Make-Believe Monday with Kate Davies

Today on Make-Believe Mondays our guest is Kate Davies.

Kate, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript
you’re working on now.


Kate: I'm editing two different manuscripts right now, in preparation for submission. After that, I'm hoping to start work on a military romantic suspense trilogy.

Debra: Some very famous authors have played with language, creating words for people or places that no one has ever heard of. Have you ever played with words in that way and if so how?

Kate: I played with language much more when I wrote fantasy fiction. Now that I'm focusing on contemporary romance, there's less wiggle room for making up words, but I certainly enjoyed it back in my sf/f days.

Debra: For some writers, dreams play a role in creating fiction. Has this been true for you? Have you ever dreamed a scene or an image that later wound up in one of your books?


Kate: Do daydreams count?

Debra: Oh, yes. Daydreams definately count.

Kate: My first published book, Taking the Cake, grew out of a daydream moment at an RWA meeting. I was listening to the speaker, thinking about what direction I wanted to go with my writing, when a scene popped into my head fully developed. It was of a woman jumping out of the cake at her fiance's bachelor party, only to find him cheating on her. I knew instantly that I had to write her story, if only to find out what happened next. At the time, I was writing traditional, close-the-bedroom-door sweet romances, so this image ended up changing the entire direction of my writing career.


Debra: If we would but follow where our dreams lead us.

As a child did any particular book or author pull you into their imaginary world?

Kate: Absolutely! More than I can count. I could always be depended on to get lost in a book – so much so that I missed my cousin's baptism because I was reading in the back bedroom and didn't notice that everyone else had left for the church!

Debra: LOL

Kate: For me, the author who captivated me the most was Susan Cooper. I read The Dark Is Rising series when I was in junior high, and absolutely loved it. The blend of Celtic legends, epic battles between good and evil, and mysterious quests just captivated me. I still read The Dark Is Rising (the book, if not the entire series) around the winter solstice most years. I even made it a point to visit some of the places she mentioned in her books when I traveled through the UK after I graduated from college.

Debra: Is there anything else you would like to add about the role of imagination, and dreams in creating fiction? Any other message for our readers?


Kate: I love to listen to children when they're playing. The breathtaking creativity they exhibit, the casual acceptance of the possible and the fantastic, is such a gift. As they get older, that gift can fade. Writing, to me, is a chance to tap into that wellspring of the possible, to explore 'what-if' and 'why not?'

I encourage everyone to give it a try!

Debra: But sometimes, even if the gift fades, it can come back again. The thing is, we have to be receptive to it.

Kate, thank you for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers.

Make-Believe Monday with Carly Phillips

Carly, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript
you’re working on now.

Carly: HOT PROPERTY, a follow up to the three Hot Zone stories, Hot Stuff, Hot Number and Hot Item. HOT PROPERTY tells John Roper's story, a character introduced in earlier books and his happily ever after with Amy Stone who readers met in Hot Item. It's a fun story that revisits old friends. Roper's in a career slump (think A-Rod on the New York Yankees) and everyone in his family from his soon to be married sister, his jealous, do-nothing brother, and his mother want something from him - from money to his time and advice. He's burnt out and fried and needs to focus on getting his groove back before he has no career left at all. Amy Stone is his agent, Spencer Atkins' niece and unbeknownst to Roper, she's going to lead the party planning division of the Hot Zone. Some matchmaking and heavy duty chemistry bring these two opposites together - but can they make a relationship work? HOT PROPERTY will be a 2008 release.

Debra:
Ray Bradbury said, “We are cups, constantly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” How do you keep your creative cup filled?

Carly: It isn't easy! Days and weeks can go by when I think the well is dry. I believe that sometimes I need to completely empty my mind - either first thing in the morning before I get out of bed or on a vacation when I can put the stress of carpool, dinners, driving and life out of my mind - then the work flows and I pray it continues to!

Debra:
Is there a point when your characters begin to come alive and you can see and hear them?

Carly: Yes! I always say that by page 100 or so, all the elements come together, from the characters and their conflicts and how they tie together to the plot and the secondary characters. At that point the reader is fully invested in all parts of the story. Prior to that point I hope I am taking the reader on an interesting journey they'll want to keep reading.

Debra:
If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Carly: Lucky me! I'm already doing exactly what I love!!!!!

Carly, thank you for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers.

