Today is Saturday and you all know what that means here on The Bibliophagist…Saturday Spotlight!! I am so thankful that I am able to support authors by doing something such as this. I have had nothing but fantastic experiences with every author that has taken part.
Today I am happy to present an author who used events from his life to create a wonderful fantasy novel! Darran Handshaw!
About the Author
Darran’s Novel
The Engineer
Interview
Hello Darran. Thank you for joining us today. I hope you are well.
Could you tell your fans a little about your journey to becoming an author? What inspired you to write your first novel?
Writing fiction has been an on-and-off hobby of mine since I was a kid. I love to craft stories and tell them. I’ve got hard drives littered with half-finished old stories and novels that lost my interest. My first novel is a very personal story for me, and one of the best stories that I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of. That is what motivated me to actually make sure I finished it.
That is amazing! It must be strange looking back at all of your stories that you wrote as a child. I wrote a few stories as a child, nothing major. I tossed them though, never thinking I would actually write a novel.
Your book The Engineer is based on your character from a roleplaying RPG online game. Are all of these adventures ones that your character went through while you played? Could you give us an example of one that was exaggerated?
The adventures are all certainly based on or inspired by Actaeon’s actual experience on Redemption MUSH. However, I did outline the story to make sure it read like a proper novel, and during this process, I took creative liberties here and there to make the story more interesting and exciting for the reader. One example is the cross-faced raider plotline. The early scenes with the cross-faced raiders all took place in-game, but the plotline eventually sputtered out there. In the novel, I continue the plotline naturally in a way that wasn’t roleplayed, which you’ll read about in Act 2 of the story.
I think to be able to do that takes great skill and it definitely worked for your novel.
Actaeon is your character from the RPG, but how close does he compare to you with regards to characteristics? How much of yourself do you see in him? Could you share a picture of your character, if you have one?
We’re both engineers, and we’re both quick on our feet (I’m a firefighter and Actaeon is confronted with a variety of situations where he has to get out of trouble quickly). I also poke a bit fun at myself through Actaeon by making him very verbose – you might recall some scenes where Trench and Wave gripe at him about it. We both have a good sense of humor too, but Actaeon is generally much more positive than I am – in fact, he tends to put a positive spin on even the worst of situations. He’s also much smarter than I am. In a world where there is no established scientific method, he’s gone a long way to try and figure one out. In some of these ways, I suppose you can say that I’d aspire to be more like Actaeon.
I did love how Actaeon always put a positive spin on things. Story writing is a wonderful thing, we take something as simple as an idea and it turns into something much more. In this case, the character you initially based on yourself is now someone you’d aspire to be more similar to.
Below are photos of Actaeon and Eisandre from our old character sheets. They are just look-alike photos – I’ve got no rights to them.
This book is full of action and I loved the more gruesome details. Could you share with us one of your favorite scenes in the book and tell us a little about why it is your favorite?
My favorite scenes in the book involved Eisandre’s turning point. Late into Act 3, she’s confronted with a major decision that impacts every aspect of her life, and the way she handles it is amazing. It was a very fun discovery for me, when, in writing those scenes, I realized that she’s the true hero of the story in The Engineer.
It is funny how you can write but it ends up being the characters who tell the story, not solely you. Sometimes we underestimate our characters until we throw something like that at them.
Were the secondary characters in this story other players within your RPG world or were they NPC characters? How did you go about giving them their own personalities?
Some of the secondary characters were other players, but a good deal of them were NPCs that I played in the game world. In many cases, I obtained permission from the players to use their characters in the story, and if I did anything controversial with them, I ran it past the player first. For those characters, I tried to stay as true to their personality as I could – of course, the narrator has his own interpretation. In other cases, I replaced circumstantial characters with different characters of my own creation. The NPCs that I played in-game included Trench, Wave, Gunther Arcady, Itarik, and Phyrius Ricter, to name a few. Their vastly different personalities were fascinating to explore for me.
I love that you went out of your way to ask permission to use characters from other people prior to writing the story. That is a great show of your character and respect. NPC characters are very fun to explore and it seems you had many to manipulate in your novel.
Are you working on anything new at the moment that you could share with your readers?
I’m working steadily on a standalone sequel to The Engineer. It starts in the middle of a war and will have a much different feel than The Engineer to start. There will be some new settings within Redemption that I’ll explore, including the Loresworn headquarters of Travail, and the mysterious jungle Underforest in the middle of the city. Old settings like Pyramid will also be revisited in interesting ways. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the new novel is that it is only very loosely based on old roleplay events, so I really get to carve a new story out.
Oooh, that sounds exciting. The freedom to really create a new story must feel fantastic.
Obviously, you used to play RPG games but what things do you currently do when you are not writing? What are some of your hobbies?
Most of my time these days is split between my wonderful family, my wife, Stefanie, and son, Corwin, and my service as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. Right now I serve my local fire department as 2nd Assistant Chief – which keeps me busy with alarms and activities before and after my work day. I also kayak, hike, build legos, and shoot recurve bow (a hobby I was inspired to learn after playing Actaeon for a while).
Wow, you have a busy life. I think it is super cool that you picked up a hobby from your character. Thank you for your service as a volunteer firefighter and EMT as well. I don’t think first responders are thanked enough.
Many people like getting a behind the scenes look, would you be willing to share an image of your writing space with us?
Sure! 
My wife is a huge fan of the four monitors! The window to the left has a year-round view of the Long Island Sound on nice days. This is my new workspace though – my old one, where I spent most of my time writing The Engineer, was in the dark, damp dungeon of my old house’s basement. So I’m enjoying my upgrade!
My wife is a huge fan of the four monitors! The window to the left has a year-round view of the Long Island Sound on nice days. This is my new workspace though – my old one, where I spent most of my time writing The Engineer, was in the dark, damp dungeon of my old house’s basement. So I’m enjoying my upgrade!I have to agree with your wife…four monitors is amazing! I think that is a wonderful upgrade as well, glad you are able to enjoy it.
For fun, Would you rather be in a room full of giant slug creatures (hint hint…his book has these!) with an illuminary and nothing to clean yourself with or a sword and access to fresh water?
I think you know the answer to that question. As a firefighter, I know it is always important to have a light for those dark environments where slug creatures might be hiding out! No amount of fresh water can stop giant slugs from devouring me, after all.
I did know the answer! I actually laughed at your response, I love it!
Writing is something personal and you took that to an entirely new level using your experiences within this game. I love how it is also the story of how you came to know your wife. Could you give any advice to readers who struggle to get the words onto the page?
The fact that it was such an important story helped me to keep motivated. I always joked around that I’d give the book to my son one day and tell him ‘This is how I met your mother!’. He was a motivation too, given that he was born while I was writing it. The best advice I could give an aspiring author is to set regular time aside every week to write – no matter how busy you are. It will eventually get done. I spent 3 full years writing and editing my 225,000 word novel. So yes, it can be done. Write on!
Great advice. I agree that having a specific time set aside would help.
I want to thank Darran Handshaw again for being a wonderful participant in Saturday Spotlight! I love that he took something so personal and turned it into a published novel. The fact that he kept all of his old stories is also amazing. If you have not checked out his novel yet, be sure to grab a copy and dive into this epic adventure.
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