Brandon Mull on Being the Best Author You Can Be

Warren Workman: Hey, welcome back to part three of with our interview with Brandon Mull, New York Times' best-selling author for the Fablehaven series, and The Candy Shop Wars.

Hey, I have just gotten word that your movie Fablehaven has just been optioned by the same guy who did Spider-man, X-Men, and the new Iron Man movie coming out.

Brandon Mull: Ok, yeah. So Fablehaven is being made into a movie by Avi Arad, the guy who produced Spider-man, and X-Men and some really cool movies. And, my involvement is something that I'm going to be discovering as I go. I mean, in general I theoretically have a seat at the table. I can be involved in some of the creative decisions, and give my input on how things progress as it goes through screenplay and things like that. I do not have like veto power, I had to kind of like sign that away to get them to agree to be part of the project.

Warren: Now, not to take away from Fablehaven, but you have also written another book called Candy Shop Wars, which has also been optioned for a movie. Uh, it's by New Regency, I think. What's the deal with that?

Brandon: It's, it's a similar kind of thing. You know, that, that they bought the option to try to develop the project, and uh, I get to have input. And, and, and again, we'll see how it goes. Theoretically, I've been invited to be involved. But, I'm not the guy writing the screenplay though.

Warren: Hey Brandon, I loved The Candy Shop Wars, but it had a really hard ending. It's going to be really hard to bring up another type of story along that same line. But are you still thinking about staying in the Candy Shop Wars universe, at all?

Brandon: You know, I get asked that a lot. And, and I have some ideas in mind, for maybe a follow up someday for Candy Shop Wars. You're right it would be kind of starting a new story, but using, kind of that universe that's been created, those rules that have been created, um, and some of the characters that have been created. Um, in the immediate future I have no plans to write a sequel. But I do, on my back burner in my brain, I keep thinking about possible follow-ups. 'Cause, I like some of the characters John Dart, and, and uh some of the...And I, I kind of like that universe. I think I could find some more stories to tell there.

Warren: Now, Brandon, I was on www.brandonmull.com earlier today, and it says that you have a couple books that you want to do that are completely out of the worlds of Fablehaven and The Candy Shop War. Can you give us a little bit of insight on what your plans are?

Brandon: Um, the soonest thing I have is that there'll be a trilogy of books that'll kind of follow-up Fablehaven, and I'm already actively working on them. The basic premise is, you've got about a 16 year-old kid who's gonna cross over into another world, and go on an adventure. And, I think I've got a really unique, um, kind of world built. I think I can make it into a really awesome story. Um, but I'll, I'll say more about that as we get a little closer. That's still probably a couple of years out. But, I've all...I've got lots of plans for stand alones and series, outside Fablehaven, and Candy Shop.

Warren: Hey, Brandon, here at Tips.Net we want to let our author's know, what kind of hints they can have to go from just coming out of obscurity, into kind of migrate into the path you've been able to get to, but having a best seller. What kind of advice would you give them?

Brandon: Um, I would say to...you know, new writers pay attention to the feedback you get from editors, and publishers and agents as you submit your stuff. Um, it, for me it was responding to feedback from an editor that prompted me to write Fablehaven in the first place. And, and that's, and that was the book that ended up, you know, getting my career started. So from my direct experience, it's, it's pay attention to the feedback you get, and then do anything to get your books in front of decision makers so you can get that feed back.

Warren: Hey, thanks Brandon. It's been great having you here on Tips.Net.

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