Nate's book Coffee Monster will also be showcased October 1, 2021 on The Giggle Mat , so you’ll want to tune in for that.
Enjoy my Q&A with author, Nate Friedman below!
The journey to the big city! Haha, sounds quite the adventure when it’s put onto the page like that. Just a drive in the car for four hours with some bathroom breaks lol
It all started when I did some travelling after graduating from the University of Windsor! I lived in Australia for six months and got a chance to visit New Zealand. When I got back, I ended up moving for work, first to Owen Sound, ON for a little while, then Brantford, ON, both beautiful cities, learning some cool things along the way.
Then I decided to pursue writing full-time which meant moving in with family in Victoria, BC and getting to work on some exciting projects and working on my first book tour in Ontario with Chapters. All while looking at some mountains.
Continuing to work on writing and pursuing Comedy, I finally moved to Toronto to work with some amazing teachers and returning to school at Humber College for Comedy Writing and Performance. Toronto just seemed the place to be with so many great people and projects!
I’m still enjoying life in Toronto more and more, even during the lock down.
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2. Although there is a fictitious coffee “monster” lurking, your book actually delves into a heavy topic surrounding addiction. How did that come about?
The coffee monster is very real. The idea for the book came from a personification of how most adults (then me after University!) approached coffee in everyday life.
Some of the lines in the book probably come straight from my Mom, don’t worry she’s a big fan. In writing the book and creating the character, it became apparent that there was a lot more there than just a surface level need. This started to help the book take shape.
I think we tend to look at addiction through a classic lens and our minds go to the worst places but the reality is that addiction can be found in many things like food, too much screen-time, needing attention, in addition to more serious substances. I felt it was important to encourage conversations and look at all areas of life in terms of excess and try to understand.
It’s also important to face all of these things with a sense of humour. Coffee Monster is a very fun character and we can go on this journey with him and see what we learn along the way.
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3. Tell me about your illustrator, Saba Bushnaq, and how she made your vision come to life on paper?
In creative work it is truly 1+1 = 3. Here is a fun fact, I already had the book written for quite a while before I met Saba to illustrate it. I had tried a few other artists and he didn’t quite jump off the page like he does now. There’s a good lesson in there about not forcing things and letting things come together creatively.
I was finally referred to Saba through my sister and everything came together from there. She is absolutely amazing! Her artwork is so colourful and makes you feel great and tells a story unto itself.
From there, it was a collaborative process where I tried to explain the pictures that were in my mind and she was incredibly flexible in getting it just right. Had it been just me, I don’t think the stick person version would have been as enjoyable. This book would be nothing without her.
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4. The talent bug hit you early on in life and you’ve been really pursuing your dreams as an actor, comedian, and of course author. So do all these elements intertwine in your writing style, or do you see them as separate?
This all would have been so much easier if I had talent. lol. Growing up, I was definitely creative but extremely quiet and was scared of speaking in front of people. I would shake and hesitate to have people read my stuff. It took me a long time, even after high school to get to a point where I could share my ideas openly and even think to pursue writing, acting and comedy.
There was a quality I picked up from playing sports growing up where you could always work the hardest and slowly start to get better and work my way into being one of the best on the team. It took me quite a while to have the courage to pursue my dreams and stop looking at back-up plans or what was “safe”. I
I’m so happy and proud of where I am at this point in my life. I want to help as many people as I can pursue their dreams too and be an example. If you’re reading this and are unsure, this is your sign that it’s time to start doing that thing you want to do. You were put on earth for this reason and the world needs your unique voice.
All of these things fit together and help one another in a big way. Even the skills outside of these I learned like ‘sales’, help me immensely in my career. That’s the beauty of these creative pursuits, they’re only enhanced by your life experiences and all of the amazing people you meet along the way.
I will share a funny story. It was my first author event in Windsor, I had been invited to speak to hundreds of children and had so much fun. After the event all the authors had a luncheon and we were all sitting at a table and someone asked about writing down ideas. They all proceeded to pull out their ‘notes app’ and one guy who was a Newberry/Caldecott Award winner had these beautiful poetry verses, the next lady had some prose and said she liked to write down these beautiful lines that came to her, then I looked at my phone. All of my notes were jokes and things that I find funny. That’s me.
At my core is this sense of humour and seeing funny things about the world and I carry that through to my writing and acting along with on-stage work, as an improviser stand-up comedian.
You also learn to get less precious about your material and get better at editing and improving with feedback as it is not all “magic”. Telling a joke and not getting any laughs is a great place to start, it doesn’t mean it’s you as a person, you just have more work to do in conveying how it’s funny.
Same thing with writing books and sketches and screenplays, how can we keep boiling this down and make it the best? You get this romantic idea and stroke of genius and effortlessness when the reality is, it’s a lot of hard work (and this hard work isn’t necessarily best measured in time).
I work separately at each pursuit but no doubt in some way they all help with one another! If you’re a young writer (or simply young at heart) why restrict yourself, ride the wave, see where things take you
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5. You have written Coffee Monster and the Land of Coffee, as well as the most recent one that we’ll be featuring on the Giggle Mat; Coffee Monsters. So are any other beverages in the works for a new book?
There are plenty of ideas floating around as always! “The Land of Coffee” was released just before the Pandemic began so there is still a lot of work to get those fun characters out into the world. The launch was postponed and will need to be done properly when it is safe to do so. Although I must admit, the extra time to write and read has been great. I choose to focus on the positive. When the time is right, I’m sure there will be more fun characters for you to meet! Coffee Monster is anxious for a new adventure. Do we want to see him go to space maybe?
In closing, I would like to thank everyone taking the time to read this post and thank you so much to the Giggle Mat for this opportunity!
I always love to connect with people who are interested in writing and I am always available for events and inquiries. Just contact me on my website listed below.
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For more information on Nate and Saba, check out the links!
💜 Website: www.natetfriedman.com
💜 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/natefriedmanauthor
💜YouTube (comedy mainly):
More on Saba:
💜IG
💜Art link: https://www.instagram.com/saba.bushnaq.art/
💜YouTube (as well in Arabic):
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