Today we’d like to introduce you to Cody Thomas.
Hi Cody, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Well, of course, my name is Cody Thomas, and I’m a 27-year-old, self-published fiction novelist and network television producer/journalist from Atlanta, GA. As distinguished by my choice of vocation, I’ve been a storyteller through my childhood, young adulthood, and throughout my academic and professional career. More notably, my story begins as early as six years old when the first of several “Cody Thomas Originals” was penned to copy-paper during first grade, titled “Galaxy Boy.” It was a loose story that any first-grade boy would fantasize about — a boy wonder taxed with defending the galaxy from evil. I remember proudly presenting it to my teacher at Lilburn Elementary School, which in turn, led to the first of many show-and-tell ceremonies throughout the year. Each show-and-tell was another opportunity to present another story to my peers that I’d written and illustrated at home. It fascinated me at a young age to be able to create my own world that I could conceptualize in my imagination and bring to life as I carried the ideas to fruition in my writing.
As the years continued, I found myself immersed in various mediums of storytelling: writing, film, joining theater and becoming the lead in my 8th grade production of the famed “Aladdin,” etc. If it provided an escape from life’s monotony, even at that young age, I embarked on the journey to learn more about it. As I continued to grow older and develop more maturely, I began turning a keener eye to the mechanics of filmmaking, specifically films that were novel adaptations. I watched more and more films of all genres and from different eras. Whether they were 80’s cult classic adaptations like “The Ninth Configuration,” or the film adaptations of Stephen King’s “It,” I began to notice the common denominator among them all — superior storytelling. Aside from the visual atmosphere, the words from the novels and stories they were adapted from strengthened the films. During this process, I began to discern within myself that I could write my own real story as well. Already writing enough in journalism school at Kennesaw State University, at age 19, I wrote my first novel, “Half Past Five,” outside of the classroom. The idea came after I turned in a 5-page, semi-rushed, creative writing final for my world literature class…and received a perfect score. My professor pulled me aside and told me I should expand on the idea, and for three months during the summer of 2016, I sat locked and loaded in front of my laptop screen and churned out what is now the 259-page crime novel my readers see today. It was such a thrilling experience to have a finished body of work, and an even more exciting feeling when it was well-received amongst my peers when I self-published it three years later. I was now a published author, an accolade that I’d fantasized about since I was 6-years-old.
I wanted to continue just writing away; I’d even plotted a sequel to “Half Past Five,” but of course, life gets in the way, and I was on the brink of starting my career as a TV journalist in Savannah, GA — which, subsequently, was another form of storytelling in itself. But, this time, I had the honor of telling the stories of other people in a way that was meaningful enough to be broadcast on TV every night. I spent two years as a local reporter in Savannah before moving back to Atlanta to work for CNN, where I continued telling meaningful stories, not only to my local community but to the world at a national level. I actually served as the face of a network special we produced and aired on the water crisis in Jackson, MS in September of 2022. Though it was hard to see the struggles the people of that community were riddled with, I’m still incredibly grateful that I was the one who had the honor to give them a voice so that they were heard by the rest of the nation. I then made a move from CNN to Court TV in Buckhead, where the stories being told are strictly of true crime, which is exciting. But, most recently, in November of 2023, I finally wrote and published my second at-length novel, “In a Bad Way,” which I wholly consider to be my best and most honest creative work to date.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wouldn’t necessarily refer to my story as a “smooth road.” I experienced numerous periods of confusion, self-doubt, and questioning the direction in which I was working to propel myself toward…questioning whether I was working toward the right goal that I felt I was meant to achieve. For a period of time, actually right around the same time I was writing my first novel, “Half Past Five,” life very much felt as if I was running on a treadmill — making a lot of motion that was leading to nowhere. Then, once I graduated college, there was an 8 to 10-month period of stagnation in which I didn’t have a job and was lost among it all, asking myself questions to the effect of, “Does graduating cum laude with my journalism degree and two competitive internships on my resume mean nothing?” But, be it as it may, the stars aligned just as they were supposed to once I published my first novel, landed my first TV job soon after, and began my career in Savannah, GA.
Now, being a local reporter was not an easy task. I was the embodiment of a one-man-band — I researched ideas, pitched them, scheduled the necessary interviews for the respective stories, filmed the interviews and B-Roll shots myself, edited the footage together myself, wrote the story script for myself and the anchor, and reported live on TV…all while on STRICT deadline. That was the day-to-day; however, though I saw it as the most stressful endeavor I’d ever been tasked with at the time, I now look back at it with heightened respect because it sharpened my skills as a storyteller and led to the numerous opportunities I’ve had since then to continue telling stories at a much higher level to a more connected audience. Even in my novelist ideations outside of my day job, the skills I learned by interviewing all sorts of different people in real life allowed for me to have a greater understanding of the famed “human condition” once it came to the creative development of the characters in the stories I conjured in my mind — characters that subsequently were brought to life in my second novel, “In a Bad Way.”
