Interviews With Writers

Author Interviews from Writers Around the World

  • Home
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Interview Submission
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sites in the BookGoodies Network
You are here: Home / Interviews / Interview with Author – Mikel J. Wisler

Interview with Author – Mikel J. Wisler

By Interviews With Writers

WislerHeadShot
Author Bio:
Mikel J. Wisler is an award-winning filmmaker who has written, produced, and directed several short films that have played at festivals domestically and abroad, receiving nomination and awards. In 2012 he became a co-founder of Stories by the River and since 2010 has run the monthly River Film Forum.

Wisler had written several screenplays as well as short stories and novels. His novel, Unidentified, is the first book he’s published, with more books currently in the works. He is a lover of the sci-fi and horror genres and many of his films and stories reflect this.

Wisler also writes articles for Horatio (hellohoratio.com) and conducts the monthly River Film Forum events centered around the exploration of life’s meaning through cinema. Born in Brazil, South America, where he spent most of his childhood, Wisler now lives on the south shore of Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife, daughter, and dog.

What inspires you to write?
I love storytelling because I believe it is uniquely equipped to help us understand life, ask difficult questions, and wrestle with the really scary, messy, and hard to deal with stuff that life throws at us. I have a background in philosophy, and I think stories are the way in which most people actually do the hard work of examining life that Socrates talked about when he said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

As a result, I have been inspired by a wide range of writers and stories because I’m alway is search of that next story that’s going to touch on something transcendent and make me walk away and have to ponder it and life for a while. I do have a particular love for science fiction and horror stories. I love being able to really dive into areas of life in stories that don’t always come up in casual daily life but that do pose very real ethical and practical issues when push comes to shove. We put ourselves in the shoes of the characters and ask ourselves how we would respond. I think this is such an important aspect of storytelling, both as one experiencing a story and as one writing a story. I learn so much about life and myself when I write.

Tell us about your writing process.
I definitely am an outliner. I think I’m pretty heavily influenced by how much screenwriting I have done. I find it incredibly helpful to start with a big picture idea of what the story is and then slowly breaking it down into a general sense of how the story will flow, then down further to the major beats, and finally a scene-by-scene outline. Then I’m ready to write a first draft.

For my novel, Unidentified, I actually wrote the feature length screenplay first. Then I wrote the first draft of the novel. So I had what was essentially an already incredibly detailed outline or blueprint (which is what a screenplay really is) to work from. But I also had a lot more freedom to dive into the inner lives of the characters when writing the novel that is not the case when writing a script. I’m doing the same thing now with the novel I’m currently writing, which is a time travel thriller called Stop.

For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I’m not sure I ever have had full conversations with characters I’m writing, but I do find that I like to spend time thinking about how they see the world and how they might respond to various situations, even if only internally. This is probably the most important thing to me: what’s going on inside their heads and hearts. I also do find it important to hear lines out loud as I’m writing, so I can consider how a given character would choose words and what would be emphasized.

Who are your favorite authors?
J.R.R Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Michael Crichton, John Grisham, Ray Bradbury, Andy Weir, Suzanne Collins, Ernest Hemingway.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
With Unidentified, I realized there was an opportunity to begin connecting with the film’s audience ahead of time by getting the story out there as a novel first. As an independent filmmaker, I need to be able to show to investors that there are people legitimately interested in this story before we shoot a single frame of the film. Plus, I had so much fun writing the script, I didn’t want the experience to end. So going right from the script writing into the novel writing was great. I also have been watching the world of self-publishing change dramatically over that past ten years, and it just seemed to me like the time was write to take this approach.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think in many ways all of media has become about abundant choices for consumers. I think book publishing much like music distribution is becoming more and more about connecting with specific niche audiences who are incredibly enthusiastic about a specific genre or type of characters and story. Sure, I think there will still be some place for the really big books that get read by a large cross section of the population. But I do think those will be much fewer in the future as new writers become more innovative and connect directly with their target audiences through the internet and get their books into their audience’s hands quickly and inexpensively. This is exciting because it allows authors to take bigger risks in their stories and maybe even publish stories traditional book publishers would turn down.

What genres do you write?
Science Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Non-Fiction (filmmaking)

What formats are your books in?
eBook, Print

Website(s)
Mikel J. Wisler Home Page Link
Link To Mikel J. Wisler Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

Filed Under: Interviews, Science Fiction Tagged With: abduction, Aliens, fbi, Horror, Mikel Wisler, sci-fi, Unidentified, X-Files

Follow Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Search our Site

Featured Books

Featured Book: Shut Up and Drink Your Gin by Scott Franklin

About Featured Book: Shut Up and Drink Your Gin by Scott Franklin It’s a voyage, it’s framework, it’s a toolkit! More than just a recipe book, this is your introduction to how and why cocktails work. How to find your first bottle, what makes a cocktail more than just mixers, and how to develop your […]

About Featured Book: Dark Ascensions by CMour B

About Featured Book: Dark Ascensions by CMour B Bendahrin lived an uncomplicated life as a collector of rare antiquities. On a whim, and for no reason that he could ever remember, he decided to invite the most powerful, evil sorceress in the galaxy to meet him on her home planet so he could attempt to […]

