July 16, 2025

From story idea to possible book success – how to tell it, how to get it out there!

From story idea to possible book success – how to tell it, how to get it out there!
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Season 1

Come along with guest Andrew John Robinson as we “talk story”. Take your story from notebook to novel, and possibly all the way to who knows? This podcast walks you through outlining, writing, revising, publishing, and adapting your story for multiple platforms. Whether you’re stuck mid-draft or lost in the world of self-publishing vs. traditional deals, navigate the storytelling process and find your unique publishing path.

Ask Good Questions is broadcast live Wednesdays at 6PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask Good Questions is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Ask Good Questions Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ask-good-questions--6441735/support.

WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

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or products mentioned on air or on our web. No

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liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio

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or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

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W FOURCY Radio.

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Welcome to to Ask Good Questions podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

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six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

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w four cy dot com. This week and every week,

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we will reach for a higher purpose in money and life,

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as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now,

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let's join your host, Anita bell Anderson, as together we

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start with Asking Good Questions.

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Hey, hello, and thank you so much for joining the podcast.

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This is Ask Good Questions and we are going to

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do that today, so please help me. Welcome my guest today,

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an author, a writer, a guy with some thoughts about

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the whole thing about writing and publishing. And at the end,

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make sure you stick around because there's going to be

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a little story about Jaws, and if you've seen it,

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they're doing trailers about bringing it back after fifty years

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or something like that. Anyway, help me. Welcome to the

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Proverbial podcast stage, Andrew John Robinson.

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Thank you, thank you.

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Hi Andrew, thank you, thank you for coming. Hey, let

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me just ask you. I'm going to just have you

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tell us a little bit about you. We know you're

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and a writer, but tell us a little bit about you.

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Where you're coming from?

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Sure? Well, I was born and raised in Arlington, Massachusetts,

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a good old New England boy, Islington, as I would say,

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spent my childhood there and spent every summer on Martha's Vineyard,

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Martha's Vineyard vineyard, the Island as we call it. Then

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moved to Florida. My dad had retired and my mother

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good Italian girl war bride who just couldn't stand the

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New England winters anymore. So we moved down to Florida

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and I went to high school and college there, went

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to Georgia Tech, became a civil engineer, but always had

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this craving to be a little more creative. So that's

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when I got into writing and now I'm a published

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author and also write movie scripts, television, done a variety

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of things over the years and now living in the

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Orlando area with my wife and son and try to

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and be active in the writing community. I'm a leader

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of the Orlando chapter of Florida Writers' Association, nonprofit group

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with writers helping writers, that's our motto, and so I

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figure out, well, here's a chance for me to continue

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helping writers. Just to tell you folks and tuning in

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here a little bit about writing techniques.

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Awesome. Well, we're going to divide it. We're going to

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talk the first few minutes, we're going to talk about writing,

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getting started with writing, how would you even begin that

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whole process? And then I want you to talk a

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little bit about your take on publishing. And then at

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the end, we've got a special story because you were

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around when they filmed Jaws, and so we'll save that

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for the very end. So let's talk about writing. Let's

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just get right into it. How do you capture that

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first spark? Where do you feel like wanting to that

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you have a story idea, Where do you feel that

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it comes from.

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Well, for me, it's been a variety of things. The

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very first story I ever wrote was a murder mystery,

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and it actually grew out of the fact that my

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brothers and I we had owned, we had inherited a

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little cottage on Much's vineyard, as I mentioned, and sadly

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we weren't able to afford to keep it anymore, you know,

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the upkeep taxes, everything we had to seller. And for

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me emotionally, it was very devastating, and so I kind

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of funneled that into the idea of writing a story. Well, I,

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of all things, I, as I said, was working as

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civil engineer, and we get all these trade magazines in

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the office, things like, you know, a roadway and paving,

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you know, real real exciting stuff. You know, you should

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see the centerfold. Yeah, all that asphalt. Oh wow. Yeah. Anyway,

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the magazines they had articles about the latest developments in

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the industry. Well, this one article was about a new device,

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a GPS camera that surveyors could use. They could go

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out on a site take pictures and the picture would

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be stamped with the date, the time, and the location

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where the picture was taken. And I looked at that,

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and I mean I thought to myself, wow, you could

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use that in a murder mystery. You know, think about it.

