Author Interview - Ellen Potter

1. What are some of your favorite books and authors?

How much time to do you have?

All right, I won’t get carried away. Here are some of my recent favorites:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer

The Gilda Joyce Psychic Detective series, by Jennifer Allison

Anything written by Anne Mazer

And . . . ahhh, the Harry Potter series

2. Do you have any tips for a writer just starting out?

I know it’s difficult, but the more you can keep your mind off publishing your work, the better your work will be. Sink into your story. Live in it. Your job is to create new universes. That’s a tall order, and you need every bit of your brain to manage it. Don’t squander your brilliant energy on worrying if your work is “marketable.”

3. You released a book a while back called Slob, about a young, inventive young boy who gets bullied but uses his mind to fight back.  Did you know when writing it that it would have such an impact on schools curriculum and on kids who have been bullied in general?

I had no idea! Zero. Of course I knew that bullying is a long-standing problem in schools, but what shocked me is how hands-on teachers and principals are about the issue now. It used to be that kids were on their own when dealing with bullies.  You pretty much sucked it up and suffered silently.  So I wrote SLOB with those kids in mind, but I was overwhelmed by the way teachers rallied around the issue and adopted the book into their classrooms.  

4. You’ve said in interviews that Owen’s sister, Jeremy, was based a little bit on you growing up and Owen was based on a boy you knew.  Does that mean you didn’t get bullied as a child, or did you have your picked-on moments as a kid?

Like Jeremy, I joined a GWAB club (Girls Who Are Boys) and cut my hair short. Although I did it to look like a boy, I was sort of horrified when I ACTUALLY looked like a boy. People made fun of me for that. So I grew my hair long again and it was so wild-looking that people called me Cave Girl. Plus my hair was red so I was also referred to as Ellen-Ellen Watermelon Head. Or maybe it was just because my head was large.

5. The reason I’m asking about Slob is because here at Confuzzled Books, it is the most searched-for Book on the blog.  For teachers and readers, are there any plans to make up a lesson plan for Slob? Will there be any spark notes for it?

It’s a possibility. I’ve been asked this question many times before, so I know there’s a need for it.

6. What is your most recent release? Do you have anything in the works?
 
My latest book The Kneebone Boy is about three quirky siblings who go on a quest for a legendary “monster-boy” who is being held captive. In February 2012, my book The Humming Room will be released. It’s a contemporary take on one of my favorite books, The Secret Garden. After that . . . well, I have a few ideas pawing around in my noggin. We’ll see which ones make it onto the page.

Thank you again Ellen!

You can visit her at her official website 

http://www.ellenpotter.com

Interview with autor Dan Gutman

Author Interview with Dan Gutman

1. You’re a pretty famous children’s author. If you were not an author, what job do you think you would be doing instead of writing?

Oh, I would probably get a...(gasp)...JOB!  Ugh, I might have to wear a jacket and tie, or work in a cubicle, and have a boss telling me what to do.  It would be horrible!  But if I had to do any job, I would try to work on a magazine, newspaper, or book publishing company.  And if that didn't work out, I would try to be a teacher.

2.  Do you have any writing routines?

I usually write in the morning, when my brain is most alive.  I outline my stories on index cards first, writing down anything that pops into mind--a piece of dialog, a description of a character, something that happens in the story, whatever.  Then I organize the file cards until the story flows from start to finish.  After that, I take the first card off the pile and start writing.  I use a MacBook laptop, my only computer.  Just about every day, I will revise what I worked on the previous day, and again when the whole book is done.  I like to turn in perfectly clean copy that my editor will barely touch (but always does anyway).

 

3. I have only reviewed one of your books,The Kid Who Ran For President. Where did you get your inspiration or drive to write that book?

I got the idea for The Kid Who Ran for President when Bob Dole was running for president in 1995.  He was 72 years old, and some people felt he was too old to be president.  So I figured if somebody might be too old to be president, what would be too YOUNG to be president?  That is my bestselling book, by the way.

