“If I could go back in time and tell 22-year-old me not to go into TV, but instead to center on what your heart was, the writing, and the creating stories, and creating characters and people. Do that instead.” — Aspry Jones
In this episode of the How To Write the Future podcast, host Beth Barany talks to sci-fi fantasy author Aspry Jones, about his writing journey from TV and comics to fantasy, including the importance of representing diversity in his characters. Together, they share the challenges of independent publishing, being a fan of science fiction, and the excitement of his debut novel, Protectors of the Light Crown.
ABOUT ASPRY JONES
Broadcast TV industry veteran Aspry Jones, from Asbury Park, NJ hits the literary scene. Growing up a comic book geek and chronic TV watcher, it was a given for this author to seek a career in television. Having retired from the profession after 25 years, Aspry has returned to his first love, writing, with debut novel, "Protectors Of The Light Crown.”
Website: http://aspryjones.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asprywrites/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aspry.jones
ABOUT THE HOW TO WRITE THE FUTURE PODCAST
The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers and get curious about the future of humanity.
ABOUT BETH BARANY
Beth Barany, an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist, teaches novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor.
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- SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
- SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
c. 2025 BETH BARANY
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Email: beth@bethbarany.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
BETH BARANY (00:00):
Welcome everyone to How to Write the Future.
(00:02):
I'm your host, Beth Barany.
I am a writing teacher,creativity coach, speaker,
podcaster, and novelist.
I love science, fiction andfantasy, and I have this podcast
to bring in resources forwriters and anyone who cares
about the future because Ibelieve with creativity and our
imaginations, we can help shapea better world for everyone.
(00:24):
I'm so excited to have a specialguest with me today, sci-fi
fantasy novelist, Aspry JonesAspry, welcome.
So glad you're here.
ASPRY JONES (00:32):
Hi Beth.
Thank you very much for havingme.
I'm very excited.
BETH BARANY (00:35):
Excellent.
So everyone gets understandingof who you are.
I'm gonna read your awesome biothat you sent me.
Get to know Aspry.
Broadcast TV industry veteranAspry Jones from Ashbury Park,
New Jersey hits the literaryscene.
Growing up, a comic book geekand chronic TV watcher, it was a
given for this author to seek acareer in television.
(00:59):
Having retired from theprofession.
After 25 years, Aspry hasreturned to his first love,
writing, with his debut novel,Protectors of The Light Crown.
And for those of you watching onYouTube, you will see his book
displayed in front of him.
Looks like an amazing book.
Aspry, why don't we start off byyou telling us a little bit
(01:21):
about this novel, like ourbite-sized little book
description of what this storyis about.
ASPRY JONES (01:26):
Fantasy books are pretty much mostly all the same:
a few unlikely characters gettogether, become friends, and
they try to kill the devil.
My book is no different thanthat, but, I throw in what I
like to call, a few curve ballsbecause My story is based around
the multiverse.
And, it's in its own particularuniverse itself, unlike ours,
(01:50):
but very much like ours.
There are subtle differences andthere is a character named
Dexter Park, and Dexter canvisit different universes in his
dreams, and the story starts outbased around him and gradually
becomes a thing where he becomespart of a team who eventually
(02:12):
evolved into the Protectors,meaning superheroes in their
world.
And, they try to kill the devil.
Like I said, the venomouswretch, an ancient demon who
used to be a king, and he iswrecking havoc all over their
world, and they have to stop it.
BETH BARANY (02:30):
Oh, wow.
Sounds like such an adventure.
So when did you first startwriting?
Everyone always wants to knowthis question, right?
I get it as well.
ASPRY JONES (02:39):
I was a huge comic book geek, so I started out
writing my own comic books anddrawing them too.
I have a short background in artand sketching.
And I actually interviewed forbeing an artist for Harris
Comics.
I don't know if you are aware ofVan Perella?
I had a friend of mine namedLouis Small.
He was a penciler for HarrisComics and he got me an
(03:00):
interview and that interview wasmy first foray into humiliation.
As it turned out, that I wasnowhere near as good as I
thought I was.
And so instead of centering onsketching and drawing, I
centered on the writing aspectof basically from the poetry
comic books that I made myself.
(03:22):
I never wanted to get into,novel writing.
I never wanted to get intoanything that demanded a huge
commitment.
I've written screenplays thatdidn't really go anywhere.
But, eventually after my yearsin television, I realized that
if I could go back in time.
This is"how to write the past"in this particular case.
If I could go back in time andtell 22-year-old me not to go
(03:46):
into TV, but instead to centeron what your heart was, the
writing and the creating storiesand creating characters and
people.
Do that instead.
BETH BARANY (03:57):
Wow.
ASPRY JONES (03:57):
I'm trying to catch up now.
BETH BARANY (03:59):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so interesting what wewould tell our younger selves.
And what about fantasy?
Why fantasy?
What brought you to this genre?
ASPRY JONES (04:07):
You know what, I'm gonna go deep on that.
I could give you the shortanswer, but, I think the longer
answer is stronger.
As a comic book fan, there's agentleman who, was a comic book
artist and he used to createcharacters.
He created characters like BlackLightning, Black, Goliath.
see where I'm going with this?
When he was a kid, he would talkto his black friends and they
(04:30):
would discuss how, wow, I wishthere were more characters in
comic books that looked like me.
So I had those same feelings.
Sure.
We had Black Panther, we hadLuke Cage, but we're talking
about 5% here out, out of ahundred percent.
And, the heroes by and largewere white males.
And they were incredible.
They were great.
And I loved them to death, and Istill do, but there was
(04:53):
something missing there.
And the same thing is happeningand has been happening in
fantasy.
So I is trying to be an agent ofchange.
I said to myself, I preferfiction, well over nonfiction,
autobiographies, things likethat.
What I love to read is thecreativity coming out of
somebody's head.
And what I want to do is addcharacters of color into the
(05:17):
world of fantasy that you're notgoing to find in Lord of the
Rings.