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Some survey crew they're out taking pictures of a site,

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and oh, in the background of one picture is a

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man with this shocked expression on his face because oh no,

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they're thirty by picture and he's this fellow who, oh,

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his rich old uncle was in the house next door

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and died, you know, quite unexpectedly, and he was supposedly

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one thousand miles away when it happened. Proof that he

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was there. He's the killer. And so I kind of

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developed a story about you know, yes, here's this you know,

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greedy son who wants to he wants to sell the

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family estate and you know, get money, and then this

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other son, you know, wants to protect it because it's

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you know, heritage and you know, family and all that

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kind of stuff. And slowly I built this story and

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became a murder on gossen Old Island. As you might expect,

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I kind of took Martha's vineyard dot and kind of

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massaged it into this fictional location. And so I wrote

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this book, and Frank I've been trying to get it

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published ever since. But it inspired me to start writing

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other things. When the Harry Potter books came out, my daughter.

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She loved them. Oh, she just devoured them. And I

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read them too and enjoyed them very much. But I

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looked at them and said, geez, you know what, they're

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awfully boy centric. You know, yeah, there's harmony, and she's

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very smart and all, but she's not very proactive. You know,

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the boys are going to go into the forbidden force.

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She's like, no, no, don't do that. That's wrong. You know,

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follow the rules. And I just thought, well, can't we

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have an action adventure story where the girl is saying, yeah,

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let's go do this. I think be the proactive one.

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Well, well, Andrew, I'm wondering, are you following an outline

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or I mean I think here, you are a civil engineer,

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but your brain is kind of like your creative brain

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is just like taking over. Are you following an outline

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or you just kind of just organically developing it?

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Yeah, well, I'm not like Carolac. I don't do stream

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of consciousness. I do create some type of outline. It

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just it has depended on the story. Now, in the

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case of the murder mystery, yes, I mean, all my goodness,

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I started with little post it notes. You're like, oh,

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this is a good point and that's a good point,

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and had them all over my desk and then I

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would start to gather them together. All of these post

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it notes are about this character, and all this are

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about this plot point, and kind of you know, merge them.

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With the ever get stuck? I feel like you ever

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stall out or get stuck?

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Oh yeah, so frequently, and that's when it's like, you know,

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I try and come at it from a different angle, like, well,

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all right, I can't work.

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On that.

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Section X, you know whatever it is, that chapter, that

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plot point, whatever, let me go write some other section.

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Like I mean a perfect example of this when I

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was working on the biography about my parents. They met

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during World War two. My mother was a war bride

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and she was born and raised in Florence, Italy, and

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my father was in the army. In that case, I

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was unsure how to do the story, how to structure it.

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So what I did was write a series of little

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short stories.

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So like, this is good for somebody that just wants

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to write their family history.

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Yeah yeah, And that's what I thought too, so I

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developed it. I call it the short story approach, where

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you do these little self contained stories. So my dad

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in Biserta in Tunisia. You know my mother oh with

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the you know, the German having her appendix appendicitis. My

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mother falling in love with Pascuale her you know her, Oh,

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the Italian Gary Cooper, That's how she described him, you know,

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and her parents denying the marriage because oh he's no good,

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he'll never bompt anything type thing. My parents meeting, you know,

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they're courting. Oh, my father, my father capturing the Castle

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Gondolfo for those of you who are Catholic, that's the

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pope summer house. And yes he single handedly kept it.

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Not really a big deal. I mean, the the caretaker

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just signed a piece of paper saying I surrender the

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Castle Gondolpho to Warrant Officer Arthur Robinson, who you know.

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Not pretty exciting, but.

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Well, I'm thinking I'm having to kind of smoosh ideas

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because of time. But I'm just thinking, do you think

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that every story can work across formats like a short

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story or a script or a novel, or are something

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suited better to one type of structure than others or

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a medium?

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Well it can, yeah, I mean I can certainly see

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where like in the case of saying my murder mystery.

