasn’t – he hasn’t, he hasn’t read much of it. He used to read more of my work when we were first married. But he’s really more of just a supportive force there and then just come out say, what do you think of this idea, and I’ll run something by him like that. And he’ll give me his – his just, you know, his thoughts on it. His gut reaction to it.

That’s always nice to have someone that you can go to for that type of thing. Because I remember when I was going through my book that I would go to my my mother, Kisstopher, who was very supportive to was very supportive through the process. But without her I would have really struggled with certain things. I’m like, I have this idea. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. And I’d get caught up in kind of a mental loop, you know?

Yes, it’s great to have somebody give you some feedback. It really is. It helps so much it helps move you forward if you’re stuck.

Yeah, it really does. And with – with Poser, you mentioned that it was a screenplay first that you’re thinking you’d prefer to be a TV series. And so if it became a bestseller, I suppose that would increase the chance of it becoming one. And with that, you’d mentioned that you already have some ideas about what you’d want in a TV series. Do you have ideas about the types of people you’d want to cast into it, for example, or what ideas do you have that you really want to see done?

I think there are a lot of actors who could do a really great job with some of the roles. The only one I guess I thought of a specific person, maybe because I saw a picture of him and I thought, wow, he looks like one of my main characters is this actor named – I think it’s Matt Jones, who he played Badger on Breaking Bad. And he’s been in several other things since then. But some, yeah, I could see him maybe in one of the roles. And I’ve tried to think who I would cast or, you know…. Yeah, there’s a kind of a young man for the his 20s for the main character. And he kind of starts out, he’s not a tough guy at all. But he kind of turns into one away over the course of the over the course of the – well, more into the next novel, maybe we see some signs of that. In the first one. There’s a young woman, his friend who offers to stay in her sister’s guest house. There’s the sister and her husband. And so… I think… probably not a focus on specific actors, but I think there are a lot of folks who can do a really good job with it. And hopefully have some fun with some of the roles and some of the changes that the characters go through as well.

You mentioned that you had some musical scores, or that you were thinking that you’d also want to include some songs that you thought would really fit. Is there an overall theme to those types of music that you’re thinking of?

Wow, well, some of them are kind of retro 80s and 90s. Some of them are more modern, it’s kind of a very – my playlist for Poser on Spotify. It’s a bit eclectic, and then I have some kind of more rockabilly sounds a little bit of country western mixed in, you know, with the Texas background of the character, the main character, and his – his brother. And so I would say it’s very eclectic, a little rap, some new wave music. And so it’s a very, very eclectic mix. And a little bit of Russian pop music thrown into a well.

That’s quite a wide variety of different songs that capture… yet somehow, I feel like they all captured, generally a sort of mood, just – just from hearing, I can kind of picture some of the, the progression of the book in a way just from hearing the songs that you’ve mentioned. And I think that’s really nice.

Right? Well, thank you. I’m glad, I’m glad, I’m glad you can see that that’s great.

With the becoming a TV show, the different authors tend to have different level of creative control they want over the process. Do you have any strong feelings about particular aspects or anything that you really want to make sure that you have included in the TV show or things that maybe you feel wouldn’t fit as well? Or what kind of level control do you want during that process?

I would like to have some say so. I feel like there are people who would make great directors who – and who would have their vision for it, I would like to have some measure of creative control, I guess. Like a writer, producer type, maybe role, where I do have some say so but you know, let other people kind of do their thing. And just to just to make it entertaining, and make it the best that it could be and to make a good story that people would want to watch and, you know, bring out the relationships between the characters and just an engaging story. Sometimes when I’ve pitched it before, like I would mention, you know, there are things I love about Breaking Bad is one of my very favorite TV shows. And then this kind of blends maybe – which that show did too but that those are kind blends that kind of harder age with the harder edges… Desperate Housewives things.

I’m sorry, could you repeat that a little bit? You cut out a little bit. So could you repeat that?