You're not going to find in theBelgariad.
You're not going to find inHarry Potter.
Not really.
And then go further than that.
I have a gay character.
I have an elderly character.
I have the rich, I have thepoor, I have a Native American
angel, or in that universe, whatpasses as the Native American I
try to cover some more bases sothat when somebody reads my
(05:39):
novel, they can say tothemselves, wow, this character
looks like me, and I wouldappreciate that.
I would love that.
That's what I'm trying to do.
So I chose fantasy as my outletfor that expression.
BETH BARANY (05:50):
I love it.
I love it so much.
Really reflecting the diversityof humanity, what humanity
really looks like and not thisnarrow slice.
Yeah.
Love that.
And really for me, writing myHenrietta the Dragon Slayer
stories was about putting a girlin an adventure and all that I
read as a kid were boys going onadventures.
I'm like, where's the girl?
And now I'm adapting that intoshort film and it turns out that
(06:14):
My actors are Asian American,just landed up that way and some
interesting reasons.
And I'm just loving it, lovingthe energy, loving the change,
loving thinking about the restof my stories and bringing in a
diverse cast for that.
And also my crew is already verydiverse and, loving that, and
wanting, craving it, craving allthe different perspectives and
voices.
(06:34):
And, it inspires me as a readerand also as a writer.
So I'm really glad that you'redoing that.
ASPRY JONES (06:39):
I took some pages from some, female writers that I
came across and I decided, I waslike, you know what I'm gonna do
in my book?
I'm going to make the maincharacter, which is a black
male.
I'm going to make him theweakest guy on the team, and the
strongest one on the team isgoing to be female.
So I tried to do a little bit ofthat myself.
BETH BARANY (06:58):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
And I'm sure a lot of girls dotoo.
I'm infinitely curious aboutthis.
Tell us a little bit about yourwriting process, in terms of
your daily practice as well asanything-- I don't know anything
that surprised you?
I'm curious, how do you go aboutshaping your writing life?
And what works for you?
ASPRY JONES (07:18):
When I'm ready to write, I'm rolling.
I don't need motivation.
I don't need help.
I just sit down and I just keepgrooving to it.
I just bop my head to that musicand I am in the process right
now of gathering the appropriateinspiration to begin book two,
the Protectors of the LightCrown.
This is the beginning.
It's a trilogy.
I knew my ending when I wrotethe beginning.
(07:40):
So what makes sense to me beforeI start writing is that I
outline every single chapter.
So that I can line up certainthings that flow; so that I can
plant seeds for the next book inthe book that I'm writing, so
that I can plant Easter eggs forpeople who want to reread the
story.
They can go back and be like, Ilove that.
(08:00):
Some people have told me thatthey did that, and it was a very
cool experience and I lovehearing that.
So what I do when I've outlinedthe entire story is I just sit
down and at chapter one I'm offto the races.
There's nothing stopping me, andI just keep on writing and it
feels good.
I see those people who talkabout having writer's block and
(08:22):
they can't come up with certain,things to do with their
characters and stuff like that.
I'm so lucky that way.
I don't have those problems.
Once I do my outline, I can justskate and it feels great.
Luckily for me, I'm in a blessedsituation where I don't have to
go out and do a nine to five.
Especially now, my profession,my job, my whole thing.
(08:44):
My career is novelist now, so Ican focus on that.
And the only thing that'sreally, demanding any of my
outside attention is my dog, whois an angel.
And that's her name.
BETH BARANY (08:55):
Aw Angel, that's so wonderful.
and do you write every day, allday, part of the day?
You gotta take the dog for awalk.
how do you divide up yourwriting time?
Are you a nighttime writer,morning writer, or midday
writer?
ASPRY JONES (09:08):
Oh, wow.
You know what?
That's a very good question.
Whenever the feeling strikes,and I would try to do a chapter
every sit down.
But, when you come into my book,I can have some long chapters,
12, 13 pages.
So it's not feasible for me toexpect me to knock out a chapter
in one sitting, but in twosittings, I can knock out a
(09:28):
chapter and I would say that,about an hour and a half of
writing is enough for one day.
BETH BARANY (09:34):
Yeah, People always wanna know, especially beginning
writers.
For comparison, yeah, I canwrite one to two hours a day
sometimes, but sometimes I'monly writing for 15 or 20
minutes and I'm still makingprogress.
So I just wanna share with ourlisteners that, it doesn't have
to be an hour or two.
It can be 15, 20 minutes and youcan still make progress.
ASPRY JONES (09:54):
Now what's that?
BETH BARANY (09:54):
I have a lot of experience writing in 20-minute
blocks.
Yeah.
When I was first starting outwriting blog posts, I would set
the timer for 20 minutes just tosee what I could get done
because especially when I hadn'twritten blog posts and I was
just seeing what I could do.
And when you try something new,sometimes setting a timer can
make it feel less painfulbecause you're like, I don't
(10:16):
know what I'm doing, but let'stry it for 20 minutes.
Who knows what will happen?
And so I developed that practicefor non-fiction and I brought it
into the fiction space and Ifound it helped me, especially
when I had a really busy mind.
And it was hard to focus or hardto settle because I have a lot
of things on my mind all thetime.
And it would give me a sense offocus and I've done it so many
(10:37):
times, I know that I could write600 words in that amount of time
about, and that's two pages.
That's a little over two pagesof prose or nonfiction.
And it just was a sense ofaccomplishment just because I
run a business helping writers.
And I'm a writer and I like towrite in the middle of the day,
which means there's thingsbefore it and things after it.
(10:57):
And it was just a way to focusand get stuff done, even in a
busy life.
So it's a fun exercise.
I recommend it for folks.
sometimes I tell beginningwriters: write for five minutes.
Stand in your kitchen whileyou're heating up your coffee in
the microwave and write and seewhat that's like.
Especially for beginners whodon't have the Insta write
button that you have.
(11:17):
And my husband has it too.
I didn't have the Insta writebutton.
