The Artists
Henry, Josh & Harrison Herz (dad & two young sons) <-----(Love This!)
The work of art:
Nimpentoad (high fantasy early chapter book)
Where this talented family creates:
San Diego, CA
What genre now gets to claim them?
Children's fantasy and science fiction. It's never to soon to get geeklings excited about fantastic worlds.
In their own words, what is the book about?
Niblings are short skinny creatures that lived in the mythical Grunwald Forest a long time ago. Because they are small and weak, Niblings are always being picked on by Goblins, Orcs, and other mean creatures. One courageous and resourceful little Nibling named Nimpentoad convinces his tribe to cross the perilous forest to team up with a Giant who can protect them. Along the way, the Niblings run into strange creatures and, with Nimpentoad's leadership, overcome all the obstacles they encounter.
Do the Herzs follow all the literary rules?
I develop the initial draft, and then my sons are involved in the reviewing and editing. I typically start with an idea of the message(s) of the book, and an outline, but then let the story take me on a journey.
Have you ever written anything and thought;" The world has got to see this!"?
Doesn't every writer think that of every thing they write? We do feel that way about our first book, Nimpentoad. Since it has earned over 80 Amazon 5-star ratings, we think others agree!
Do they have an editor and Cover Designer or do they do this their selves?
We edit ourselves, but we hire illustrators to do our artwork.
Who is your favorite author?
The writing bug has bitten me later in life, but Maurice Sendak's “Where the Wild Things Are” launched me down the fantasy path, and later J.R.R. Tolkien's “Lord of the Rings” sealed the deal.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
When the critique group gives you a whole new direction in which to go. Or when you get conflicting advice from people you respect.
Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?
I suspect every author's own experiences and personality color their characters to a greater or lesser extent. Certainly, we have our protagonists demonstrate positive traits that we value.
Do you ever write yourself into the characters?
We haven't, and probably will not.
Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"?
I am definitely keeping my day job. While I love writing, I cannot earn a living at it yet.
If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be?
That is a great question, but choosing only one would be so difficult. Assuming I had a translator, for fiction, I'd like to meet Gandalf, and for non-fiction, Leonardo da Vinci.
There are millions of new books released every year. What in their mind makes Nimpentoad stand out from all those millions in the genre?
Jeez, it's pretty intimidating when put that way. Two main differentiators of our book come to mind. First, my sons helped co-write it, so our book has a wonderful meta-story surrounding it. Second, our focus is on getting young readers interested in fantasy and science fiction at an earlier age than is usual. And as our audience is young readers, our stories feature heroes who demonstrate qualities that should be emulated.
In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have The Hertz found a great free way to market their work that they think other Indies will benefit from?
We attend book readings and signings at elementary schools, libraries, book stores, farmer's markets, and book fairs. We blog, leverage social networking, especially Twitter, and maintain a nice website. We have a book trailer. And we sometimes leverage KDP Select and Goodreads giveaways.
Ways to connect and follow Henry, Josh & Harrison Herz
Blog: henryherz.wordpress.com
WebSite: www.nimpentoad.com
Twitter: @Nimpentoad
Book Trailer: animoto.com/play/RJ1Ny142oFpf6QmIl7i4Iw.
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