Writers Boot Camp Founder, Jeffrey Gordon (JG), in conversation with LA Pro Member, Rob Samborn, who currently has a three-book deal with TouchPoint Press, as well as an audiobook deal with Tantor Media.

Rob’s first book in the series, Prisoner of Paradise, was adapted by him from his own screenplay written at Writers Boot Camp, which garnered an option and support around town by a production company founded by Dreamworks executives. You can read more about The Painted Souls series at RobSamborn.com.

Opening up the evening, JG reflected on the Writers Boot Camp community— “You know, that alumni who succeed, come back and share their insight. It’s helpful, and we have a number of Pro Members attending today. I checked out TouchPoint Press and their website quite an active outfit. How did they find you or you find them?”

RS: “Yeah, great question. Before I answer that question, I want to thank you so much for having me on this interview. And, you know, I have to say, and Jeff has no idea that I’m about to say this, I can trace the success I’ve had with my book directly, right back to Writers Boot Camp. There is direct line without a question. And answer to your question about Touchpoint press, yes, so, they are kind of one of a larger indie presses in publishing. They are very active, and I didn’t actually find them, my agents found them. So I do have an agent for books and when they went out submitting my book, Touchpoint Press was one of the the publishers that had submitted to and ended up giving me a three book deal.”

Discussing the difficulties of finding and building upon success, JG asked “By the way, when have you been writing? What’s your weekly schedule?

RS: “So I do try to fit in at least 10 hours a week. But the interesting thing about the differences between Hollywood and publishing is whether you’re with a big five publisher, an independent publisher, or you’re self- published, you’re basically running your own business. I do the vast majority of my own marketing and promotions and even advertising and everything. So a lot of my time that should be devoted to writing goes into marketing the book, and that’s something that does not exist as a screenwriter.

In discussing the different difficulties of writing prose as compared to a script, JG inquired “How did you determine the degree of action? One of the aspects I loved about the read was there are action sections, and early on, how you detail swiftly dispatching interactions and physical movements in a way that’s very easy to see. I’m sure it comes from the screenwriting experience.”

RS: “It definitely goes back to screenwriting— And by the way, and again, this is not an ad for Writers Boot Camp, but I still to this day use a ton of the tools that you and the other mentors that Writers Boot Camp taught me. I wanted the book to have a good amount of action, but you also need to give the reader a sequel — which is believe it or not, a writing term for essentially giving the reader a breather to kind of go into the head — in a book, compared to a script. And so I would say it really boils down to not boring the reader from either side of things, whether it’s these action scenes or it’s these introspective scenes or it’s these scenes where people are having a conversation, because also with a story like this, it does require a really good amount of exposition.”

JG: “And a lot of times in scripts or books, when it’s working well, the reader or the audience is saying, tell her, tell her. And then you withhold it, but it makes you invest. And then a few pages later, it’s revealed.

RS: “Yes, I Or, yes, I absolutely intentionally do that for the reader, but sometimes I also intentionally twist it. Like I kind of go in that direction and maybe give them a red herring and then twist it and like, oh, Yeah, so for dynamic characters, I mean, Julia is the main dynamic character, and I always, I needed her to balance Nick’s misbehaviors., which is another Writers Boot Camp terminology. And by the way, I still use the 3-6-3 with every single project I work on.

JG: “I was going to ask about how the adaptation of the screenplay— How the 3-6-3 evolved or how you used it initially— But of session, you can’t play more jazz and you can weave more in prose, but the adaptation will be probably somewhat streamlined. Things are crucial for each of these forms. That being said, the 3-6-3 is so helpful.”

RS: “With the book that I’m working on now that I’m adapting into a script, I actually ask the author to create a 3-6-3 when we were working on the outline.

JG: “That’s amazing!”