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Having a very detailed outline, you know, is very important

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because of course, you know, you have the clues that

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you want to to, you know, sprinkle through your story

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so that you're like, okay, you know, in chapter seven,

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this has to happen. This character has to say this

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because it's important. In the case of like my parents' story.

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With the short story format, it allowed me to like

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almost like painting a mosaic or building a puzzle. You know,

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it's not like, oh I started it A and ended

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at Z. It's I jumped around because that made it

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very easy. It was very flowing. Then when when all

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these short stories were done, I literally printed them out

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and then kind of laid them on a table and said, well, okay,

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these are chapter one. Here's chapter two. You know, was

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able to gather and then go with course into my

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computer and it's like, okay, start start combining these files,

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you know, cut and paste. That's the that's the power

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of the computer. And other times when I've had a

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story that was like this, the story is very thin,

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you know, I don't have much to it. That's where

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I feel like if I write it as a screenplay,

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then I can get then I can at least write

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out the entire story, you know.

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So I think what you're meaning is like, have this

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character say this, and then have that character say that.

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Yeah, because the great power of screenplays is that you

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don't focus on the action. You don't focus on the

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characters and the locations. The descriptions there are very simple,

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very minimal, so you're just trying to tell the story.

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So when I've had books in the past to where

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I'm like, here's you know, I want to write this

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as a book, but I can't, Like you say, you

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get stuck. I can't come up with enough of a story. Well,

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writing it as a screenplay, I'm able to. Okay, I

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do all the dialogue, so I'm sorry everything now what

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everybody's saying. So, and I do little descriptions, oh that

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you know they meet in the Italian restaurant, you know, boom,

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that's all you say. You know, you don't get into

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a lot of detail. I'm able to tell the entire story.

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Then I do the classic You step back and you

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look at it and you say, okay, now where can

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I add stuff? Where can I build on this? Now

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that I see the whole story, I'll look at it

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and say to myself, ah, okay. You know here at

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the end, the characters come together and there's this confrontation

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between the good guys and the bad guys, and all right,

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well wait a minute. I can build this through a

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scene before that that introduces some more detail to that event,

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builds up to it, you know, the the guys making

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preparation for their confrontation, or the bad guys learning, oh

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this is where good guys located, you know, that type

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of thing. So there's I can add. So the the

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screenplay format it approached me, the kind of the breadth,

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the width of the of the story. Then I can

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go back and add the depth. I can add the

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more details. Now I go back and I say, okay,

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well now they're when in that restaurant scene. All right,

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let me think about this. What does the restaurant you know.

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Look like?

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Is a book like? What are the aromas? You know?

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And the characters. Now that I see the entire story,

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I can post on my metast who is this person?

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What they really look like? You know, I read their dialogue.

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I get to feel for what sort of person they

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are in terms of their their beliefs, their personalities, their

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likes and dislikes. So now, okay, now I can build

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on that. Oh, now I realize that you know they

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have a passion for for helping people. Why don't have

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a scene where, you know what, they go to a

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blood bank and give blood, but they're terrified of needles.

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Now and the staff you do this, you know, you

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get up with a needle and it's like, well, because

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it's important, it's needed. Well, you know the reader can see, jeez,

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this person really hates doing this, but they're doing it

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because they know it's important.

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Right, So let's wrap up our little discussion. This is

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just in the high point of writing. But what advice

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would you give to someone who feels like they're sitting

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on a great idea but they're on't sure where to start?

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Just like, in one minute, Andrew, one minute, tell me

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what would be your your your biggest thought on how

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do I get started?

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Well, for me, I always feel like something as simple

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as creating a list. You know it may sound simplistic,

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but you you start a word document and you you

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you put in the you know, the little dots, the

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little punch list, and write down you know, each point.

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It's like, Okay, I'm reading a story about blank, you know,

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a vampire falling in love. A bit hackney, but hey,

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maybe you've got a new take on it. And the

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next point is, Okay, here's the main first name character.