4. I know of your Baseball Card Adventure series. If you could meet any historical figure past or present, sportsman or other, who would you meet and what would you ask?

I would love to go back to December 17th, 1903 and witness the first flight by the Wright Brothers.  I wouldn't ask them anything.  I would just want to be a fly on the wall.

5.  Do you have any new books you are working on, or a recent one that is about to be released?

Oh yeah.  The new "My Weirder School" series starts on June 21 with two books, "Miss Child Has Gone Wild!" and "Mr. Harrison is Embarrassin'!"  The second book in "The Genius Files" series comes out next January.  And the next baseball card adventure "Ted & Me" (Ted Williams) comes out in February.  So I've been busy. 







BE SURE TO CHECK OUT DANGUTMAN.COM , MY WEIRD CLASSROOM CLUB AND JOIN HIS FAN ON HIS FACEBOOK PAGE! 

Interview with author April Pulley Sayre

Questions with April Pulley Sayre author of If You’re Hoppy and Rah, Rah, Radishes 

1. What are some of your favorite books or authors?

Well, among authors for adults some I've enjoyed are Diane Ackerman, Ray Bradbury, Gerard Manley Hopkins. My choices are based on a love of luscious language. As a young girl, I used to mark special passages in the books of Thomas Wolfe, for instance. I'd reread those just for joy. Occasionally I am carried away by story; I loved the autobiography of  Wangari Maathai's Unbowed. So inspirational.

Among children's book authors, I grew up loving Madeleine L'engle and I also like her autobiographical books for adults. Among more recent authors, I've enjoyed mostly fantasy authors such as Suzanne Collins for her Gregor books. But I love whenever I see an author stepping out, risking, putting something on the line as David Small did in his memoir, Stitches.

2.You started a love of nature and animals early in life...Did they inspire you to write or did you feel the need to?

I wrote  a lot as a child. Mostly poetry. I must have dozens of poems about icicles penned while curled up in the back of my parent's car on the way up a snowy road for a ski trip.

3. Do you have any writing rituals that keep you writing or get you started?

Writing rituals? A lot of my ideas do come first thing in the morning if I don't have a rough schedule that day and can wait even five minutes to get out of bed.  Things I dreamed start to sort out and become coherent enough to write. Quite a few of my books start from that sleepy haze unfolding. If I can just write down the idea quickly before I dash off for a school visit or whatever, then I can come back later and work on it. (Sometimes that work occurs years later, or not at all.)

4. Most of your book are non-fiction what inspires you to write an imaginative fiction book such as The Noodle Man or semi- fictional If You’re Hoppy?
Oh, I have a very humorous, goofy side that surprises people when they meet me in person. So, sometimes that moves into the fiction realm. I am all about play. Lately I've started allowing that side to translate onto paper a bit more. I actually do write longer fiction, as well. I'm just not as skilled in that genre as in nonfiction so you won't see much of it in libraries—yet!

Thank you April for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer these questions!


Upcoming Events
Next up for me is ALA this summer where I'll be presenting Sunday morning with a great group of nonfiction authors for the Nonfiction Book Blast.

http://nonfictionbookblast.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/nonfiction-book-blast-trailer/



I'll be premiering Rah, Rah, Radishes: A Vegetable Chant (Beach Lane/S&S/June 16, 2011), which is illustrated entirely with my photographs. Right now I am putting finishing details on Go, Go, Grapes: a Fruit Chant, which will be out next year. I've been doing photography all my life; I'm rarely seen without my Canon long lenses, macro lenses, wide angle lenses, and the like. I've always used my photos and videos of rain forests in my school talks and teacher in services. Finally, I can begin to use a bit more of this photo love in my books, too.

