1. Are you a morning writer or a night writer?
Mostly at night. I do a lot of work lying in bed at night before sleeping, or at my desk during the day. I was always the type of person who needs an active imaginative scenario to get to sleep - thus I emerged from completing my advanced degrees in music with the full event structure of my epic fantasy series, Tales Of The Ocean City, in my mind.
2. Do you outline or are you a pantster?
As I mentioned above, I began with the overall event structure for about eight books. I am finishing book eight now. However, when I reach each point I have planned out in my mind, anything can happen and new plot streams are constantly flowing.
For example,
Tales Of The Ocean City tells the tale of a young civilization turning the corner into the future. The city as a whole must do this by facing a terrible enemy from the deepest past, The Vorm - with whom they co-evolved in ages past on their ancestral isle. The main characters are young Harl’ut and his lifelong companion, Vispushin - who is a perianth (a kind of telepathic pegasus). They are very close, like family. They speak to each other mind-to-mind. Harl’ut too must face the past. At the end of book two he undergoes an initiation adventure where he descends into the volcanic mountain, Pla’than’taa - from the belly of which The Ocean City was delved. There, he interacts with personifications of past god-like figures and battles a terrific monster. He then leads a cadre of young warriors into the Vorm Hive on a vital mission.
There are many autobiographical elements in the story…and when I realized they were present, certain parts of the story burgeoned out, most especially the relationship between the main characters, Harl’ut and Vispushin. Perianths are based on my animal family members!
3. Which comes first – plot or character?
Hard to say. They evolve at the same time originally, then the needs of a character may lead, or the plot leads and the character fulfills it.
4. Noise or quiet when working on your manuscript?
Quiet.
5. Favorite TV show?
Star Trek.
6. Favorite type of music?
I am a professional composer. In fact, the first two books of TOC have effulgent audio albums filled with cinematic symphonic music, narration and sound design and are an intrinsic element to my works. My favorite music is that of Igor Stravinsky.
7. Favorite craft besides writing?
For my works I create the graphically illustrated pages, story and music. Some of my works are also live shows, such as The Phantastic Zoo. For these I create performance films filled with illustrative art with the music attached and then I perform voice acting and the like and include dancers and actors in the presentation.
8. Do you play a musical instrument?
Yes. As a trained music artist, I compose, play keyboards and other instruments; I was an oboe major in High School, sang the bass solos in Messiah, and I conduct orchestras in performances of my own music.
9. Single or married?
I am married to a wonderful woman named Maryclare Scerbo - best thing I ever did for myself was to marry her.
10. Children or no?
We have a glorious daughter. For Sophie, I’ve created a series for family-based theatrical works filled with imaginative fantasy stories and orchestral music. We performed them many times. Now she is 15 and has grown out of that phase. Thus, I now work full time on Tales Of The Ocean City (which I term YA Plus - where adult fantasy lovers are a chief part of the audience) and promote my works.
11. Pets?
Yup. We are in pet heaven. Two rescue pets, a terrier-style pup named Angel and a gorgeous black cat named Pluto. Angel was left to die in a box with her siblings, but Second Chance Rescue found her and saved her. Pluto survived the hurricane in Puerto Rico. They are amazing family members!
12. Favorite place to write?
In bed, in the car, in my studio, in a tent..but no green eggs and ham.
13. Favorite restaurant?
A place called Tanoreen here in Brooklyn. Excellent Mediterranean food.
14. Do you work outside the home?
Yes. I travel and teach music and write in the car when waiting to pick up my daughter. I also present concert events and perform in theaters, concert halls and botanical gardens.
15. What was the name of the last movie you saw?
We saw The Return Of The King with a live 280-piece orchestra in Radio City Music Hall. Incredible.
16. Favorite outdoor activity?
Walking Angel in the park. I also write in the park.
17. Pet peeve?
When people drive up beside me with their music blasting out of their windows…and shatter my thoughts, which are often Tales Of The Ocean City related.
18. Your goal in life?
All of my works celebrate the transformative power of imagination. I believe in that power as demonstrated in the fine arts and, especially, great fantasy stories. Much of my work is about feeding and growing imagination in one way or another. I hope people experience my work and then feel differently about how they experience the world around them. Imagination is the highest function of the human mind - it gives us art, music and scientific theories…and helps us envision a better future for ourselves and our civilization. It has been damaged in many ways in our modern lives. Fantasy can help cure this.
19. Your most exciting moment?
When my daughter was born. No Question.
20. The love of your life?
Wife and Daughter, Angel and Pluto. My family.
Christopher Kaufman is an author, composer, presenter, illustrative artist and performer. He started imaginative fantasy books with illustrative art at the age of nine. During high school years he found music and attended The New Orleans Center for The Creative Arts and went on to major in music composition in college. He finished his schooling – earning his DMA in music composition at Cornell University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize Winning composers who prize his abilities as a composer.
Christopher is the type of person who needs imaginative fantasy scenarios to get to sleep. Therefore, he emerged from Cornell, not only with his degrees in music, but with the full event structure for his classic epic fantasy series Tales Of The Ocean City in his mind.
He began writing the story down in the early 2000’s, but it did not really come to life until he developed his home music ‘laboratory’ and started creating the music and text at the same time. Thus books one and two of TOC came about simultaneously as both graphically illustrated pages and effulgent audio albums filled with cinematic epic symphonic music.
They exist now as physical books and audio albums (that go together) and the new Video Book version. He performs live tours with the music pouring through speakers, live narration and the colorful pages streaming on screen – a true immersive multi-media experience.
He also maintains his career as a composer for the concert stage with a full body of work, from solo works thru orchestral. He specializes as well in ‘environmental works’ which feature soundscapes crafted from hundreds of natural sounds, live musicians (from soloists, chamber groups and to full orchestra), videos filled with both natural and artistic images and readings from the works of John Muir and others.
Kaufman’s books feature full-page graphic illustration and go-with audio albums filled with epic cinematic music, narration and sound design. All available, with generous discount packages, at kaufmantales.com (epubs and the new Video Book version available there!).
His author page is talesoftheoceancity.com.
His you-tube channel is SOUNDARTUS.
Visit him at Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/talesoftheoceancity.
Christopher believes in the transformative power of imagination.
“Live with imagination!”
Title: Tales of the Ocean City: Battle in the Sky (Book 1)
Tales of the Ocean City: Descent Into the Abyss (Book 2)
Author: Christopher Kaufman
Publisher: Three Dashes Publications
Genre: Classic Epic Fantasy
A young civilization is turning the corner into the future, but first they must face a terrible enemy from their deepest past – THE VORM.
The main characters are a young man named Harl’ut and his lifelong companion Vispushin – who is a perIanth, a kind of telepathic pegasus. Join them on this epic adventure as they lead a group of young warriors into the heart of the Vorm Hive.
Book One: Battle In The Sky is the first of five books which comprise the opening series of this epic tale. Here, Harl’ut and Vispushin and The Princess Bryn’lynn, engage in desperate battle over the southern plain with savage Vorm warriors. You will be uplifted by the passionate and thrilling conclusion of the first installment of this fantasy adventure.
In Book Two: Descent Into The Abyss, Harl’ut recovers from his harrowing adventure from Book One: Battle In The Sky. He walks through the streets of The Ocean City, visits the Sculpture Garden and his friend, Elá, the bard, and engages in exciting training games with warrior/mentor, Calanctus. Then the story takes you down the throat of the vast volcano, Pla’than’taa, once worshipped as a god, where Harl’ut enacts a deadly initiation ritual, confronts the barbaric past of his people and battles a terrifying monster.
Pick up your copies at https://kaufmantales.com/.
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