Background Information

Working Internet Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20190904211903/https://jpbeaubien.com/calliope-writing-coach-podcast-interview/ 

The post on JP’s website about it is from Jan 14, 2018.

Episode Description JP Beaubien is a writer, artist, and YouTuber who grew up in the beautiful countryside of east Tennessee. After studying history in college he worked a half dozen different jobs before deciding to pursue a career in writing. He released his first book Aeon Legion: Labyrinth in 2016 and to this day cannot spell labyrinth without spell-check. He also created the popular YouTube channel Terrible Writing Advice where he gives totally genuine writing advice without any sarcasm at all. His internet pseudo-fame now threatens to balloon his ego beyond any control.

JP can be found here:

Website: http://jpbeaubien.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JosephPBeaubien His Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ogrx6d9oohf6D42G44j1A Aeon Legion – Labyrinth

JP thank you so much for a great interview.

-Love, Angie & Michael

Transcript

[00:05] ANGIE: This is Calliope Writing Coach, the podcast about writing and publishing success from every angle. I’m Angie Fenimore, international best selling author and writing coach.

MICHAEL: And I’m Michael Sheen, author, platform designer and marketing master.

Episode 28, Terrible Writing Advice.

MICHAEL: Welcome, welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the Calliope Writing Coach podcast! We got Michael and Angie in the house. ANGIE: Hello, how are ya?

MICHAEL: And today, our special guest is Mr. J.P. Beaubien!

ANGIE: (repeats Beaubien, pronouncing it in a different way every time)

MICHAEL: Did I say that right?

JP: Close enough! ANGIE: (giggles) There we go!

[00:47] MICHAEL: (obviously reads off his notes) J.P. Beaubien is a writer, artist and YouTuber who grew up in the beautiful countryside of east Tennessee! After studying history in college, he worked a half dozen different jobs before deciding to pursue a career writing. He released his first book, Aeon Legion: Labyrinth, in 2016. And to this day, cannot spell “labyrinth” without spell check. He also created the popular YouTube channel, Terrible Writing Advice, where he gives totally genuine writing advice without any sarcasm at all.

ANGIE: Like, none, zero.

MICHAEL: Yeah, none, his internet pseudo fame now threatens to balloon his ego beyond any control. (stops obviously reading off of his notes) Welcome, J.P.!

JP: Thank you very much for having me.

MICHAEL: This is totally fun, so, I was just looking and, uh, your YouTube channel is just shy of a hundred and fifty thousand subscribers, how crazy is that? JP: Uhm, well, it’s about… a hundred and fifty thousand subscribers more than I thought I would have. MICHAEL: (laughs) ANGIE: Oh, you’re kidding me! It’s brilliant. And- it’s, you know, so sarcastic that it’s almost cringey. There are moments when it’s cringey.

[01:59] MICHAEL: So, this world of writing, what had you give up your half dozen different jobs and- and take on writing? Where- what made you make that leap? JP: Kind of, almost an accident and a fluke, kind of i- in a way? I… After I took my history major, I was history major at Maryville College, uh graduated with bachelors of arts and history, then… I went uhm… well, I graduated at 2008, right when the economy just tanked. MICHAEL: Mhmm. JP: So, I had great- I had great prospects going out, uh I found myself working in retail, eventually my parents convinced me to go, like, work for my dad who was a partner in a machine shop. And, so at that point I started learning, like, blue collar skills, so, I worked some white collar jobs, I worked some blue collar jobs, um, I went- went back to college, got an associates in mechanical engineering technology. That was… kind of interesting? But… it still wasn’t quite my thing, um, I worked with my… dad and his shop for a while, eventually he moved me… behind the desk there to help with, like, quoting work, so, then I was right back into white collar work again, and… I kept bouncing around from thing to thing, and, like, none of it really worked for me.

[03:13] ANGIE: Well, at least you didn’t try, uh, red light industry. MICHAEL: (from a distance) Red- red light? ANGIE: Red light, blue collar, get it? White collar, black collar, red light. Do you get it? MICHAEL: (closer) I get it.

