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Noteworthy

11 April 2012

Award Winning Author James Rubart Talks about One of His Characters and The Chair on the Cover of His Book

Your Clash Hostess: Gail Pallotta

Gail: At Clash of the Titles we always like to hear about good books. What was your top reading pick last year? 
James: Forbidden by Dekker and Lee.


When's your favorite time to write? 
When my family is off doing other things so I don’t wish I was with them instead of writing. And when the house is completely quiet. Some authors like music when they write. I need absolute silence.
Silence with no distractions to interrupt concentration sounds good.


Where do your best ideas come from?
Hmmm, I don’t know. I don’t mean that flippantly. Most of the time they pop into my head unannounced. I’ll be driving down the road or working out, or watching TV and boom! An idea explodes in my mind.


The creative process and how it works for each of us is interesting to explore. How about snacks? Do you like to have something nearby as you write. If so, what? 
Sunflower seeds. I go through quite a few in the course of a manuscript.


A great, crisp treat to munch on. Would you share something about your latest book that you think readers would like to know? 
The main character (A.C.) isn’t based on a real person. It IS a real person. Everything about A.C. in the book is true—he’s a larger than life friend I thought would make a great character and I think he does.


What a nice tribute to A. C. Tell us a little about your book cover? Did you have input for it? If so, what did you suggest? 
Yes. B&H has been tremendous to work with on all my covers. They asked for input, brainstormed with me, and ran all mock- ups by me for my input. One suggestion I had was to move the chair back farther on the cover so the reader sees less of it. Since it’s supposed to be a representation of a chair from the time of Christ (which we searched and searched for but couldn’t find) I wanted less of it to show so people didn’t wonder why the chair looked more modern than it should.


How interesting. Did you supply the blurb for the back cover?  
For all my B&H books I’ve written the initial back cover copy and then sent it to Karen Ball who tweaks it, edits it, writes her own, makes suggestions, and together we come up with the final version. Have to say Karen is an incredibly talented back cover copy writer. She takes my start and makes it much more powerful.


Thanks, James. Here’s James's question for us.
If you could take only three books to a desert island, what would they be?

Ahh, a good one. We’ll find out about even more great books to read.The voting has ended, but you can see the covers and read the blurbs here. Be sure to enter to win a book by leaving a comment here or on facebook Come back on Friday when we'll announce the winner.
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Item Reviewed: Award Winning Author James Rubart Talks about One of His Characters and The Chair on the Cover of His Book Rating: 5 Reviewed By: Gail Pallotta
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