Oh, I was just saying… my hope would be that it would have elements of you know the harder edges and Breaking Bad and then also something like Desperate Housewives as well. It’s kind of on the surface, everything looks okay. But then it kind of delves under the surface with some things.

I have so has that – has that kind of there’s the public mask, but then behind that mask is a lot of turmoil.

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And delve into that part of it. I think that would be a lot of fun.

Yeah, I think that would be a very interesting story to witness put onto the – onto the screen and shown on, you know, the visual media rather than the written one. And so if it became a TV show, there would be a premiere. And would you want to go to the premiere? And if you did, would you be would you bring? I imagine you’d bring your husband?

I would. I would bring my husband and if possible, my little Chihuahua. Those would be the main folks that I would bring. If my folks were able to come, I would be happy for them to come. And if not, if they could you watch it, stream it some way, that’d be great. But definitely, I would want my husband to be with me. He’s been with me through all my twists and turns and ups and downs. And so I would want him to get to glam it up. You know. That’ll be fantastic.

I think that’d be really awesome. Do you have a particular glam style that you imagine that your husband would do?

Wow. Well, let’s see. I think he could rock a tuxedo. I think he could. He would give it his own his own twist. He – he wears jeans, but then he also he likes a sharp hat, you know, sharp brim. And you know… comfortable shoes. He likes to – he carries a cane. And so you know, kind of a sharp cane and a nice – a nice relaxed fitting tuxedo, maybe something a little offbeat with the bow tie of it or something like that.

Okay. So he’d go for a sharp look. And I just have a little bit of spice thrown in there somewhere.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

Sounds very nice. Like it would be quite cut the figure on – when he’s there.

Yes.

So with premieres with best sellers. And with that kind of success comes fame. And so with fame, the – would you like to be as famous and as well known as someone like Stephen King, where people recognize you walking down the street, they might call out to you? Or would you prefer a little bit less fame? What kind of level of famous would you want to have be or have if you could control – if you have like a sort of goal for it?

Oh, wow. It’s hard to say. I think it would be fun. I think it’d be fun. It’d be great at first, but I wonder if it would continue to be great. But of course, then if you if you’re doing that way, you’d want it to keep – you’d want to keep being successful. But then the fame part of it could be tricky to navigate. But let me just say if it happened, I wouldn’t mind having that chance for that to happen. So I think I think it would be fun. I would still want to have my – my place where I could go to spend alone time, though. Because I’m a bit of a bit of an introvert I guess like a lot of writers are, but I teach as well. So it’s like I can – I can… like you hear me now, I can chat a lot. But then then I can – I really need to kind of turn inward. And so I guess it’d be harder to do that with the Steven King fame. But I guess even some portion of Stephen King level of fame would be – would be pretty nice.

You say you’re a teacher, children or adults?

No, I teach Community College. I teach English, and I have taught literature and film, and creative writing. And screenwriting I taught at Tulane University, School of Continuing Studies. I used to teach screenwriting and art and craft to film. Film Studies. And then I’ve taught literature, English, and creative writing at a couple of community colleges. So I really enjoyed that. And I enjoy it. I feel like I learn a lot from students as well. And in the creative writing, it’s always fun to explore different genres with the students. Some of them already kind of know something they want to work on when they come into a class and some of them are discovering forms that they want to try and write. That they want to explore more of their work. So I feel like I learn a lot just hearing their take on things.

Yeah, for sure. I think that having that kind of, you know, less experienced view on things can sometimes allow people to have a more uncommon take or twist on certain ideas or concepts that once you sort of get stuck in your ways might not be as easy to see.

Yes. There are some things that students will observe sometimes that I’m just like, wow. Or sometimes I might think no. And then I think, yeah, that is an interesting way to look at it, I’d kind of gotten stuck in my own way of looking at it and kind of gotten in maybe in a rut in even the way I maybe think of a story or would interpret a story. And then I hear a different interpretation, and at first, I think, I don’t know. And then I say, yeah, why not? They made a good case for it, you know? If I ask them, why do you think that, and then they do. And I’m like, wow, you just kind of opened up my whole perspective on that story. And so I love it when that happens. And that’s happened sometimes where I’m like, you know, that – so that gives me a whole new lens on some of the things that happen in a short story.

So following on from the previous question about fame, and combining it with you being a teacher, if, let’s say Poser became a best seller, went to be a TV show, you became super famous off of it, would you want to talk about your writing in in your classes, or would you prefer to talk about other people’s writing?

Oh, let’s see if it became famous, would I want to talk about it? Is that what you said?

Yeah. Or do you talk about it now, even?

Yes, I talk about it, I would, I would, I would be glad to talk about my own experience with writing. And the process that’s involved in – and sometimes the time it can take for things to develop. I remember when I took my very first… at LSU years ago, I remember my teacher, the professor said, you know, it may not be your first screenplay, because people are like, oh, my screenplay, I want to hit big and all this, and he’s like, it may not be your first screenplay, it may not be your second screenplay that hits it, it may not be your third, it may not be your 10th. And people were going, Oh, no, it couldn’t take that long. That’s crazy. And he’s like, it might. And you learn as you get older and see how you how it can take a long time for things to develop. And it can take a long time to really hone your craft and find your voice, and it can be really… a long and winding road and difficult. And and one thing you know, it might be that one person, you know, really likes it. And – but you got to get it to the right person who really likes it and wants to produce it or do something with it or, you know, in the case of a novel publish it. And that can take a lot. Like I said earlier, one of the things was… how fast? Because some of my projects have taken so many years to develop. And the novel since I’ve been working on it, you know, like three years, and it’s coming out in the spring for Poser. But with my first graphic novel, I was working on it for at least like five years. So I mean, it was long because I guess because I was – I had the screenplay. But I’d kind of revised that, the story a little bit as I did. And then the drawing part, there was a steep curve. I don’t know, if you like how the earlier versions of The Simpsons look different from the later versions of The Simpsons.

Yeah.

So it was taking so long that as I went through that… my drawing was there. But I had to go back and kind of redo some of my earlier drawings. Because, you know, to make it consistent throughout which that made it take a really long time.

Yeah, that makes sense. I think that it’s awesome that you’d be willing to talk about your work. I know, some people aren’t necessarily comfortable talking about the work. And that’s awesome, too. You know, everybody has kind of their own feelings about those types of things. But hopefully, Poser when it comes out and spring will have the success and you know, you did have the – the – you did find the people with Outcast Press and who are willing to publish it and who love it. And with that love and with all the care that you put into it all the time and energy, I hope that it does find the success and that you do have the opportunity to reach out and you know, touch a lot of people with this creative process.

Thank you so much and thank you for this opportunity to talk about it. I really am grateful. And I really, really appreciate you talking… Cinnabar Moth and everything. It’s just been so, so much fun.

It’s – it’s been a pleasure having you today and thank you, Nevada for talking with me today and being on the Writers Triangle. And thank you to all of our beautiful moths for listening. Be sure to go and check out Poser and buy it when it comes out in spring of 2022 and Nevada, can you tell us where to find you? Any social media?

Yes, I’m on Instagram at Nevada writes and I’m also on Twitter. Trying to think of my Twitter handle… well that’s where you can find me Nevada McPherson. Nevada McPherso3 I think is the Twitter handle. And my website is www dot Nevada McPherson dot com.

And so for all of you listening, if you’d like to know about know more about Nevada, feel free to check out the social media. And be sure to visit CinnabarMoth.com. And check out the transcripts for today’s podcast. And we’ll also have all the links to Nevada’s social media there available as well. Nevada, thank you for talking with us today.

Thank you so much.

And I hope that you have a nice evening. Goodbye.

Thank you. I hope you do, too. Thank you.