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As stated previously, I’m a network journalist and producer; however, at my core, I’m a writer by trade. Creatively, writing has always come relatively natural for me, and it’s what I, along with most others who are in my circle of peers, would agree that I specialize in. I wrote my first at-length, 5-part novel at 19 years old while attending journalism school full-time…and it only took me three months to do so. Even further, with my most recent novel, “In a Bad Way,” which was published in November of 2023, I’d been stirring the idea in my head for well over a year. But, a personal event occurred in my life that served as the catalyst for my “I need to get this done” mentality when it came to actualizing, visualizing, and conceptualizing each story part, each character arc, whether it be character ascension vs. descension, and each character’s line of development through each story progression.
I started outlining the fine details on September 28th of 2023, began writing on October 7th, and 21 days and 81,000 words later, I had the first draft of “In a Bad Way” done on October 28th…all while working full-time Monday through Friday from 2pm-10pm. Personally, I was impressed with myself, and considered the feat a testament to how passionate and dedicated I was to this particular body of original work that I created from start to finish. I also recently got it approved and registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, which I viewed as another personal achievement. To say that I’m a self-published author of TWO novels is something I could have only dreamed of in middle and high school; and, not to be crass, but I’d challenge anyone to ask among their group of peers how many of them have written at-length novels…let alone two of them, and have went the distance to have them published. The number is likely lower than expected, but to know I’ve done the work to include myself in the vast fraternity of authors worldwide is beyond what I can express. It gives a sense of immortalization in the fact that these published stories cannot be erased — they are here to stay, and that is what continues to bring me joy. Whether they’re received in good light or not, that is beyond my control.
I’m simply proud of the fact that they’re here and they’re being received at ALL. “In a Bad Way” is, by far, the proudest I’ve ever been of anything I’ve done creatively, including both in my writings AND my continuing TV career. It’s the most vulnerable I’ve ever allowed myself to be, and I think vulnerability is something that many of us could practice in a fuller capacity. I believe what sets me apart in my writing, particularly in “In a Bad Way,” is the unabridged inclusion of many of my truths, authenticities, insecurities, and secrets through the many dramatizations and characterizations the reader encounters throughout the story. The story is told from two characters’ points of view, aided by a strong, supporting character who serves as the heartbeat of the story. There’s a plot on the surface for readers to follow, but the subplots are what I believe bolstered this novel. Each character was humanized by some sort of trauma in which they were doing their best to mask from the world, but the masking eventually proved to be too much for each of them…leading them to question good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, and morality vs. justice. I think that simple, yet powerful circumstance is something the majority of us can relate to, and I think that has allowed my audiences to resonate more closely with this novel versus my last one because the readers can identify with at least one of the characters’ masked pains.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes me happy…I have a three-part answer to this question. Helping people will always reign supreme as far as actions that make me feel a sense of elation like no other. I’ve always embodied the idea of selflessness. I don’t necessarily know where that quality came from, but placing others before myself (in a healthy way, of course) is something that has continuously occurred in the form of second nature to me. It could be giving money to those who are homeless in our community; it could be providing a meal for a family who needs it, helping a child gather the courage to take on preschool after being sheltered at home for his or her life up to that point, or simply just providing a quiet hug and listening ear to someone who needs to let it all out. Making sure those who are without don’t CONTINUE to go without has always been a sort of divine duty I’ve placed upon myself from a young age. I’ve had many people close to me tell me that I should start putting myself first more often, but what they fail to understand is that by doing these things, I AM placing myself and my happiness first. Secondly, the act of creativity and the process of seeing a creative idea through from mere thought to fruition on my own accord will never stop bringing me joy. Obviously, I love to write my fiction novels, and there’s few better feelings than walking out of an Office Depot holding a thick stack of papers hot off the press, spiral-bound with your original idea birthed into the world on them. There’s nothing like it. I feel like I’ve just hit the lottery each time I do it, but the difference is that I feel as if I’ve given MYSELF the best odds possible to hit the jackpot.
Now, as for the final part that will encompass the answer to the question of what makes me happy in its entirety, I try to include some sort of over-arching messages, or themes, in everything that I write or create with the intention of allowing the reader to actually take something away from my work. Whether that be a particular scene or a simple one-liner from a particular character, I like my reader to leave with something. So, what makes me TRULY happy is a blend of the two things mentioned earlier — CREATING a body of work that can serve as a form of HELP to whoever needs it. THAT makes me feel as if my goal on this Earth is complete, even if my work only helps one person. I’ve experienced this through creatively producing TV specials that give a voice to the voiceless, and through having readers message me saying a certain character’s story arc reminded them of a point in their lives where they had to fight to overcome, and that they appreciated the way in which I wrote that scene because it resonated with those like them. It’s the purest form of happiness that I’ve personally experienced, and that is the feeling of personal achievement that I strive to reach day in and day out – creating something that is meaningful in people’s lives.
Pricing:
- Half Past Five – $11.99 on Amazon
- In a Bad Way – $9.99 on Amazon (Paperback)
- In a Bad Way – $16.99 on Amazon (Hardcover)
- In a Bad Way – Available on Kindle Unlimited
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @codythomas_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cody.thomas.507?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cody-thomas-a5b8a6159/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm9W-V153Iw&t=3s
Image Credits
All Pictures Credited to Cody Thomas
