Make-Believe Mondays With Julia Knight

Today on Make-Believe Mondays my guest is Julia Knight.

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

Julia: Well I’m working on two at the moment. One’s an historical erotic romance, with pirates. The other is the third and final installment of my Oathcursed series (book 2 is released by Samhain in January)While we’re still following the heroes and heroine from the first two – Hilde, Hunter and Ilfayne – other characters are coming along to complicate their lives. Nerisse is a rather willful girl – thoroughly spoilt, but overly protected by her father, who has good reason to believe someone will take revenge on him through her. When the chance comes for Nerisse to escape and live a little, she grabs it with both hands – only to find out her father was right. As usual there will be big dollops of romance to offset the adventure!

Debra: Pirates, did you say pirates? :-) I'll bet they are fun to write about. Adventure and romance, what could be better?

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?

Julia: Reading widely and daydreaming. Reading, to see what works, what doesn’t, what’s already been done to death. And daydreaming scenes, playing them as movies in my head, with all different possibilities tried out. I could spend all day doing that.

Debra: Yes, the already been done to death part can make it difficult. Thankfully that daydreaming imagination can vanquish that one.

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

Julia: Oh yes – they talk back to me all the time, the monkeys. Usually it takes me a few chapters to get a feel for them. Then they’ll be somewhere with something nasty happening to them (I do so like to torture them) and all of a sudden they’re saying ‘There is no way you’re getting me to do that! I’d do this instead.’ One reason I don’t outline – the characters always end up pulling me in different directions to the ones I’d envisaged.

Debra: Sometimes character are like unruly children that way. Outlines are too much like rules to be broken.

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

Julia: The first one I really remember grabbing me was an old book about King Arthur – you know the ones that had colour plates and gold edging on the pages? I grew up with the Pig Sty Prince, the White Dragon and the Red, the Fairy Hunt. All evocative, romantic ( in the literary sense, not the genre sense) stories. They took me to another place, and I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so entranced by any story. I still have that book – it’s one of my son’s favourites.

Debra: Yes, I remember those! And the color plates and gold edging made the physical book as romantic and enticing as the stories.

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

Julia: Thank you! It’s always fun seeing new types of questions.

Visit Julia at
juliaknight.co.uk
juliazknight.wordpress.com
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Debra's News/Debra is watching:

I've been hard at work on the contemporary romance and hope to be submitting it very soon. Then will turn to finish the western historical romance. (Not a sequel to A Desperate Journey, but a story that is very different.)

What are you doing this Halloween weekend? I will be attending Gatalop. Gatalop is held in Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island close to Mobile, AL. It's an SCA event. (SCA is the medieval reinactment group I'm a member of.) My group is staying inside the fort. The fort is believed to be haunted, so if I see any ghosts, I will come back and tell you about it! ;-)

The site is open to the public from 9:00 to 5:00 and I will be there in the merchant area selling my books.

www.debraparmley.com

Until next Monday, Happy Halloween and Happy Samhain!

Love,

Debra

Make-Believe Mondays with Meg Allison

Today my guest on Make-Believe Mondays is Meg Allison.

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

Meg: The novel I’m working on now is the second book in the Sentinels series. It tells the story of empath Samantha Bays as she meets the man of her dreams. But her hero is under a lot of stress since he recently started drawing the murder scenes of a serial killer. It combines my favorite subgenres of paranormal and suspense, of course with a heavy dose of romance along the way.

Debra: And an empath would be able to feel what the hero was feeling. Very interesting.

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?

Meg: I find the best way to keep my creative cup filled is by taking a break from writing now and then. I recharge by getting out of the house, sometimes going for a walk. I also listen to music -- most of my best ideas are inspired by song. Often, reading some of my favorite authors also helps get the ideas flowing.

Debra: Yes, fresh air and a walk can clear the mind and provide inspiration. And autumn is such a lovely time of year to walk.

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

Meg: I’m usually able to at least visualize my characters from the very first scene. As I get deeper into the story, I can hear the dialogue and thoughts in my head. I find I really have to get to that point for my stories to really come alive.

Debra: Yes, until we can hear them they're just characters on a page. Maybe writers are unusual in that we want to hear voices in our heads. :-) That means the story has come alive.

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

Meg: Thanks for sharing your blog with me! I enjoy talking about writing and the whole process. There’s nothing more satisfying than being able to bring my characters to life and share them with readers.

Visit Meg

www.megallisonauthor.com
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Debra's News/Debra is watching:

On Saturday I signed books in Jackson, MS with Imagicopter. Now I am taking a break from signings and will be focusing more on writing and submitting. My next signing will be in Nov. and you can find it on the calendar on my website.

www.debraparmley.com

Thank you to everyone who told me the website isn't coming up. I'll let my webmaster know and she'll fix it. You can get there on the second click, but the first time its sending an error message. Thank you for your patience and thank you for telling me there was a problem.

Make-Believe Mondays with Judi McCoy

Today my guest is Judi McCoy.

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

Judi: I’m working on book three in my new dog walker series. Book one, Hounding the Pavement, came out in March 2009 and it’s a brand new direction for me. I call the series romantic mystery, but I sure the term has been used before—if not I’ve coined a new genre.

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?

