Walter Jury was born in
London, has a background in the film industry, is a big fan of the New York
Giants, and he’s enthusiast of Jamba Juice’s Protein Berry Workout smoothie
only with soy, never whey. SCAN is his first book for teens. Under his real name,
Walter is a producer of one of 2014’s biggest blockbusters.
What would you like readers
to take away from your book?
This is fun, escapist reading
for the action-adventure/sci-fi (but not too heavy sci-fi) fan. To expound on that, at the core, this is the
story about a boy coming of age and using the skills that his domineering father
drilled into him during what could be the start of an intergalactic war!
Which character did you have
the most fun writing about?
I love Tate. This is his journey. He faces the ultimate moments of discipline,
sadness, and adversity--he is run through a virtual gauntlet of experiences. It is intense to see him battle and fight
through the obstacles that are laid in front of him--and he has a very Steve
McQueen-esque heart of gold under an exterior of toughness that we get to learn
about and love.
What was your greatest
roadblock, and how did you overcome it?
Without question, my toughest
moments are trying to (a) work through a mythology and (b) stay true to that
mythology while keeping characters true to their journey and motivations.
Sometimes it's tough to not write the idealized version of how I would want to
live my life and learn from my own mistakes. But you always have to remind
yourself that these characters have their own story, their own history, their
own limited and unlimited life experiences.
That is what sometimes makes it tough.
Can you give us one do and
one don’t for those aspiring to be a writer?
To aspiring writers, the main
advice I would give is to surround yourself with people who truly have the
expertise to provide you feedback on your work.
It's great that a friend or family member will give you a thumbs up, but
to achieve the highest levels of achievement in the brutally competitive
industries of professional writing, whether it's publishing, screenwriting,
journalism or the like, it is paramount to be surrounded by people whose daily
living is to judge and shape the merits of great writing. There is no substitute for receiving feedback
from the top experts in your field of choice.
Any other advice or feedback is simply not going to cut it and will not
help you.
What one thing about writing
you wish other non-writers would understand?
I'm going to give you a
Hollywood pet peeve answer--more about screenwriters than about non-writers
generally. I wish that non-writers and Hollywood fans in general would
understand how difficult it is to attach talented cast and filmmakers onto a
project. There are always such loud and
boisterous complaints about casting choices and filmmaker choices on high
profile projects. But film projects are
extremely difficult to put together and attracting top talent to projects is a
gargantuan feat. One studio
executive/producer I know refers to the filmmaking process as "herding
cats!"
What was the last book to
keep you up at night reading it?
Leigh Bardugo's SIEGE &
STORM. It's amazing--I highly recommend
the entire Grisha Trilogy.
What do you do to make time
for yourself?
I try hard to get great
family time in. It is something that I
need to schedule between all of my jobs and duties. But very important to focus on!
How can readers get in
contact with you?
SCAN is a sci-fi thriller for
teens that’s MacGyver meets War of the Worlds.
Tate and his father don’t
exactly get along. As Tate sees it, his father has unreasonably high
expectations for Tate to be the best—at everything. Tate finally learns what he’s being prepared
for when he steals one of his dad’s odd tech inventions and mercenaries ambush
his school, killing his father and sending Tate on the run from aliens who look
just like humans.
All Tate knows—like how to
make weapons out of oranges and lighter fluid—may not be enough to save him as
he’s plunged into a secret inter-species conflict that’s been going on for
centuries. Aided only by his girlfriend
and his estranged mother, with powerful enemies closing in on all sides, Tate
races to puzzle out the secret behind his father’s invention and why so many
are willing to kill for it.
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