ANGIE: Oh, good.

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I’m sure that was a temptation, though, right?

ANGIE: It wasn’t very sarcastic, was it? MICHAEL: (laughs) ANGIE: It just wasn’t quite funny, it was almost funny. MICHAEL: Yeah, we’re- we’re dealing with the, uh, king of sarcasm here, so, we have to throw some of that in there. 

MICHAEL: Well, excellent so then the writing, where did that come in?

JP: Well, I had started a number of writing projects, I guess you could call them, like, before I’d even started my main book, but I’d never intended to be a writer, I took a creative writing course my… senior year of college for my history major, because we needed some just, like, like, filler, like, electives to fill in, so- but at the time, I was gonna be a video game developer. ANGIE: Ohh. [04:13] JP: So… yeah, that- that- that was my dream job, I- I used to make fun of people who wanted to be a writer, I’d like, “hah, that’ll never come back to bite me!,” so… But, I… But I took a creative writing course because I wanted to learn how to make my video game scripts better. ANGIE: Oh, okay.

JP: Because… Yeah, because when I was, like, teenage years, I’d downloaded this little RPG maker program and I tried to make my own games and… they were, like, well, you know, most writers, they have their early work where they get their awful out, that’s where I got all my awful out. Was these, really crappy RPG maker games where there was, like, chosen one storylines and it was all the characters were, just, walking stereotypes, and it was all just terrible, and all those games are buried in my hard drive, to this day, and will never be seen by anybody. 

JP: But after I took the creative writing course, um, I wrote some short stories for that, none of them were particularly good, but I got good feedback on one of them, where, like, although the story wasn’t good, the idea I had engaged people for some reason? So, I thought, “well I got something creative going on there,” but I kind of filed that away for later and didn’t really think about it too much. I cut my storytelling teeth, though, on tabletop games with my friends, uh, Dungeons and Dragons, and stuff like that. ANGIE: Okay.

[05:25] JP: Yeah, like I- I sometimes recommend writer’s that if- if you’re into nerd stuff and you want to get the storytelling part down, uh, start a tabletop game with your friends and be a dungeon master or a game master of a game, because… The- the biggest benefit of that is when- when you’re just worried about the storytelling, you’re not distracted by prose writing, you’re just working on the story, and you have an audience there that will give you instant feedback. MICHAEL: Mhm.

ANGIE: Oh that’s great. JP: Yeah, yeah, so like, if you’re- so, if you’ve got, like, a cliché character there, you will watch as all your, like, all your fellow players there roll their eyes at you, and start making fun of your characters and, like, you’ll instantly know it does not work, and then you have- and you have to, like, change it up real quick to keep your audience engaged. Because if they lose interest in the game, the game’s going to die, so, you have to keep it going, so, I kind of learned to cut my storytelling teeth… There, basically. 

[06:18] JP: And then, uh, flash forward a few years when I was still working for my dad, I had this neat idea for a story about time travel and I thought, “what, could I make a campaign out of it,” and it’s, like, no, it’s got all these- cause the character’s where the core motive behind- or the core inspiration I had behind the idea, so, I… basically, decided, “well, I should maybe turn it into a book! I can do that. Give this whole writing thing a try.” So, um, and I was, like I said, at that point I’d tried a whole bunch of other jobs and I was just unsatisfied, but I’d saved up all my money, though, I- I wasn’t a big spender, so I had quite a bit of money in the bank so I thought, “well, if I really wanted to this creative career thing a go, I’ve got the resources to do it, and I’ve got the idea,” and, so, I- I think I fleshed out my first couple of drafts and… Then things were kind of winding down at my dad’s shop anyways, so, I thought, “well, I might as well go ahead and give it a try!” So.

[7:19] ANGIE: Oh, that’s great. MICHAEL: I wonder if, uh, you know, Dungeons and Dragons has seen a resurgence since Stranger Things came out, like… (from a distance) what do you think? ANGIE: Oh that would be an interesting thing to track.

