{"id":3981,"date":"2016-08-06T00:01:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-06T04:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tellest.com\/?p=3981"},"modified":"2016-09-08T07:21:01","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T11:21:01","slug":"interview-michael-deangelo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/interview-michael-deangelo\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Michael DeAngelo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello there folks. \u00a0We’re busy busy busy this month, but we’ve finally got some time to talk about a few things. \u00a0First off, we’d like to formally welcome Erika Castro to the Tellest team. \u00a0She’s going to be our social media guru. \u00a0As of right now, she’s the reason our Twitter page looks as delightful as it does. \u00a0She’s also taking on a new responsibility today as she sits\u00a0Michael DeAngelo (that’s me!) down for an interview on all things Tellest.<\/p>\n

Let’s give her a warm welcome as she joins this wonderful team!<\/p>\n

Without any further adieu, here’s an\u00a0interview that’ll give you some insight into the vision for Tellest in the near future:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Erika Castro:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0First of all, thank you for the opportunity. \u00a0It’s going to be a lot of fun working with Tellest and all the people who make it awesome.<\/em><\/p>\n

Michael DeAngelo: <\/strong>Well we’re definitely very lucky to have you here. \u00a0You’re going to fill a role that I’ve been lacking in lately, so we’re very grateful to have you as part of the crew.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0I hope I’ll prove myself as we move forward. \u00a0Should we move forward with the interview?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD: <\/strong>Take it away!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> What made you first interested in writing?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

MD: <\/strong>When I was younger, I was always making up stories to be a part of, but they originally started as pipe dreams for games.\u00a0 I fantasized about making these big sprawling games like Final Fantasy, because Roleplaying Games were always a big part of my life.\u00a0 I used to tell people I wanted to be a software engineer, because I heard it and didn\u2019t yet know the term \u201cgame developer.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the longest time, I always thought that writing a story from front to back was out of reach for me.\u00a0 Those were for far smarter people than me\u2014it was beyond my capability.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s silly but letting go is probably what gave me the opportunity to really dig into writing.\u00a0 I was lucky enough to work fairly quickly in school, and we had 90 minute classes.\u00a0 During a math class, I ended up finishing a test ridiculously early.\u00a0 I knew that Baldur\u2019s Gate II was coming out soon, and I knew that you could develop a character biography for yourself.\u00a0 I started writing one for the character who would eventually become my original main character, and the rest grew out of control from there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Why fantasy?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> Fantasy has always scratched a particular itch for me.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure why, exactly.\u00a0 It\u2019s just always been a part of my life.\u00a0 I learned to read and write playing King\u2019s Quest on the Apple II.\u00a0 My favorite movies growing up were Willow and Princess Bride and Goonies (a pseudo-fantasy, if ever there was one).\u00a0 And I\u2019m a huge fan of videogames, as I said, with Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy and the Secret of Monkey Island being huge influences in my life and in my writing.<\/p>\n

While my Dad had always been a big fan of fantasy and sci-fi, it was my aunt who I think really planted the bug in my brain.\u00a0 We used to play a very simplified version of dungeons and dragons when she would babysit me, and I think that was probably what got me started wanting to build worlds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> How old were you when you wrote your first story (not published)?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> I believe I was five or six when I wrote some incoherent mess about a shark that didn\u2019t want to eat fish\u2026 he wanted to be their friends.\u00a0 It\u2019s very possible that Pixar used this wonderful book as inspiration for the sharks in Finding Nemo.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Is there a particular author that inspires you?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> R. A. Salvatore is the storyteller who speaks to me the most.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until I read about Drizzt and Wulfgar and Bruenor and Regis and Catti-brie in The Thousand Orcs<\/em> that I really go the push into storytelling.\u00a0 That book was also given to me by the aunt that imparted all that love for fantasy in me.\u00a0 I received that on my seventeenth birthday, right around the time Baldur\u2019s Gate II was coming out, and it just happened to be the perfect storm of creativity and intellect to get me going.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Was there a particular book\/story you wrote that made you think that you had something going here?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> I think that\u2019s both the blessing and the curse of being someone who continues to write books.\u00a0 When I wrote my first book, I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.\u00a0 I was very impressed with myself, but if I go back and read that, I\u2019m appalled.\u00a0 It\u2019s horrible!\u00a0 But at the same time, I\u2019m glad that I believed in myself back then.\u00a0 If I had started writing and immediately found disgust in my work, I don\u2019t know that I would have ever continued doing what I am.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a trend with my work, too.\u00a0 I\u2019ll go back to a book I wrote five years ago and be disappointed with it, and I have no doubt that something that I write this year will feel a tad undercooked five years from now.\u00a0 But I feel that it also shows that I\u2019m growing as a writer and a storyteller, and for that I\u2019m grateful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Is the character Kaos Kreegan based on anyone you know?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> He is, and while other people might be ashamed to admit this, I\u2019m just going to own up to it.\u00a0 Kaos is an obvious straw man.\u00a0 Kaos was supposed to be someone that I could aspire to be\u2014maybe not the fighting prowess and the treasure hunting and all that jazz, but certainly his values.\u00a0
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