I would love to hear from educators about what they're doing. I post lots of teacher resources on my website, www.aprilsayre.com

Interview with Author Charles A. Wilkinson

Questions and Answers with Author Charles A. Wilkinson

author of “Liam the Leprechaun” and “Contemplations in the Sometimes Quiet of a Hospital Room”  and “The Dumb Thumb”

1. What are some of your favorite books or authors?

My favorite book is usually the one I am reading at the moment. “People of the Book” is fascinating me these days; just finished “Cutting for Stone” and “Sarah’s Key,” “The Glass Castle” before that. I am what I call a “sip reader” – when I find a really good book I stretch out the pleasure as long as I can.

2. I have only read 1 of your books, Liam the Leprechaun. It seems as a “semi-retired” therapist you use ideas that stem from your experience as a therapist. Do all your books take aspects of that, or was Liam special?

I guess I write from my person, not my profession. I have always been into “being and becoming” and Liam is an embodiment of that. Same with ‘The Dumb Thumb” I wrote years ago when telling a child (a thumb sucker) that he had a dumb thumb and went on to give him a rough version of what I later put on paper. That book is long out of print but I’d love to get it back out there.
I have written pieces in the Evanston RountTable that have been therapy-related, though.  

3. Does your experience as a therapist help your writing? If so, how?

My clients usually gave me more than I gave them: a sense of my own humanness, the need for truth at the core of self, and a clarity of just what a gift life is.

4. Do you have any writing rituals that keep you writing or get you started?

None that I know of. I have said that I write as if building a pyramid upside down. Start with a sentence (germ of an idea), write another sentence; rewrite the first, and so on, looking for the surprises along the way. I wish I could “dash things off” but then I would miss the fun of it – and be a slacker on the work involved. I will admit to carrying an idea inside me to let it grow and begin to become itself.

5. Do you have to believe in magical characters such as leprechauns to write about them?

I KNOW Liam, so I don’ have to believe in him. I believe in what I don’t know which offers a wide world of wonder and whimsy.

6. How did you come up with idea for Liam the Leprechaun?

I truly don’t know. He was just “there’ for a long time. Thought he was a trite take-off on “The Littlest Angel” or some such. But as I got to know him, he felt a bit different than that. You may have guessed that I believe that a story kind of gives itself to the writer as he creates it.
                                  
7.  Is there a lesson or moral in all your books?
I feel shamefully didactic at times, especially in my RoundTable pieces. I work very hard at trying not to be preachy – but the teachy part usually shows itself.
“Contemplations in the Sometimes Quiet of a Hospital Room” is meant to be comforting and assuring. Again, that evolved over a number of years and I thought it would be a perfect little book for hospital gift shops. But I do not do marketing very well.

8. How do you straighten yourself out after having a day or a life where you feel, as Liam did, small and unseen?

I am fortunate to have much love in my life so those days are foreign to me at this stage. Earlier on, I had my moments…
My writing feels “small and unseen” generally but I live with that. I have a website – waysiderestarea.com - and two blogs I wish others might find, but I am back to that marketing shortcoming of mine.

9. Do you have any new books coming out soon?

Not soon enough. I have another children’s ms, “The Daisy That Didn’t Die” that is looking for an illustrator and publisher; a book of prosetry, titled “Being and Becoming.”  In my semi-retirement I am finding time to have such dreams.


THANK SO MUCH CHARLES!

Author Interview - Kevin Alan Milne

1. What are some of your favorite books or authors?

Believe it or not, I really love fantasy books…perhaps because I like to stay plugged in to what my kids are reading, or maybe because, at heart, I’m just a kid myself. My current fav’s include Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven series and all of the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan.  But when I’m in the mood for something a little more uplifting and …er…age-appropriate, I love to pick up anything by Mitch Albom, Richard Paul Evans, or Jason Wright. And of course, my all time favorite book is Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. 

2.You studied many subjects in college, how did you wind up writing and what made you switch to book writing?

I did enroll in more than my fair share of majors—journalism, communications, pre-med, pre-law, German, and film, just to name a few—but ultimately graduated with a B.S. in psychology. Then I threw everything I’d learned out the window and earned an MBA. After landing my first job in business, I found myself frequently answering the question, “So, what do you do for work?” My most common response was, “Oh, I mostly just respond to emails all day long. How about you?” Long story short: corporate work was boring me to death. I came home each day amazed and confused at the monotony of it all. I’d hoped it would be stimulating, but instead it was just exhausting. So one day during lunch I decided to start writing a novel—something I’d always wanted to do—and the rest, as they say, is history.    

