Talking to Writer Bobby Nash

An imaginative force to be reckoned with, Bobby Nash is a hard-working author, cartoonist and funny book writer whose solid ethics are gaining him new fans every day. Referred to as “Roy Thomas 2.0″ by some, Bobby was nice enough to be interviewed here by Richard Caldwell.

Bobby, your notorious success at robbing banks aside, when did you first make the conscious decision to pursue a career as a writer?

I actually started with the dream of being a comic book artist way back in middle school. And since you can’t draw a comic unless someone writes it, I started writing stories for me to draw. They were pretty bad, all things considered, but I kept producing. Then some of my artistic friends started asking me to write stories for them to draw. Although I was writing quite a bit I never thought of myself as a writer until one day when a good friend of mine told me something that changed everything.
He suggested that I was a much better writer than artist and asked had I ever considered focusing on the writing. I replied that I wasn’t a writer, but he pointed out all the stories I had already done. At that point I realized that I was, a writer. When I started focusing on it, I got better at it and eventually started getting work. That was in the early 90’s.
The robbing banks thing is just a hobby.

What motivates you? What inspires you?

Deadlines. Nothing motivates quite like a looming deadline. I’m also motivated to finish something once I start it. I get these stories swirling around in my head and I have to get them out and written down. The hardest part for me is sitting down and getting started. Once I’m writing I’m usually good to go.
I’m inspired by everything. Books, comics, movies, TV, even people. It’s hard to go through life and not take inspiration from the things going on around me. I have gotten entire story ideas just from listening to groups of people interact. I love telling stories so anything that helps me do that is inspiration.
If you’re looking for specifics, with comic books I was inspired by the 60’s Spiderman cartoon (which I saw in reruns in the 70’s). The Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman really launched my love affair with comic book super heroes. That led me to the books. The first comics that I recall owning came in a three pack. Spiderman issues 192, 193, & 194 by Wolfman and Pollard (I think). Great stuff. I got into the Avengers with Stern, Buscema, and Palmer, Byrne on Fantastic Four, Miller on Daredevil, Simonson on Thor, and Wolfman and Perez on Titans. For the prose writing, I am inspired by novels I read from Michael Connelly, James Patterson, Peter David, Alex Kava, Kyle Mills, Stephen J. Cannell and on and on. And real life. There’s inspiration everywhere.

With all the genres you’ve tackled, is there a favorite work? And do you have any regrets? As in, if you could swipe the Cosmic Cube and leap back in time, is there something you would love a second chance at, with the knowledge and experience you have today?

I’ve been lucky enough to work in multiple genres, which has been incredible. I’ve talked to some writers who tell me they have not been so fortunate. For the novels, I find the suspense thrillers are the ones I really gravitate toward. For comics the sky is the limit. I don’t know if I have a favorite work. I mean, it’s hard to choose between your babies, you know. Each project I’ve done holds a special place in my heart. Evil Ways, Lance Star: Sky Ranger, and Domino Lady are all pretty high up on the list. I’m revisiting the characters from each of those so they really stuck with me.
Regrets? I’m sure I have a few. Who doesn’t, right? One of the biggest regrets is that I didn’t put as much effort into being a writer sooner. I used to start and abandon projects frequently before I was ever published. It took deadlines and working with an editor and publisher to make me realize the level of attention needed to do my job. Even now I don’t feel I’m working hard enough sometimes. If I could go back in time I would tell the younger me to focus…

In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud alluded to the fact that all who persist in creating have something to say, beyond the confines of the story or work itself.
Do you agree with the sentiment?
Not 100%. While it is true that I sometimes use my stories to illustrate a point, my main goal is to entertain. I’m writing entertainment first and foremost.

Many folks have taken note of your strong knack for maintaining a wide online presence and general networking. You remember faces and names, and remain professionally polite to all, excepting of course rookie getaway drivers. Have you ever considered working behind the scenes, such as editing or marketing for whatever publisher?

I’m only impolite to the getaway drivers that don’t get away.
I appreciate the kind words on this subject as I put a lot of effort into promotion. I realized fairly quickly that no one was going to promote my work to my satisfaction but me. That’s not meant as a put down by any means. I’ve worked with publishers who promote, which is a great thing. Still, they have more than just my book to promote so it’s up to me as a creator to let people know my books are out there. Especially when a book has been out for awhile. My novel, Evil Ways, was released in 2005, but I still promote it today because it is still available. Obviously, books that are out of print don’t get much of a push because there are none available.
Promotion is a delicate balance. I discussed with a friend recently how it’s a fine line between being good at passing along information and being a pest by doing it too much. I don’t think I’ve become a pest yet and I rely on my friends to tell me when I’m posting and emailing too much or too often. I try to be as widely accessible as possible. I answer all of my emails and do several conventions, events, and signings a year. I really enjoy meeting the fans of my work as well as fans of comics and novels in general. I try to treat everyone the way I want to be treated so I try to be as professional as possible. I like to think that being positive and friendly helps.
As for doing promotion for others, I’ve only given it the briefest of thoughts. I have had offers from others before to hire me to do that, but nothing has ever really come from it. Maybe one day I could get do that as a job. I don’t know. All of my marketing and promotional skills are purely self taught. I’ve not had any professional marketing training. I do occasionally repost information about my friends’ projects. It takes no time at all to repost something to help get the word out. I think we as creators should work together to help promote one another more than we do.
I’ve never really considered editing. I don’t know if that’s an area in which I would excel.

Creatively, what directions are your personal interests taking you? What stories do you want to tell?

Good question. I just want to tell good stories and have them reach the widest audience possible.

I have more suspense thriller novels in me that I want to write. Not that my personal interests involve murder and mayhem, but I do so love to write about that particular subject. The pulp adventures are also still an area of interest. I’ve got more Lance Star: Sky Ranger short stories, comics, and a novel coming down the pike. All of that is really exciting. I also have started a sequel to Evil Ways that I really need to make time to finish. There are some company owned characters out there I would love to take a crack at in both comic and novel forms. Maybe one day that will happen.

So if you were to die tomorrow in yet another police shootout, what is the one thing you would want the world to know about you?

I would want the world to know that I was happy to be here and that I love what I do.

I would also like to let everyone know that my novel Evil Ways is still available. I have some short stories I wrote still available in Lance Star: Sky Ranger Vol. 1, Domino Lady: Sex as a Weapon, Full Throttle Space Tales Vol. 2: Space Sirens, and Sentinels: Alternate Visions. You can find information about all of them on my various websites.

www.facebook.com/bobbynash

www.myspace.com/bobbynash

http://twitter.com/bobbynash

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