Author Interview: Dan Haring author of OLDSOUL

I noticed as I read that I couldn't help but imagine some of the fight scenes playing out like a movie. Large missile explosions and people falling in all directions from getting hit with the bullets and cars flying everywhere from the impact. Did you write these scenes with the intention of sucking in the reader with intense visuals and explosions?

I kind of approached the book as if it were an action movie, so it needed to have lots of explosions and bodies falling. Coming from a film and art background, and loving comics, whenever I'm writing I tend to picture what's happening as if it's in a movie or comic book, and try to incorporate that into the writing. Hopefully the descriptions (and explosions) are enough to get people interested in what's going on.

Are there any movies that inspired this particular scene
(the New York fight scene in the beginning part of the story)

No specific movies, though I've seen plenty of them and I'm sure some slipped in subconsciously. Like I said, I visualized the fight scenes, especially the New York one, as if they were going to be shot for a a movie, so hopefully the action came across as such.

I know that you work as an artist and with animations. Is there a piece of artwork that your story inspired that you want to share with my readers? If not, have you considered trying to get your story converted to a Graphic Novel and trying your hand at the artwork? Is that something you'd like to see happen with your story some day?

I really like the story of Oldsoul, so I wanted to get it out there any way I could. During the query process I started adapting it to both a screenplay and a graphic novel. I concentrated more on the graphic novel though, and I made it through a couple pages before the book contract came about. Once that happened, I let the graphic novel idea go, but I'd still love to finish it someday. Here's the first page that I did.

Did you design/help design the cover?

I did. Initially I was going to try to get a friend to paint it, but there just wasn't enough of a budget. So I did a couple mock-ups of ideas I had. The publisher liked one and gave me the green light to do it. I photographed a friend and did the rest in Photoshop.

Have any of your characters demanded more page space than you had
originally planned? Have you considered doing a short story that goes
more into detail about that character?

She didn't necessarily take up more page space than I'd planned, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed writing Erin. She's the soul within Jason that he communicates with, and I had a great time evolving their relationship. I hadn't considered doing a short story, but as OLDSOUL is the first of a planned trilogy, we'll definitely be learning more about the characters.

There is also a lot of specific details when it comes to the weapons
that are used. The shape, model, type etc that I personally did not
know one weapon from another besides key words like "missile" or "gun"
do you have a interest in weapons or did you have to do some research
on the models and specifics to help portray the intensity of the
fighting?

Yes and yes. My dad was in the Air Force in Vietnam and worked at an Army depot for most of my life growing up. That, combined with being in Boy Scouts, gave me a pretty keen interest in weapons. (Plus I'm a guy, so yeah, guns!) I grew up in a rural community in Utah, and my dad had guns and we would go shooting all the time. With Jason being a policeman, he would have to know about certain types of weaponry, even if he's not obsessed with it. One of the souls inside him is a General whose hobby is to keep up on the weapons and vehicles the military uses, and he provides a lot of the information to Jason. I talked to my dad and did some research of my own to find out what types of weapons would most likely be used. At the risk of boring people who don't care about weapons, I wanted it to feel authentic and rooted in the real world.

On a more fun note:

You reference tv and movies in this book, do you find yourself turning
on Spongebob or other cartoons over other shows? I personally find
cartoons relaxing and tend to put them on late at night to help me
sleep...what is your go-to tv preference when you need to clear your
mind?...maybe a guilty pleasure show..

I love Spongebob! I love the sheer absurdity of it. I have kids, and I work in animation, so a lot of cartoon watching goes on at home. Phineas and Ferb is pretty much the family favorite. I really like a lot of the USA shows. Monk, Psych, White Collar, Royal Pains. Castle is a great show too. My wife and I got hooked on Downton Abbey a few months back. Maybe that counts as a guilty pleasure, but it's so good!


If there was one Classic Disney movie you would have been proud to
have worked on ..which one would it be and why?

Working on Tangled has been the highlight of my animation career, and though I don't know if it qualifies as a classic yet, I'm very proud of that movie. I love the classic Disney films, but I don't know that any one stands out above the others. My all-time favorite movie is The Nightmare Before Christmas, and although it may not fall under the same "classic" category as Cinderella and others, it's probably the one I would have most wanted to work on.