3. Do you have any rituals that keep you writing or get you started?

A Diet Dr. Pepper is usually a good start, but I wouldn’t say I have any particular rituals. However, you might find it interesting that I frequently write with thick, bulky, rifle-shooting headphones over my ears to block out all sound. I find it much easier to get inside my head when the only thing I can hear is the space between my ears. 

 4. Your books inspire hope and love, what inspires you to write about such positive stories?

 

Hmm…tough question. I think most of it is simply that I am personally drawn to stories that are uplifting in one way or another. When I turn the final page of a book and close the cover, I like to walk away feeling like I’ve been touched in a positive way, and so when I sit down to write I have that same basic goal in mind. The other contributing factor is my children: Nothing is more important to me than the happiness of my family, so when I’m writing I try to think about what things might be important for them to read as they get older. In the back of my mind I hope that what I put into a book will someday help my kids get through life’s little trials.    

 
 

5. How did you come up with the misfortune sayings that are in Sophie's fortune cookies?

Most of the misfortunes just sort of ‘grew’ naturally out of what Sophie was experiencing in the story. Those were the easiest ones to write, and probably the most meaningful. The rest came from pouring through thousands of actual fortune cookie sayings and just tweaking them to have a more pessimistic flavor.   

6. How do you straighten yourself out after life has given you a curve?

More Diet Dr. Pepper helps offset the curves!

Just kidding. I think my recipe for getting through things is no different than anyone else’s. I lean on the most important things in my life, namely my faith, my family, and my friends. With a combination of those three F’s, all curves can be straightened.  

7. Sophie lacks happiness. What do you think is the secret to happiness?

Confucius say, “The secret to happiness is recognizing it.” (Note: as far as I know, Confucius didn’t really say that, but it sounds better with his name attached.) But seriously, it’s way too easy to dwell on the bad things in life. Acknowledging—and being grateful for—the good things, however small they may be, makes life much sweeter.

Author Interview - Christopher Farnsworth

Q: Christopher Farnsworth

1. What are some of your favorite books or authors?

I've got way too many favorites to name, but here's a sampling: William Gibson, Glenn Gaslin, Thomas Pynchon, Lee Child, Neil Gaiman, John Connolly, Charlie Huston, James Ellroy, Thomas Thompson, Scott Turow, Vince Flynn, Brad Meltzer, Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne, Ron Rosenbaum, John Sandford, Stephen King, Alan Moore, Tim Powers... the list goes on.

I also just finished Ian Tregillis' Bitter Seeds, and I was really impressed.


2.You started out as a reporter, how did you get started and what made you switch to book writing?

I actually started out in literature. I thought I was going to be a literary novelist while teaching or something like that. Unfortunately, I found that I couldn't take another day of grad school, and I had to do something to eat and pay rent. I began writing for a local paper, and found I wasn't bad at it. I did investigative reporting, then got to a daily paper -- the Orange County Register -- where I covered business and tech. But I was still typing away on my own projects on the weekends. A friend of mine who was a screenwriter told me that books were a thing of the past, and suggested I write a script. I did. It sold. Then I spent the next seven years trying to sell another one. Finally, when the Writer's Guild strike hit, I couldn't even try to sell a script. I had an idea for a story about a vampire who worked for the President of the United States, and I decided to turn it into a book.


Or, the short answer: I always wanted to be a novelist. It just took me a long, long time.

3. How did your experience as a reporter impact your style as a novelist?

I think reporting taught me to how to write under pressure and to craft a narrative even when there are big holes in your knowledge. I highly recommend it as a way to learn the most effective and quickest ways to get your point across. It's sort of a shame that newspapers are dying. At the very least, they're better at teaching writing than most of the writing workshops I've seen.

