Q&A with author Dane Cobain

Here is a Q&A series with fellow author, Dane Cobain. Be sure to check out his cool blog, http://www.danecobain.com - which includes excerpts of his writing and music.

1. Who are you and what do you do?

My name’s Dane Cobain and I’m an author, poet and musician from the United Kingdom. I do a little bit of everything – I write across multiple styles and genres and just generally focus my efforts on whatever I find most interesting.

2. Name of your book and brief description?

I’ve currently got four on the market:

1.No Rest for the Wicked (supernatural thriller): An elderly priest and a businessman team up to fight mysterious Angels who are hell-bent on destruction.
2.Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home (poetry): Thought-provoking poetry for ages 18+, distilled from 1,000 live performances in this reality and others.
3.Former.ly: The Rise and Fall of a Social Network (literary fiction): When Dan Roberts joins fledgeling social networking site Former.ly, he suspects that something strange is going on. The two founders share a dark secret, that someone is willing to kill for.
4.Social Paranoia: How Consumers and Brands Can Stay Safe in a Connected World (non-fiction): Using real-life case studies as examples, the book teaches you how to stay safe when using social networking sites for business and pleasure.

3. What do you hope the reader will get from reading your book?

Which one? Ha! Well for the fiction, I just hope that people enjoy the story – there aren’t necessarily any morals to them, unless you want to draw your own. With the poetry, I just hope that people enjoy the wordplay, although if they relate to it then that always helps. And Social Paranoia is all about helping people to avoid a social media faux pas.

4. As a child, what did you think you might do with your life?

I wanted to be a rockstar for a while, but I realised it was unachievable and so decided to become an author instead. I’ve always loved words and writing, and making music was just a natural extension of the writing.

5. Was there a point in your life where your view of the world/universe changed?

Good question! I guess it would be when I was around fifteen or sixteen and I was going through puberty. I developed problems with depression (with anxiety thrown in a little later on). The two of those, combined with the amount of time I started to spend reading and writing, had a profound influence on how I see the world, which then gets fed back into my writing. 

6. What do you hope to be remembered for most?

For my work and my work ethic, I suppose. I guess that’s not for me to decide – I just hope that I’m remembered in the first place!

7. With whom, living or dead, would you most like to have a conversation?

It’s hard to decide! Right now, off the top of my head, I’m going to say Tom Waits – he’s just a fascinating man, and I think that he could talk about anything and I’d be happy just to sit there and listen.

8. What key piece of advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?

Keep at it! Being a writer isn’t easy, but it’s rewarding. You just have to give it your all, often with no recognition. If you don’t give it your all, someone else will, and they’ll be the ones who scoop up the readers.

9. Has there been a key teacher in your life?

There’s no one individual that I could highlight, but I have learned a lot from different people along the way. Mostly, I learn from my contemporaries – no writer is an island, and so if you keep an eye on what other people are doing, you can learn from it. Learn from their mistakes so that you don’t make the same mistakes yourself. And learn from their victories, and figure out how you can apply the lessons there to your own work.

10. What do you hope to achieve next in life?

I just want to keep on writing and releasing books that I’m happy with. The ultimate goal is to make enough money from my writing so that I can work part-time (or not at all!) at my day job and focus all of my efforts on doing what I love.

11. Do you think thrillers and politics can make good bedfellows?

I think so, but like any mix of genres, it works either well or not at all. If you’re going to do it, you need to do it right. But I don’t see any reason why not!

12. What drew you to this genre?

I don’t really write in any individual genre – I have an idea that I like and I get to work on it. I don’t really worry about genres until after the book is finished and I have to start worrying about marketing it.