We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brian Fitzpatrick. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brian below.

Brian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

Imagine being just 7 years old and accidentally watching the horror classic, Night of the Living Dead. Terrified but riveted, watching the zombie horror became the catalyst for a life-altering path for me. After a week of sleepless nights, I became fascinated with the idea that I could be so scared yet be perfectly safe. After mom suggested I write stories of my own, I put pen to paper and have been creating horror and science fiction tales ever since.
I grew up on Spielberg, Carpenter, Lucas, Cronenberg, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, and Clive Barker. Science fiction and horror are in my DNA.
I deviated into art for over a decade, but the pull of weaving tales of adventure and fright proved too great to ignore.
I put the paint brush aside and returned to the laptop for my creative outlet.
I spent the next two decades honing my craft. I didn’t get serious about a writing career until about 15 years ago, and from there it became an uphill battle. Hope and perseverance has kept me going through all the struggles, rejections, and adversities.
I wish I had not given up the writing for that period of time. If I had kept writing while also doing art, I would most likely be much further along in my career. I have been making great headway over the past two years, so in the end I have no regrets. I am where I’m supposed to be.

Brian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a science fiction and horror writer. I write screenplays and novels, and I’m constantly building my brand through marketing and in-person events. I have a bestselling novel series, titled MECHCRAFT, as well as an award-winning script of the first book. My goal is to convert this franchise into a TV series.
In 2022, I was hired to co-write an indie sci-fi script that got filmed in May. I was brought to the set as script supervisor for the shoot. The film, THE SIMIAN TRIALS, is in post-production and should be released in summer of 2023.
Working toward a career writing screenplays and novels, navigating the constant obstacles can be daunting. What keeps me going is Hope and Perseverance. These 2 factors are at the forefront of all my projects. I never give up.
Authors and screenwriters share many of the same struggles, but the one that stands out most is rejection. The publishing world and entertainment industry is filled with rejections and you have to develop a thick skin to survive and thrive.
It took me nearly two decades of writing and querying to finally get paid writing gigs and get a movie made. But once small successes begin, things have started to accelerate. It took hard work and perseverance to get to this point, and I’m not letting my foot off the pedal.
As a novelist, the struggles come from not only the publishing of my work, but also the huge task of writing a book. With three books published, I feel more comfortable with the process. But it took years to get to that point.
I’m building a reputation with my stories, my work ethic, and my ability to connect with people. I love engaging with industry people, readers, and audiences. And I eat deadlines for breakfast!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

In 2016 I decided to convert my award-winning scifi script, MECHCRAFT, into a novel. The idea was to build an audience and fan base so that the TV series could get made. Once the novel was complete, I found a hybrid publisher where the process is to crowdfund presales of my book to reach a specific financial threshold, and from there they use that money to professionally publish the book.
This became a crash course in author marketing! I had to figure out how to pre-sell a book the reader wouldn’t have in their hands for 18 months.
First thing, I created an author Facebook page, author website, and business cards with a QR code that linked to the author site. I used my existing Twitter account for building an audience as well. Through all the struggle and obstacles, I kept persevering and reached the number the publisher needed.
When MECHCRAFT was released I kept the engagement going on those social media sites, but also added in LinkedIn to the roster. I also created and lead a Writers Workshop aimed at giving a real world description of getting published. I gave this workshop for free.
Since then I’ve added more social media apps and sites for networking and connecting with people. And I engage on them all. I truly enjoy interacting with people. I can be found on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Recently I’ve added Shayk, Spoutible, and HusslUp too.
My advice in the beginning is to pick just two outlets. Grow the audience there, When comfortable, then expand. And manage your time well. Even with all these apps, I only spend 20-30 minutes per week day on the marketing posts and engagement.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Early on in my screenwriting endeavors, a friend and I co-wrote a kick ass vampire script set in the Middle Ages. It was big, dark, and fun. A friend of ours at New Line Cinema got the script into the right hands and we found ourselves on track to get this movie made. A contract was being drawn up, an executive producer got on board, and a toy company was interested in making the action figures of our characters.
We truly thought we’d made it. This was it!
Then a similar film was released and underperformed at the box office.
Overnight all interest in our script evaporated. Gone.
We were devastated. I didn’t write a word for over a year.
But this taught me to thicken my skin. This taught me that the rejection was not personal. It’s almost never personal. This also taught me to persevere. I had to look in the mirror and ask myself how bad do I want a writing career? What am I willing to do to achieve my goals? I had an honest talk with myself, and in the end I knew in my soul I would never give up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brianfitzwrites.wixsite.com/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorbrianfitzpatrick/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBrianFitzpatrick
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfitzauthor/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheWritingFitz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd2A9OYaNQiBgMBDuZfHsEA
• Other: https://spoutible.com/BrianFitzWrites