4. Do you have any writing rituals that keep you writing or get you started?

The other great lesson from reporting: when you're on deadline, there's no such thing as writer's block. When you sit down at the screen, just start typing. Doesn't matter what. You'll find your way back to the story. But you've got to produce. Otherwise, the blank screen takes up far too much space in your head, and you'll freeze up. Or, as I heard it once, "just lay brick."

5. From Dracula to Twilight, writers have approached vampires in many different ways. Were there any authors/stories whose traditions you tried to include or avoid in Blood Oath?

I wanted my vampire to be scary. He might work for the good guys, but he is definitely a predator, something built to feed on humans. So I went back to the basic Stoker model -- faster, stronger, and smarter than we are. Limited daylight ability. Blood lust. Fear of the crucifix and anything holy, due to the pain those symbols cause.


I was really impressed by Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series, about a vampire stuck in the wars between rival clans in Manhattan. And I have an abiding love for Joss Whedon's TV series vampires, even though Cade came out very different from them.

6. Blood Oath has vampires, werewolves, patchwork zombies, a mad scientist, super viruses, government conspiracies and hints of armageddon. Which threats do you think wound up being scariest?

Without a doubt, the human ones. One thing I've learned from my obsessive reading of Stephen King is that the things that go bump in the night are never as scary as what people do to each other on a daily basis.

7. Konrad Von Frankenstien is like the sum of all modern fears: He's a mad scientist, a genetiscist, an alchemist, a Nazi, a terrorist ... How did you come up with that spin on this classic character?

Back in college, I realized Shelley's Frankenstein makes a lot more sense when you realize Victor is the villain, not the hero, of the book. I wanted to get back to the hubris it would take to create life, and the viciousness it would require to keep at the experiment even after it had gone so horribly wrong. I thought of Sting's excellent portrayal in "The Bride," and also Dean Koontz's take in his own Frankenstein series. But the main thing I wanted to portray was the absolute malice of someone who has convinced himself he has all the answers, and views humanity the same way we look at bacteria in a petri dish.

8. The whole book weaves classic monsters into modern fears. Was that intentional?

I certainly hope so. Sometimes the narrative can get away from you, but I think it's very telling that right now, everyone wants to be a vampire, and everyone wants to fight zombies. Vampires are immortal -- they're the pretty side of undeath -- while zombies are scary and grotesque and mindless. Both represent a fear of death and aging, but they come at it from completely opposite ends. And they both feed on regular, standard-model human beings. When we start to look at ourselves as food in our own fantasies, you know there's a lot of anxiety out there.

9. What monsters do you want to introduce in future installments?

I loved the Universal monsters as a kid, and I've got a good start on them. I would like to play around with the Jekyll/Hyde idea, and I've got more plans for werewolves. And I like the idea of the 80s slasher villain -- the unkillable serial killer -- as an opponent for Cade. We're going to see the truth about aliens, and I'm also going to dip into the water for creatures like the Gill-Man from the Black Lagoon.


Also, in the second book, Cade fights Osama bin Laden. I've wanted to see him get his for some time.





10. If you were president and had the resources to have a supernatural secret agent what kind of monster would you pick? Why?

I'd pick Cade. No question. It's why I invented him. He's incorruptible. And Washington D.C. has a way of corrupting everyone, it seems.



You can find out more -- along with bonus materials, author bio, et cetera -- at presidentsvampire.com


My tour info is at presidentsvampire.com/tour and also on BookTour.com


I blog at my own personal website, christopherfarnsworth.com




And you can get more info on the book -- where to buy, etc. -- from G.P. Putnam's Sons:


http://us.penguingroup.com/

Author Interview - Erin Healy

Erin Healy co-authored two books with Ted Dekker Kiss and Burn.  She is soon to release her first Never Let You Go.

Q: Erin Healy

1. What are some of your favorite books or authors?

I enjoy so many different stories that it’s hard to give a short list. But the words of Dean Koontz, Jodi Picoult, Lisa Samson, Chaim Potok are at the top of the list. My Name Is Asher Lev has been one of my favorite novels for years and years. In fact—time for me to read it again.