Judi: I have to admit, with the new series, keeping the cup full is easy. My characters are unique (a NYC dog walker who understands what her dogs are thinking/saying and the dogs who converse mentally with her in return) so there are plenty of situations I can put them in for fun and excitement.

Debra: It would be hard to resist a talking dog. What fun. Is there a point when your characters begin to come alive and you can see and hear them?

Judi: I think about the idea/plot for a new book, then come up with the heroine and hero. When I created Ellie, my dog walker, she was fully formed in my head. Once I named her, Ellie’s voice rang out loud and clear. It was the same with Detective Sam Ryder, Ellie’s sometimes love interest, sometimes adversary. The real fun was creating personalities for each dog she walks. Rudy, Ellie’s own dog was easy because he’s exactly the way I imagine my real life dog, Rudy, to be. The others were carefully thought out so that each dog would be an individual.

Debra: It sounds like a fun series. Do you have anything else you'd like to share with our readers?

Judi: Hounding the Pavement, the first dog walker book, was released March 2009. ALL royalties received by the author for this book will be donated to Best Friends.org the largest ‘no kill’ animal shelter in the US. Situated in Utah, Best Friends cares for dogs, cats, birds, goats, horses and other abused animals. Each breed of animal has their own compound and are worked with to be rehabilitated and adopted out, but if that doesn’t happen the animal can live on the sanctuary for the rest of its life.

The television series, Dogtown, on the National Geographic channel, comes out every Friday immediately after The Dog Whisperer.

BEST NEWS: Hounding the Pavement was recently sold to CBS Productions to be made into a weekly.

Judi, thank you for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers. It's been a pleasure.

Readers can visit Judi at www.judimccoy.com

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Debra's News/Debra is watching:

I just returned from a great little regional conference, the Ozark Creative Writers, which is held in Eureka Springs, AR every year.

I'll be in Jackson, MS this Saturday signing books at the Eudora Welty library. More information on that event and other appearance is listed on my website.
www.debraparmley.com

Today I'm catching up on being away for the past four days and then tomorrow I'll start back to work on the manuscript.

Come back and visit next Monday and till then keep reading, keep writing, keep smiling. :-)

Debra

Make-Believe Mondays with Renee Wildes

Today on Make-Believe Mondays my guest is Renee Wildes.

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

It's set in my Samhain Publishing "Guardians of Light" world. I'm tentatively calling it "Dust of Dreams" and I hope it ends up being Bk 4. The hero Benilo is an elven spirit healer (he has a teeny part in Duality and pivotal role in Hedda's Sword). The heroine Pryseis is a rebellious dream faerie. They work together to stop a goblin child's magic-influenced nightmares from spreading to everyone and starting a war.

Debra: The idea of nightmares being able to spread is intriguing. I'm wondering how they spread and how to stop them. Stories about the fae are always so fascinating.

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?

Renee: I do a lot of reading & watching old movies. I love art, scrapbooking, horseback riding through the woods and playing with my kids. One of our favorite games is "What if?" or serial stories - one of us starts, stops at some cliffhanger point and the next person has to then pick up whatever thread got dropped. Can be a LOT of fun (as is also useful at writer's meetings/parties)!

Debra: Story games are so much fun, especially if the writers write in different genres. This subject came up just the other day at lunch. Somehow it keeps re-appearing this week.

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

Renee: I usually start a story with a vision of the character:

Duality was a red-haired woman kneeling in a burning room. (When I realized she STARTED the fire I had to know more!)

Hedda's Sword I was trying to figure out who to pair Cianan with (an elven version of the ultimate ladies' man) and my evil red dragon muse whispered "assassin nun." And there she was - Brigitte Nielsen, complete w/sword!

Lycan Tides I've always been facinated w/selkies, and I got a single mom living in a lighthouse!



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?

Renee: I write fantasy romance, so everything I write is make believe. I base imaginary places on real places, use historical weapons, mix real creatures with mythological beasts. Medicines are part real herbs and some made-up (telgara bushes, waxroot, relag & garelbark tea, dreamwine, drenieval whiskey). I make up the names of gods and goddesses. Then I thow in things like talking horses, sentient jewelry & vemonous mermaids - I even have swear words in different languages:

DRACKEN RUE - elvish

DREK - dragon

VARDEN - selkie

LURSA - faerie

Debra: Fascinating! To learn more, we'll have to read your books. :-)

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?

Renee: Writing is part IMAGINATION & part RESEARCH. Take enough of the real world to make your story seem well-grounded, but add enough of a twist to make it fresh and new and exciting. Don't ever be afraid to reach, to stretch it just a bit more. And don't be afraid of the dark - the best stories are those where good/light triumph over evil/darkness! The light always shines the brightest against the dark!



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

Renee: Thanks so much for having me here today, Debra! It was fun! Anyone who wants to find out more about my worlds can check out:

website: www.renee.wildes.net
Samhain Publishing author page
blogs: reneewildes1.wordpress.com
guardiansoflight.wordpress.com

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Debra's News/Debra is watching:

Thursday I'm headed to Eureka Springs, AR to the Ozark Creative Writers where I'll be signing books on Friday and Saturday.

I'll be sending tweets from the writers event and my Twitter feeds into my home page, so you can follow even if you don't wish to get a Twitter account.
www.debraparmley.com
You'll also find my calendar with upcoming appearances for the rest of the year. I'll be winding that down soon in order to get more writing done.