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah, have you watched Stranger Things? JP: I’ve not seen it yet. ANGIE: (dramatic gasp) JP: No, no I don’t actually watch a lot of TV, uhm, I don’t actually- I don’t even own a TV, I get all my stuff through the internet, pretty much exclusively, so, uh, my mom, like, I know, like, basically what’s going on in it because my mom is always talking about it to me, even though, I like, I kind of only get half of it, half of the time, so.

[7:52] MICHAEL: Well, excellent, let’s talk a little bit about how Terrible Writing Advice came in to be ANGIE: Yeah, this is awesome, I actually, will send links to some of my clients, “so you really need to watch this,” because, you know, I can say it, I can say, “okay, really, you need to be interested in feedback, you really need to nu-nuh-nuh-huh,” and, all the day long, they see that, and then they’re like, “okay, I get it.” JP: (laughs) It’s just like, “please, please, no more sarcasm, I promise to be good!” MICHAEL: Yeah. [08:21] JP: The origin of Terrible Writing Advice, I think, um, I think it really started way back, again, when I was in Maryville College and I was taking that creative writing course, and I was trying to find a few self-help books to try to help me understand the basics, because the creative writing course I took there, they just kind of threw you into writing short stories, and they didn’t explain how any of it worked or, just, like, “you write short stories and we critique them,” you know, and… they didn’t really cover the basics, so I was trying to find something that would show me that, I read a number of, um, novels, like- like, learn to write, um, novels that they had at the library, but mostly, I found that they were too advanced for my level, I didn’t- like, cause back then, I was, just like, “what do you mean there’s plot and setting and characters? I thought there was, just, like, all the stuff you threw together and it just worked like that,” you know, I didn’t really understand any of that, but I did find one novel that I didn’t quite understand all of it, but it was entertaining enough that I could get through it, and it was called How Not To Write A Novel (cut off by Angie) [09:17] ANGIE: I knew it, I knew you were gonna say that, I own several copies, and I loan that thing out, like I’m the library. I’m telling you, that book had me in stitches, especially Santa Claus is a, as a, uh, a romantic… Yeah, mm, mhm. I mean, just laughing out loud. I- I knew that’s what you were going to say! I’m so psychic today!

MICHAEL: (laughs)

JP: I– I really liked, the, uh, they got this online quiz you can take that goes along with it, too. And- and it’s great, because, if you answer all the questions like an actual experienced writer, when you get to the end of the quiz, and add up your score, it always tells you, like, “oh, no you don’t know anything! You need to buy our novel in order to, like, understand how to really write,” and then, like, if you answer all the questions, like, incorrectly, like, “oh, you should put as many Mary Sue’s as possible in your story,” and all that, like, the end result is, like, “you are so smart and a genius, that only you can appreciate the high level of intellect our book has to offer, so you should buy our book.”

[10:19] ANGIE: That’s funny, and you know, the authors are delightful, uhm, I’ve, you know, been back and forth with them, and, you know, I’d love to have them on our, um, on one of our panels at- one of our writer’s conferences. But they are delightful, and I should tell you, all of you out there, this is where I really got clear about email writing and the proper, you know, where that comma goes, and… Where that period goes if you’re saying, “hi,” so and so, and then where the paragraph doesn’t (?) It’s just like, it’s hilarious, because they obviously know exactly what they’re doing, how Howard is- Howard Mittelmark and, um, Sandra Newman are the- the authors, but, anyway, delightful human beings, as well. And hilarious. [11:05] JP: Yeah, but, I think when, yeah, cause I read that when I was in Maryville College, and that kind of, the idea kind of stuck with me, just in the background of my mind, then… After I got my- actually, before I got my first book out, I was thinking about ways to marketing, because, you’re supposed to, like, have this marketing plan before you get- before you get your book out and everything. And, so, I was brainstorming things I could possibly do, and so what I did was I made this list of… Various… Marketing approaches I could take with the book, and I sorted them in order of… I think the way I had it sorted was… the easiest and most conventional ideas was what I was going to try to do first, so, uhm, things like, like start up a social media account, that’s really easy and everyone says you should do that, so I did all of those things first, then I got to the things that are conventional, but are like- require a lot more effort, like setting up a website. 