2. You started out editing other authors books. How did you get into editing, and what made you switch to writing?

A friend sent me to a writers conference while I was in college, where I spoke with an editor about editorial careers. We kept in touch and he offered me an entry-level position on his staff when I graduated. It was a natural fit for me. Years later, after I’d editing many of Ted Dekker’s novels, he invited me to co-author with him. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

3. How did editing other writers effect your own writing?

My authors have taught me everything I know about what to do and not do in a novel! So the list is long. But more than anything else, editing taught me not fear the editorial process. It’s always good, if sometimes difficult. It’s basically impossible for an author to “see” how much of the envisioned story actually made it to the page versus how much of it is still stuck in the brain. Editors help to shine the light on that reality. Even this editor needs editing.

4. Do you have any writing rituals that keep you writing or get you started?

I drink lots of coffee. I try to write at the same time every day. I keep notes on color coded index cards. And I take a lot of long, very hot showers (my vice) when pondering solutions to story problems.

5. You have written 2 books with Ted Dekker, Kiss and Burn (plus a solo novel, Never Let You Go, this is due this Spring). How did you work with Ted on those books?  I know when some authors pair up, one writes every other chapter. Did you do anything like that writing those books?

Ted and I spent hours together and on the phone plotting the stories before writing. Ted was the director for these books, and I put the words on the page. Our narrative voices are too distinct to have attempted the every-other-chapter model. The novel would have lacked cohesion. Once we had a first draft, we tossed it back and forth to each other, each of us making revisions until we and our publishing team were happy with the books.

6. What was it like working on a solo novel?

I’ve felt a little bit like a kid learning to ride a two-wheeler bike without training wheels. The first book was especially hard, trying to move the “what would Ted do?” questions into their proper place in my own creative process. My stories are different from Ted’s, and so making the separation has raised insecurities in me that every author experiences. My second solo novel, which will be called The Promises She Keeps, is due to the publisher in just a couple weeks. That one was much less painful to develop. Hopefully, my own voice will continue to clarify with each book I write.

7. You have worked with many authors. Are there any you haven't worked with, but would like to?

Authors are an amazing breed of creative personality. No two authors I’ve worked with think or act or work the same, which is such fun. If I had enough hours in the day I’d like to work with them all at least once! That’s a selfish desire. I love especially to work with authors who are writing their first novels, because they are so passionate about that first baby and are committed to making their readers proud of it. Veteran authors are a blast too, because we get to work on the aspects of the craft that they specialize in—or specialize in reinventing. That’s exciting for an editor.

8.   In the first couple chapters, she can't decide what's more important to save in a home fire. If you had a fire in your home and had to save 2 things, what would they be?

I’m assuming that loved ones and pets are already safely outside. Given that,

9. I find that supernatural and fantasy elements in Christian fiction confuse me a little. It just seems that they are not something that would usually be combined. Is there a reason you mix the supernatural into your books? 

I’m a firm believer in the existence of a spiritual world that exists beyond our physical reality. Ephesians 6:12 and other passages of scripture touch on this. The Bible is full of accounts in which things that can be explained scientifically intersect with things that can’t be explained outside of a supernatural context. In John 3, Jesus speaks to Nicodemus of how difficult it is for people to wrap their minds around heavenly truths. I think exploring these tensions within the framework of storytelling is a great way to wrestle with truths that are hard to understand. Jesus himself used metaphors, parables, and allegories to explain the kingdom of heaven; some of the greatest Christian writers (e.g., Lewis, Tolkien) have done the same.

