{INTERVIEW} Benjamin Mester, Author of THE BANISHED LANDS

Benjamin Mester is native of San Diego but can often be found wandering the woods of northern Minnesota.  He fell in love with language at an early age – the eloquence of poetry or the grandeur of an epic story.  Fantasy is his favorite genre, crafting new and magical places of heroism and adventure.  When he isn't writing, he's often taking long walks through nature or wondering about his place in the wide world.

Benjamin is the author of The Banished Lands series.

You can visit him on Goodreads.

We welcome you to My Bookish Pleasures! Can you tell us how you got started writing fiction?

I actually lived in Southeast Asia, in Cambodia, for a year in my mid twenties doing volunteer work. The culture was so rich and different that it really sparked my creative process.  Describing new places and new peoples was intoxicating.  Language became vibrant and alive and I realized how beautiful writing was as a craft.  

Describe your writing process. Do you plot or write by the seat of your pants? When and where do you write?

I like to write as much by the seat of my pants as possible.  I think I write better when I maintain an element of mystery, not knowing myself exactly what's going to happen.  It helps keep my world and

characters more vibrant, to myself at least and hopefully for the reader.  When and where do I write?  It's funny, depending on the scene, I write in a lot of different locations and times.  If the scene is somewhat chaotic, like a celebration with many main characters attending, it actually helps me to be in an environment like that.  I'll go to a coffee shop with people coming and going, music playing softly in the background and the hum of conversation.  I always save my pensive character monologues for early morning, cup of coffee in hand, when the day is fresh.  And since I'm by no means weathly, for everything else, I just write when I can make the time.

Can you tell us about your most recent release?

Yes!  After a decade, I'm finally finished with The Banished Lands series.  It's an epic fantasy saga, your bread and butter struggle of good vs evil.

How did you get the idea for the book?

I've always loved poetry as a genre and wanted to combine it with fantasy, not in a cute or token way, but to actually make it integral to the story.  I love the mysterious feel of poetry, when the reader can sense that there's something more just out of reach but can't quite put words to the meaning.  I wanted to take that feeling and combine it with fantasy in a way I don't think has been done before.

Of all your characters, which one is your favorite? Why?

Baron is my favorite character.  Starting off, he's just a supporting character, the classic happy-go-lucky comedian type.  But time progresses and significant changes happen, and he eventually steals the spotlight by the end of the series.  I like Baron because though his personality never really changes, once he finds something worth living for, he becomes a new man. There's a line at the end of a Robert Frost poem that I really love that I think describes Baron's development and all genuine human maturity:

They would not find me changed from him they knew.

Only more sure of all I thought was true.

Baron never abandons the core of who he is, but he matures into a person of passion.  Though light-hearted and juvenille at times, he always knew deep down that life was meant to be fought for.  Once he finds his passion, he becomes the man he's always wanted to become.  It's the kind of transformation we all long for.  Psychologists call it self-actualization.  I feel like writing his transformation as a character helped me to understand more about myself and what it means to live to the full.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing your book?

The beginning of my first book for sure.  I spent hundreds of hours getting the first four or five chapters right.  I don't like to start off with a bunch of shock and awe or action, so it was difficult making my introduction compelling enough that people would want to continue.  The story starts off in a back water fishing village in the corner of the kingdom.  There isn't a whole lot going on and that's not very compelling.  Connecting the introduction with the overarching storyline and making it compelling was a huge challenge.

What projects are you currently working on?

Taking a much needed break :)

What advice would you offer to new or aspiring fiction authors?

Writing is pure work until you've written enough of your story that you actually start to fall in love with it.  Then it becomes fun.  Don't get discouraged but keep writing – little snippets of dialog, character monologues, descriptions and narrations.  Eventually, you'll go back through what you've written and realize you're actually starting to care about what happens to your characters and developing your story.  That's when the real writing begins but it can be a lot of work to get there.  Most people never get very far past the outline phase because it feels like too much work.  But you've just got to power through and know it'll eventually become fun.