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.