AUTHOR INTERVIEW: 'MONSTERLAND' MICHAEL OKON

Michael Okon is an award-winning and best-selling author of multiple genres including paranormal, thriller, horror, action/adventure and self-help. He graduated from Long Island University with a degree in English, and then later received his MBA in business and finance. Coming from a family of writers, he has storytelling is his DNA. Michael has been writing from as far back as he can remember, his inspiration being his love for films and their impact on his life. From the time he saw The Goonies, he was hooked on the idea of entertaining people through unforgettable characters.

Michael is a lifelong movie buff, a music playlist aficionado, and a sucker for self-help books. He lives on the North Shore of Long Island with his wife and children.

His latest book is Monsterland.

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Welcome to Monsterland—the scariest place on Earth.

The last couple years of high school have not been fun for Wyatt Baldwin. His parents divorce, then his dad mysteriously dies. He’s not exactly comfortable with his new stepfather, Carter White, either.

An on-going debate with his best friends Howard Drucker and Melvin over which monster is superior has gotten stale. He’d much rather spend his days with beautiful and popular Jade. However, she’s dating the brash high-school quarterback Nolan, and Wyatt thinks he doesn’t stand a chance.

But everything changes when Wyatt and his friends are invited to attend the grand opening of Monsterland, a groundbreaking theme park where guests can rock out with vampires at Vampire Village, be chased by actual werewolves on the Werewolf River Run, and walk among the dead in Zombieville.

With real werewolves, vampires and zombies as the main attractions, what could possibly go wrong?

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Thank you for this interview!  I’d like to know more about you as a person first.  What do you do when you’re not writing?

I’m a movie buff and will watch anything when not writing. I have created a music playlist every season since I’m 15 years old (first tapes, then burning CDs, now making playlists on iTunes. I’ve never not missed creating a playlist for any season. I love to cook. I haven’t eaten fruit or vegetables in 3 years. I only eat meat, dairy and eggs, and I’m in the best health of my life. I just started lifting weights again.

When did you start writing?

I’ve been writing since I’m 15 years old, about the time I started making music playlists.

As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?

When I got an entertainment attorney. I literally cold-emailed a top entertainment attorney in Los Angeles who introduced me to a literary agent. The rest was history. I owe my career to her.

If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your next book, where would that be and why?

I don’t like to travel if it’s not New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas or Orlando. I’m a creature of habit. I always write in New York. The other places are my playgrounds.

If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?

Lay out in the sun to soak up some Vitamin D.

Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet?

I recently watched 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and I’m modeling that submarine backdrop for my next book Monsterland 3.

Back to your present book, Monsterland, how did you publish it?

It’s a pretty incredible story that I have a hard time believing. I wrote Monsterland and self-published it in 2015. My mom is my publicity manager and she blitzed the bloggers with my book. That fall I was reading a book called Selling a Screenplay by Syd Field. In the book, there was an entertainment attorney named Susan Grode who seemed very knowledgeable about the publishing and film industry. I told myself, when I receive my first contract, I’m going to reach out to her to see if she could help me. About two months later, I received a post on Facebook from an agent in London who asked to represent me. I said sure and asked him to send me a contract. I emailed Susan and introduced myself and mentioned that I had someone who wanted to rep me and I was hoping she could read this contract. She told me before I sign with this London agent, why don’t I meet her friend in Brooklyn, an agent named Nick Mullendore with Vertical Ink Literary Agency. I met Nick for lunch and he signed me that day as his client. That evening, Susan brought me on as her client as well.

Nick began trying to sell my book Monsterland to the publishers and it was rejected. Throughout his attempts of selling, he had a call with a film agent and he was pitching her a romance novel. She said she wasn’t really into romance and was looking for something with monsters. He sent her my book Monsterland, she read it over a weekend, and we had a call that Monday. She told Nick and me if we get the book published, she will get it into a producer’s hands to make into a film. Nick found the publisher WordFire Press owned by Kevin J. Anderson, who has written all the Star Wars and Dune canon books. WordFire signed me to a two-book deal for Monsterland 1 & 2. After the deal was signed, my film agent did what she promised and got my book into the hands of a billion-dollar grossing producer who is now shopping my book to certain studios.  It’s been a wild two years.

In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?

Just the comfort of my den where I write every night.

Why was writing so important to you?

I’ve been writing since I’m 15. I love watching movies and telling stories that really reverberate with readers. When someone is reading a good book, they don’t think about anything but the story. I feel I did my job.

Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?

I get all my ideas from listening to music and watching movies. There is something creative that happens to me when I’m watching or listening to other’s people’s creations.

Any final words?

Monsterland 2 is completed and coming out May 26, 2018. I’m knee-deep in Monsterland 3, and beating out the story for Monsterland 4. Looks like I’m going to be writing monster stories for the next five years. There are eight books planned in the series.