By Rose DesRochers

Bobby Nash is a a writer of novels, short stories, graphic novels and comic books. Bobby has written several titles for a variety of comic publishers including Avatar Press, Odyssey Comics FYI Comics, and Arcana Studios among others. I met up with Bobby on Twitter and he took some time out from tweeting and writing to answer a few questions about his writing career.

Rose DesRochers: When did you start writing?
 

Bobby Nash: As a teenager I started writing comic book stories that I could draw because I wanted to be a comic book artist. Then my artist friends started asking me to write stories for them to draw. I quickly realized I was better at the writing and focused on that and eventually sold my first story.

Then one day I said, “I want to write a novel.” So I did. It was terrible, but I finished it. That was a science fiction novel. Then, taking what I learned from writing that first one, I wrote novel #2, which was eventually published. That novel is Evil Ways, a suspense thriller. I seem to do the thrillers well so I’m focused on that genre.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Bobby, how did you get into the comic book industry?

Dumb luck and a lot of work. As I mentioned, I started out doing my own comics, then working with others to produce comics. This eventually led t working for some small press publishers and getting my first work published. I also did comic strips for a newspaper magazine. All of these things helped me learn the importance of deadlines and kept me writing, which helped me learn more about the process of writing and collaborating on projects.

One evening I emailed every publisher I could find an email address for a letter asking if they were open to submissions. I was new to the internet and did not think to check their sites for submission information. I only received one reply and it was to tell me that they were not looking for writers at that time. A month later I received another email from them saying they needed a writer and asked if I would do a writing sample. I did and started working on Demonslayer with Marat Mychaels at Avatar Press. It was my first color comic book and my first professional comic book writing credit.

What do you enjoy most about writing comic books?

Comic books are fun. I enjoy collaborating with talented artists and seeing how they bring my words to life in a way that makes the story better. There is nothing as exciting as getting scans of art in my inbox.

As a child what was your favorite comic book?

Spider-man. The first comics I remember owning (and I still have them) were Amazing Spider-man issues 192, 193, and 194. They came in a 3-pack my Mom bought for me in a supermarket checkout line. A lot of great stuff happened in those three issues.

I like to say that Spider-man got me into comics and the Fantastic Four made me stay.

I see that you are both a writer of comic books and of novels. What’s your favorite genre to write?

In comics I’m not sure if I have a favorite because I’ve been blessed to be able to tell a diverse number of stories in multiple genres. Each project has a different feel because you work with different artists.

For novels, I think my best work happens when writing thrillers.

Writing short stories is great because it allows me to try other genres on a smaller scale. For example, I recently wrote my first western short story and am currently working on some horror and weird tales. The short stories allow me to dip my toe into other genres.

Who has been some of your biggest influences?

Oh, this could be a long list so I’ll just say that I pull influences from other writers whose work I read as well as from life happening around me. Over the past few years I’ve gotten to know many writers either through publishers, conventions, writers conferences, or social networking and there are several groups of writers out there that support and influence each other. Talking with other creative people always influences me and sparks my creative energy.

How long did it take you to write your book Evil Ways?

Evil Ways took six months to write. Then I spent 5 years trying to sell it. HA! HA! During that time I did a few rewrites, the most major of them just before I sold it.

As an accomplished writer and artist, what has been your most rewarding project to date?

That’s like having to choose between your children. I’m very proud of Evil Ways because it was a major accomplishment in my life. Overall, probably the most rewarding project is the Life In The Faster Lane comic strip that originally ran in the monthly Keeping Up With Kids magazine for twelve years. These all-ages strips featured cartoon versions of my parents and brother in humorous family situations. It was well received and my family and I had big laughs over them. I’m currently working on putting them in book form, but I also post them online at fasterlane.blogspot.com.

Tell us about Domino Lady.

Domino Lady is a pulp character who originally appeared in six stories in the 1930’s. I want to say 1936, but that may not be accurate. Domino Lady would write letters to the villains she planned to confront, detailing out exactly what she planned to do to them. Then she did it. Also, she was not afraid to use her feminine wiles to get what she wanted. The tales were rather saucy in the 1930’s, though considered far less so today. Ron Fortier contacted a few writers about doing new stories with the classic pulp character and after a few bumps along the way the book ended up at Moonstone Books where it came out to rave reviews. I hope the sales were enough to warrant revisiting the character. She was a lot of fun to write.

What are you working on right now?

As I write novels, comic books, and short stories, I always have several projects going at one time. Currently, I am working on a novel, a thriller titled Blood Shot. At the moment I’m roughly 50,000 words into it. The Evil Ways sequel, Evil Intent, is also in the works and I’ll focus on it after Blood Shot is completed.

Short stories in production or awaiting publication include A Fistful of Legends (western), Ravenwood: Stepson of Mystery (pulp), Secret Agent X (pulp), Weird Tales From The Zero Hour (horror), Green Hornet & Kato (pulp), and more Lance Star: Sky Ranger (pulp).

Comic Books and graphic novels in production or awaiting publication include Yin Yang (graphic novel coming 2010), Operation Silver Moon (comic book series coming 2010), Urbnpop Comics (4 issues, #1 out now, #2 in December), Bloody Olde Englund (graphic novel coming 2010), and Lance Star: Sky Ranger (he’s everywhere).

Plus there are always a few things just waiting for me to get back to them or I can’t talk about yet.

What are your long term goals?

“New York Times Best-selling Author Bobby Nash.” It’s a dream I’m striving for, but there is still a ways to go. I’d love to make a decent living from my writing. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m working on it. I have a lot of stories I want to tell and hopefully there are publishers interested in them.

Do you have any book signings coming up?

Only a few dates left in 2009, but I’ll be putting up my 2010 schedule soon.

The Urbnpop “No Rest til I’m Dead” Tour finishes up on these dates.

Friday, October 23, 2009: Richard’s Comics in Greenville, South Carolina. richards-collectables.com

Saturday, October 24, 2009: The Greenville Comic Con in Greenville, South Carolina. greenvillecomiccon.com

Sunday, November 15, 2009: The Atlanta Comic Convention in Atlanta, GA. atlantacomicconvention.com

Are there any books that you would you recommend to aspiring writers?

None that spring to mind. I know there are some How To writing books out there, but I really haven’t read many of them. What worked for me was learning from the novels, comics, shorts, magazines, or whatever I read. Your mileage may vary, however.

What advice would you give to a writer wishing to break into the comic book industry?

Learn patience. Trust me, this is tough. I am not the most patient man in the world, but it takes time. Treat it like a job. Getting hired is one thing, but then you have to perform, you have to meet deadlines, and you have to collaborate. If you’re a writer, listen to your artists. They have good ideas too. Artists, listen to your writers. You are a team and when the team meshes together you get a great book and a fun experience. Treat it like a job is the best comic advice I can give.

Thank you for taking the time to speak to me. Before we go where could one go to find out more about you?

I’m all over the internet and social media scene. Here’s just a few of the places you can find me. I’m fairly easy to get in touch with and I always answer emails and direct messages through these sites.

bobby-nash-news.blogspot.com (up to the minute news and announcements)
bobbynash.com (working on updating this now)
fasterlane.blogspot.com (Life In The Faster Lane comic strips)
twitter.com/bobbynash
facebook.com/bobbyenash
myspace.com/bobbynash
comicspace.com/bobbynash

About the Author: Rose DesRochers is a published poet and freelance writer. Rose has been writing poetry for more than 20 years. She is also the founder of http://www.todayswriting.com , a supportive online writing community fand http://www.bloggertalk.net  a community where bloggers connect.

Visit her new blog at http://rosedesrochers.todays-woman.net