10. Are there any supernatural phenomena you've experienced or believe to be true?

Yes, although I’m at a loss to boil this belief down to a simple answer. I’ve experienced what I consider to be demonic attack, and I’ve known the peace of God “which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). I’ve witnessed an exorcism and I believe that the Bible warns us away from mediums, spiritists, false prophets, evil spirits, spirits of the dead and so on because our spiritual enemy is real and deadly. I consider myself to be a healthy skeptic of many accounts of the paranormal, and I’m don’t swallow every tale of UFOs and crop circles and haunted houses. I don’t go looking for demons around every corner, either, but I do take God at His Word, and He is unflinching on this subject.

I’m so excited about Never Let You Go, which comes out May 4. You can read a summary, check out the book trailer, and download the first three chapters for free by visiting the Books page of my Web site: http://www.erinhealy.com/category/books/ . It’s getting great early reviews, and I hope to have those posted in the next week or so.

Thanks again Erin for doing the interview !  See my review of Burn here.

Author Interview - Melanie Benjamin

After reading and reviewing Melanie Benjamin's first book Alice I Have Been. I could not wait to ask her some questions.

I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I did.

1. What are some of your favorite books or authors? This is always such a hard question because I have so many favorites! I'm very much looking forward to the new book by Anne Tyler; she's an author I've loved forever. In the last year, I've read some amazing books that are new favorites; standouts include AWAY by Amy Bloom; OLIVE KITTERIDGE by Elizabeth Strout; THE MARCH by E.L Doctorow; ASH by Malinda Lo; THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan Bradley; PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks.

2. How did you get started in writing? I had a love of reading and the written word as long as I can remember. This love of different worlds, of different people, first led me toward studying acting and wanting a career in the performing arts. One day, however, when I was long past my days as an ingenue, a friend told me, "I always thought you'd be a writer." To this day, I have no idea what prompted her to say that! But when she did, I had one of those "aha!" moments. It took me a while to find my voice and figure out what kind of things I should be writing. But I finally realized that what drew me to theater drew me to fiction; I wanted to make up different worlds myself, become different people by living vicariously through characters of my own creation.

3. Do you have any writing rituals that keep you writing or get you started? I almost always read through what I wrote the previous day, kind of like a warm up. I'll correct a few things, revise a little, then ease into the new section.

4. Your first book, Alice I Have Been, includes some very detailed history. Which takes longer, writing or research?

That's hard to say because research never stops. You may think you've researched a period or a person exhaustively before beginning the story, but there are always many times in the writing where you have to stop to go research something else. Suddenly you have to know whether or not the fifteen of April in the year you're writing was a Saturday or a Sunday - and you have to stop to go research that. So I'd say that it's probably 50/50.

5. What kind of research was involved? I had a very solid knowledge of Victorian fashions, social conventions, the different class systems of Britain of the time when Alice Liddell was living. I did not know a thing about Oxford, however, so I had to research that; fortunately there is a lot of information on the Internet and in books of the time period, as it has naturally changed a lot over the years. I also, of course, acquainted myself with the basic facts of Alice Liddell's and Charles Dodgson's lives, as these formed the structural foundation of my book. I wish I could have gone to England to research in person but I couldn't; some day, maybe I'll get to go walk the grounds Alice walked!

6. What was the hardest scene to write in Alice I Have Been? I'm afraid to give too much away, but it would have to be one of the scenes near the end of the book, when World War I intrudes upon Alice's life as all three of her sons enlist. As a mother, that was difficult to write without imposing the reactions of a 21st century woman upon those of a woman born and raised in the Victorian era.

7. If someone wrote a book with you as the inspiration, like Alice in Wonderland, what kind of adventure would you like your fictional self to have? I would love to be a brave and fearless heroine; when I was a girl, I dreamed of being Eowyn in LORD OF THE RINGS.

Thank you Melanie!!! Please check out her website http://melaniebenjamin.com/

Interview With Author Crystal Storm

Interview Questions for Crystal Storm

What are your favorite books and authors to read? Dean Koontz, Dan Brown, Matthew Reilly, Thomas Harris, Karen Marie Monning. Funny thing, I’m just recently getting into reading science fiction which is pretty amusing considering that’s what genre my book ended up falling into. I’ve the Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov sitting on my shelf, waiting to get read.