[12:00] JP: I went ahead, and, y’know, did all that too, and then… I think below that, though, uhm, I had some ideas that were, like, much more high effort but were still fairly conventional, like, you know, go- go to a convention, buy a table in the artist’s alley in- in the convention and sell your book there, and some other things like that. Then, at the bottom of my list, I had ideas that I just called crazy ideas, just, various insane desperate things when I’m running out of money and absolutely am, just, at my back to a corner, I will try these various crazy things, and one of those was, “start a YouTube channel.” There was nothing else there, no ideas, just, like, “I should look into, maybe starting a YouTube channel,” I like- I always like creative things, and, so, I thought, “well, I mean, video editing would be a fun thing to learn,” and, “if I’m running out of all my other ideas, I might as well, you know, try something new, basically,” so, but I mean, it- it was like low on the priority, though. You know, it wasn’t something I didn’t, like, think very highly of, well, then after I got my book out, I think it was… January? February? Some time like that- or it was early 2016, and… 

[13:08] JP: Um, throughout the year, I burned up all of my marketing ideas one by one, um, most of them really didn’t help, because I was still kind of an unknown, you know, nobody, it’s really hard to get that first momentum, and a lot of authors never find success with their first book, anyways, it takes, like, five or six before… you really start stacking up the Amazon algorithm to where it actually notices.

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah.

[13:30] JP: But, I mean, like, I had- well, like I said, years ago I saved up all my money and kind of, just, you know, stupidly, I might- like, it’s considered a stupid move by most writers, but I put everything out the line, just to try to make this work, because I knew it was the only way I was gonna get myself to do it, because I don’t work very well if I’m in a safe, comfortable position. So I put myself in this awkward position, and so, my money was starting to tick down, and at the end of the year, I was, like, “well, it’s time for the crazy ideas!” and I thought, “well, what are some other- was there any other conventional ideas I can do before I start going to my crazy ideas?” [14:02] JP: And I thought, “well, I could give writing advice, like practically every other author on the planet.” MICHAEL: Yeah.

JP: But- but then I thought, “man, that’s a joke, because I’ve only got one book out, I’m certainly not very qualified to give actual writing advice,” like, you know, I’m still kind of an amateur author, I’ve figured out a lot of the pitfalls, because I’ve… fell into most of them along the way, but… eh just the idea was just kind of humour- humorous to me, (?) well, I don’t know, I could do that from a humorous perspective… and then I thought back to the- like, How Not To Write A Novel, and I thought, “well, I dunno, there’s a hook…” ANGIE: Mhmm. JP: And, yeah, so, I went on to YouTube to see if the hook had been done yet, to see if anyone else had done that, cause I typed in like, “bad writing,” and, “terrible writing,” and, “awful writing,” and, uh, I got links to individual videos to people who do… like, actual writing advice things, just talking about, like, terrible pieces of advice they’ve been given, but no one had made that their central… thing. So, I thought, “ah! So, the hook’s available,” so, then I- I, uh, wrote out the scripts for my first three videos in just a couple of days, and then I spent about a week editing those first three videos, uhm, those were the dystopia, the Mary Sue, and the fantasy races.

[15:15] ANGIE: So, did, uh- what did- how do you do… the animation? JP: Uh, Photoshop.

ANGIE: Ohkay.

JP: Yeah, basically it’s very, just, basic Photoshop, like, characters, um… I probably really should do these in Illustrator, because they’re- they’re actually vector images that I’m working in Photoshop, but I- I’m, so… stubborn about getting out of my comfort zone, like I said, so I kind of just kept everything in Photoshop. ANGIE: Well, props to you, you know, um, I just recently stopped doing… things like flyers and… illustrator kind of things, in Word. In Word. That’s what I was doing, yeah.

