INTERVIEWING BRIAN CONTE

With sadness, the author passed away before this interview was to be published. With respect to his wish, I decided to still post this interview. Jeyran Main

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always wanted to try it, but honestly, this book was intended to be just a birthday gift for my son. But I sent it in the publishers because why not, and six of them accepted it. I was very surprised but happy.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I don’t know if it’s a quirk, but in my book, I tried to get the writing to mature along with Zeb over the course of the book. There is a dramatic difference in the complexity of the writing at the end versus the beginning.

How did you get your book published?

I sent it in to about a dozen publishers, and six accepted it.

Where did you get the information or ideas for your book?

The book is based on a real adventure that Zeb and I had. We went to a desert island for three weeks. The first two entries are exactly the entries that Zeb wrote in our journal for those two days. On the third day, we kayaked to the nearest island, about a mile away. It was calm and there was no problem getting there and back. But later, I started thinking, “What if a storm caught us midway back to our island?“ It was entirely possible because the storms came up quickly out of nowhere. This book explores that scenario.

The story integrates many parts of our actual adventure as well. Taly, the “Wanderer” homemade boat, the shark incident, and most of all the tree are all from our real adventure.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I love reading magical realism books. I tried to include some magical realism in the story, especially the boy and the tree.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?

Honestly that it was publishable and that people seem to like it. I didn’t consider myself a writer.

Is there anything you would like to confess about as an author?

When I first gave it to Zeb for his birthday, I asked him about it a couple of weeks later. He said “honestly, dad, it’s kind of mediocre.” Lol. So then I started a rewriting cycle. I rewrote it at least a dozen times, and cut down the size of it in half, before I finally considered it done. But I’ll never forget the first review Zeb gave me. 

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