BLOCK PARTY FEATURED AUTHOR: Josh Saltzman

ABOUT: Josh is a Torontonian and a New Yorker. He earns his keep by writing television shows. Lately that’s meant a lot of animated shows. Some of the shows he’s written for are Call Me Fitz (HBO Canada), Rocket Monkeys, Dr. Dimensionpants, Numbchucks, and the upcoming Cloudy with the Chance of Meatballs: The Series.   

WATTPAD BLOCK PARTY STORY: It’s Alive! It’s Alive!

SHORT SYNOPSIS: Stories are alive. They’re imbued with life from its parents, the writer and the reader. Like all children, stories take on a life of their own. They make their own decisions. They are alive.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW:

Who are your favorite authors?  - Jennifer Egan (A visit From the Goon Squad is my favorite book ever written and a huge influence on my Wattpad story: Strange Yarns), R.L Stine, Dave Eggers, Richard Matheson, William Goldman. 

You're an award winning TV writer & comedian. What awards have you won, and how has your prior experience helped your Wattpad writing?

-     I’ve been nominated twice for The Canadian Comedy Awards in best online comedic video. I’ve won once for the short That Thing That Happened () and was nominated for Fish Bride ()

-        I’ve also won the Tim Sims Encouragement Award for my writing and performance in my comedy duo 7 Minutes in Heaven.

-        The show I wrote for Call Me Fitz has won countless (hyperbole) awards and is currently nominated for Canadian Screen Award for Best Series

What's your secret and/or advice for aspiring authors? 

- the best piece of advice I have is finish what you start. There are few miracles in life. Writing “the end” is one of them.

What was the inspiration for the story you wrote for the Block Party?

- I started writing on wattpad because I’ve always flirted with writing short horror stories. I had so many story-thoughts backing up the thoroughfares in my brain. So I started Strange Yarns. At first I was just posting isolated horror stories. But the stories themselves have a mind of their own. Now, like an untangled ball of yarn, the stories have become all knotted up and intertwined. It’s building to a grand narrative… I had no intentions of doing this… The stories are alive.

What are your writing habits, or routine? 

- I’m a professional screenwriter and I’m currently working on a new animated TV show that should be out next year on Disney XD. So I’m writing all day. After work I hit the gym, eat dinner, then I sit in a pub until 11PM and write my guts out for Strange Yarns. The next day I get up a bit earlier and hit the coffee shop to edit the mess I made the night before.

How did you discover Wattpad?

My Best Friend in THE ENTIRE WORLD Rob Shapiro introduced it to me. He wrote one of the block parties too and his Wattpad story Harper’s in Hell is one of my favorite reads. Rob and I are the oldest of friends and he joins me in the pub on Sundays to write, but mostly procrastinate.

When I'm not writing I'm: reading or going to the movies.

What's you favorite thing about Wattpad?  - There are so many wonderful things about Wattpad: the community, having a place where people read what I’ve written, the contests… BUT, my favorite things about Wattpad is that it has transformed my Social media experience from being an aimless voyeur, staring at other peoples profiles, to one of creativity, expression, engagement, and encouragement.

What can we expect from you next?

Strange Yarns is smack in the middle of its run. So I have about 15 more short stories to come up with, write, and build into the grand narrative. After that I’m going to start my first novel on Wattpad. Also I have a short story being published in the Fall edition of Carrier Pigeon (http://www.carrierpigeonmag.com/)