Author Interview: Mason Carlisle

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to Friday Night Writes! As always, our goal is to shine a spotlight on members of the book community and introduce readers to awesome authors, narrators, event hosts, influencers, and more.

This week, we'd like to introduce our featured guest, author Mason Carlisle. Evie will be leading the interview.

Mason Carlisle

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you?

I’m a 27 year old author, activist, photographer and poet from Michigan, USA.

What are a few of your favorite things/least favorite things?

I like animals, I don’t like peanut butter.

Did you always want to be an author?

Yes and no. I did want to be an author but didn’t want it to be my primary career.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Profiler for the FBI.

Nice! That job always sounded cool. When did you know you wanted to be an author?

2021, as of the most recent moment

Besides writing, do you have any hobbies? Do any of your characters share the same interests as you?

I like a wide range of hobbies from painting to singing and dancing and honestly I have enough characters that it’s easy to just give them one hobby each.

Do you have anything that you’re truly passionate about outside of writing?

Animal Welfare, Civil Rights, March For Our Lives, The World Wildlife Fund, and CodePink.

Those are all amazing organizations.

How long have you been writing?

I started writing when I was twelve.

Which genres do you write in?

I’m a multi-genre author, I have more books published in YA, but my completed works range from Children’s Books, to YA, to Adult Literature. I’ve written dystopian, coming of age, fantasy, light-horror/sci-fi, action/adventure, religious fiction, and psychological thriller.

A lot of books in a lot of genres! That's amazing!

Are you independently published or traditionally published? Why did you choose this route? What are the benefits/drawbacks?

I’m indie and I mostly love doing that because I retain all my rights. Benefits are just creative control, drawbacks is marketing.

What do you enjoy most and least about being an author?

I love crafting a story, I cannot stand marketing and selling my work. I’d rather do anything else.

Marketing is the worst, I think we can all agree on that.

Are you a plotter, a plantser, or a pantser?

My method is chaos, it’s mostly pantsing.

Do you have any writing routines (things you do that help you write)?

I love listening to music when I write.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

It doesn’t happen often, when it does, I take a break until it’s over.

How many WIPs do you have going right now? Can you tell us anything about them?

I actually have a lot of WIPs right now. My readers can expect a secondary trilogy for The Roanoke Resistance Trilogy following what takes place while a new nation tries to rebuild after a successful coup of a dystopian society, that should be coming out relatively soon.

Next year, we will be getting a horror/sci-fi/fantasy blend that I will be teasing come February, and we can also look forward to The Sacred Objects series; think Uncharted meets Donnie Darko and then make it more culturally grounded.

Currently, I’m about halfway done with a new sci-fi project. Expect some aliens.

Nice! Those all sound good. I can't wait.

How many books do you currently have published? Tell us about them.

I currently have seven books published!

The Ghost of You

The first series is The Ghost of You, revolving around the wake of a fictional school shooting and one survivor’s experience as he finishes that school year out.

Descent

The next is Descent, a romantasy about a girl who can more or less go into books and live as the main character as time stops.

The Roanoke Resistance

Then there’s The Roanoke Resistance Trilogy, about a rag-tag group of revolutionaries trying to prevent WW4.

Idyllic

Finally, there’s Idyllic, a coming of age about growing up under the lens of harmful mommy vlog culture and extreme religious behavior behavior at home.

Where do you get the inspiration for your books? Do you insert pieces of yourself and people you know into your books?

Sometimes I’m inspired by film, but often it’s current events and people I know or relate with.

Are there any other authors who have inspired you?

I really like reading Jodi Picoult’s work, but Suzanne Collins is likely my biggest inspiration.

Do you prefer standalone books or book series?

I prefer reading stand alone and writing series.

Do you have a favorite and least favorite of your characters? Why?

Favorite Character is a tie between Milo Lopez from Idyllic and Atlas Collins from The Roanoke Series. For Milo, he’s just simply the sweetest MMC I’ll ever have. He’s wonderful and very deeply inspired by my own partner. When it comes to Atlas, he’s kind of just my most complicated character by far.

LEAST favorite is an extra fun answer; Ashton Sinclair, inspired by Jamie Miller from Adolescence. Also from The Roanoke Series, Ashton narrates Book 4 (Or the pilot of the spin off trilogy) and the prompt there was “what if something changed a Jamie’s mind before that happened? What would happen if a tyrannical govt was overthrown now? What would it take for a loyalist to see reason?” I have many antagonists much worse than Ashton, but getting into that headspace and having to build toward a better character from there was quite a challenge and I’ll never narrate him again.