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Here are the plot points that I know I want

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in this story. And don't you know, don't think about order,

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don't think about oh it has to start with this. No, no, no,

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I'm just just just like it's like, you know, like

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throwing spitballs at a wall. See what sticks. You know,

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you slowly build a list and anything you think of.

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My motto is there's no such thing as a bad idea,

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but there is a wrong idea, you know, as you're

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as you're building your list and seeing, okay, here are

274
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the characters I want, and the plot points and the

275
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places the locations with this are going to take place.

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As it starts to grow the list, you look at

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it and say, as you know what that character, No,

278
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they don't work in this story, or that plot point

279
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not it doesn't fit with the other ones. And I'm

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getting rid of okay, delete that, delete that. But it

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allows you to just kind of spitball you know, your

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your well, your stream of consciousness, you know, what it

283
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comes down to, you're just ideas flow out of your

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mind onto the page. You're able to look at them,

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build them, and from that you can then develop maybe

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an outline or you look at it and say, well,

287
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I don't know how to start this, Well, then don't

288
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write it. Look look at what some of your plot

289
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points and characters and do like with my parents story,

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do a short story. Write a thousand pages about these

291
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characters interacting. You know, there's your start, and you know

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that may end up being chapter seven of you of

293
00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:15.440
your story where you felt like starting. It's where you

294
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felt like you could you could build something from your

295
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for your story.

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And let's let's spend a couple of minutes talking about publishing.

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I think I think people would be interested in seeing

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what what is your take on the biggest differences between

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the whole traditional publishing industry and self publishing, which is

300
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the way that I went. I went self published publishing.

301
00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:46.680
Well, I've done I mean, i've done self publishing. I've

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done traditional I can tell you that. I mean, it

303
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used to be that publishing was very big with the

304
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the you know, the standard thing. You wrote a book,

305
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you got an agent, you've got a publisher and you

306
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got published. That just doesn't happen much these days anymore

307
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for publishers. There they take the attitude we want the

308
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sure thing. You know, there was a time where they

309
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would be where they would look at a manuscript and say, well,

310
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it's not great, but it has potential. If you signed

311
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this author, Okay, yeah, hit their first book. We're probably

312
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going to lose some money, but they're looking to.

313
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See if they're going to make money off of you.

314
00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:29.680
Yeah. Then these days it's money. Are we going to

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make money right from day one?

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Yes?

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A lot of times what you'll get is, you know,

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something like if you're with the book Aragon, where this

319
00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:42.440
teenager wrote it, their parents published, self published it, and

320
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they spent like money to promote it and get it

321
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out there, and once the sales hit a certain level,

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oh then the publishers came calling. Oh see, so you

323
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got to kind of prove yourself worthy that are celebrity.

324
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So what do you think it is that makes manuscript

325
00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:04.440
stand out to a publisher. It's it's there is is

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them wondering if if they're going to make money off

327
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of viewers or anything else.

328
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Now that's really with the modern publishers. You know, that's it.

329
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They're looking at can this thing make anything? You know?

330
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Now now, and now, I will say this in defense

331
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of them. They are willing to have modest sales if

332
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they feel like, Okay, we see potential with this author.

333
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Down the road, they're not going to be a one

334
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hit wonder. You know, they have other books, maybe maybe

335
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a series. So we'll take a chance knowing that this

336
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first book will only make a little but down the

337
00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:42.279
road they're going to start building and growing and we're

338
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they're going to be a cash cow for the next

339
00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:47.640
you know, ten to fifteen books. Sure, that's fine.

340
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How do you think how do you think the author

341
00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:52.359
determines what's the best route to go.

342
00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:54.920
Well, a lot of it has to come down to

343
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what how much you're willing to commit to it. Because

344
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the whole thing about self publishing is that word self.

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You know, you have to do everything yourself. You know,

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for everything from jeez, getting the book, you got to

347
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get it, you know, it's got to get someone to

348
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edit your proof, read it, edit it, you know. Then

349
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you've got to learn how to format it, get it

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up on the various platforms. Then you've got to do

351
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promotion and marketing. That's all work. Well, people do not

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have the time to do it, you know. That's where

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I sometimes go to like what they call now a

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hybrid you know, a publisher where you do pay you know,

355
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for some of their services.

