Bryan K. Johnson, Author of Yield: Book 1 of the Armageddia Series (Thriller)
Bryan K. Johnson graduated from the University of Liverpool with an MBA in Marketing, and also holds undergraduate degrees in Advertising and Graphic Design. He’s worked as a Creative Director within the television industry for over a decade, winning several Emmy, Addy, and Telly Awards throughout his career. He currently lives in Oregon with his wife and two children. Yield is his first novel, and book one of the Armageddia Series.
(No relation to Annie)
Annie K. Johnson – What inspired you to become an author?
Brian K. Johnson – My journey to become an author started out first as a reader. I loved exploring the science fiction worlds of Tolkien, Brian Jacques, and David Eddings growing up. I was always amazed by the feeling that a good book series could give you. I remember as I finished up one of Eddings’s five-part story lines in high school, having this almost overwhelming feeling of disappointment that it was over. I didn’t want the characters that I had been through so much with to leave my mind. Great writers make us feel like we truly know the characters, and can bring them to life in a way that is so real and personal. We feel their fears. Laugh at their triumphs. Cry at their pain. I started writing in high school, at first to continue some of those incredible stories that I just didn’t want to end. I moved on to graphic novels, toying with the idea of being a comic book illustrator for a time. After that, I began writing screenplays and finally my first novel, Yield.
AKJ – What do you consider your greatest strength as a writer?
BKJ – I’m a very visual person. Drawing, painting, graphic design. I also have twelve-plus years of experience inside the television industry, directing shoots and producing award-winning promotional pieces. That visual sense I think translates into my writing. I’m able to see the details of my scenes and characters very clearly. I try to set up each chapter and scene for my readers as a Director would, with establishing shots, cutaways, and intense action sequences. Those various creative experiences get channeled when I write in sometimes very interesting ways.
AKJ – Which of your characters has been your favorite to develop?
BKJ – That’s a hard one. I’m partial to each of the characters in Yield for different reasons, but Devin Bane is probably my most interesting one. He is an exceedingly complicated protagonist, flawed with addiction, full of razor-sharp skepticism, and with an almost constant sense of conflicted purpose. He doesn’t want to be a leader, yet his instincts are to rise up when needed. His unrestrained and often harsh sense of humor can cut you down in an instant, but his charm can also brighten the darkest of days. Devin is at a crossroads in his life and still trying to find himself. His biggest problem is what he finds lurking in those shadows.
AKJ – What do you want readers to take away from your book?
BKJ – I never wanted Yield to get preachy or political. My goal as I wrote it was just to depict our current geopolitical environment and threats in as realistic and unbiased a way as possible, letting the reader draw from it what they will. I wanted my story to feel terrifyingly possible in every way, without focusing too heavily on any particular religious or political viewpoint. I incorporated a very diverse set of characters to help show that beyond the racism and bigotry, beyond the differences of religion and background, we are far more alike than different. It isn’t until Yield‘s characters are pushed to the brink that they realize it.
AKJ – What do you consider your greatest weakness as a writer?
BKJ – Editing is one of my biggest weaknesses. I think it took me four times as long to finish Yield as it probably should. Every time I read my story I found different things I just had to rework. I would change my changes, then change them back. I was absolutely bipolar at times. I’m a perfectionist, so I was never completely satisfied. Eventually I just had to push it all away and say the book was done—for my own sanity, if nothing else. Then, of course after I read the printed ARC, I had 80+ more changes for my publisher!
Looking back though, editing is really where my story and writing found its voice. I am grateful now for the extra time I spent on that phase. As a new writer, it can be intimidating because it feels like the story will never truly be done.
One thing I did find helpful while editing was to read the manuscript on different platforms. Reading Yield on my laptop was very different than reading it on my iPhone, iPad, or in printed form. Sometimes changing the medium changes our perspective, and allows us to focus back on the material itself in a different way.
AKJ – How has writing been different than what you’d imagined?
BKJ – I think the biggest surprise for me was the process after all the writing was done. Becoming an author isn’t simply putting together a compelling story with a unique hook, then watching the floodgates of success open wide. Becoming a published author with tangible numbers is far more difficult than writing the story itself. There are a lot of other very talented writers out there, all competing with one another to reach prospective readers. New writers must be well versed in social media, able to network and build connections, be willing to invest significant amounts of their own time and resources, maintain engaging presences on a host of different platforms, and always be looking for ways to market themselves and their brand to new customers. I have an MBA in marketing, so thankfully I have a bit of experience in that arena. But trying to build credibility and a following takes time. New writers start at ground zero, regardless of how great you think your book might be. Don’t get discouraged, but don’t underestimate that either.
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