{"id":29157,"date":"2022-08-04T06:30:51","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/?p=29157"},"modified":"2022-08-18T07:44:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T11:44:45","slug":"interview-with-paul-steven-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/interview-with-paul-steven-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Paul Steven Stone"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tellest:<\/strong> Hello Paul!\u00a0 I wanted to thank you for giving me some time to learn a bit about you and about your creative projects.\u00a0 It\u2019s always interesting to find someone who expresses themselves in so many different mediums, and to try and get an idea of how they function.\u00a0 Because of the expansiveness of your talents, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re very busy, so I appreciate the chance to talk to you and to figure out what makes you tick!<\/p>\n Paul Steven Stone: <\/strong>It\u2019s my pleasure. I\u2019ve been looking forward to this interview.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> I always like to start my interviews by trying to learn more about the starting point from where the storyteller began their creative journey.\u00a0 When it comes to your inspirations, did you have any famous authors whose work you just couldn\u2019t put down?\u00a0 Or did you have someone close by\u2014a family member or family friend, perhaps\u2014who nudged you down that path?<\/p>\n PSS: <\/strong>Funnily enough, I have vivid memories of two separate school book fairs back in elementary school where I purchased a book in each that totally blew me away. Up till then, I had never known the power of books or the joy the reading. I can\u2019t say my calling as a novelist or writer directly evolved from those two books, but a fire deep within was either ignited, or stirred up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>: And what were names of the two books?<\/p>\n PSS:<\/strong> The first was The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The second was Shane by Jack Schaefer. Imagine starting your life as an avid reader devouring Sherlock Holmes!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Interestingly enough, both of those stories feature characters who didn\u2019t overstay their welcome, and moved along, either to the chagrin of the other characters, or even the reader.\u00a0 I know you have a third book planned in your trilogy, but do you see yourself sort of burning it all down after the third book, or are you going against the grain there, and could see yourself keeping at it with the organization you introduce?<\/p>\n PSS: <\/strong>At present, I\u2019m envisioning my next novel in the eries as an origin story about The Seekers For Truth. I would tell you more, but I am still waiting for my muse to join me on the journey.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Interestingly enough once again, that sort of leads me down in another direction.\u00a0 Certainly, these sort of academy-based stories have been picking up in popularity lately.\u00a0 The Librarians, The Magicians, Harry Potter, Kingsmen\u2026 They all have a focus on knowledge as well.\u00a0 Yours is a bit more of what I would call \u201cpersonally cosmic\u201d in that there\u2019s a bit more spirituality to it.\u00a0 How do you keep things feeling grounded, all things considered, and not let your ideas explode into a supernova?<\/p>\n PSS: <\/strong>I believe it\u2019s easier for me to keep grounded because I believe in the existence of the spiritual world, believe we are living our lives day to day totally unaware of these forces that shape both the world and our journey through that world. I begin Souljourner <\/em>with a quote from a French Jesuit, Teilhard de Chardin, that truly says it all: \u201cWe are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Before we get into the details of your book, Souljourner<\/em>, I wanted to spend a little more time getting to know you.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got a pretty expansive history of flexing your creative muscles, from branding, to directing, and now to developing feature length novels.\u00a0 What was it like beginning your creative journey, and what has been the most enjoyable stop along the way?<\/p>\n PSS: <\/strong>Good question! I didn\u2019t realize it till much later, but the creative fires within me have been active since my earliest days in college, when I wrote a few highly creative short stories. I always found words needed to be used with precision and respect. To this day, I cannot use words imprecisely without feeling almost physically off balance. If a doctor asks me if I feel pain, and the feeling I have is more akin to discomfort, I can\u2019t help but use the latter word in describing the experience. My inner writer won\u2019t tolerate anything else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> In your case, is it that pain is more emotional than physical then?<\/p>\n PSS: <\/strong>No, I see pain as more hurtful than discomfort. In hospitals they give you a pain scale, asking you to define your pain from 1-10. Realistically, I see discomfort as notching a 3 or 4 on the pain scale, low enough to require a definition as \u2018discomfort\u2019 rather than pain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Oh, I understand now.\u00a0 So, in your case, it\u2019s that your threshold for what pain is versus what discomfort is can be more clearly defined.\u00a0 Do you think that there is a reason for that?\u00a0 Did you go through any trauma earlier in life that gives you a sort of line for what real pain feels like?<\/p>\n PSS: <\/strong>I was using the pain vs. discomfort example as a way of showing how precise my inner muse demands me to be. When someone asks for my opinion about something\u2014say, whether I like or dislike a movie, a book, a work of art\u2011\u2014I will go to great pains to choose words that convey my true feelings. It\u2019s not enough to gloss over my answer with \u201cI liked it\u201d or \u201cI didn\u2019t like it.\u201d Especially if there was something in the experience that my inner critic latched onto. For example, I might dislike a movie because its characters were too distant from their emotions and therefore too difficult to like or relate to. As a general matter, I prefer using words that most clearly express my thoughts and feelings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n