We spend three books with Kaos where he\u2019s this white knight willing to do all these things, but we never really see him break.\u00a0 He sticks to his guns, so to speak, for better or worse.\u00a0 I can tell you this though: writing a straw man character gets kind of boring, especially if you aspire to be the best you that you can be.\u00a0 When we see Kaos again in the future, we\u2019re going to really work at breaking him a little bit!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"62576_1614956457574_3396441_n[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Where does the name Tellest come from?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> To be perfectly honest, I cannot tell you how I came up with the name after all these years.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to think that it just came to me in a whisper, but back then, I was developing names for cities and characters by looking at everyday objects and reading them backward.\u00a0 We had a poison called red nib that we developed just because we happened to be looking at a binder.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s probable that we were thinking of creating this world where you\u2019d be telling this insane amount of stories over a broad history, and we thought, \u201chey, Tellest sounds a lot like \u2018Tell Us,\u2019 let\u2019s just roll with it!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Who is currently part of the Tellest team?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> Tellest has grown a lot from those days when I was writing after math tests.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got five people who have officially developed stories for us, and among them, four of them have been published in our anthology.\u00a0 We\u2019re in the middle of courting a few other writers right now as well, but it is slow going as we try to organically build.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on the other media front, we have a group of around four or five artists who consistently deliver content to us.\u00a0 By the end of the year, I\u2019m hopeful that we\u2019ll have over 100 pieces of commissioned work to show off on the Tellest site.\u00a0 We\u2019ve also got a pair of very dependable narrators who we use for the Tellest audiobooks, and we\u2019re just wrapping up work on the last two Tales of Tellest novellas.<\/p>\n

And then of course, we\u2019re starting to expand elsewhere, which is where you come in, Erika!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Where do you find your writers and artists?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> Most of the writers that I work with are local.\u00a0 I\u2019m lucky enough to be surrounded by people who share the same love of storytelling and fantasy, and I\u2019ve been able to share Tellest with them in a way that you don\u2019t often see with other written worlds.\u00a0 They\u2019ve surprised me every step of the way, and I\u2019m proud of each of them.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

We also experimented about two years back with hosting writing prompt contests on our website.\u00a0 That was how we connected with Aaron Canton, who ended up being one of our more prolific writers.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been talking internally about opening that up again as a feature.\u00a0 When we did them before, it was almost laughable because we didn\u2019t really have a large web presence.\u00a0 Only two or three people would submit at a time!\u00a0 Now, and especially as we move toward releasing another big set of books, maybe we\u2019ll have a bigger internet footprint.<\/p>\n

Regarding the artists, I was lucky enough to find most of them on DeviantArt or through Reddit.\u00a0 With Leo, our main cover artist, I happened to see his work on another writer\u2019s book cover, and I tracked him down and convinced him to do a commission for Mageborn<\/em>.\u00a0 We loved working with him so much that he\u2019s done just about every cover since then!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Out of all your novellas, which is your personal favorite?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> That\u2019s such a tough question.\u00a0 I\u2019m a fan of all my books for different reasons, but there are two that are a little closer to me.\u00a0
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Awake<\/em> was almost an experimental piece for me that explored what PTSD would look like in a fantasy world.\u00a0 I had to do some real research with that, and actually reached out to a friend I grew up with to get her opinions as both a modern day warrior and as a woman.\u00a0 That translated to some real inspiration for the character of Venathryn, who has evolved tremendously since her original inception about sixteen years ago.<\/p>\n