Thank you! This has been fun ;)
Carly

Make-Believe Mondays with Susan Kearney

Today on Make-Believe Mondays Susan Kearney is visiting with us. I met Susan last year at the RT convention at the belly dance class she sponsored and I can tell you that Susan is a lot of fun.

Susan, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you're working on now.

Susan: Right now I'm working on POLAR HEAT, the sequel to ISLAND HEAT. And I'm taking the series into space, to other worlds. Usually I hate writing the beginning of a book but this one is actually working well from the start. I believe it's due to the set up - lots of conflict and tension. The heroine is a spy and the hero is suspicious. She must repress her power to dominate, but as her feelings emerge, she begins to lose her ability to stop herself from dominating him. Oh, yeah. This one's fun.

Debra: I'm looking forward to reading it. The fun you have writing your stories spills over into the fun we have reading them. :)

Ray Bradbury said, "We are cups, constantly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." How do you keep your creative cup filled?

Susan: I keep my creative cup filled by enjoying life. I figure skate and belly dance and take lots of vacations. In addition I spend time with family and friends. And since my daughter is a book cover artist, we often work together on covers. In fact, she shot the people on the cove of ISLAND HEAT. You can see her photograph on my website.
http://www.susankearney.com

Debra: It's a beautiful cover. Your daughter is very talented.

Is there a point when your characters begin to come alive and you can see and hear them?

Susan: Yes, but it's different in every book. I'm lucky when they talk to me right from the start. But sometimes, its like sculpting, I have to keep chipping away layer by layer until I figure them out.

Debra: What a wonderful image. It makes me think of how we have to let some things go to get at the stronger features beneath.

Some very famous authors have played with language, creating words for people or places that no one has ever heard of. Have you ever played with words in that way and if so how?

Susan: Well, this is what I do. I write futuristics. So I am always making up worlds, and filling them with new words. In my Rystani warrior series, everyone had to tap into their psi to make their suits work. These are suits that clothe and bathe and shield the people both in space and under water. In my heat series, the Firsts, firstborn, have Quait. Quait is the ability to dominate others. And in ISLAND HEAT I used Quait to explore what would happen when a former slave learned he has the ability to dominate. In POLAR HEAT, I gave the heroine the ability to dominate and it's proving . . . interesting.

Debra: Now you've intrigued me. :)

For some writers, dreams play a role in creating fiction. Has this been true for you? Have you ever dreamed a scene or an image that later wound up in one of your books?

Susan: Only once. I dreamed about giant kangaroos that carried people around in their pockets. I used the idea in a short story.

Debra: As a child did any particular book or author pull you into their imaginary world?

Susan: I loved Robert Heinlein. He wrote Starship Trooper and several other books for kids. He started me on my SF kick.

Debra: If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Susan: Exactly what I write right now. I'm so lucky Tor lets me write what I want and how I want to write it. It's a freedom I've never had before . . . and I'm taking full advantage.

In THE CHALLENGE, I wrote about a man who stimulates a woman sexually to make her psi poers come out.

In THE DARE I wrote about a 300 year old computer who wants a body so she can make love.

In THE ULTIMATUM I wrote about a woman scientist who has to make love to regenerate her cells or she dies.

And THE QUEST was about a man who had every power at his disposal, then loses them all but still must combat the greatest enemy his people have ever known.

In ISLAND HEAT, an alien falls from the sky. He's on a mission to tap into a volcano's powers to open a portal between Earth and his world. And the heroine must stop him at any cost.

And when I want to write a book that's not quite so far out there, TOR lets me write romantic suspense. KISS ME DEADLY, about 6 women who win the lottery and then are being killed one by one will be out in July 07.

Debra: TOR's ability to publish authors who write with wild imagination brings us a much richer variety of books to choose from. And for that I am very grateful.

Susan, is there anything else you would like to add about the role of imagination, and dreams in creating fiction? Any other message for our readers?

Susan: I like to write books about people. No matter how imaginative we are in worldbuilding, the story is always about how people react to their worlds. And what fascinates me is how we take our good qualities and our weaknesses with us where ever we go . . . even into cyberspace. And I'd like to invite readers to visit my site so they can watch my book trailers. I'm at http://www.susankearney.com

Susan, thank you for joining us here on this Make-Believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing here with our readers.

