Freeze Frame received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Tyler Beauchamp.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Freeze Frame, published September 2022.
What’s the book’s first line?
“Is this real?”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
The story is about a young high-schooler, Will, who after experiencing a traumatic event leaves his old school to start his Junior year at a new high school. The trauma has left Will shaken by an uncontrollable reality, where given his emotional state, his reality will shift before his eyes. He’s a filmmaker, and these changes in reality present themselves to him as real-life films. When he becomes scared, he may witness a horror movie. When he falls in love, he may witness a rom-com. It’s a coming-of-age story about a boy being brought into the fold by a loving group of new friends who help him move on from his trauma. Together, they decide to make a movie for a school competition against their rivals, The Content Crew: a group of young social influencers who basically control the school. As the project unfolds, Will’s past does as well. Can Will escape his past, or will he be forced to relive it?
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
When quarantine started, I was living in a room with no windows. It definitely psyched me out at times, not knowing if it was light or dark, rainy or sunny. The mind can sort of wander in a place like that. I remember having these vivid daydreams after a while, and after one of them, it took me a minute or two to figure out if the daydream had actually happened. That’s when this image appeared of a boy who was constantly jumping in and out of reality. I had spent a lot of time working at a Free Mental Health Clinic in medical school, and that paired with my own mental health battles helped shape the boy’s story. Almost instantly, I knew I wanted to tell a story about a vulnerable boy overcoming trauma while highlighting key issues of youth mental illness today (social media, peer pressures, anxiety/depression). In my opinion, children are the most vulnerable members of our society, a society by the way that runs at a sprint driven by social media. Children are surrounded by social pressures very few of us can even fathom. And I really don’t mean to say social media is bad. In fact, when used properly, I think it has the power to be our saving grace. But anything powerful can be destructive. I think sometimes we don’t think about just how much power a child with a phone wields, and neither do they. We don’t just need to teach children how to use these tools responsibly, but there needs to be better guidance behind the tools themselves to protect kids. Like I said, the tools aren’t bad inherently. A hammer isn’t bad. It can build a house. But it can also end a life. So that’s where the antagonist was born to combat these counterculture kids. I thought it would be really fascinating for a group of kids with today’s technology and interests to choose to make a movie in a more classic fashion. Setting their work as a competition against social media platformers just made the story more intriguing. It definitely gets meta at times, with a filmmaker losing his grip on reality and seeing films play out before his eyes. But writing the story from Will’s perspective in that way really allowed me to highlight how everyone lives out their own trauma in a unique way, and hopefully readers will see that.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
I think if you’re a kid or young adult, reading this will not only be an exciting and fun read, but you may find a unique aspect of your life thrust into the spotlight. If you’re an adult, you may gain a new appreciation for what kids go through today and how they respond to the issues they face.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The most distinctive thing about Will would probably be how he responds to his fractured reality. It certainly drives a large portion of the story. But what’s more interesting is how his opinion about his condition continually develops from denial, bargaining, and ultimately to acceptance. I would say he reminds me of a bit of Charlie from Perks of Being a Wallflower but less introverted.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I’ve always wanted to be an author since I was very little. I’ve been writing on and off since childhood, but it’s always been very private and personal. It wasn’t until Freeze Frame that I felt I had something worth really putting out there to the public.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes, this is my first book!
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I’m currently finishing up Medical School. I have one year left and then I’ll hopefully be working in Pediatrics. But I fully intend to continue writing alongside my medical career as a Children’s and Young Adult author.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
Typically, I spend about one evening a week right now writing, as school takes up a large amount of my time. I jot down notes here and there throughout the week as ideas come to me, but really I carve out one evening (usually on the weekends) where I limit distractions and sit down to write.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best part about being an indie is having total ownership and creative freedom over everything. You can write what you want, when you want, and at the end of the story everything you create belongs to you. At the same time though, the hardest part is that you are on your own. The life or death of your story falls on you and your ability to get your story out there.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
The best advice I could give would be to embrace rejection. As with any art, some people will love what you do and some will hate it. But what I’ve always said is I would much rather have someone tell me why they didn’t like something I’ve written rather than be indifferent. You want to make people feel, good or bad. Just take criticisms in stride and learn how to get better, but remember to always write what makes you happy regardless of what people think.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
I would. I’ve loved the independent process. It’s allowed me to learn so much about the various cogs of the writing industry. However, I know as my medical career begins, time is going to be an even more crucial factor. In order to keep writing going, I’m going to need the help of a traditional publisher to take over some of those cogs for me. I will never stop writing, but I know I won’t have the time to run the “business” of writing. A traditional publisher would without a doubt help me keep my writing alive and deliver my stories to the right readers.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
Honestly, just making people feel something. That’s what I’ve always loved about stories. A good story wraps you into a new world and captivates you in ways you never expect. At the end, you feel relieved, sad, angry, or jubilated. But you feel. It’s been a blessing of a lifetime being able to write something that has made kids and adults feel and think differently. It’s certainly what energizes me to keep writing.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Christopher Paolini most definitely. He has been a long-time inspiration for me. He started writing at such a young age and just independently pushed his writing out there. Paolini taught me you didn’t need to wait to write, but if you had a story in your heart no matter how young you were, all you needed to do was start with the first page. The worlds he created inspired me to begin world-building myself, and I’d be honored to have even an ounce of the impact he has made on young readers.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
In the same vein as the previous question, I would love loved to have written Eragon. I’ve always been unhealthily obsessed to fantasy, and Eragon was one of those stories I never felt like I was reading growing up but rather living. It took me on journeys I’ll always hold dear to my heart, and it inspired the story of a future series I have coming down the line.