I had to learn.
but some people like you, likemy husband, you can just sit
down and boom.
flows and that's beautiful.
ASPRY JONES (11:27):
You hit me with that five minutes.
That's really something.
How about try that?
BETH BARANY (11:30):
Yeah, try that.
You're waiting in line, you'reon hold on the phone.
and also dictation.
I use dictation a lot, as wellfor nonfiction.
I haven't really done thedictation for fiction thing.
ASPRY JONES (11:42):
Oh, my, I could never do that.
That's really not, that's deep.
I'm so old school with this.
I literally, I a notepad and apen.
That's how I wrote Protectors ofthe Light Crown.
BETH BARANY (11:51):
That's beautiful.
ASPRY JONES (11:52):
And that's probably why it took 10 years.
it's a lot of extra work.
Do you do that?
BETH BARANY (11:57):
I did it for Henrietta, the Dragon Slayer
Book one.
Okay.
As I hand wrote the whole thing,and then I dictated it into
probably Microsoft Word andedited it there.
But now I wanted to speed up theprocess, so now I go direct to
typing.
And, a lot of, verbalbrainstorming sometimes my
husband who's a writer as well.
With a friend.
(12:17):
yeah.
Now I'm working on a script,that I was trying to dictate,
but my dictation tool wasn'tworking.
So I'm typing it.
ASPRY JONES (12:24):
You gave me some things to think about.
BETH BARANY (12:25):
Oh, good.
I'm so glad.
So have you won an award foryour novel?
ASPRY JONES (12:30):
Yes.
I'm a very lucky I think a lotof things just fall into my lap.
I was playing around on theinternet and I wasn't even
looking at the writing stuff,I'm aware of the Nobel Prize and
the Pulitzer and things likethat, but it didn't dawn on me
to enter a writing awardcontest.
So I was playing on the internetand I saw on the sidebar it was
like, put your manuscript intoour database.
(12:52):
We'll enter it into the contentand they were the International
Impact Book Awards.
And, just like everybody else,the book awards got to eat.
So they, there was a fee and, Ipaid the fee and I said, sure,
I'll enter your contest.
And I won, which was amazingbecause, it is not like I have
any self-doubt or anything.
But, it was just so funny thatit landed in my life the way it
(13:15):
did, and I won for Best FantasyAdventure.
And it's pretty much what I'vebeen looking forward to my
entire life, honestly, since Iwas about 16.
I've been publishedprofessionally since I was 16
years old, and, I always wantedto get on a stage and accept an
award for my writing because--Any woman who says, wow, you're
(13:36):
a good looking man, that's nice,but you know what I really wanna
hear?
I love your writing.
That's really good stuff.
That's what I wanna go throughlife people telling me.
If I stand on a stage and acceptan award, I feel really good
that, people like the writing.
Okay, great.
And July 25th.
I'm flying out to Phoenix,Arizona to get on stage and
(13:56):
accept the award and, so forthand so on.
There's gonna be a TV interview.
it's a phenomenal experience andI couldn't be more grateful.
BETH BARANY (14:03):
I know what you mean.
I won an award for Henrietta theDragon Slayer Grand Prize in
this California Indie FictionContest that I had no idea that
I could win.
I did enter the book contest,but just having someone who,
people who don't know us, findour work gratifying.
Yeah.
(14:23):
so exciting.
that's such a pinnacleexperience.
ASPRY JONES (14:26):
And to happen so early, I'm I'm and appreciative.
I'm surfing on a cloud.
BETH BARANY (14:31):
Yeah.
Oh, that's so wonderful.
And from a marketing aspect, itdoes bring attention to your
work.
It does make people doubleconsider your work.
Like, Oh, that's interesting.
Oh, he won an award.
It makes people lean in evenmore because it has what's
called third party endorsement,right?
People who don't know you, whoaren't related to you said, wow,
(14:52):
this book, check it out, people.
This is an awesome book.
So I just think it's a beautifulopportunity.
And I also encourage writers togo for awards.
it's one of my marketingchoices, I would say.
And it's so beautiful that itcame to you like this and that
you took action as well.
That beautiful meeting ofopportunity and action.
ASPRY JONES (15:11):
Yeah.
You know what?
Nothing happens if you donothing.
You know what I mean?
BETH BARANY (15:14):
That's so true.
It's so true.
And lastly, as we wrap up fortoday, tell us some of your
future plans.
I understand you have a secondbook in the works.
And what else you got in theworks?
ASPRY JONES (15:26):
I'm striking while the iron is hot, so I entered
some more awards contests.
I'm still flying with Protectorsof the Light Crown.
I just, got pushed throughIngram Spark.
I was on Amazon all this time.
So now, my book can be shuffledinto Walmart, Barnes and Noble,
independent bookstores, so forthand so on.
(15:47):
And now I can get a much broadersense of exposure.
After this, I'm gonna try toride this horse as far as it'll
go, and then I'm gonna startbook two.
book two-- it takes placesomewhat later after this ends.
And it has its ownself-contained story while also
following the flow of, eventsthat were planted with
(16:10):
Protectors.
So I'm going to do that.
I'm almost done with the outlinefor that and it feels really
good because I was a little bitstuck on my outline.
I'm really huge on meditation.
I'm an advanced meditator, so Iwas on my back deck and I was
trying to search my mind for agreat avenue that the book
should pick.
And something just popped intomy head and I'm very excited
(16:32):
about getting it on paperbecause I think it's a really
great idea.
Oh, that is so exciting.
Wonderful.
I love that you're an advancedmeditator.
I think having the quiet, andlearning how to quiet our minds
and really go deep within andlisten to ourselves is so
valuable.
Yeah, I think so too.
I'm glad you said that.
BETH BARANY (16:49):
I'm a big believer in that, and for me, meditation
comes through the form ofwalking.
and, being aware of mysurroundings and talking to
nature And talking to theanimals that come along my way.
ASPRY JONES (17:00):
Do you like to do it in nature?
BETH BARANY (17:01):
Yeah, I like to be outside and connect to the
plants.
