Interview questions from midnyteabbadon
I adore the concept of NORMAL as well as all the excerpts you've shared
with us. Since not everyone can be expected to know about it, however,
why don't you share a little bit about it with us.
My heroine Celeste was born with a powerful healing touch, and one day, at age 30, awakens and her power is gone. Her healing ability overwhelmed her senses from the time she was three days old, preventing any casual human contact and defined every shred of her existence. Now, not only does she have to deal with that how-do-I-pay-the-mortgage question and unemployment, but she has to cope with ostracism from her super-powered peers, deaths she cannot prevent, and discover the power of normal human touch. It's told first person and takes place in the near future.
You were working on NORMAL for your NaNo project this year, correct? How
did it go? Did you reach 50k with lots of hair left or had you pulled it
all out by the 30^th ?
It went amazingly well, despite my usual Nano jitters. NORMAL was given to me in a dream in February, and I've been working on it ever since. I read and took notes on five books on EMTs and anatomy and spent hours working on character lists and chapter synopses. In the end, it paid off. I made it to 50k on the 15th of the month, and kept on writing. I had almost 75k by the time I stopped on the 24th. I couldn't have made that progress without all my advance preparation, though. I have to rehearse the scenes in my head before I start to write.
What is the biggest obstacle between you and your writing goals? How do
you intend to deal with it?
My perfectionism and insecurity. I'm horrendously shy and very sensitive to rejection. For years I avoided writing at all because I knew I wanted to be published, and I knew that meant enduring rejections. Finally, as a stay-at-home-mom, I had to realize that I was miserable and I had to start making something of myself or I'd completely crack. So I made myself start writing and worked up the courage to submit places. To my shock, one of my first submissions made it into The Ultimate Cat Lover by HCI books - and brought me my first paycheck in five years. It's still hard to get rejections, but my skin is getting a bit thicker, gradually. Those little successes help make it palatable.
What are your writing goals?
Get an agent and publish a novel. Then publish another, and another. The smaller markets in the meantime help "improve my craft" (doesn't that sound pompous?) and develop my bio line for query letters.
What has been the highlight of your writing career up to this point?
Getting into The Ultimate Cat Lover was my first big boost. I recently placed runner-up in the WOW! Women on Writers Summer Flash Fiction Contest, which is huge because they have such an awesome site with such visibility. Being accepted into the upcoming Niteblade is a thrill since that particular story is one of my very favorites, and those are the ones that are the scariest to submit.
How do you write? Do you generally outline everything out, fly by the
seat of your pants or something in between?
This year I started to jot down my short story ideas in a long-hand journal. I realized that all too many of my "great ideas" were being forgotten before I ever typed a darn thing out. I'll often nurse a story in my head for days or weeks before committing it to paper or keyboard, though. I'm not a very spontaneous person!
Do you have any sort of writing rituals that you do? Ie: listen to
music, wear fingerless gloves, that sort of thing.
When I first starting doing Nano in 2002, I would obsess over certain songs or CDs as I wrote, playing the same stuff three hours straight. However, when I birthed Critter in 2005, I suddenly had to worry about things like hearing the baby cry. This year I started listening to music again and found out about Pandora.com on LJ, so I listened to an odd mix of Journey, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Enya as I wrote. Also, I always feel tired, so if I met my writing goals for the day I would let myself take a nap while my son napped, situation permitting.
Who are your favorite authors to read? Why?
This is a tough one. I read a very diverse range of material. I read Mary Doria Russell's books The Sparrow and Children of God this year and was completely blown away by the depth and intellect of her work. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger is another ultimate favorite. Elizabeth Bear is also good, and I enjoy her blog. I love books that connect the contemporary world with extraordinary occurrences - a bit of magic, but realistic. I guess that's why I tend to write along the same lines. My childhood favorites were horse books and historicals, such as Laura Ingalls Wilder and Patricia Beatty's many pioneer girl books. I still tend towards that sort of heroine, sheltered yet tenacious.
If you could pick one person, they have to be living, to write the cover
blurb for NORMAL when it gets published, who would it be and what would
they say?
Oh geez. One person? Mary Doria Russell would be awesome. Or Margaret Weis or Tracy Hickman, since I was a Dragonlance geek as a teenager. Of course, J.K. Rowling or Oprah are pretty much the ultimate endorsements for any writer these days! I'll go with Rowling since my work involves fantasy. I'd like for her to say that she became complete enamored with my characters, and that she mourned when the book ended. Catharsis achieved.
with us. Since not everyone can be expected to know about it, however,
why don't you share a little bit about it with us.
