Book Goodies

Find great books, bargains and freebies!

  • Home
  • Authors: Tell Readers About Your Book
  • Advertising
    • Buy Home Page Features
    • Advertise Your Bargain Book
    • List Your Free eBook
    • Feature Your PermaFree Book
    • BookGoodies Multi-site Landing Pages And Book Buyer’s Guides
    • Author Advertising PrePay and Save!
  • Deals Newsletter
  • Featured Books
    • Buyer’s Guides
  • Book and Kindle Sleeves
  • Free Printable Bookmarks
  • Sites in the BookGoodies Network
  • Inspirational Thoughts and Affirmations
  • Free Books
  • PermaFree Books
  • Featured Free and Bargain Books
  • Bargain Books Under $3
  • Buyer’s Guides
  • Interviews With Authors
    • Podcasts with Authors
  • Authors Start Here
    • Authors: Tell Readers About Your Book
    • BookGoodies MEGA Submit Book Buyers Guide
    • Submit Your Interview
    • Feature Your Free Books
    • Feature Your Bargain Books
  • Giveaways from BookGoodies
You are here: Home / Interviews With Authors / Interview with Author – Tantra Bensko

Interview with Author – Tantra Bensko

By Book Goodies Leave a Comment

tantrabensko400
About Tantra Bensko:
Tantra Bensko teaches fiction writing at UCLA Extension Writing Program, Writers.com, Writers College, and Tantra Bensko’s Online Writing Academy. She has an MA in English from FSU and obtained her MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. She lives in Berkeley. She blogs about social engineering and her Agents of the Nevermind series is about the heroism of recognizing, resisting, and exposing social engineering.

What inspires you to write?
Sometimes it’s a person, or news story, DARPA’s advanced technology proposals, a whimsical fun idea that comes to me, history, a desire to turn the world of secret agent novels on its head. I want to add greatness to the world if I can.

Tell us about your writing process.
I like to use Scrivener, particularly as I often have more than one POV character, and that helps keep it straight. It makes it easy to know which is the latest version, and to revise smoothly, as well as compile.

I tend to just start writing at first and then see where that takes me. Then to finish it, I look at the structure of what’s developing and map out the impact character, antagonist, protagonist, oppression, flaw, inciting incident, first and second plot points, crisis, climax, resolution, etc.

The process is about exploring subjects that I feel are important to share with the world, real-world topics I want to bring attention to.

I go through many editors and proofreaders to make sure it’s as flawless as I can get it.

For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Neither. I dance them. I act them out. I talk in their voices out loud, moving as they do. My process is very physical.

What advice would you give other writers?
I see many people writing books without studying the plot formula. I feel movies give an excellent way to see it in action, once you learn the exact nature of what goes into each Act, and where. Pay attention to how the protagonist’s flaw is addressed through encounters with the antagonist until she is able to overcome the antagonist’s obstacles at the end.

The protagonist at first has a mistaken idea of a goal – something she wants. But by the end, the goal has been revised through the plot reversals, and now is what she needs. Those are two subsets of a larger set. At the beginning, we need to see the larger set so by the end, there is true success of the larger set. Just not the subset the protagonist expected.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
I’ve had hundreds of stories, poems, and articles published by other people, as well as chapbooks, collections, and a novella. But I decided it was time to jump into publishing myself, after studying marketing for a long time and publishing other people’s chapbooks. I wanted full control of the content, art, price, timing, and everything else. One of the books in the series was accepted by two publishers, but I pulled it in both cases. I can do better. Time to shine.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Definitely a movement toward indie-publishing is happening, with authors making more money than they do with traditional publishing. I feel this allows books like mine, which question U.S. intelligence policy, to be created without censorship.

What do you use?: Professional Editor, Beta Readers

What genres do you write?: Psychological Suspense, Political Thriller

What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print

Website(s)
Tantra Bensko Home Page Link
Link To Tantra Bensko Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Filed Under: Interviews With Authors Tagged With:  spies and secret agents, assassination, Conspiracy Fiction, eBook, occult thriller, Paperback, political thriller, secret agent novel, suspense novel, Tantra Bensko


Free and Bargain Books delivered to your email daily, subscribe now to find great new books every day.

Are you looking for ebook deals? We have them! We also have free ebooks - check them out!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

thirteen − nine =

Sign up for our Featured and Bargain Books Newsletter

Fiction

  • Fiction
  • Action & Adventure
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Historical
  • Horror
  • Mystery/Suspense
  • Paranormal
  • Romance
  • Romance – Erotica
  • Science Fiction
  • Women’s Fiction
  • Fiction Audio Books

Try Kindle Unlimited Today

Listen to Your Favorite Books

Nonfiction

  • Art/Photography/Coffee Table
  • Biographies & Memoirs
  • Body/Mind/Spirit
  • Business Books
  • Cooking and Food Books
  • Crafts and Hobbies
  • Educational/How-to
  • Essays
  • Faith and Religion
  • Gardening Books
  • Health & Fitness
  • Humor
  • Inspiration and Photography Books
  • Pet and Animal Books
  • Science and Math
  • Travel
  • Nonfiction Audio Books

More Good Stuff

  • Featured Books
  • Children and Young Adult Books
  • *Reading Room
    • Interviews With Authors
    • Audio Books
      • Nonfiction Audio Books
      • Fiction Audio Books
  • Spanish
  • Giveaways from BookGoodies
  • Readers: What Podcasts Do You Listen To?
  • Readers: What Devices do You Use to Read eBooks?
  • Readers: What Do You Like on an Author’s Website?

For Authors

  • Authors: Tell Readers About Your Book
  • Author Interview – Tell Us About Yourself
  • BookGoodies MEGA Submit Book Buyers Guide
  • Advertise Your Bargain Books
  • Advertise Your Free eBook
  • Advertise Your PermaFree Book
  • Universal Link Tool for Amazon Books
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
  • BookGoodies News

Copyright © 2022 BookGoodies Network