MICHAEL: I kinda converted over to InDesign… (unintelligible, spoken over) ANGIE: Yeah, now I’m- I’m video editing now, too, I’m actually really good at it! Thing is, you don’t realise what you can do if you don’t, just like, dive in, you know? Give it a shot.

[16:00] JP: Yeah, that… yeah, that’s the thing I’ve- well, I guess that was my takeaway from my experience with this whole, like, YouTuber adventure thing, as I call it, is just the fact that I owe my success to, essentially, experimentation.

MICHAEL: Yeah. JP: All of the conventional things I tried, every last one of them fell flat and got me no attention and didn’t drive any book sales, and… I remained obscure, and the only thing that really seemed to help break out of that, was, just, trying, like- like I said, going to my crazy idea list is what finally got me somewheres. 

ANGIE: Well, that’s great. MICHAEL: Yeah, and, you know, the- the animations are great, because you’ve got so much subtext in the animations. And you almost have to watch them at fullscreen, more than once, just to get the humour that’s behind the words that, you know, the stuff that’s not being said, that you’ve animated on the page, eh- it’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

JP: I think that’s why- um, why my videos have such a high engagement rating? MICHAEL: Yeah.

[17:01] JP: Because… There’s a lot of YouTube videos that people will watch, where… they’ll start playing and then they’ll move to another tab, and then they’ll work on something while that plays in the background.

MICHAEL: Mhm.

JP: And… my videos are very short, so it’s hard to do that, so it kind of forces you to actively watch. ANGIE: Well… JP: And- Yeah.

ANGIE: Another thing that really works is the humour, too, because people- human beings, actually learn better from humour, than they do from just being told, “this is how you do it.” So by taking that opposite approach, then they… they learn, “oh, so, this doesn’t work,” and… they recognise themselves in it, so it’s this really useful tool, as well.

ANGIE: Like, I send people to your YouTube channel to help train them, especially when they’re stubborn, when I have a client that’s been particularly stubborn.

JP: Oh, yeah. Well- cause- some- something I would always try to do in the videos, is… I always… for a lot of tropes, I always try to show what can be problematic about them.

ANGIE: Mhmm.

[18:00] JP: Um, because there’s, uh, especially a lot of- well, it’s- it’s not enough to just say, like, “don’t write Mary Sues, Mary Sues are bad,” you kind of have to dig a little further and show exactly how they hurt the story, their destructive effects that they have on the narrative. And… yeah, I found that humour is a very good way to communicate with that, I- I think, too, it pulls people away from it being personal, I- it- another of, you know, like, a big thing about humour is, to say you always want to- you always want to, uh, punch up, not down. So, you always want to be kind of careful about what- where you’re throwing your punches, basically. 

JP: Which is why a lot of the videos are of my character’s always the one doing- saying the stupid stuff, in the video. ANGIE: Right. JP: Because I want the- yeah, I wanna keep the- the self-deprecating humour keeps the focus on me, rather than having it directed at the person watching the video, because, you know, yeah, they might feel attacked by that. So.

MICHAEL: Yeah. ANGIE: Exactly.

[18:51] MICHAEL: So, how has your YouTube channel affected book sales and your success as an author?

JP: Well, I went from selling none a month to about a hundred a month on average, and it’s still gradually climbing up there.

Angie: Oh that’s great.

JP: Yeah, yeah that-that’s great- well ‘specially since you know I’m, like, a self-published author, so, I mean, like I’ve already, blew well past the average that most- most self-published authors get, so um, I don’t expect I’m gonna see an awful lot of book sales, though, until I get a sequel out, because the book I made is definitely made to be part of a series. And a lot of people are, like, super hesitant to get involved into a new series. They want a- ‘cause they want to make sure the author’s actually gonna finish the book, so. So, I expect I’ll probably see a lot more once I get a, uh, another book out.