Can you tell me a little about what got you started in writing? I noticed you have a roleplaying game connected to your book, did that have anything to do with it? I started writing before I started roleplaying. I think roleplay just became a natural extension of that creative endeavor. There wasn’t one thing that got me started writing either, I just did it. Meant to be and all that. I’ve always been a story-teller. I think the roleplay though, has really helped improve my writing. I’ve been doing that almost every day, for the last ten years. It means I’m always writing something, which is great. Keeps me fresh, keeps my mind humming, and helps combat writers block. A few snippets from the book are actually roleplayed scenes between myself and other really fantastic writers.

Have you played a lot of RPGs? Does that influence your approach to writing? I have played in a few of them. All txt based online and free form. I’ve been RPing for the last ten years, and I think it does show in my writing especially with character views. You’ll notice in my book that you’re not just getting the mindset of one character, you delve into the point of view from all of them.

Do you have any tips for a writer starting out? First things first, write an awesome novel. Dream big, and don’t let it go. This is going to be a long term process. It’s going to take a lot of work, pull you out of your box, and be very businesslike at times. But, I don’t know if there’s any greater feeling for a writer then seeing your book in someone else’s hands, watching their face while they enjoy something you created.

You just released a new book called Synarchy. Could you tell us a little about it? In their quest to dominate the world, a powerful crime family, the Terenzio’s, discover who the real players are that control the planet, and just how far they’re willing to go to keep their hold on humanity. Because of sheer arrogance, and the fact that they may be the only ones who can, Terenzio decides to fight back. Now, they’ve got until December 21st, 2012, to stop a sinister, centuries old plan, and give Earth a choice it was never given before. You can get a copy on Amazon, or from now until the summer solstice, I’m offering personalized autograph copies. See the books website at www.synarchynovel.com for more details.

The synopsis talks about bloodlines, 2012, dark secrets and betrayal... How do those themes fit together in this book? Book One is about the discovery of certain mind blowing, life altering secrets, and how that knowledge has split a family in two; the betrayal. Then, once you know what do you do about it? Why do you choose that path? To top it all off your on a deadline, and someone is going to be proven right on or before December 21st, 2012. I think Synarchy puts forth the opposing views on those questions and leaves it up to the reader who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy.

How much of the story is personal drama (love/betrayal) compared to thriils/action? Was that a balance you aimed for? I did aim for that balance. Book One really delves into a lot of history behind these characters, and why everything is happening. But, I didn’t just want it to be a really interesting history lesson, lol. So, it does have some action. Not nearly as much as Book two will have, but I think it does all right. The readers will let me know if I’ve hit my goal.

In the synopsis you say that humanity has been kept prisoner. How so? That’s a loaded question, lol. It’s going to be difficult for me to summarize my answer but I’ll give it a shot. Humanity has been lead to believe that life is very mundane, systematic process. You wake up, you go to work, you come home, you spend time with your family, you go to bed, you do it all again the next day. And in a nutshell that’s it. That’s what you’re stuck with for approximately the next 80 years, then you die, and what happens after that depends on your belief system. But, what if life wasn’t that mundane? What if some of the fantastical things you watch on TV are possible? What if the people you trusted, the very ones that have you locked in this repetitive system knew that you had far more potential than you remembered, and were purposefully keeping that knowledge to themselves? In that way, I believe humanity has been kept prisoner, from the fantastical, awesome nature of what we as individuals are really capable of.

Do you have a favorite part in the book? Yes I do. There is a scene between Stefano and his second wife, a flash back that I particularly love.

Do you think anything will really happen in 2012? I think it’s already happening and that once we get to 2012, we can look forward to the end of life as we know it and the start of something else, a lot more fun.

I want to thank you Shannon, for giving me the opportunity to swing by your awesome blog and chat with you and your readers! I really hope they enjoy Synarchy as much as I did writing it. To learn more about the book, myself, my podcasts and all the other crazy things I’ve got going on visit www.synarchynovel.com