And I'm here in, NorthernCalifornia, in Oakland, near San
Francisco.
And just lots of things areblooming and it's actually
through walking, not sitting, Inmy twenties I did a sitting
meditation training and that wasgreat, but there's something
about moving.
'cause I sit so much as a writerat the desk and on the Zoom and
(17:25):
the editing and all the editing,both for the podcast and
people's manuscripts and my ownwork.
So movement becomes a way toprocess, just release and get
into the body, get outta themind.
And be in the emotions, beappreciative of nature and
everything around me and thepeople and even though this is
an urban environment, it's alsolots and lots of plants, roses
(17:49):
and, all the flowers blooming.
ASPRY JONES (17:50):
They say movement is a raisor of the vibration.
Not to get overly woowoo on youguys.
Hope we didn't go off on a, leftfield tangent here, but, I could
talk about this stuff with youall day actually.
I don't talk about it with mymany people.
BETH BARANY (18:03):
I agree with you.
I have a quote on my wall fromEinstein.
"Creativity is intelligence inmotion.
I really feel writing is aphysical act in my opinion,
right?
We got our hands on the keyboardor across the page, or even if
we're speaking, dictating.
And so to really get into thebody and kinesthetic experience,
(18:24):
emotional experience, and thento really be the channel to be
creative, right?
Creativity comes from, we don'tknow, but to do this well, we
have to work our instrument,which is our entire body.
To me this is holistic andimportant and relevant
ASPRY JONES (18:40):
Yeah, me too.
It's just that, I have learnedfrom talking too much that it's
not for everybody.
Not a lot of people will vibewith what you're trying to
express.
You know what, you're inCalifornia, you probably don't
have that experience.
BETH BARANY (18:51):
Not here in Northern California.
I studied intuition when I wasin my twenties.
I At the Berkeley PsychicInstitute, I did clairvoyant
studies for a year.
Wow.
Talk about Woo.
Yeah.
And I came to my own conclusionthat intuition is in the body.
It's our deep body knowing thatwe've lost touch of a lot of us.
and so I took it upon myselfactually starting around age 19
(19:11):
to start to really pay attentionto my body as a barometer for
the simplest choices.
And then later as I got seriousabout fiction, now I use it for
fiction.
And now I use it for everythingso that I use my inner knowing,
which is my body and mostly mygut.
cause most people we have allthese bacteria or microorganisms
(19:34):
that live in our gut that runthe show.
They pretty much run the show,so pay attention to them and
nurture the good ones and right.
Eat healthy and exercise andgood drinking habits, lots of
water.
All these things feed ourphysical vessel so that we can
be the awesome creative channelsthat we wanna be.
ASPRY JONES (19:51):
Oh, you talk my language.
BETH BARANY (19:52):
So if you have any parting advice to beginning
writers out there who are reallywishing and wanting to have
their novel out in the world.
What advice do you have forthem?
ASPRY JONES (20:01):
I would say that, there is beauty in independent
publishing, self-publishing, Itcan take you a long way if
you're willing to put a lot intoI would say that, I would
imagine that if I were taken upby a publisher with an agent, so
forth and so on, things wouldgo, have gone a lot easier for
me, probably, but I also enjoy--not that I'm a control freak or
(20:25):
anything, but I have enjoyed thecontrol that I've been able to
enact in the entire start tofinish with this thing.
But there are rough spots.
There are rough spots.
Be ready for things to go wrongand roll with the punches.
Be ready to accept the editoractually knows what they're
(20:46):
talking and it can be a lessonin humility to find that out.
Be ready to get a bad publicist,be ready to spend some money,
and have that money get thrownout the window.
Be ready to spend some money andscore because this whole thing
is not going to run itself.
It needs your help.
(21:06):
You didn't just write it.
it's the end of it, and it justwalks off into the world of
success on its own.
It's going to need you to keeppushing and pushing.
And I speak from experience, andmaybe there are other people out
there who have different storiesto tell, and it went a lot
easier.
But this was not an easy, caketo bake, but in the end.
(21:27):
I couldn't have been morehappier because everything just
fell into place on a lot ofthings.
the guy who did the artwork forthis is named Cole Munro-Chitty,
and I just happened to meet himin a dog park outta nowhere.
And I said, you're an a graphicartist, aren't you?
And he said, yeah.
I said, I need an anime feel forthe cover of my book.
And he showed me his stuff.
(21:49):
Perfect.
I was like, wow, that couldn'thave gone easier.
So there are some things thatactually fell right into place,
but the bulk of it, it'll makeyou sweat, it'll make you cry,
it'll make you bleed.
BETH BARANY (21:59):
Yeah, I'm right there with you As an
independent, published author,it's sometimes smooth sailing.
Other times bumpy, but it's allpart of the process.
So I have one last bonusquestion for you.
I see you've got a helmet behindyou.
Looks like you know theMandalorian there.
ASPRY JONES (22:15):
Yeah.
BETH BARANY (22:16):
Yeah.
Are you a big fan, theMandalorian?
ASPRY JONES (22:18):
I'm a big fan of the Mandalorian.
I love the Mandalorian.
I love Marvel movies.
Falcon.
Yeah, you came to see us.
Alright.
Hello Star Trek.
Yeah.
Hello.
That's my bat signal.
I went outta my way to be asnerdy as I possibly could be for
this interview.
BETH BARANY (22:33):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
Aspry, I wish you the best ofluck.
I'm now eager, very eager toread your novel.
ASPRY JONES (22:38):
Oh, that would be wonderful.
Thank you very much.
BETH BARANY (22:40):
Yeah, check out Aspry's novel protectors of the
Light Crown.
And if people wanna find you,what's the one link that rules
them all there in your world.
ASPRY JONES (22:49):
@AspryWrites on social media.
I have a website It'sAspryJones.com.
BETH BARANY (22:55):
Beautiful.
I was checking it out Before ourshow.
people can sign up for yournewsletter.
Get notified when your bookcomes out and all your awesome
news.