Make-Believe Monday with Linnea Sinclair

Today on Make-Believe Mondays I'm pleased to introduce my friend Linnea Sinclair. It's late and some of you have been patiently waiting, so let's jump right in.

Linnea, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you’re working on now.

Linnea: Ever see that great fun movie, Men In Black (or Men in Black 2)? Combine that with the TV cop show, Hill Street Blues and you’ve got my The Down Home Zombie Blues. It’s science fiction. No, wait. It’s romance. No, wait. It’s police procedural. No, wait. It’s comedy. No wait. It’s edge of your seat intergalactic monster action adventure…

My working blurb for the book:
After almost twenty years on the job Bahia Vista homicide detective, Theo Petrakos, is used to the fact that almost everyone in Florida is from somewhere else. Then a mummified corpse and a room full of high tech computer equipment sends Guardian Force commander and intergalactic zombie hunter, Jorie Mikkalah, into his life. And ‘illegal alien’ takes on a whole new meaning...

I’m just about finished with the book (yes, running a month late) but my editor has the first 3/4ths of it so she and the art department have it in process already. It’s due out (pending schedule changes) Fall of 2007, which is kind of cool because the book’s action centers over the Christmas/New Year’s holidays.

Christmas? New Years? But wait, Linnea, you say in your mellifluous voice. You write science fiction!

Debra: LOL :)

Linnea: Ah-hah! Yes, I do. The Down Home Zombie Blues is science fiction but set here in Florida, USA. A first for me.

Debra: Ray Bradbury said, “We are cups, constantly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” How do you keep your creative cup filled?

Linnea: I dare say I’m still running on imagination overload (gluttony?) from twenty years past. My brain seems to be stuck in a constant “what if..?” mode. I’m always what-iffing. Probably too much as I get ideas for books in the midst of writing a book and sometimes get distracted from what I should be doing.

I’m a relentless observer of human nature. That’s a polite way of saying I’m nosy. This started long before I was a private detective, where I got paid good money to be nosy.

So I watch people, wonder how did they get where they are, why are they where they are and from that do little novels grow.

Debra: "What-iffing" is such fun. I'm going to have to borrow your name for this game now you know. :)

Is there a point when your characters begin to come alive and you can see and hear them?

Linnea: I can’t write until I can see and hear my characters. When their sadness brings tears to my eyes, then I’m there.

Debra: Some very famous authors have played with language, creating words for people or places that no one has ever heard of. Have you ever played with words in that way and if so how?

Linnea: I write science fiction romance so yes, I’m always inventing things: planets, cities, ships, recipes, religions, cultures, etc.. I invent entire languages. I have a Zafharish lexicon (the language spoken in my Finders Keepers, which was a 2006 RITA award finalist) on my site:
http://linneasinclair.com/FKLexicon.htm

I also invent swear words. Those are the most fun. What does someone from another star system say when she drops a sonic wrench on her toe or finds out his plan to save the galaxy has come unraveled? Oh, darn? I don’t think so. Try:

Mullytrock or trock-brained
Vomit-brained slut bucket
Motherless son of a Procyon whore
Ass-faced demon’s whore
Dirtsucker

I’ve blogged about it here: http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2006/11/part-deux-swearing-in-alien-tongues.html

Mullytrock is from my February 2007 release Games of Command. My female protagonist is a starship fleet captain with a very sordid past that—literally—comes back to haunt her as she’s forced to relive it. As she revisits a part of her life she’d rather forget (in front of someone who shouldn’t know about that part of her life), her vocabulary reverts back to what she’d been:

A rectangular data-systems panel jutted out from the wall a few feet in front of them, its cover tarnished and dented. He reminded himself that there were very serious issues at stake here—hallucinations that could kill. The crew of Degun’s Luck had learned that. Who she was and whether she viewed him only as a ’cybe had to be tabled for now. He peeled off his gloves and answered without looking at her. “Do you really think I wouldn’t know how to get into U-Cee hardware? But if you remember the primary security codes, I can work more quickly. Are we looking for Zanorian’s dock assignment?”
“We’re looking to create a diversion. RaftTraff gets mighty testy when a ship breaks dock. And I’m not willing to wait for clearance.”
RaftTraff. Mining Raft Traffic Control. Definitely not Fleet terminology.
He flipped the cover open, studied the interfaces and crystal boards while she rattled off the codes. A patched mess but not unworkable. One stroke of luck: a compatible dataport. “What kind of diversion? I need location, start time and duration.”
“I’d love to launch a raftwide mullytrock, but then we’d have every other damned jockey in straps burning bulkheads. ’Course, that would work too. RaftTraff wouldn’t know which one of us to send the sec tugs after first.”
Mullytrock. Definitely Lady Sass. He remembered Ralland at fourteen getting his mouth washed out with soap for saying that.
“You want a mullytrock, Sass, I can give you that.” Roving, sporadic power outages, ventilation failures, lift malfunctions. For starters. “But I still need start time.” He took his attention from the panel and looked at her. “How far are we from the Blade?”
(FROM Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair, Bantam Spectra, Feb. 2007)

