Here at Olympia we love hearing from our authors, getting an insight into their lives in writing and asking them what their advice would be to future authors. This week we had the pleasure of interviewing Ryan Cochrane about his book!
Are you working on something new at the moment?
At the moment I’m in the process of entering into a Ph.D. program and brainstorming another book. If I were to write a sequel to “Nana Scrappy” it would take place in an exotic location and involve lost civilizations and the search for priceless artifacts.
Fiction or non-fiction? Which is easier?
Writing is all about expressing yourself. When writing non-fiction the writer is more left-brained and concerned with accuracy, facts and figures. Academic writing is focused on this kind of writing. Fiction in some ways is easier as the imagination is allowed to flow and anything is possible. I think Samuel Taylor Coleridge called this “Suspension of Disbelief” and anything is possible in the flow of fiction. So yes, I do think writing fiction is easier than non-fiction as you can color outside the lines!
Did you ever change sentences more than five times just because it didn’t hit the right notes?
Oh yes, definitely!
It is often said that in order to write something, you must believe in what you are writing. Do you agree with that?
Yes, I think that if a person is trying to argue from a particular point of view that their writing is that much more passionate and articulate. My book “Nana Scrappy” is about a motley crew of fur friends learn the value of cooperation and the meaning of friendship as they encounter adventure and overcome adversity. That and the importance of family and home are I think timeless values that should be cherished. That is what I was trying to reach and celebrate in my book.
You don’t have to be a writer in order to be an author – how true is that?
I have been writing non-fiction, college papers, interviews and academic articles for years but made a promise to my maternal grandmother Dorothy that I would one day write a children’s book. My grandmother passed in 2009 and in 2014 I began working on what has become “Nana Scrappy”.
If you could review Olympia publishers in a few words, what would they be?
Excellent and a pleasure to work with!