356
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Yes, I also was surprised when I found out that

357
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it was pretty important that I have like an author

358
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platform or social media presence where. What do you think

359
00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:52.440
about that sort of thing?

360
00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:56.279
Well, I mean certainly these days, yes, that that's definitely

361
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a help. You know. You I know plenty of authors that,

362
00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:03.720
my goodness, they have you know, the Facebook and the Instagram,

363
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and they'll have an email list of you know people

364
00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.160
that where they'll they'll send out an email blast. They'll

365
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have a blog you know where where just about weekly

366
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they post something because I mean again, when you're doing

367
00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:20.079
it yourself, that's the kind of thing you have to

368
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do to get yourself noticed. I remember reading an article

369
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about a woman wrote a book. She put it up

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on Amazon as a kindle for ninety nine cents now,

371
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and so her her portion of royalties was like about

372
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fifty sixty cents. So we're not talking you know a lot,

373
00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:43.759
maybe got a lot here, but she promoted the daylights

374
00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:46.880
out of that thing, you know, between buying ads and

375
00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:49.720
by getting people to review it and again social media,

376
00:21:50.119 --> 00:21:52.599
and the article said she ended up selling like four

377
00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.079
or five hundred thousand copies of the book and do

378
00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:01.799
the math, sixty cents a pops into some money. So

379
00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:05.960
you say you can do it, It's just, yeah, that's

380
00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:10.920
a lot of work. My publisher a Champagne Book Group.

381
00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:14.920
They published three of my books. They're traditional you know,

382
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.799
I get royalties, uh, but their promotion and marketing is

383
00:22:20.119 --> 00:22:23.720
pretty limited. So I mean I do my best to

384
00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:27.319
get on social media and you know, get reviews from

385
00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:29.880
people and do what I can to promote it on

386
00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:30.400
our own.

387
00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:37.960
Right. Well, I promised at the beginning of the podcast

388
00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:41.160
that we'd have a little story after you tell I

389
00:22:41.160 --> 00:22:45.119
mean on the subject of movies and doing a script

390
00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:47.839
and all that. You saw Jaws.

391
00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:51.119
Being filmed, yes, yeah, money.

392
00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:56.720
Last weekend we went to see Mission Impossible, the final

393
00:22:56.759 --> 00:22:59.799
Reckoning movie. You know, Tom Cruise. I'm always wondering if

394
00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:02.039
Tom has got another movie in them or if this

395
00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:07.319
is it. I'm thinking maybe this is it. But what

396
00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:10.519
sorts of behind the scenes stories can you share with

397
00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:13.680
us about seeing now? Because The reason I'm telling you

398
00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.680
this is because there was a trailer, because they're saying

399
00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:22.079
fifty year anniversary of Jaws, and here's here's Jaws, and

400
00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:26.200
we need a bigger boat and all of that. So

401
00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:29.519
and then and then for our last couple of minutes,

402
00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.000
I want to come back to what would you tell

403
00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:35.519
your younger self starting out as a writer in today's

404
00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:41.440
publishing landscape. But so before we end with that, tell

405
00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:43.960
me about seeing Jaws being made.

406
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.400
Okay, here I'll share one of the one of my

407
00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:50.279
stories about that. It was a summer of seventy four

408
00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:53.079
and on Mantes Vinyard. They got there in the spring,

409
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.559
and of all things, my sister in law, Susan Robinson,

410
00:23:56.599 --> 00:23:59.119
she got hired. She was worked on what they called

411
00:23:59.160 --> 00:24:03.240
the garage, which was the barge. They actually call it

412
00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:09.240
a floating madhouse. But they controlled Bruce the shark, And

413
00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:13.079
of course you may have heard shark b sank the

414
00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:17.599
moment he arrived because he had been designed and built. Yeah, well,

415
00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:20.480
he had been designed and built in a freshwater tank

416
00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:24.440
in California. Seems someone neglected to learn that the Atlantic

417
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:30.160
is salt water. So his hoses all dissolved. Everything corroded.