About Featured Book: Squatter’s Rights by Kevin R. Doyle

About Featured Book: Squatter's Rights by Kevin R. Doyle When private detective Sam Quinton sets out to solve the murders of a stripper and small-time gambler, he ends up in the middle of an organized crime war, testing Quinton’s loyalty to an old friend and making him the killers’ next target. While working to stay […]

Featured Book: Teaching Machines how To Cry by Dr. Paula Hidalgo-Sanchis

About Featured Book: Teaching Machines how To Cry by Dr. Paula Hidalgo-Sanchis In her late twenties, Alba moves back to her hometown, Porto, for a dream job. She is drawn towards an area of the city near a famous lighthouse, though she isn’t sure why. Even though she has had some health difficulties, including surgery […]

Featured Book: Sex Was God’s Idea: An Honest Look At Biblical Sexuality and The Rightful Role of Women by Dean Robertson

About Featured Book: Sex Was God’s Idea: An Honest Look At Biblical Sexuality and The Rightful Role of Women by Dean Robertson Heretic: a person who differs in opinion from established religious dogma. Well, this is clearly a convincing look at a subject that, “differs in opinion from established religious dogma”. Lust, marriage, sex, prostitution, […]

Categories

  • Action & Adventure
  • Activity Books
  • Audiobook
  • Audiobooks
  • Autobiographies
  • Bargain Books Under $3
  • Biblical Studies
  • Biographical Fiction
  • Biographies & Memoirs
  • Birds
  • Body/Mind/Spirit
  • Book and eReader Sleeves
  • BookGoodies Network Merch
  • Business Books
  • Buyer's Guides
  • Children and Young Adult Books
  • Children's – Education & Reference
  • Children's Activity Book
  • Children's Books
  • Children's eBooks
  • Christian Fiction
  • Christian Non-Fiction
  • Clean Romance
  • Coloring Books for Adults
  • Coloring Books for Kids
  • Comedy
  • Comic Books
  • Cowboy Romance
  • Cozy Mystery
  • Devotionals
  • Dogs
  • Drama
  • Educational/How-to
  • Erotic
  • Erotic Science Fiction
  • Erotica
  • Essays
  • Fairy Tale
  • Faith and Religion
  • Fantasy
  • Featured Book
  • Featured Books
  • Featured Free and Bargain Books
  • Features
  • Fiction
    • Romance
  • Fiction Audio Books
  • Fitness
  • Gifts for Book Lovers
  • Giveaways
  • Health & Fitness
  • Heat Level 1 – G Rated Clean Read
  • Heat Level 2 – PG
  • Heat Level 3 – PG-13
  • Heat Level 4 – R Rated
  • Heat Level 5 – NC-17
  • Historical
  • Historical Fiction
  • Historical Romance
  • Horror
  • Humor
  • Humor (Fiction)
  • Inspirational Books for You
  • Interviews
  • Journal
  • Journaling
  • Kindle Unlimited
  • Kindle Unlimited eBooks
  • Kindle Vella
  • Kindle Vella Serial
  • Limited Time Free Promotion
  • Love and Marriage
  • Magic
  • Memoir
  • Military Science Fiction
  • Music
  • Mystery
  • Mystery/Suspense
  • Mystery/Thriller
  • New Age
  • News
  • Non-fiction
  • Nonfiction Audio Books
  • Nonfiction Audiobooks
  • Paranormal
  • Paranormal Romance
  • Permafree
  • PermaFree Books
  • Personal Growth
  • Pet and Animal
  • Poetry
  • Print
  • Print Books
  • Prophecy
  • Regency Romance
  • Romance – Erotica
  • Romantic Suspense
  • Science Fiction
  • SciFi
  • Spiritual Growth
  • Thriller
  • Time Travel
  • Travel
  • Urban Fantasy
  • Western Romance
  • Women's Fiction
  • Women's Health
  • YA – Action and Adventure
  • YA – Fantasy
  • YA – Science Fiction
  • Young Adult

Podcasts with Writers

Interview with Author – Chasity Strawder

Mayhem 337: Memoir of a Combat Advisor in Afghanistan by Chad Rickard

Interview with Author – Sherabim Joy

Interview with Author – Susan Abraham

Inferno! by Tom Gormley

More Posts from this Category

Featured Books

Featured Book: An Attitude of Success: Four Dimensional Management by Byung-Koo Lee

Featured Book: Buried Treasure : Lost Worlds, A Search for Aztec by Hep Aldridge

Featured Book: The Exiled Prince by Jeana E. Mann

Featured Book: Escape to Osprey Cove by Luisa Gold

Featured Book: Of Men and Dragons: Jack's Landing by Steven Hayen

More Posts from this Category

Around the Site

  • Home
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Interview Submission
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sites in the BookGoodies Network

Copyright © 2023 · A BookGoodies Partner Site · Powered by WordPress and Genesis