Independent Author Interview: Vance Bell

Author Bio

Vance R. Bell grew up in Show Low, AZ, where he spent most of his time finding trouble. He then turned his life around, acquired his GED, and went on to college to get an associate of Science in Computer Sciences. Vance married at an early age and has been married for thirty-six years to his wife Lola. He has two daughters and one granddaughter.

He spent eight years in the Army and was in the Persian Gulf War as a member of the 24^th Infantry Division. For the last sixteen years he has worked for the same company as a Field Service Specialist. His most recent hobbies include writing, Wii bowling and golf, hunting for quartz crystals at the lake nearby, and watching the deer and birds in his back yard in Idabel, Ok. He loves the simple country life and has been to all fifty US states except Alaska, which he plans to visit in the next couple of years. Vance loves his family and his job.

Vance recently completed the writing of his third book. His first two books are now on sale at www.BellMountainBooks.com and his third will be for sale in early 2010. His book series 'Mon-Ton' started as a continuing bedtime story and he credits his granddaughter and family for giving him the push to put it into writing.

The story of Mon-Ton came about first as a bedtime story. What was your inspiration for the story?

The story of Mon-ton began its life about 14 years ago. It started in response to "Tell me a story."

Almost every night while in bed, my wife or I would tell a short bedtime story. This had been going on for years. The stories would be about almost anything. From the cowboy, named Red Hot Chile, to the Purple Hippo, who got that way from eating Blue Berries. To say we sometimes started to repeat stories would be stating it mildly.

One night, when the “Tell me a story” came, I could not think of a story to tell. As I lay there thinking, I noticed the painting my wife had painted, hanging on the wall. That is the painting used as the background on the front covers and placed on the back cover of the books. That night, looking at the picture, the story of Mon-Ton was born. My mind started building a story, which I started telling. The story, as it turned out, was a very long bedtime story, which would end each night with the characters going to sleep. The story was not told in succession, but over the years was revisited. I would tell other stories, but the story of Mon-ton would be added to along.

When did you decide to share the story in written form?

My wife enjoyed this bedtime story and would tell some of the story to my children and granddaughter. This prompted me to retell parts of the story to them.

After telling my granddaughter a condensed version of the story, she decided it should be a book. Not anything new, my wife had been telling me that I should write it for years. So, I started typing the story. To my surprise, the words just started flowing. Within six months, the first book was ready to start the editing phase. My youngest daughter had heard parts of the story over the years, but when I sent her a copy of the manuscript to assist in the editing, I received a strange response from her, “We have an author in the family, and it’s dad! Who would have figured?”

Before placing the book on the market, I had several copies printed, which I gave out. One of the copies went to a retired teacher who informed me that it was a book that should be in every elementary school library. Another copy found its way into the hands of another teacher at an elementary school in Arizona. She was teaching a third grade class and offered it as, along with a few more choices, a book to be read to the class. The class chose Mon-Ton: The Old Man and His Treasure as the one they wanted to be read. I learned about their choice in the mail by way of fifteen letters from the class, telling me what they thought of my book. Questions, drawings, and comments on each letter, they became my first real “Book Review.” As it turned out, it was a hit. They loved it and each one was drawn to something a little different than the other.

What made you break up the tales into a trilogy?

I guess that is a question I asked myself a number of times. I wanted the books written in large print for easy reading yet did not want a book so big it would need a horse to pack around. Well not really a horse… well maybe. The story was told over 14 years, that makes for a fairly long story. I have done my best in keeping the story in its original form, but in putting it on paper, I found that I was greatly restricted in my ability to have the characters go to sleep at even intervals and found another thing missing... It did not seem right that the Old Man did not have a real name. In the original story he was always 'the Old Man from Mon-ton.’

Back to it being a trilogy, this is a story that grew over 14 years, over those years the story has grown into continuing but separate stories. A trilogy seemed to be the best suit for the story to be published.

Is Mon-Ton: The Old Man and his Treasure your first written work? If not, what was? If so, how much time did you spend developing the story into written form?

The Mon-Ton story is the first book I have written, not that I have not written some short stories before, but those were just for the fun of writing. The first book in the story took me about six months to put on paper as the first draft. I would write in the evenings after work and on the weekends. As I stated earlier, the story seemed to flow from my mind right onto the computer. During the editing stage, I stalled in my writing while waiting to make corrections on the book. However, not being able to stop writing, I went back to writing on the second book, which was ready for editing just as I completing the finial editing on the first book.

To you, what makes a story worth sharing?

I believe a story worth sharing is a story that someone enjoys reading. I wrote/told this story in a fashion that would allow the reader to picture the characters in their own mind, this one could look like my father, that one could look like my grandfather and so on. I also believe a book should allow a person to use their imagination. Something I think is being somewhat lost in today’s graphic intense movies and games, which do not allow much room for the imagination because it is right in front of you.

What can readers expect from you in the future?

I have released the second book in the Mon-Ton story, “Mon-Ton: The Quest to Misty Island” and the third book “Mon-Ton: The Return to Mon-Ton” should be out in the early part of 2010. If readers respond to the Mon-Ton story as I hope, the story does continue and there are several more books to be written in the Mon-Ton story. I am also writing some short stories that may find a home in a book of their own some day.

What authors have inspired you?

For years I have read westerns by Zane Gray, Louis L'Amour, and Max Brand to name a few. I also have enjoyed most of the works by Jules Verne and Samual Clements (pen name Mark Twain). And although the Mon-Ton story is a fantasy, I am sure the reader will see a western style to the story.

What are your thoughts on being an independent author?

I must admit that being an independent author has opened up a completely new world for me. Being new to this world, I am learning about every phase of the book publishing business. While there are a lot of people willing to assist one in getting a quality product ready for the market by providing feedback, information on formatting, and marketing strategies. You will also find a lot of people out there who would like to make money off of a new writer by promising to help them become a noted published author, which in a lot of cases is just a way for them to make money from someone who believes they have written a great book.

Did you immediately self-publish or first attempt the traditional path to publishing?

That’s a hard one. When I completed the first draft, I started looking online for places to submit my manuscript. I almost fell into a number of traps, at least that is what I would call them. A couple of sites called themselves “Traditional Publisher”, looking for a few great stories to publish. Both sent back replies that said, “This is a great story and we would be pleased to publish it”. One wanted what they called author participation, to the tune of several thousand dollars. Another one offered to pay the author a dollar, a good faith payment, for a contract to publish/own the rights of your book for seven years, not change the authors voice, limited editing of the story, pay you a small royalty, and require you to do the marketing.

I did send my manuscript to another publisher. They were accepting submissions from new writers but they required a three-month exclusive submission, during which time you agreed not to submit your manuscript to other publishers. You would only hear back from them if they decided to publish your book. (Not saying that was time lost in the process, I continued to edit and clean up the story.) I never heard back from them.

After doing more research, I made the choice to become a self-publisher but I would welcome any traditional publisher that would like to pick up any of my projects and I am still looking into submitting my work to publishers that I believe my stories would fit their needs.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

That is perhaps the easiest question you have asked...

As I told the 3^rd grade class in response to several questions they asked, I believe anyone, with a little effort, can write a great story. However, having fun doing it is an important part of writing, at least to me, but don’t think it will be easy. There are a lot of steps in writing a good story, making sure your grammar and spelling are correct is necessary. It is also a very good idea to join book clubs, writing groups, and offer samples of your work to people who will give you honest feedback. However, before you ever ask for feedback or a review of your work, be ready to accept criticism. To you, your story is perhaps the best thing since sliced bread, but remember… it needs to appeal to readers, and looking to criticism as a tool to improve your work is a must.