418
00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:36.319
He was could put so for example, like the one

419
00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:38.440
of the first scenes they filmed was, you know, Chrissy

420
00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:42.160
getting attacked and the shark was supposed to lunge out

421
00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:46.079
of the water ad her. Nope, no shark. So they

422
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:49.400
put a harness on her and attached caves to it,

423
00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:52.839
and cables went underwater to these little booies and then

424
00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:55.920
up onto the beach. And they had these two teams

425
00:24:55.960 --> 00:24:59.240
of great, big strong guys holding the ropes and marks

426
00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:03.400
in the sand. And so Spielberg would yell action and

427
00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:06.079
they would run to position one and then run to

428
00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:09.039
position two, and she'd get dragged back and forth in

429
00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:12.839
the water and then she she thrashes around and screams, presto,

430
00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:19.039
shark attack. And that was how they handled that. Now,

431
00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:21.160
my sister in laws to say, she was on the barge.

432
00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:23.680
So when they got to the part where the three

433
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:26.000
men were out on the on the Orca, you know,

434
00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:28.200
and they were supposed to be way out in the

435
00:25:28.359 --> 00:25:32.720
middle of the ocean, miles from anywhere they were. Actually,

436
00:25:32.759 --> 00:25:35.279
if you remember the beach, you know, where Alex gets

437
00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:37.960
attacked and the teddies are there, you know, and the

438
00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:39.839
woman he goes, oh, shark, it's going in the logo,

439
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:43.440
the Orca was about one hundred yards off of that

440
00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:47.920
beach the whole time, just going back and forth the

441
00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:52.039
big figure eight, back and forth, and Susan was on

442
00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:55.279
the on the floating madhouse, and they were trying to

443
00:25:55.319 --> 00:25:57.200
get the shark to work, and so they'd be shouting

444
00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:03.000
turn the valse to open his mouth and doing their

445
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:05.519
best to get it to work. In most days he

446
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:09.839
didn't work. So the the the they come up with

447
00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:12.279
the idea of using the barrels. You know, there we go,

448
00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:15.640
you know, drag the barrel through the water. There's the shark, see,

449
00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:17.880
you know, So that was how they indicated there.

450
00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:20.640
It was so because of the name of this podcast,

451
00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:23.680
I'm thinking they should have asked some good questions about

452
00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:26.559
what would be the best way to build this shark.

453
00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:30.279
Yeah, yeah, because clearly they had not done it too

454
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:33.519
good a job. But I think in hindsight, you got

455
00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:37.480
to admit that Spielberg's solution probably worked out better because,

456
00:26:37.559 --> 00:26:40.599
let's face it, the technology back then when the shark

457
00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:45.720
did come on screen didn't really look very good. You know,

458
00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:49.519
it was pretty lame. So if it had made as

459
00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:54.079
many appearances as they had hoped. Probably wouldn't. Yeah, I

460
00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:56.680
wouldn't have been as effective. You know, it's when it

461
00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:59.480
comes down to is with an especially in a horror film,

462
00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:02.440
it's what you don't see that scares you more than anything.

463
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:07.279
I had nightmares, Andrew. I had my mirrors that night

464
00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:10.000
after I went and saw Jaws. I had I had

465
00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:13.759
sharks coming through my bedroom wall and it was awful.

466
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:16.960
Yeah. Well, I mean Alex Kidner, he was about my

467
00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:20.559
age when I saw it, so it's like, yeah, I

468
00:27:20.759 --> 00:27:23.200
saw myself as him on that little raft and it's

469
00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:26.359
like yeah. And actually, originally they were planning to have

470
00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:28.839
a mannequin and have the shark rise up out of

471
00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:31.480
the water and chomp on him. They did some test

472
00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:34.440
footage of it and it was like, oh, they said,

473
00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:36.480
it's a little too gruesome. Guys, we're looking for a

474
00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:41.039
PG rating here. We know we can't forget it. Well,

475
00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:43.839
we'll do it like Chrissy scene because that's whoa, that's

476
00:27:43.960 --> 00:27:45.200
way too gruesome, you know.