Aspry, I really wanna thank youso much for taking the time
today to share your novelProtectors of the Light Crown
with our How to Write the Futureaudience and, we'll have to have
you back when Book two comesout.
ASPRY JONES (23:14):
Magnificent.
I would love to be back.
You took good care of me.
I appreciate you.
Thanks.
BETH BARANY (23:17):
Oh, you're so welcome.
So welcome.
and I wish you all the best andwe'll see you next time.
ASPRY JONES (23:23):
Absolutely.
BETH BARANY (23:24):
All right.
Take care.
And that's a wrap.
All right everyone.
That's it for this week.
Write long and prosper.
Welcome everyone to How to Write the Future.
(00:02):
I'm your host, Beth Barany.
I am a writing teacher,creativity coach, speaker,
podcaster, and novelist.
I love science, fiction andfantasy, and I have this podcast
to bring in resources forwriters and anyone who cares
about the future because Ibelieve with creativity and our
imaginations, we can help shapea better world for everyone.
(00:24):
I'm so excited to have a specialguest with me today, sci-fi
fantasy novelist, Aspry JonesAspry, welcome.
So glad you're here.
ASPRY JONES (00:32):
Hi Beth.
Thank you very much for havingme.
I'm very excited.
BETH BARANY (00:35):
Excellent.
So everyone gets understandingof who you are.
I'm gonna read your awesome biothat you sent me.
Get to know Aspry.
Broadcast TV industry veteranAspry Jones from Ashbury Park,
New Jersey hits the literaryscene.
Growing up, a comic book geekand chronic TV watcher, it was a
given for this author to seek acareer in television.
(00:59):
Having retired from theprofession.
After 25 years, Aspry hasreturned to his first love,
writing, with his debut novel,Protectors of The Light Crown.
And for those of you watching onYouTube, you will see his book
displayed in front of him.
Looks like an amazing book.
Aspry, why don't we start off byyou telling us a little bit
(01:21):
about this novel, like ourbite-sized little book
description of what this storyis about.
ASPRY JONES (01:26):
Fantasy books are pretty much mostly all the same:
a few unlikely characters gettogether, become friends, and
they try to kill the devil.
My book is no different thanthat, but, I throw in what I
like to call, a few curve ballsbecause My story is based around
the multiverse.
And, it's in its own particularuniverse itself, unlike ours,
(01:50):
but very much like ours.
There are subtle differences andthere is a character named
Dexter Park, and Dexter canvisit different universes in his
dreams, and the story starts outbased around him and gradually
becomes a thing where he becomespart of a team who eventually
(02:12):
evolved into the Protectors,meaning superheroes in their
world.
And, they try to kill the devil.
Like I said, the venomouswretch, an ancient demon who
used to be a king, and he iswrecking havoc all over their
world, and they have to stop it.
BETH BARANY (02:30):
Oh, wow.
Sounds like such an adventure.
So when did you first startwriting?
Everyone always wants to knowthis question, right?
I get it as well.
ASPRY JONES (02:39):
I was a huge comic book geek, so I started out
writing my own comic books anddrawing them too.
I have a short background in artand sketching.
And I actually interviewed forbeing an artist for Harris
Comics.
I don't know if you are aware ofVan Perella?
I had a friend of mine namedLouis Small.
He was a penciler for HarrisComics and he got me an
(03:00):
interview and that interview wasmy first foray into humiliation.
As it turned out, that I wasnowhere near as good as I
thought I was.
And so instead of centering onsketching and drawing, I
centered on the writing aspectof basically from the poetry
comic books that I made myself.
(03:22):
I never wanted to get into,novel writing.
I never wanted to get intoanything that demanded a huge
commitment.
I've written screenplays thatdidn't really go anywhere.
But, eventually after my yearsin television, I realized that
if I could go back in time.
This is"how to write the past"in this particular case.
If I could go back in time andtell 22-year-old me not to go
(03:46):
into TV, but instead to centeron what your heart was, the
writing and the creating storiesand creating characters and
people.
Do that instead.
BETH BARANY (03:57):
Wow.
ASPRY JONES (03:57):
I'm trying to catch up now.
BETH BARANY (03:59):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so interesting what wewould tell our younger selves.
And what about fantasy?
Why fantasy?
What brought you to this genre?
ASPRY JONES (04:07):
You know what, I'm gonna go deep on that.
I could give you the shortanswer, but, I think the longer
answer is stronger.
As a comic book fan, there's agentleman who, was a comic book
artist and he used to createcharacters.
He created characters like BlackLightning, Black, Goliath.
see where I'm going with this?
When he was a kid, he would talkto his black friends and they
(04:30):
would discuss how, wow, I wishthere were more characters in
comic books that looked like me.
So I had those same feelings.
Sure.
We had Black Panther, we hadLuke Cage, but we're talking
about 5% here out, out of ahundred percent.
And, the heroes by and largewere white males.
And they were incredible.
They were great.
And I loved them to death, and Istill do, but there was
(04:53):
something missing there.
And the same thing is happeningand has been happening in
fantasy.
So I is trying to be an agent ofchange.
I said to myself, I preferfiction, well over nonfiction,
autobiographies, things likethat.
What I love to read is thecreativity coming out of
somebody's head.
And what I want to do is addcharacters of color into the
(05:17):
world of fantasy that you're notgoing to find in Lord of the
Rings.
You're not going to find in theBelgariad.
You're not going to find inHarry Potter.
Not really.
And then go further than that.
I have a gay character.
I have an elderly character.
I have the rich, I have thepoor, I have a Native American
angel, or in that universe, whatpasses as the Native American I
try to cover some more bases sothat when somebody reads my
(05:39):
novel, they can say tothemselves, wow, this character
looks like me, and I wouldappreciate that.
I would love that.
That's what I'm trying to do.
So I chose fantasy as my outletfor that expression.
BETH BARANY (05:50):
I love it.
I love it so much.
Really reflecting the diversityof humanity, what humanity
really looks like and not thisnarrow slice.