As much as I love Awake<\/em>, I think my favorite actually has to be The Fall<\/em>, however.\u00a0 It truly speaks to the way Tellest itself was kind of dreamed up\u2014as a world that lets different genres play together.\u00a0 The Fall<\/em> is the tale of Icarus redressed for fantasy.\u00a0 And the best part is it\u2019s told in such a way that it could in theory be what actually inspired the mythology.\u00a0 The Fall<\/em> is also the first story that I told in such a distant part of the timeline from the established books in the series.\u00a0 We look at what the world looked like over three thousand years ago!\u00a0 And of course, I think with such an event\u2014the end of the world for some people\u2014gave me the chance to make some strong emotional choices that I really hope resonated with people after they were done reading it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The_Fall_Final\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> You have a second Kickstarter coming up, tell us about that.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> So, what we\u2019re trying to do is raise $2000 to offset the publishing costs of releasing at least six new books.\u00a0 These are going to be five sequels to the Tales of Tellest novellas, but they\u2019ll each be consistently longer than their predecessors.\u00a0 We also have a collection of short stories once again\u2014this time we\u2019re aiming for two dozen in the compilation!
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

The money that we raise from this campaign will help us with editing, and it\u2019ll assure that each of these stories has gorgeous front-and-back book covers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> How did the first one go?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> I wouldn\u2019t have even dreamed of coming back for more if our last Kickstarter hadn\u2019t gone so well.\u00a0 We were absolutely blown away to have been fully funded by the end of the first day.\u00a0 For a fantasy brand that really had no internet footprint, that was an awesome feeling.\u00a0 I was floored by the response.\u00a0 And then, through the rest of the campaign, we managed to double our original goal, and ended up with some interesting bonus content.\u00a0 We wrapped up reconciling all of our rewards just a few months ago, and I hope that everyone who played a part in bringing this volume of Tellest books to life felt great having those books in their hands.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> What are some of the goals of the Kickstarter?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> First and foremost, it\u2019d be nice if we could fund these initial books.\u00a0 Because they\u2019re longer, this set will require more stringent editing than the last set, which will obviously increase the cost.\u00a0 And going with double-wide covers essentially doubles the cost of the art as well.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Kickstarter is also great for developing an audience that you might not otherwise have access to.\u00a0 Not only that, but you\u2019re essentially pitching to people who are specifically there to look for projects like yours.\u00a0 We have the opportunity to show people that Tellest is an accomplished fantasy brand\u2014we\u2019ve already ran a successful campaign and delivered on our promises.\u00a0 It can only go up from here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> What would you do if you surpassed your set goal of $2000?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> I\u2019m hopeful that we will.\u00a0 I mean, I\u2019m cautiously optimistic.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to count any of your chickens before they hatch, but I\u2019m always prepared, just in case.\u00a0 Besides these big five sequels, we\u2019ve got a handful of other longer stories waiting in the wings.\u00a0 For every $500 we raise beyond the initial goal, we\u2019ll be able to publish another book.\u00a0 And the best news is that everyone who pitches in at one of our very affordable levels\u2014$29 for the first 100 folks, and $45 for anyone that doesn\u2019t get in when the getting\u2019s good\u2014is going to get all those eBooks added to their order for free.\u00a0 If we raise $4000, that\u2019s 19 books for as little as $29.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s a pretty good deal.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> What is something you want people to know about you and about Tellest that are new to the scene?<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong> We want to make Tellest an inclusive fantasy world.\u00a0 We want it to be something that compels people to come back, and make it feel like home.\u00a0 The idea of our fantasy brand is that you\u2019re always going to be a part of it, and that we\u2019ll always have new content driving us forward.\u00a0 It\u2019s already grown quite broad in the five years since I first published, and if we\u2019re as successful in the next few years as we were in the past few, you\u2019re bound to see some incredible things right around the corner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EC:<\/em><\/strong> Excellent. \u00a0I think that’ll about wrap it up. \u00a0Thank you for taking the time to talk about all this. \u00a0I know you’re busy with the Kickstarter, so this was very nice.<\/em><\/p>\n

MD:<\/strong>\u00a0Not a problem at all. \u00a0I’m glad for the opportunity. \u00a0I’m usually on the other end of the interview, so it was a nice change of pace for me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello there folks. \u00a0We’re busy busy busy this month, but we’ve finally got some time to talk about a few things. \u00a0First off, we’d like to formally welcome Erika Castro to the Tellest team. \u00a0She’s going to be our social media guru. \u00a0As of right now, she’s the reason our Twitter page looks as delightful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[57,349,145],"tags":[1401,303,290,73],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Interview-picture.png","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1UVey-12d","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3981"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4001,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981\/revisions\/4001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}