477
00:27:47.799 --> 00:27:51.680
So we are running at a time. So so thank

478
00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.279
you for the story. I Mean, one thing I know

479
00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:59.440
about Andrew is he's a storyteller, right, and so whether

480
00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:03.160
it's right a story or writing a family history or

481
00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:09.200
a screenplay. What would you Andrew tell your younger self

482
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:15.319
starting out as a writer in today's publishing landscape.

483
00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:19.039
I guess it would be particularly if you want to

484
00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:22.880
get published, you got to explore all the options. You know.

485
00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:25.559
When I when I first started at it, when I

486
00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:29.920
that first book, I did the absolutely traditional route of,

487
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:34.640
you know, writing letters to eight literary agents, figuring that's

488
00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:36.440
what I was told. You go to get an agent.

489
00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:40.160
An agent, we'll get to a publisher. And over time

490
00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:45.279
I've learned, well, yeah, that's the straight line approach. You know,

491
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.839
that's the linear and I've learned you got to think

492
00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:52.000
outside the box here people, You know, there are other

493
00:28:52.119 --> 00:28:54.920
options now. I would also say when it comes to

494
00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:58.480
something like, you know, a subsidize what they call subsidized publisher,

495
00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:01.319
we used to say vanity press. I don't like that vanity.

496
00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:04.799
That's a bad word. You do need to be careful,

497
00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:08.279
you know. And these days you can always look for reviews,

498
00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:11.599
you know what other good reputable companies, what are the

499
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:13.640
ones that are really going to help you with with

500
00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.200
getting your book look good, getting it out to people

501
00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:20.039
that potentially will be interested in it, and helping you

502
00:29:20.119 --> 00:29:21.359
to promote it be there's an.

503
00:29:21.240 --> 00:29:25.240
Awful a lot of resources, tons of resources.

504
00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:28.039
Oh yeah, there's like webs there's a website I don't

505
00:29:28.039 --> 00:29:30.359
know if it's still around. It was called Predators and Editors.

506
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:34.000
There was a very good one that would warn you

507
00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:38.279
about the bad vanity publishers out there and give you

508
00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:39.000
tips to mine.

509
00:29:39.079 --> 00:29:42.599
You know, I've been doing mine with Amazon, you know,

510
00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:46.880
Kindle Publishing. You know I've done I've used that and

511
00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:48.599
that's been a good thing. And they have lots of

512
00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:51.799
lots of ideas for you. And then there's a lot

513
00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:57.000
of counseling type services on how to how to get

514
00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:58.720
yourself going as a writer.

515
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:02.240
Mm hmm, yeah, but you really.

516
00:30:02.200 --> 00:30:05.480
But you're saying you basically should kind of get a

517
00:30:05.599 --> 00:30:09.640
layer of the landscape and see what you think is

518
00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:11.480
going to be the best way for you to start.

519
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:14.440
Yep. Well, And the other thing is like with with

520
00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:18.200
with me that with the Florida Writers Association, and especially

521
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:20.240
these days this is very easy to do is going

522
00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:24.640
online and finding like minded people. You don't find other

523
00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:27.200
writers that are doing the stuff that you're doing, whether

524
00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:31.279
it's whether you're writing a children's book, romance, sci fi, whatever,

525
00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:35.880
you can find similar groups out there, and they can

526
00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:39.359
just be enormous help in guiding you in terms of

527
00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:43.960
everything from how to structure your book to potentially finding

528
00:30:44.039 --> 00:30:48.559
an agent or a publisher or doing it yourself. Networking is,

529
00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:51.440
as I've learned, is one of the key things. Always

530
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:54.279
look for people that are that can help you, and

531
00:30:54.359 --> 00:30:58.480
that you can turn around and help them. Yeah.

532
00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:02.960
Yeah, I've dealt with people that have been very successful

533
00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:06.079
book writers who then go out and coach other people,

534
00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:09.400
and so there's been I've been a part of a

535
00:31:09.480 --> 00:31:14.240
couple of those types of organizations. But probably that to me,

536
00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:18.480
that's like the golden nugget is to go wherever you are.

537
00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:21.000
Everybody's going to be from different parts of the country.