Yeah.
Love that.
And really for me, writing myHenrietta the Dragon Slayer
stories was about putting a girlin an adventure and all that I
read as a kid were boys going onadventures.
I'm like, where's the girl?
And now I'm adapting that intoshort film and it turns out that
(06:14):
My actors are Asian American,just landed up that way and some
interesting reasons.
And I'm just loving it, lovingthe energy, loving the change,
loving thinking about the restof my stories and bringing in a
diverse cast for that.
And also my crew is already verydiverse and, loving that, and
wanting, craving it, craving allthe different perspectives and
voices.
(06:34):
And, it inspires me as a readerand also as a writer.
So I'm really glad that you'redoing that.
ASPRY JONES (06:39):
I took some pages from some, female writers that I
came across and I decided, I waslike, you know what I'm gonna do
in my book?
I'm going to make the maincharacter, which is a black
male.
I'm going to make him theweakest guy on the team, and the
strongest one on the team isgoing to be female.
So I tried to do a little bit ofthat myself.
BETH BARANY (06:58):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
And I'm sure a lot of girls dotoo.
I'm infinitely curious aboutthis.
Tell us a little bit about yourwriting process, in terms of
your daily practice as well asanything-- I don't know anything
that surprised you?
I'm curious, how do you go aboutshaping your writing life?
And what works for you?
ASPRY JONES (07:18):
When I'm ready to write, I'm rolling.
I don't need motivation.
I don't need help.
I just sit down and I just keepgrooving to it.
I just bop my head to that musicand I am in the process right
now of gathering the appropriateinspiration to begin book two,
the Protectors of the LightCrown.
This is the beginning.
It's a trilogy.
I knew my ending when I wrotethe beginning.
(07:40):
So what makes sense to me beforeI start writing is that I
outline every single chapter.
So that I can line up certainthings that flow; so that I can
plant seeds for the next book inthe book that I'm writing, so
that I can plant Easter eggs forpeople who want to reread the
story.
They can go back and be like, Ilove that.
(08:00):
Some people have told me thatthey did that, and it was a very
cool experience and I lovehearing that.
So what I do when I've outlinedthe entire story is I just sit
down and at chapter one I'm offto the races.
There's nothing stopping me, andI just keep on writing and it
feels good.
I see those people who talkabout having writer's block and
(08:22):
they can't come up with certain,things to do with their
characters and stuff like that.
I'm so lucky that way.
I don't have those problems.
Once I do my outline, I can justskate and it feels great.
Luckily for me, I'm in a blessedsituation where I don't have to
go out and do a nine to five.
Especially now, my profession,my job, my whole thing.
(08:44):
My career is novelist now, so Ican focus on that.
And the only thing that'sreally, demanding any of my
outside attention is my dog, whois an angel.
And that's her name.
BETH BARANY (08:55):
Aw Angel, that's so wonderful.
and do you write every day, allday, part of the day?
You gotta take the dog for awalk.
how do you divide up yourwriting time?
Are you a nighttime writer,morning writer, or midday
writer?
ASPRY JONES (09:08):
Oh, wow.
You know what?
That's a very good question.
Whenever the feeling strikes,and I would try to do a chapter
every sit down.
But, when you come into my book,I can have some long chapters,
12, 13 pages.
So it's not feasible for me toexpect me to knock out a chapter
in one sitting, but in twosittings, I can knock out a
(09:28):
chapter and I would say that,about an hour and a half of
writing is enough for one day.
BETH BARANY (09:34):
Yeah, People always wanna know, especially beginning
writers.
For comparison, yeah, I canwrite one to two hours a day
sometimes, but sometimes I'monly writing for 15 or 20
minutes and I'm still makingprogress.
So I just wanna share with ourlisteners that, it doesn't have
to be an hour or two.
It can be 15, 20 minutes and youcan still make progress.
ASPRY JONES (09:54):
Now what's that?
BETH BARANY (09:54):
I have a lot of experience writing in 20-minute
blocks.
Yeah.
When I was first starting outwriting blog posts, I would set
the timer for 20 minutes just tosee what I could get done
because especially when I hadn'twritten blog posts and I was
just seeing what I could do.
And when you try something new,sometimes setting a timer can
make it feel less painfulbecause you're like, I don't
(10:16):
know what I'm doing, but let'stry it for 20 minutes.
Who knows what will happen?
And so I developed that practicefor non-fiction and I brought it
into the fiction space and Ifound it helped me, especially
when I had a really busy mind.
And it was hard to focus or hardto settle because I have a lot
of things on my mind all thetime.
And it would give me a sense offocus and I've done it so many
(10:37):
times, I know that I could write600 words in that amount of time
about, and that's two pages.
That's a little over two pagesof prose or nonfiction.
And it just was a sense ofaccomplishment just because I
run a business helping writers.
And I'm a writer and I like towrite in the middle of the day,
which means there's thingsbefore it and things after it.
(10:57):
And it was just a way to focusand get stuff done, even in a
busy life.
So it's a fun exercise.
I recommend it for folks.
sometimes I tell beginningwriters: write for five minutes.
Stand in your kitchen whileyou're heating up your coffee in
the microwave and write and seewhat that's like.
Especially for beginners whodon't have the Insta write
button that you have.
(11:17):
And my husband has it too.
I didn't have the Insta writebutton.
I had to learn.
but some people like you, likemy husband, you can just sit
down and boom.
flows and that's beautiful.
ASPRY JONES (11:27):
You hit me with that five minutes.
That's really something.
How about try that?
BETH BARANY (11:30):
Yeah, try that.
You're waiting in line, you'reon hold on the phone.
and also dictation.
I use dictation a lot, as wellfor nonfiction.
I haven't really done thedictation for fiction thing.
ASPRY JONES (11:42):
Oh, my, I could never do that.
That's really not, that's deep.
I'm so old school with this.
I literally, I a notepad and apen.
That's how I wrote Protectors ofthe Light Crown.
BETH BARANY (11:51):
That's beautiful.