JP: Plus, also, Amazon just likes to stack books together, i- in the way its algorithm works. They like authors who have multiple- that’s why a lot of the bigger self-published authors on Amazon- they’re very prolific.

Michael: Yeah

JP: Because that kind of games the algorithm a bit, so.

[19:53] Michael: For sure. Now to my next question. You, you throw out all of this, uh, sarcastic, terrible writing advice, and then people read your book. Do you get, uh, slammed with your writing or have you taken all of your own terrible writing advice and thrown it out the window?

JP: Well, I’ve had a few people- um, I had a few people email me, and they said “I really  didn’t like your book because I thought it would be a lot more like your Terrible Writing Advice.” 

Michael: Mmhm!

JP: Because the book is very- well it’s not a serious book per se, but its tone is nowheres near my Terrible Writing Advice videos. A lot of people, too, they expect a- they go into the book having very high expectations, naturally, um, and two, like, people don’t really know that the book came first. And the Terrible Writing Advice was based on a lot of the lessons I learned… while writing the book. And even now that I’m working on the sequel, I… it’s fascinating look at the massive gulf of my skill levels between writing the first book and writing the second book.

[20:58] Michael: (overlapping) Oh yeah, I think that’s true.

JP: (overlapping) Yeah.

Angie: (overlapping) Oh it’s- yeah- it’s- it’s- it’s completely, I mean, I think we all kinda cringe at our first book.

JP: Oh yeah, yeah (stutters) And despite all that though, it’s still for the most part positive reviews. Uh, my reviews- my review ratio’s very good on- on Amazon. Not as good on Goodreads, but people on Goodreads are always harder to impress.

Michael: Yeah.

[21:19] JP: So, but I mean, still for the most part it’s been fairly well received. There are a few people who, like, congregate, like, in the comment section of my book trailer that just are mad, and constantly saying bad things, and calling me a hypocrite and everything. Y’know but- y’know and then there are the people who argue with them and defend me, so.

JP: (overlapping) You know, usual comment section stuff.

Angie: (overlapping) It’s the price of fame, darling. Get used to it.

Michael: Yeah.

[21:43] JP: (stutters) I have accepted that. I understand too, that whenever something- Well, hatedoms are interesting because when something gets popular, everyone’s congregating towards it. And if something’s not popular, and someone comes along and is like “well I hate this” but they look at it, no one’s watching it they’re like “Oh, it’s obscure, as it should be” And then they move on.

Michael: Right, right.

JP: But then, like when someone finds something that they hate and it's popular and all these people are liking it, they’re just like, “What’s wrong with you people?” And then they get into this weird negative feedback loop, where they keep trying harder and harder to get- turn people away from this thing. But, that’s the un- uh- fortunate thing about, or fortu- or fortunate, depending on your point of view, about Youtube or pretty much most of the internet, that, like, the more you interact with something, the more you draw attention to it, so. And by hating it, sometimes you bring attention to it. And you create your own monster as so often happens.

Angie: Yep.

[22:35] Michael: Well, and that is so true, right, you know. If you don’t want to be criticized, just stay at home in your, uh little East Tennessee- little house and uh don’t- don’t create anything. 

Angie: (overlapping) And certainly don’t write.

Michael: So, great on you, great on you. How- okay, so, book two. Where’s it at? How close are you?

JP: (laughs) It’s hard to say. My plans got derailed by this whole Youtube thing.

Michael: That’s what I was- that’s what I was wondering.

Angie: (overlapping) Well, we’re liking the Youtube thing.

Michael: (overlapping) ‘Cuz the marketing- the marketing of book one has kinda taken on a life of its own.

[23:06] Angie: Yeah, we’re hoping you stick with this whole Youtube thing because, uh yeah, you definitely… You definitely have something um- I don’t want to say special because it’s- y’know it’s not really the word that works, but- I’m telling you it's- it is really entertaining.

Michael: (overlapping) Angie just told she’s(?) special on a regular basis. 

