Where did Death's Academy come from?

Where did the idea of Death’s Academy come form?

So I had finished my first book Crossovers, which is twice as long as Death’s Academy and had a darker, more serious, tone overall. I am by nature, somewhat of a goofball and dork with an imagination that leans towards the bizarre side.

For example when I was in my early twenties I made an extremely independent movie called Funk Down. Funk Down is the epic story of a guy, he actually was a disco king coming back to his hometown after a long journey to find that the forces of soft rock had overtaken his city, shut down the disco dens, and sent his world into black chaos. Truly a deep, thoughtful piece of work.

Anyhow, I had finished Crossovers and I wanted to tap into my weirdness again, so I started to brainstorm on ideas. An idea about man eating venus flytraps survived for about a day or two, but thankfully I came to my senses and then I started playing around with another idea about a guy who you can hire to destroy special occasions… which may be a book I actually do in the future, but at that moment it wasn’t speaking to me. So I was despondent, I locked myself into my room, wailed into my pillow for at least a good seven or eight seconds and thought my world had ended.

So in this state of the utmost melodramatic tragedy my twelve year old son came up to me and showed me a story that he had written. I’ll be honest I don’t remember all the particulars, but I do remember that there was a cat and then a Grim reaper who was assigned to kill cats. As soon as I read that, a tsunami of ideas came to me. Well what if there were reapers for all types of animals and humans and you had to go to school to learn how to be a grim reaper. What if there entire culture and class structure was determined by the type of reaper you were, what would be the ultimate assignments to have. Then the idea of having their arch nemesis be the guardian angels jumped on board, so it started this snowball effect that I have to credit all to my son.

So in hindsight my wife was right and it was a wise move to not sell him into the circus as the boy that gets shot from the cannon… I guess.

Why are names so dang important?

Names… Why are names important? Let me propose a scenario to you. You have just inherited two million dollars from your dear great aunt. You are a responsible person, so you want to investigate ways of preserving and growing your new fortune.

So you walk into a bank and you walk over to the financial advisement center. There are two desks, at each desk sits a man. They are wearing identical suits, have their hair parted similarly, there is little to distinguish one from the other. You walk up to the desks and notice their name plates. One says Billy Bob Honeybottom and the other Theodore Williamson the third. Who’s desk do you go to for advice on investing your new fortune?

Mr. Honeybottom of course.

But everywhere you look in literature, names instill a feeling or even insinuate something about the character.

Let’s use a famous example, Harry Potter. A common name, it is unassuming, almost feels like an underdog, you want to root for him.

From the same series the villain Voldemort, which his name itself sounds dangerous, but also is a French phrase that means “Flight From Death”. For those of you that have read the series you’d agree that his name fits him well.

So names have always been important to me. When writing Death’s Academy I tried to conjure up names that would tell something about each character even before you learned more about them.

My intention was to follow a theme with the Hoodies. They are grim reapers so in my mind they would lean toward the mischievousness, toward the darkness, but not evil.

That’s why I chose names like Midnight, Mal (which is short for Malificent), Obsidian, Demien, and Pandora.

I wanted to have fun with their names and take you into their world and culture.

For the Halos, I wanted pompous, arrogant names that told you right when you met them in the story, that they thought their farts didn’t stink. Which they don’t, they are actually like a nice, mild potpourri.

Brilliance, Lightcrest and Magnificus. You can almost imagine them looing down their perfectly shaped noses at you. And let’s be honest if you ran into a girl named Brilliance, you’d be like.. oh really? Well excuse me for not laying rose petals on the ground before your feet.

That’s why I think names are so important and so much fun to come up with. As soon as I am able to lock in a name for a particular character everything else about them seems to fall into place.

Now I’d better get going, I don’t want to keep Mr. Honeybottom waiting.

Who is this Michael Bast?... Who cares?

Hi there everybody! My name is Michael Bast and I am an author.

I am from Arizona, I have five nasty kids that I kind of like, depends on the day. 

I used to collect a lot of different things. Comics, baseball cards, precious stones, toys, movies, music, stuff like that. But this is what is a little weird about me. I didn’t like to read comics, I wasn’t a big baseball fan. I couldn’t tell you the difference between a sapphire and a ruby besides that their different colors. So why did I collect them? This is a bit embarrassing, because I thought I was going to get rich, by holding on to them… guess what, it didn’t work.

Now a days I don’t do quite the same type of collecting even though I do have three huge boxes filled with action figures in my garage… do I occasionally take them out and set them up into elaborate battle scenes… that’s none of your business and I’d appreciate if you’d stop asking me such personal questions. Nosey.