ASPRY JONES (11:52):
And that's probably why it took 10 years.
it's a lot of extra work.
Do you do that?
BETH BARANY (11:57):
I did it for Henrietta, the Dragon Slayer
Book one.
Okay.
As I hand wrote the whole thing,and then I dictated it into
probably Microsoft Word andedited it there.
But now I wanted to speed up theprocess, so now I go direct to
typing.
And, a lot of, verbalbrainstorming sometimes my
husband who's a writer as well.
With a friend.
(12:17):
yeah.
Now I'm working on a script,that I was trying to dictate,
but my dictation tool wasn'tworking.
So I'm typing it.
ASPRY JONES (12:24):
You gave me some things to think about.
BETH BARANY (12:25):
Oh, good.
I'm so glad.
So have you won an award foryour novel?
ASPRY JONES (12:30):
Yes.
I'm a very lucky I think a lotof things just fall into my lap.
I was playing around on theinternet and I wasn't even
looking at the writing stuff,I'm aware of the Nobel Prize and
the Pulitzer and things likethat, but it didn't dawn on me
to enter a writing awardcontest.
So I was playing on the internetand I saw on the sidebar it was
like, put your manuscript intoour database.
(12:52):
We'll enter it into the contentand they were the International
Impact Book Awards.
And, just like everybody else,the book awards got to eat.
So they, there was a fee and, Ipaid the fee and I said, sure,
I'll enter your contest.
And I won, which was amazingbecause, it is not like I have
any self-doubt or anything.
But, it was just so funny thatit landed in my life the way it
(13:15):
did, and I won for Best FantasyAdventure.
And it's pretty much what I'vebeen looking forward to my
entire life, honestly, since Iwas about 16.
I've been publishedprofessionally since I was 16
years old, and, I always wantedto get on a stage and accept an
award for my writing because--Any woman who says, wow, you're
(13:36):
a good looking man, that's nice,but you know what I really wanna
hear?
I love your writing.
That's really good stuff.
That's what I wanna go throughlife people telling me.
If I stand on a stage and acceptan award, I feel really good
that, people like the writing.
Okay, great.
And July 25th.
I'm flying out to Phoenix,Arizona to get on stage and
(13:56):
accept the award and, so forthand so on.
There's gonna be a TV interview.
it's a phenomenal experience andI couldn't be more grateful.
BETH BARANY (14:03):
I know what you mean.
I won an award for Henrietta theDragon Slayer Grand Prize in
this California Indie FictionContest that I had no idea that
I could win.
I did enter the book contest,but just having someone who,
people who don't know us, findour work gratifying.
Yeah.
(14:23):
so exciting.
that's such a pinnacleexperience.
ASPRY JONES (14:26):
And to happen so early, I'm I'm and appreciative.
I'm surfing on a cloud.
BETH BARANY (14:31):
Yeah.
Oh, that's so wonderful.
And from a marketing aspect, itdoes bring attention to your
work.
It does make people doubleconsider your work.
Like, Oh, that's interesting.
Oh, he won an award.
It makes people lean in evenmore because it has what's
called third party endorsement,right?
People who don't know you, whoaren't related to you said, wow,
(14:52):
this book, check it out, people.
This is an awesome book.
So I just think it's a beautifulopportunity.
And I also encourage writers togo for awards.
it's one of my marketingchoices, I would say.
And it's so beautiful that itcame to you like this and that
you took action as well.
That beautiful meeting ofopportunity and action.
ASPRY JONES (15:11):
Yeah.
You know what?
Nothing happens if you donothing.
You know what I mean?
BETH BARANY (15:14):
That's so true.
It's so true.
And lastly, as we wrap up fortoday, tell us some of your
future plans.
I understand you have a secondbook in the works.
And what else you got in theworks?
ASPRY JONES (15:26):
I'm striking while the iron is hot, so I entered
some more awards contests.
I'm still flying with Protectorsof the Light Crown.
I just, got pushed throughIngram Spark.
I was on Amazon all this time.
So now, my book can be shuffledinto Walmart, Barnes and Noble,
independent bookstores, so forthand so on.
(15:47):
And now I can get a much broadersense of exposure.
After this, I'm gonna try toride this horse as far as it'll
go, and then I'm gonna startbook two.
book two-- it takes placesomewhat later after this ends.
And it has its ownself-contained story while also
following the flow of, eventsthat were planted with
(16:10):
Protectors.
So I'm going to do that.
I'm almost done with the outlinefor that and it feels really
good because I was a little bitstuck on my outline.
I'm really huge on meditation.
I'm an advanced meditator, so Iwas on my back deck and I was
trying to search my mind for agreat avenue that the book
should pick.
And something just popped intomy head and I'm very excited
(16:32):
about getting it on paperbecause I think it's a really
great idea.
Oh, that is so exciting.
Wonderful.
I love that you're an advancedmeditator.
I think having the quiet, andlearning how to quiet our minds
and really go deep within andlisten to ourselves is so
valuable.
Yeah, I think so too.
I'm glad you said that.
BETH BARANY (16:49):
I'm a big believer in that, and for me, meditation
comes through the form ofwalking.
and, being aware of mysurroundings and talking to
nature And talking to theanimals that come along my way.
ASPRY JONES (17:00):
Do you like to do it in nature?
BETH BARANY (17:01):
Yeah, I like to be outside and connect to the
plants.
And I'm here in, NorthernCalifornia, in Oakland, near San
Francisco.
And just lots of things areblooming and it's actually
through walking, not sitting, Inmy twenties I did a sitting
meditation training and that wasgreat, but there's something
about moving.
'cause I sit so much as a writerat the desk and on the Zoom and
(17:25):
the editing and all the editing,both for the podcast and
people's manuscripts and my ownwork.
So movement becomes a way toprocess, just release and get
into the body, get outta themind.
And be in the emotions, beappreciative of nature and
everything around me and thepeople and even though this is
an urban environment, it's alsolots and lots of plants, roses
(17:49):
and, all the flowers blooming.
