T. Norman
SE Wisconsin
USA
Good morning T. and welcome to Vision and Verse, the site for Art and Authors and those who love them. What have you written?
I have written 6 books in the Ascent Archives Series. Four books comprise the main series, following one large story line. The fifth book is a collection of short stories following different side characters you meet during the main series. The sixth book is actually a prequel and only available by signing up for my email list, it is set before the main storyline and gives the details of the assassination that started a war.
What is your favorite genre to write?
I love writing in Epic Fantasy. The bigger the threat and more characters involved, the better.
Favorite food.
I go back and forth with this, right now it is a really good wood-fired pizza on a sourdough crust with pepperoni, bacon, pineapple, and red onion.
Tea or coffee?
Coffee, and it’s not even close. I am especially in to cold brew right now, I’ve been brewing my own at home and it’s super delicious.
Pizza or ice cream?
If you couldn’t already guess, this one is also pizza. Although I really do love ice cream.
Wine or beer or soda or what?
Beer, for sure. I’ve been exploring with beers a bit more and have found many different local breweries I quit enjoy. If I had to get more specific than that, I’m a sucker for a good sour beer.
Where would you like to visit?
There are so many places in the world I haven’t travelled to that I really want to, but at the top of my list. First off is Norway, I’m mostly Norwegian by heritage so I would love to see the country my family originated from.
Favorite musical artist.
This is a tough one, I’m am a big genre hopper when it comes to music. I typically listen to pop/rock and really any song that has a good beat or I connect to the lyrics I will like. Right now I’ve been listening to a lot of AJR.
Do you listen to music when you write?
Yes.
What?
I will sometimes put on a Spotify playlist of move theme songs, usually Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. I don’t need music to write though, sometimes I’ll have the TV on in the background with a movie or TV show as well just for the background noise.
What makes you laugh?
My two kids. My daughter is five and my son is two. Everything they do just cracks me up. I honestly think my daughter is the wittiest person ever, some of the stuff she says I never would have thought of.
Favorite work of art or sculpture.
My grandma was an art teacher for most of her life and would always paint pictures of our family. When I was young she painted a picture of me and three friends at one of our t-ball games. The painting is still hanging up in my parents’ house, and every time I see it I’m just filled with childhood memories. My grandma is still around, but she hasn’t been able to paint for a while, so seeing these old works of hers reminds me of her passion and helps inspire me in mine.
How old were you when you started writing?
I actually didn’t start writing until my senior year of college. I only wrote for school and honestly hated it. I was always a creative storyteller, normally verbal, but writing wasn’t an outlet I found attractive. Senior year of college, after I finished my large capstone project, I was finally at a point where I didn’t need to write for school so I decided to try writing for fun.
Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write? 
So I typically make a rough outline of the story in an excel document. I know where I want to start, and have an idea of where I want to end, while also making note of some main events I want to happen along the way. Once I start writing though, all bets are off. I’ve strayed pretty drastically from my outlines before, which has caused for some long nights of figuring out how to connect everything back together.
Describe your perfect evening.
I’m a homebody, I love spending time at home with my wife and kids. I’m also an early bird, so I can’t stay up late anymore. So my perfect night is getting my kids to bed around 7, then sitting down with my wife and watching a show (We just finished Ozark and loved it!), then going to bed around 9:30. Really exciting, I know.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I am always listening to an audio book, it’s how I prefer to fall asleep. I also watch a lot of TV shows and movies. I use these to really help inspire my creative juices to keep writing.
What do you do when you get a writer's block?
My favorite thing to do is go for a long car ride, turn on voice memo on my phone, and I just talk through the scene I’m stuck on. Sometimes I’ll talk for an hour, other times it only takes ten minutes, but either way this is how I’ve gotten out of so many instances where I just feel stuck.
Who is your favorite author?
I don’t have one favorite author, there are so many that I really love to read it’s impossible to choose. If I’m basing it off of what author do I own the most physical copies of their books, that would be John Flanagan, author of The Rangers Apprentice.
Best book you ever read.
This is also so difficult to choose, because I’ve read so many good books! One of the best books I’ve read though, simply for the creativity of the story/characters/world/magic system would have to be the Warded Man by Peter V. Brett.
Last book you read.
I am currently reading Lifemarked, book 5 in the Fatemarked Epic Series by David Estes. The series has been SO good so far, and I am really intrigued to see how it ends.
What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
I actually don’t write full time for a career. It is my side gig/passion project. If I weren’t using that time as a writer though, instead I would probably use it to be a basketball coach. I’ve always loved playing and watching basketball, and when my kids get older I’d love the chance to be their coach.
Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
This would have to be my dad. He taught me a lot about having a strong work ethic as a child, and also helped instill my values while growing up. I look up to him as a role model and will regularly call him for advice even on the smallest things.
If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
J.R.R. Tolkein. Many, myself included, see him as one of the foundational authors of Epic Fantasy today. His books were some of the first I read, and he’s inspired countless stories/authors to this day.
What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
No two writing journeys are the same. When I started out, I thought that I had to follow this certain path in my writing career and was comparing myself to other authors starting out at the same time. I didn’t see the same success as them, was pushing myself too hard to write faster than comfortable, and had to take a step back to reevaluate my writing career.
Do you have some links for us to follow you?
https://www.facebook.com/t.norman.author/
https://www.instagram.com/t_norman_author/
http://jntpress.com/
https://www.amazon.com/T-Norman/e/B0732PWNXC/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8147409.T_Norman