JP: Oh no, and like, I don’t wanna get away from that either because the Youtube videos are very fun to make. I- however don’t wanna quite give up the whole writing thing, because for one, I really like writing. You know, it’s my whole motivation for getting started. But also two, like a Youtube career generally lasts about five years for most people. That’s- you have- you have your initial climb, which takes about three years, and then you- and then you usually have after about three to four years, um, five if you’re lucky, then your views and your subscriber count start to taper off. And sometimes you’ll eventually get into this, downward spiral. Especially if you like, have like a very narrow focus, and you just kinda keep doing the same thing over and over again. Eventually people get tired and they wanna move on. So I’m hoping to build up my writing career and my Youtube career at the same time.

JP: So, in case Amazon suddenly collapses, I will have my Youtube, but in case Youtube suddenly blows up, then, I’ll be fine. Unless net neutrality blows up everything. So.

Michael: Yeah there is that, so. 

JP: Yeah.

Michael: Well, cool, cool. This has been so fun to talk to you. 

[24:33] Michael: So, What- What is the most interesting thing that has happened to you because of your Youtube channel?

JP: Well,the most interesting thing for me is getting paid. That is very nice. Right now I actually, I make enough money just with the Youtube ad revenue that I’ve... This is my first year in a long time that I’ve actually- my account’s actually grown rather than shrink. So.

Angie: We should invent a new collar for you. Let’s call it the green collar. You’re now in green collar work.

JP: I certainly hope so. I’m even uh, I’ve gotten big enough now where I’m getting sponsorships.

(overlapping praise from Angie and Michael)

Michael: -So that’s great.

Angie: Yeah, congratulations.

[25:13] JP: Yeah yeah so that’s- yes thank you, that is- It’s very nice now that like, I’ve got people coming to me, now so. That is such a- That’s probably the other weird, like that’s the weirdest part for me. Is like, getting people who are wanting to do like, crossovers and fans sending me fanmail. And like, y’know. I was so used to like, for most of 2016 where it was just like this wasteland. Y’know. All my social media accounts were just like, barren. And- My, uh, writer’s email thing was just empty. And like, and now it’s like the reverse of that, where I’m just sort of like drowning, in all just like this extra attention. And it freaks me out a little bit because I’m like a very introverted person. So you know, like the attention is, like a bit, a bit stressful for me, ‘cuz it’s not something I’m used to, so. I’m just sort of like, “You know what? I put this stuff out there, I didn’t think anyone would actually watch it or read it or anything.”

Michael: That’s amazing.

Angie: Well, you’re doing very well riding this wave. You’d never know, that you’re, that you’d prefer not to interact. But that’s kinda writers, you know, most of us anyway.

JP: Yeah well, because I think a lot of, like, more extroverted creative types, they go towards things more like theater arts where they’re the center of attention. Whereas like introverts, naturally gravitate towards writing because it’s such a solitary venture. Youtube is unfortunately not a solitary venture. That’s- You definitely have to have a certain amount of people skills and tact and, you have to be willing to interact, and you have to have a super thick skin. More so than I think that even a regular writer would have to have.

[26:49] Angie: You know, um, I have a friend. We used to sing together all the time. We’d sing duets at church. And I… I’m telling you, like I didn’t- I’m not going to acknowledge I took drugs to get through it, but like I really have a hard time being on the spot. And um, but we’d sing these duets together, she’d talk me into it. Well, this woman, she’s won a Tony now, okay. And uh, she’s the bearded lady in the upcoming film with, um… 

Michael: Hugh Jackman

Angie: Hugh Jackman.

Michael: It’s about-

Angie: It’s The Greatest- “The Greatest Showman.”

Michael: The Greatest Showman

Angie: Yeah, and-

Michael: Coming out on Christmas Day.