I also collect music and movies. I own over a 1000 dvds. You want me to tell you the sad thing… I probably haven’t seen a third of those movies. So why do I collect them? Because one day I may be sitting in my living room and get an overwhelming urge to watch Troll 2. If it isn’t in my library what am I gonna do? Blockbuster has closed down and the nearest red box is at least a mile and a half… Do you know how expensive gas is?… I really don’t know why I collect them, maybe I am like one of those crazy end of the world nuts that stockpiles prunes and deer jerkey, but instead I am stockpiling movies. Who knows?

Before becoming an author I was a filmmaker. I made a couple of independent films and documentaries. I always believed that filmmaking was my greatest passion, but then I finally heeded my wife’s nagging and sat down to write a book. I haven’t made a movie or thought about filmmaking since. I have written three books and am in the process of writing a fourth. 

My first book is called Calypso the Wonder Dolphin, it’s the story of a magical porpoise that fights terrorists that attack Disney World. It’s actually based on historical events… That actually sounds pretty good…(Hold on I’m just jotting that down) No my first book is actually called Crossovers. It is the story of a boy who has always been able to see things and people that aren’t supposed to be there, not ghosts, but something far more dangerous. He has been kept hidden and protected his whole life, but then by an accident his existence is discovered. So the bad dudes are coming for him… Maybe it isn’t quite as spine tingling as Calypso the Wonder Dolphin, but I love it.

So anyway, I am excited for you to check out my books. I hope you like them.

Thanks guys! See you soon!

Story about 1's and 5's

First, you must know three things about me;

1) I am deathly afraid of the ocean at night. There are creatures lurking, waiting for me.

 Do I understand the chances of me being attacked by a shark are rarer than getting hit by a bolt of 

lightning while on a pogo-stick? Yes. What’s your point?

2) There is a possessed doll out there searching for me.

One night, when I’m stumbling down my 

darkened hallway he’ll come around the corner, his twisted doll face smiling, his little doll legs 

ready to pounce, his stubby doll fingers feeling for my neck.  He’s coming, it’s just a matter of 

time.

3) I enjoy Mexican food.

Now that we’ve got to know each other, let’s get started. I am a storyteller. Death’s Academy is my second novel, but first one published. I’ve also written a half-dozen or so film scripts. In a previous life I was an independent filmmaker.

I would love to share a quick story about writing Death’s Academy.

When I sat down to write "DA" I made the conscious decision to allow the bizarreness that is ping 

ponging around my brain to hit the page unfiltered. The result? I have dachshund/poodle mixes as hell-hounds, muscle-ripped unicorns as bad guys, grim reapers as my good guys. Was the weirdness too much? It was a question I asked myself over and over again while I was writing. 

Then I had an eye-opening experience. Soon after finishing the book, I entered the first chapter of 

Death's Academy into a "1st Chapter Contest" at the Storymakers conference in Utah. I didn't win. But that wasn't the key reason why I entered it into the competition. Alongside with winning or losing you get written feedback from four judges.

So I get the feedback. I tear open the manila envelope, take a deep breath and read the first judge's 

critique. I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but your first chapter is graded in overall 

enjoyment between 1 being the absolute worst to 5 being the best.

My eyes scan the notes in the first judge’s critique, and I come to the final grade… 1. Ouch, I thought. That sucks. So I flipped to the next judge… 1. Ouch, ouch. At this point I begin thinking that perhaps I should find another avenue to seek creative fulfillment. Maybe shadow puppetry or nude miming... maybe mix the two, I was desperate.

I nervously flip to the third critique… 5. What? Wait a second, how can two people want to use my first chapter as a brillo brush to scrub their toilets with, and now someone gives it the highest grade possible? So I flip to the fourth critique… 5.

This discrepancy causes a bit of befuddlement. I love that word, befuddlement, its right up there with "fuzzy" and "mountainous". I love the way they massage your larynx when you say them.

So I'm befuddled. Then like the Red Sea, my clouds of confusion are split and understanding descends upon me like a fuzzy, mountainous blanket. People are either gonna hate Death’s Academy or love it, and that’s OK. I needed to stay true to the story I wanted to tell, and not worry about whether or not it will sell. Either you will like backstroking through the weirdness or you don't, that’s it.

A few months later Death’s Academy was picked up for publication, and a life time goal was met. So when anyone asks me the ‘trick’ to getting published, I say ‘incense and black magic,’ and when that 

doesn’t work, stay true to the story you want to tell.  Here's to a bunch of 1's and 5's!