What is your most popular book?

I feel like my most popular book is likely The Ghost of You, but my most well-received book in the ARC reading process was Idyllic!

Which of your books do you wish received more love than it does?

I really wish The Roanoke Resistance Trilogy got a bit more love.

How do you handle the author/life balance? (i.e. writing/editing/graphic design/home life/etc.)

I actually have a very busy life. Now that my kids are in school, it’s easier to write in those hours. Before? I was just a chronic insomniac. I love it, though. I thrive in chaos, my kids are happy and spoiled, my pets are happy and spoiled, my house is clean enough and my books are all coming together. Couldn’t ask for better balance.

What do you do for your mental health and to recharge your creativity?

In all honesty? Disappear from social media for months at a time.

Do you have any advice for unpublished writers or people who hope to become authors?

Just keep writing, there really is a niche for everything.

We're almost done, but now is the time for the fun questions!

What was your most recent five-star read?

The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping

What’s your favorite Dinosaur?

Quetzacoatlus; I’m absolutely terrified of birds and I gotta respect the thing I’m happiest not to share a timeline with. For me, personally; there’s no creature I’d rather see in real life less than a plane-sized bird.

What is the best gift you have been given?

I have honestly been gifted too many incredible things in life to rank them, but most recently my boyfriend gifted me the new Gargoyle Build a Bear and it’s one of the cutest things I’ve ever laid my eyes on.

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Five; all Converse.

What's the most daring thing you've ever done?

The most daring thing I’ve done when it comes to writing is probably The Roanoke Series. It’s very much inspired by current political events. Last year, I was scrolling Tiktok, and my fyp would be Palestine, then full on hatred being spewed at our Latino/Hispanic population and other marginalized groups, then Hunger Games edits, then Man vs. Bear. I noticed that Americans tend to focus on America, so I brought the Gaza genocide home and showcased how a free society descends to that level of facism, and how to recover from it, but through the lens of a hypothetical post-America dystopia vs. Central America as the new example of Gaza, with most of the population then isolated to the Yucatan peninsula before the revolution escalates. Most of the depictions of systemic violence and war that happen in this series are inspired by real acts of systemic violence that have happened in the last couple of years, and on actual scenes out of Gaza. The series doesn’t make much, it is very new, but some of those profits do go to organizations like Unicef and Save The Children to help actual people these problems affect outside of fiction.

Do you collect anything besides books?

I have many collections, one is Build a Bears.

If you could be a shifter what would your alternate form be?

Definitely a cat. Sneaky, agile, fast, durable. Easy answer.

What are you interested in that most people aren’t?

Politics! World history, global politics, behavioral science, mythology, and law. I love legalese.

As a child, what did you think would be awesome about being an adult but isn’t as awesome as you thought it would be? Why?

Decorating a house is so expensive. I was super excited to do that until I found out how much rugs cost.

What food have you never eaten but would really like to try?

I actually have a Bucket List specifically for food and I’ve eaten some wild, (ethically sourced) things including alligator, escargot, a scorpion, elk, etc? However, I’ve always wanted to try authentic creole food my entire life, have never been in the right areas for it.

Thank you for sharing with us!

Where can we find you online?

I can be found at @Mason_Carlisle_author on both Tiktok and Instagram

Do you have any planned events?

I don’t have events lined up.

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

I’m currently looking for sensitivity readers for two completed trilogies and a spin off, if anyone’s interested, I’d love if they reached out!

You may be able to post in the Friday Night Writes Discord and see if anyone is interested!

Thank you so much for joining us, Mason. It's been a pleasure chatting with you!

To all of our readers, thanks for spending some time with our guest author this week! We hope you've enjoyed this interview! In the meantime, be sure to follow Mason on her social media platforms so you can keep up to date with her journey. Building a better, stronger community is what Friday Night Writes is all about!

Be sure to join us next week when we talk to author Trisha Jones! We will also have a special live interview with Rebecca Jose on Monday, the 22nd at 7pm CST over on TikTok.

See you soon!

The Friday Night Writes Crew

Evie Black & Samantha Moran

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