Angie: Yeah I know, I just did that whole… green, evergreen thing… Anyway! I’m saying it anyway! But anyway but- Here’s the thing, it’s like, y’know. She was, she would hold my hand and she’d have no problem. She could sing anywhere, any time, in front of anyone. And I’d be freaking out. That is not the thing for me. I prefer to sit in… you know, my armchair, and write in my robe, and slippers.

Michael: Yeah, I basically have to drag her to these interviews, so.

Angie: And I have this whole nervous thing before we ever- before we even start, I don’t know. I don’t know what that is, but, whatevs.

[28:03] JP: Oh, that’s just, basic human psychology of being, going into the unknown… well especially for interviews, too, cause you never know what kind of person you’re going to be talking to. Y’know, like… And, too, the kind of personas people put out online are not the same as when you actually meet the actual person.

Angie: Yeah, no, it’s Black Friday out there. Every day.

JP: Yeah. Yeah, you never know like you’re gonna be talking like- I need- I wanna invent a word for that: the people who you meet in real life who seem okay, until you friend them on Facebook. There needs to be a word for that. I can’t think of one, though.

(Michael and Angie laugh)

Michael: We’ll have to work on that one.

Angie: Yeah, it’s called block, delete.

Michael: Yeah, block, delete, unfriend. Yeah.

Angie: Sadly.

[28:50] Michael: Just so that we can inundate you with some more fanmail, let us know, what- what are your social media channels and how can we get in touch with you?

JP: Oh well, um. Best method of course is the contact forms on my website.

Michael: Ok, and give us your website.

JP: Uh, JPBeaubien.com

Michael: Ok, and we’ll have that linked up in the show notes as well.

JP: Yeah, um I think uh… @/JPBeaubien is my Twitter account, I think, but I’m not sure because I never look at my own um… (T/N: It’s @/JosephPBeaubien) 

Michael: Yeah, your own handle?

JP: Yeah my- my, yeah my own address and everything. Uh, probably the- probably most people are gonna do anyways is just go to Terrible Writing Advice (Angie: Exactly, oh great.) and just, and I’ve got all my links there, to like my Facebook and my everything, so. All my-

Angie: Oh yeah, and you guys out there, you writers are in for a treat. You’re gonna learn a lot, and you’re gonna get- you’re gonna actually turn red, and be embarrassed for your own self, at times.

[29:45] Michael: Well, JP, why don’t you leave us with some of that terrible writing advice?

JP: Oh, well, um. The best piece of terrible writing advice I can give to everyone is: no matter what your genre, no matter what you’re writing, always shoehorn in a love triangle in there somewheres.

Angie: (laughs)

JP: The story isn’t complete until, like, whatever potential it had is bled away because you gotta shove that romantic plotline in there somewheres. So.

Angie: There we go.

JP: I have- I, I have no idea why our culture… does that? It seems to be mostly an American thing. But we have this idea that if there’s a story, there must be a romantic subplot in there somewheres. I don’t know why. I found that out when I was playing a video game about existential space horror and nightmarish zombies that were devouring people on spaceships. And they had these alien artifacts that were driving people mad. And then the third game, they added a love triangle in there.

Angie: Oh no.

JP: And I’m like, yeah. And I’m like, “Yes, that’s exactly what that story needed, is this forced romantic plotline in there, obviously.” Man, what I wouldn’t have give to be in the- be in the executive pitch meeting, where they were brainstorming for ideas for their game, and someone came up with that? I mean, I can just imagine it’s like, “Oh he’s an exec, we can’t correct him on that, so in it goes.”

Angie: Well, at least Santa's not playing the lead.

[31:08] Michael: Yep, there you go, there you go. Well thank you, JP, so much for your contribution to the writing community. Terrible Writing Advice on Youtube, you’ve gotta check it out. (Angie: Great stuff, great stuff.) It is hilarious. You gotta watch it on full screen on a big monitor rather than just on your phone because the animations and the, uh, the subtext in the animations is- is definitely worth it. So, thank you for your time today, JP and thank you so much for your contribution…

Angie: Yeah, rock on.

JP: Awesome, thanks for having me.