538
00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:25.039
Go find a local like in your case, it's called

539
00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:26.160
the Writing Association.

540
00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:29.359
Yeah, Florida Writers Association f WA.

541
00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:30.440
Yeah.

542
00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:33.200
And you know, if you're hey, if any listeners are

543
00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:36.079
out there that are in Florida, Hey, you go online.

544
00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:40.240
You can find our website, learn where the nearest local

545
00:31:40.359 --> 00:31:42.920
chapter is and when they meet, just go ahead and

546
00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:46.039
attend a meeting. They're always bring to the public, come

547
00:31:46.119 --> 00:31:47.480
in and talk to people.

548
00:31:49.799 --> 00:31:51.160
That's the best way to get going.

549
00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:54.440
Yeah, life.

550
00:31:54.519 --> 00:31:56.640
I want to take just thirty seconds. What do you

551
00:31:56.680 --> 00:31:59.880
think about AI and using AI in write?

552
00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:03.920
Well, I can certainly see where, particularly if you, like

553
00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:06.319
we were talking about before, when you get stuck, you know,

554
00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:09.680
you reach a just you're drawn a blank here and

555
00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:12.400
you've got writer's block, I can certainly see where you

556
00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:15.119
could feed your you know, some information into an AI

557
00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:17.440
or one of these chat bot things and maybe get

558
00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:21.319
some ideas. But I just, man, I hate the idea

559
00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:24.079
that they're gonna, you know, they're going to replace us

560
00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:27.119
as writers. It's like, hey, if my AI wants to

561
00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:30.039
like wash my you know, run my dishwasher, and and

562
00:32:31.400 --> 00:32:34.440
and make sure my my fridge keeps well stocked with food,

563
00:32:34.519 --> 00:32:37.039
hey that I'll welcome that, but I don't want it

564
00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:39.000
replacing me when it comes to the creative stuff.

565
00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:46.400
Yeah, the creative process very good. So all right, I

566
00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:49.839
am so happy to have had this chance to talk

567
00:32:49.880 --> 00:32:53.240
about this whole thing with book writing and publishing. For me,

568
00:32:54.079 --> 00:32:57.160
it took a long time for me to get published

569
00:32:57.200 --> 00:33:01.599
with my first book because I just I think having

570
00:33:02.039 --> 00:33:04.359
you know, having a local group to have been able

571
00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:07.880
to work with, I think that's that's a really helpful idea.

572
00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:08.960
Mm hmm.

573
00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:12.200
Absolutely, So all.

574
00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:15.279
Right, we are going to have to wrap up here, Andrew,

575
00:33:16.039 --> 00:33:19.920
and so thank you so much for being with me

576
00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:22.440
today on the Ask Good Questions Podcast.

577
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:25.240
Well thanks for having me, all right.

578
00:33:25.480 --> 00:33:28.240
And so for all those out there, now, is your

579
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:31.079
pen name Andrew John Robinson or is.

580
00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:31.839
It something else?

581
00:33:32.440 --> 00:33:32.480
No?

582
00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:34.519
No, I go with the full name, because I mean

583
00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:38.640
there's frankly, there's several other authors. There is that actor

584
00:33:38.839 --> 00:33:42.799
Andrew Robinson you know from uh well, from Deep Space nine.

585
00:33:43.559 --> 00:33:45.880
He's actually written some books. So it's like I try

586
00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:48.160
to make sure that you know, keep it distinct.

587
00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:51.119
Okay, So if you're looking for his books, it's Andrew

588
00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:57.119
John Robinson. All right. With that, we will thank you

589
00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:00.640
so much for joining us today on that Ask Good

590
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:02.240
Questions podcast.

591
00:34:05.519 --> 00:34:09.119
Today's episode is over, but we did ask Good Questions again,

592
00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:12.880
didn't We don't miss out as we broadcast live every

593
00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:16.840
Wednesday six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio

594
00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:21.480
at w fourcy dot com. Joined Benina Bellmerson next week

595
00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:27.480
for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral finance issues,

596
00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:28.800
health and wellness.

597
00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:29.320
And more.

598
00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:33.639
Until then, remember to ask Good Questions.