RaftTraff, burning bulkheads, mullytrock and others are all words I created for the book. The slang (“burning bulkheads) is indicative of the culture of a itinerant starfreighter crewmember. In the same way that someone working in a hospital, school or in law enforcement has their own slang and acronyms here on our world.

Speaking of which, for The Down Home Zombie Blues, I’ve had to learn both law enforcement slang and how to curse in Greek (because my male protagonist is Greek-American). I must say that the Greeks have cursing down to a fine art.
Ti mano popi sekone rroosooza pootanis

…has to do with your mother, her illegal occupation and resemblance to a gargoyle. A truly useful epithet. I’m duly impressed.

Debra: I'm impressed too!

For some writers, dreams play a role in creating fiction. Has this been true for you? Have you ever dreamed a scene or an image that later wound up in one of your books?

Linnea: I write all my scenes first in my dreams—not the middle-of-the-night-out-of-control, giraffe-driving-the-Jeep-made-of-chocolate-under-the-ocean-while-Marie-Antoinette-sings-Feelings-in-Portuguese kind of dreams (you guys all have those, right?). But rather the musing, daydreams that you can do whilst folding laundry or driving or cleaning the kitty litter pan.

Debra: Yes I have those. (And the other type as well.)

As a child did any particular book or author pull you into their imaginary world?

Linnea: Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. I think that’s why I enjoy Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series so much.

Debra: If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Linnea: Probably exactly what I write because I don’t write to genre. I write what I write and Bantam Spectra, bless them, pulls their hair out trying to market me.

To date, I’ve been shelved in science fiction, even though my back covers promise “sexy stellar romance”. With Games of Command, Bantam is shelving me—first time!—in romance. See, they don’t quite know what to do with me. I have a strong SF following but then Gabriel’s Ghost won the RITA award and suddenly they realized I have a strong romance following as well.

I just received a terrifc 4-1/2 star (highest number they give) review from Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine for Games of Command,

“When it comes to high-flying adventure, political intrigue and dark romance Sinclair has it aced! This surprising tale is filled with shifting loyalties, deception and jaw-dropping flying maneuvers. The characters in this complex novel are all faced with the realization that what they have always believed may not be the truth and that powerful emotions can be stronger than any mechanical implants.”—Romantic Times BOOKreviews

and they labeled me ‘fantasy’ then in parenthesis ‘futuristic’. Which makes no sense as my cover art is clearly SF. But yes, there is a telepathic/paranormal element in Games of Command. But I would never consider it fantasy.

But some people do, and that’s okay. I recognize I don’t write inside the box. Or perhaps I color outside the lines.

Debra: Writing outside the box is good. I don't think our imaginations as writers (or as readers) want to play inside the box. There's so muchmore to be discovered outside.

Is there anything else you would like to add about the role of imagination, and dreams in creating fiction? Any other message for our readers?

Linnea: Imagination—the muse part of writing—is terribly important. It’s the one part of writing that can’t be taught. But it’s not the only part of writing and if you ignore the others: craft (grammar, word choice, pacing, etc.) and business (marketing, contracts, etc.) you’re setting yourself up for failure if you’re looking to get published in commercial genre fiction.

The good news is you can be taught craft and marketing. So if you have the muse part down pat, then you’re one third of the way there.

Debra: Linnea, thank you for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers.

Linnea:
Please do visit me on my website
http://www.linneasinclair.com/
and my MYSPACE page
www.myspace.com/linneasinclair
and my shared blog
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com

I also have a fan group on Yahoo that’s oodles of fun AND I have special contests AND sneak peeks at upcoming books!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LinneaSinclair/