ASPRY JONES (17:50):
They say movement is a raisor of the vibration.
Not to get overly woowoo on youguys.
Hope we didn't go off on a, leftfield tangent here, but, I could
talk about this stuff with youall day actually.
I don't talk about it with mymany people.
BETH BARANY (18:03):
I agree with you.
I have a quote on my wall fromEinstein.
"Creativity is intelligence inmotion.
I really feel writing is aphysical act in my opinion,
right?
We got our hands on the keyboardor across the page, or even if
we're speaking, dictating.
And so to really get into thebody and kinesthetic experience,
(18:24):
emotional experience, and thento really be the channel to be
creative, right?
Creativity comes from, we don'tknow, but to do this well, we
have to work our instrument,which is our entire body.
To me this is holistic andimportant and relevant
ASPRY JONES (18:40):
Yeah, me too.
It's just that, I have learnedfrom talking too much that it's
not for everybody.
Not a lot of people will vibewith what you're trying to
express.
You know what, you're inCalifornia, you probably don't
have that experience.
BETH BARANY (18:51):
Not here in Northern California.
I studied intuition when I wasin my twenties.
I At the Berkeley PsychicInstitute, I did clairvoyant
studies for a year.
Wow.
Talk about Woo.
Yeah.
And I came to my own conclusionthat intuition is in the body.
It's our deep body knowing thatwe've lost touch of a lot of us.
and so I took it upon myselfactually starting around age 19
(19:11):
to start to really pay attentionto my body as a barometer for
the simplest choices.
And then later as I got seriousabout fiction, now I use it for
fiction.
And now I use it for everythingso that I use my inner knowing,
which is my body and mostly mygut.
cause most people we have allthese bacteria or microorganisms
(19:34):
that live in our gut that runthe show.
They pretty much run the show,so pay attention to them and
nurture the good ones and right.
Eat healthy and exercise andgood drinking habits, lots of
water.
All these things feed ourphysical vessel so that we can
be the awesome creative channelsthat we wanna be.
ASPRY JONES (19:51):
Oh, you talk my language.
BETH BARANY (19:52):
So if you have any parting advice to beginning
writers out there who are reallywishing and wanting to have
their novel out in the world.
What advice do you have forthem?
ASPRY JONES (20:01):
I would say that, there is beauty in independent
publishing, self-publishing, Itcan take you a long way if
you're willing to put a lot intoI would say that, I would
imagine that if I were taken upby a publisher with an agent, so
forth and so on, things wouldgo, have gone a lot easier for
me, probably, but I also enjoy--not that I'm a control freak or
(20:25):
anything, but I have enjoyed thecontrol that I've been able to
enact in the entire start tofinish with this thing.
But there are rough spots.
There are rough spots.
Be ready for things to go wrongand roll with the punches.
Be ready to accept the editoractually knows what they're
(20:46):
talking and it can be a lessonin humility to find that out.
Be ready to get a bad publicist,be ready to spend some money,
and have that money get thrownout the window.
Be ready to spend some money andscore because this whole thing
is not going to run itself.
It needs your help.
(21:06):
You didn't just write it.
it's the end of it, and it justwalks off into the world of
success on its own.
It's going to need you to keeppushing and pushing.
And I speak from experience, andmaybe there are other people out
there who have different storiesto tell, and it went a lot
easier.
But this was not an easy, caketo bake, but in the end.
(21:27):
I couldn't have been morehappier because everything just
fell into place on a lot ofthings.
the guy who did the artwork forthis is named Cole Munro-Chitty,
and I just happened to meet himin a dog park outta nowhere.
And I said, you're an a graphicartist, aren't you?
And he said, yeah.
I said, I need an anime feel forthe cover of my book.
And he showed me his stuff.
(21:49):
Perfect.
I was like, wow, that couldn'thave gone easier.
So there are some things thatactually fell right into place,
but the bulk of it, it'll makeyou sweat, it'll make you cry,
it'll make you bleed.
BETH BARANY (21:59):
Yeah, I'm right there with you As an
independent, published author,it's sometimes smooth sailing.
Other times bumpy, but it's allpart of the process.
So I have one last bonusquestion for you.
I see you've got a helmet behindyou.
Looks like you know theMandalorian there.
ASPRY JONES (22:15):
Yeah.
BETH BARANY (22:16):
Yeah.
Are you a big fan, theMandalorian?
ASPRY JONES (22:18):
I'm a big fan of the Mandalorian.
I love the Mandalorian.
I love Marvel movies.
Falcon.
Yeah, you came to see us.
Alright.
Hello Star Trek.
Yeah.
Hello.
That's my bat signal.
I went outta my way to be asnerdy as I possibly could be for
this interview.
BETH BARANY (22:33):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
Aspry, I wish you the best ofluck.
I'm now eager, very eager toread your novel.
ASPRY JONES (22:38):
Oh, that would be wonderful.
Thank you very much.
BETH BARANY (22:40):
Yeah, check out Aspry's novel protectors of the
Light Crown.
And if people wanna find you,what's the one link that rules
them all there in your world.
ASPRY JONES (22:49):
@AspryWrites on social media.
I have a website It'sAspryJones.com.
BETH BARANY (22:55):
Beautiful.
I was checking it out Before ourshow.
people can sign up for yournewsletter.
Get notified when your bookcomes out and all your awesome
news.
Aspry, I really wanna thank youso much for taking the time
today to share your novelProtectors of the Light Crown
with our How to Write the Futureaudience and, we'll have to have
you back when Book two comesout.
ASPRY JONES (23:14):
Magnificent.
I would love to be back.
You took good care of me.
I appreciate you.
Thanks.
BETH BARANY (23:17):
Oh, you're so welcome.
So welcome.
and I wish you all the best andwe'll see you next time.
ASPRY JONES (23:23):
Absolutely.
BETH BARANY (23:24):
All right.
Take care.
And that's a wrap.
All right everyone.
That's it for this week.
Write long and prosper.
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