My heroine Celeste was born with a powerful healing touch, and one day, at age 30, awakens and her power is gone. Her healing ability overwhelmed her senses from the time she was three days old, preventing any casual human contact and defined every shred of her existence. Now, not only does she have to deal with that how-do-I-pay-the-mortgage question and unemployment, but she has to cope with ostracism from her super-powered peers, deaths she cannot prevent, and discover the power of normal human touch. It's told first person and takes place in the near future.
You were working on NORMAL for your NaNo project this year, correct? How
did it go? Did you reach 50k with lots of hair left or had you pulled it
all out by the 30^th ?
It went amazingly well, despite my usual Nano jitters. NORMAL was given to me in a dream in February, and I've been working on it ever since. I read and took notes on five books on EMTs and anatomy and spent hours working on character lists and chapter synopses. In the end, it paid off. I made it to 50k on the 15th of the month, and kept on writing. I had almost 75k by the time I stopped on the 24th. I couldn't have made that progress without all my advance preparation, though. I have to rehearse the scenes in my head before I start to write.
What is the biggest obstacle between you and your writing goals? How do
you intend to deal with it?
My perfectionism and insecurity. I'm horrendously shy and very sensitive to rejection. For years I avoided writing at all because I knew I wanted to be published, and I knew that meant enduring rejections. Finally, as a stay-at-home-mom, I had to realize that I was miserable and I had to start making something of myself or I'd completely crack. So I made myself start writing and worked up the courage to submit places. To my shock, one of my first submissions made it into The Ultimate Cat Lover by HCI books - and brought me my first paycheck in five years. It's still hard to get rejections, but my skin is getting a bit thicker, gradually. Those little successes help make it palatable.
What are your writing goals?
Get an agent and publish a novel. Then publish another, and another. The smaller markets in the meantime help "improve my craft" (doesn't that sound pompous?) and develop my bio line for query letters.
What has been the highlight of your writing career up to this point?
Getting into The Ultimate Cat Lover was my first big boost. I recently placed runner-up in the WOW! Women on Writers Summer Flash Fiction Contest, which is huge because they have such an awesome site with such visibility. Being accepted into the upcoming Niteblade is a thrill since that particular story is one of my very favorites, and those are the ones that are the scariest to submit.
How do you write? Do you generally outline everything out, fly by the
seat of your pants or something in between?
This year I started to jot down my short story ideas in a long-hand journal. I realized that all too many of my "great ideas" were being forgotten before I ever typed a darn thing out. I'll often nurse a story in my head for days or weeks before committing it to paper or keyboard, though. I'm not a very spontaneous person!
Do you have any sort of writing rituals that you do? Ie: listen to
music, wear fingerless gloves, that sort of thing.
When I first starting doing Nano in 2002, I would obsess over certain songs or CDs as I wrote, playing the same stuff three hours straight. However, when I birthed Critter in 2005, I suddenly had to worry about things like hearing the baby cry. This year I started listening to music again and found out about Pandora.com on LJ, so I listened to an odd mix of Journey, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Enya as I wrote. Also, I always feel tired, so if I met my writing goals for the day I would let myself take a nap while my son napped, situation permitting.
Who are your favorite authors to read? Why?
This is a tough one. I read a very diverse range of material. I read Mary Doria Russell's books The Sparrow and Children of God this year and was completely blown away by the depth and intellect of her work. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger is another ultimate favorite. Elizabeth Bear is also good, and I enjoy her blog. I love books that connect the contemporary world with extraordinary occurrences - a bit of magic, but realistic. I guess that's why I tend to write along the same lines. My childhood favorites were horse books and historicals, such as Laura Ingalls Wilder and Patricia Beatty's many pioneer girl books. I still tend towards that sort of heroine, sheltered yet tenacious.
If you could pick one person, they have to be living, to write the cover
blurb for NORMAL when it gets published, who would it be and what would
they say?
Oh geez. One person? Mary Doria Russell would be awesome. Or Margaret Weis or Tracy Hickman, since I was a Dragonlance geek as a teenager. Of course, J.K. Rowling or Oprah are pretty much the ultimate endorsements for any writer these days! I'll go with Rowling since my work involves fantasy. I'd like for her to say that she became complete enamored with my characters, and that she mourned when the book ended. Catharsis achieved.