#IndieSpotlight of Neil O'Donnell Author of Return of The Sagan.

Name: 

Neil O’Donnell

The Title of Your Work or Group:

 Return of the Sagan

 Where are you from? 

Buffalo, NY

In what genre do you write?

 Primarily Fantasy and Scifi

In your own words, what is your book about? If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book you just read to a friend, what would you say about it? 

The Generational Space Shuttle, the U.S.S. Sagan returns to Earth after nearly 300 without contact with Earth-bound populations. Discovering no remaining humans on the planet, a search party finds more questions than answers while fleeing from once-extinct creatures last seen during the last ice age.

What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens? 

 I do outlines and a summary, but I also write a lot off the cuff.

Have you ever written anything and thought; " The world has got to see this!" ? 

I like to think all my books fall into this category or else I wouldn’t share the books. That said, my memoir of a lifetime battling OCD is the book I definitely wrote specifically to share (I just released a book on résumé writing for recent college and high school grads – I wrote this because many students were spending hundreds of dollars to have a résumé written by an “expert” only to be handed a very poor excuse for a résumé (I am a certified Career Coach and résumé writer – I priced the book at $.99/$5.99 (ebook/paperback) to save students money.

 Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself? 

Amygdala Art is who I went with for the Return of the Sagan cover. Ida’s work is stunning!!!

Who is your favorite author? Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy. 

 David Eddings! He breaks rules and new ground. His fantasy work is original and he keeps readers invested in storylines AND characters alike. I character in one of my books becomes trapped on an island for life (a priest), and I gave that character a copy of the Bible as well as a copy of one of David Eddings’ series.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

 Finding time for all the ideas swirling around in my head!

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?

 In most cases they write themselves, generated by my interactions with the world.

Do you ever write yourself into the characters? 

Most definitely. The lead in ‘Return of the Sagan’ is battling OCD like me – he is also an anthropologists and fantasy/scifi fan.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak. 

 Day job as a Counselor (career, personal & academic)

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be? 

George Washington

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre? 

Heavy dose of realism in my books.

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?

 Get on Twitter and retweet others’ posts about books. Additionally, write articles/blog posts and Tweet about them with relevant hashtags.

Websites:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Neil_ODonnell

Purchase now on Amazon: