Tag Archives: authors

Write It Down!

Posted by Lux Zakari on

Most people have heard that a good way to meet people is to play Frisbee with your Golden Retriever in the park at high noon. But there’s something else you can do that won’t require you a fifteen-year commitment to picking up dog poop in the yard: writing in a notebook. It sounds frighteningly simple, but only because it is.

I write down everything, and I don’t do it to solely meet people; I do it because I’m odd and can’t help myself. (I’m composing this on a notepad while on the elliptical.) I write down the quips my friends say; the disturbing thoughts on mortality that spring into my head; brief, interesting descriptions about the world around me; the to-do list that’s been rolling in my head since I first woke up… If you’re a writer, chances are you do all this too, and with good reason. But the benefits extend beyond prep work for a future story or project.

I can’t tell you how often I’ll be scribbling down a note when someone will say something like, “That’s the best idea—always having a notebook” or “I never would’ve remembered that if you hadn’t written it down.” This extends beyond writers and can be inspiring in all aspects of someone’s life, even therapeutic. Granted, it’s initially pretty weird to be more or less transcribing a moment while everyone else around you is sipping a beer and eying you with curiosity and mild suspicion. “What the hell is s/he writing?” they think. “And more importantly, is it about me?”

But this kind of reaction will pass or at the very least ebb. Sooner or later, your friends and family will come to accept you as their own personal paparazzo.  Why? Because, if you use your artistic powers for good instead of evil, it’s flattering. Everyone you know becomes a muse, and who doesn’t want a piece of their life to inspire The Next Great Work? Everyone wants their all-time best moments recorded for all posterity, and chances are you’re helping them out. You think someone’s special and important enough to write about, immortalize.

Before all this becomes old hat to your old buddies, it makes you incredibly mysterious. You’ve got an automatic conversation starter; you’re acting too odd for someone not to comment about it. The semi-paranoid/mostly curious question “What are you writing?” can lead to a lifelong muse (a.k.a., friend).

Who knew a little pad of bound papers and a quickly moving pen could result in endless inspiration and the possibility of discovering not just a muse, but a friend? Hopefully you, but if you’re still not convinced, grab a notebook, hang out in a public space and write about everything that comes into your head. Make sure you take an occasional timeout from scribbling so you don’t seem too absorbed in your work for a conversation. Consider it a social experiment. At the very least, you’ll have finally gotten that to-do list out of your head!

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Lux Zakari
luxzakari@gmail.com
www.luxzakari.com

Interview: Annie Seaton

Posted by Lux Zakari on

Today’s interview is with Annie Seaton, author of the soon-to-be-released Winter of the Passion Flower. She shares with us where the title for her works comes from, how her varied career choices affected her writing and her tips on creating a solid synopsis.

LUX ZAKARI: Where did you get the inspiration for Winter of the Passion Flower? Where does the title come from?

ANNIE SEATON: I wrote Winter of the Passion Flower in response to a call for a steampunk novel set in winter with a holiday theme. It is set on the Cornish coast and I researched the sorts of blooms that may  grow in the temperate  area of the Gulf Stream. Thus I came up with “winter” as it is set in swirling snow and gusting winds and “passion” relates to the blue passion flower that Indigo and Zane collect in the Amazon jungle. Also, passion refers to the steamy elements in the book

LZ: What is the premise to Winter of the Passion Flower? Would you like to share a blurb or an excerpt?

AS: Indigo de Vargas is determined to exhibit her pharmacologicals and cosmecuticals at the Great Exhibition in Crystal Palace, but the evil Duke Lorca and his shape shifting servants thwart her preparation at every turn. Her only hope is to trust the brooding captain who mysteriously appears at her door in the middle of a fierce snowstorm, and offers to navigate her submarine to the Amazon jungle to collect the passionflowers for her potions and hallucinogenics.

But the sexy Captain Dogooder and his sassy mistress are in for more surprises on the voyage than they ever expected.

Steam powers more than the submarine on this voyage. The sparks that fly between Indigo and her captain just may cause a combustion that ignites a passion that neither can avoid. Steam is put aside as they work together to fight those determined to foil their mission, ably assisted by two quirky servants, brass goggles and inappropriate accoutrements
Warning: Steam and immodest clothing

LZ: You write for several different genres, such as steampunk, romance and paranormal fiction. What genre is your favorite to write for and why?

AS: I love writing in the paranormal genre. It is most liberating and so much fun, not to be constrained by boundaries of time or physical capability. My latest novel (Blind Lust) is about witchcraft and Cupid. I had so much fun writing it!

LZ: You’ve undergone several major career changes. Have they affected or played a part in your writing? If so, in what ways?

AS: Being a career person did not allow me  the luxury of writing until recently. However, my careers have given me a diversity of life experiences in several very different sectors and so many opportunities to observe human nature, I have thousands of stories to write! As a part of my teaching career, I travelled to different countries observing educational systems and enjoyed living in the homes of teaching colleagues in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. It was wonderful to be a part of a different culture for a significant length of time. I am sure walking to work in the snow in Denmark will appear in a story one day. That was pretty special for an Aussie who did not see snow until after she was 30.

Now that I have retired from my teaching career, I am writing 9 till 5, Monday to Friday and steaming along. I have written three books in four months so far.

LZ: Three books in four months is amazing. How do you motivate yourself to be so prolific?

AS: My motivation is intrinsic. While it would be wonderful be a New Your Times best seller author, the process of writing itself is reward enough for me! When I finished my first manuscript in April, it was an absolutely satisfying moment. To have the book picked up by Lyrical was the icing on the cake!

LZ: What part of the writing process is most fun for you? The most troublesome?

AS: I enjoy every aspect of writing from the first little niggling idea for a story right through the editing process. If I had to pick a most troublesome aspect, it would have to be synopsis writing, which I think is the bane of many writers.

LZ: What are some tips you have for writing a successful synopsis?

AS: Tips for writing a successful synopsis. Try and focus on your original idea or premise that hopefully editors have not seen a million times. Don’t detail the plot, concentrate on the progression of the story through the development of the characters.

LZ: Who has impacted your writing the most?

AS: That is a very hard question to answer as I have such wide reading tastes. I think one of my enduring favourites who has stayed with me for years has to be Mary Stewart and her Merlin trilogy. I like writers who have humour in their voice even in the most difficult situations. I really wish I had written steampunk like Gail Carriger before she did!

LZ: What are three quirky facts about you that we would never know otherwise?

AS: I am obsessive about organisation and neatness and never achieve either!  I have a bizarre sense of humour.  If I lose the muse, I walk the beach and it comes back instantly!

LZ: What is an example of your bizarre sense of humor?

AS: Ten minutes in Scotland at a whisky distillery where my daughter and I went into paroxysms of laughter at ducks diving in a pond. We were surrounded by a crowd of people staring at us, who could not see anything funny about the backsides of ducks!… And for clarification, it was on the way in to the tasting, not on the way out!

LZ: What are your writing goals for 2012?

AS: 2012 –my goals are to get my next three completed manuscripts picked up and published. Finish my romantic suspense novel. Finish the steampunk flower trilogy. Number 2 - Summer of the Moon Flower is underway. Write my 100,000 paranormal novel to pitch at the national conference in August!

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To learn more about Annie Seaton, visit http://annieseaton.blogspot.com or http://twitter.com/#!/annieseaton26.

Interview: J.S. Wayne

Posted by Lux Zakari on

Today’s interview is with J.S. Wayne, author of the newly released Angels Cry, the third book in his Angels Would Fall series. He shares with us the many jobs he had prior to writing, his thoughts on being a male erotic romance author and how he would describe his work in one short phrase.

LUX ZAKARI: For those who may not know you, will you tell us a bit about yourself?

J.S. WAYNE: My name is J.S. Wayne, and I’ve been a writer for sixteen years now. I’m happily married to my best friend, and we have two fur babies, a Norfolk terrier named Munchkin and a border terrier/schnauzer mix named Thor. We just moved back to Las Vegas, and we’re really happy to be back in Sin City!

LZ: According to your site, you have an “eclectic” resume. Do share!

JSW: Oh, God. I knew that remark was going to come back to haunt me! Let’s see here: I’ve worked the usual teenage crap jobs flipping burgers, gyros, etc. I’m ex-Air Force, and I’ve worked as a private paramedical dispatcher, a field and lab technician for a geotechnical consulting firm and a corrections officer, among other things.

My writing resume is as eclectic as my employment CV: I write urban fantasy, erotic romance and horror in various combinations.

LZ: How, if at all, do all your diverse gigs influence your writing?

JSW: Everything I’ve learned from every job I’ve ever done has influenced my writing in some way. Some of the people I’ve met have wound up as plot devices. Many of the conflicts I work into my stories are based on situations I actually have encountered, even if the details are highly fictionalized. And no, I ain’t tellin’! ;).

LZ: Of all the genres you dabble in, which is your favorite and why? Do you think it’s important for a writer to try writing outside his/her usual genre?

JSW: Probably my favorite is fantasy. I’m not much for swords and horses fantasy a la Tolkien, but I still enjoy trying my hand at it!

I absolutely believe that a writer should stretch themselves and try to get involved in other genres. Sometimes, working outside your comfort zone is the only way to learn to do something now. That’s how I wound up here! *grins*

LZ: How did you get started writing erotic romance?

JSW: *Laughs* That is what I’ve learned to call a happy accident! I entered a contest on Writing.com to try to stretch my writing skills and push myself out of my comfort zone. I won twice in a two-month period; after that, I got to seriously considering taking up erotic romance to get my name out there. And, six months later, here I am!

LZ: What draws you to writing erotic romance?

JSW: I love the fact that erotic romance is such a fluid and versatile medium. You can really do just about anything, and as long as there’s a HEA/HFN and a sizable heat factor, you can write a “romance” that’s properly urban fantasy, speculative fiction, or…well, just about any genre that captures your imagination! (And, I’m not going to lie, it’s a lot of fun to get paid to create sexual fantasies!)

Author J.S. Wayne

LZ: Do you find that erotica and erotic romance is a female-dominated genre? As a man, how does it affect you, if at all?

JSW: Not at all. There are a lot of terrific male writers, like KevaD, K.B. Cutter and Bryl Tyne, just to name a few, who have managed to carve out a niche in the genre. Just about everyone I’ve met so far has been wonderfully supportive and generous; during the April Noble Blog Tour, I found myself the only guy in a crowd of nine ladies! Even though I was a rank newbie without a single book on the shelves at the start of the tour, every one of them was very welcoming and understanding when the “noob” made a misstep.

The only way it’s really affected me is that I’ve had more than a few people ask if I’m gay or bi for writing erotic romance. And although I’ve written an M/M novella, I’m still very much a fan of the ladies! ;)

LZ: Will you tell us about your newest release?

JSW: My forthcoming release is Angels Cry, the third installment and first full-length novel in the “Angels Would Fall” series. Here’s the blurb:

Moradiel, the Soulbearer, and his human consort, Ariel, are barely managing to stay ahead of the wrath of the Angel of Death. Azrael is growing more impatient by the moment; he wants Moradiel punished and Ariel dead once and for all, and is not particular about how it comes about. Moradiel’s fellow angels will offer him only limited aid, if they don’t try to kill him outright. In desperation, the fugitives seek refuge in the last place in Creation any sane being would look for an angel: Sin City. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Maddened by Moradiel’s defection from the heavenly Host, Azrael isn’t sane. When he arrives in Sin City to exact vengeance on Moradiel, he leaves Moradiel with a chilling warning: He intends to use Ariel for his own twisted pleasure before consigning her soul to Infernos.
Now, an unlikely band of humans and angels must come together to reunite Ariel’s body and soul. But even darker news awaits them: Because Ariel did not die at the ordained time, Moradiel has started the entire universe on an inexorable countdown to oblivion.

A countdown that began with the first breath Ariel ever drew on Earth. . . .

Angels Cry was released Sept. 12 from Noble Romance Publishing.

LZ: Which of your stories – published or unpublished – is your most favorite?

JSW: I’d have to say that my favorite story so far is Angels Cry. I love Shadowphoenix: Requiem because it was the first novel I ever completed and published, and it stands as the benchmark that proved to all the doubters that I was serious about my writing. But I’ve come such a long way since then, and I really think Angels Cry shows all the best sides of my writing ability!

LZ: How would you describe your work – in one short phrase – to attract your desired audience?

JSW: If you’re not laughing, crying, aroused or terrified out of your mind, then I haven’t done my job!

LZ: What do you have in store for readers next?

JSW: Next on tap, I have a novella for the November Noble Authors’ “Timeless Desire” Blog Tour coming out in October titled “Ancient Magic, Timeless Desire.” And no, the title’s not a coincidence! Soon after that, I have my M/M werewolf novella, “Dancing On Flames,” in the pipeline. Meanwhile I’m staying busy by working on the sequel to Angels Cry, Angel of Death, and I have two other shorts that I’m awaiting word on. After Angel of Death, I have five other novels that have been demanding my attention, including the sequel to Shadowphoenix: Requiem, Requiescat. So, as you can see, I don’t have anything much going on!

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To purchase any of the novels in the Angels Would Fall series and learn more about J.S. Wayne, visit www.nobleromance.com/authors/155.

Interview: Piper Denna

Posted by Lux Zakari on

Today’s interview features Piper Denna, author of Fallen Star Trouble, released under Autumn Piper. She talks about the experience she had writing her first book, how she sneaks real life into her fiction and what she most wants readers to know about her work.

LUX ZAKARI: Will you tell us about your most current release?

PIPER DENNA: My most current release is under my “mainstream” pseudonym, Autumn Piper. Fallen Star Trouble is about second chances for a washed-up rock star and the woman who unwittingly sent his career into a downward tailspin.

LZ: Does your real life ever sneak into your fiction? In what ways?

PD: I’ve based a few secondary characters on people I’ve known in real life, and occasionally set stories in places I’ve been to or give my main characters problems inspired by those I see real people having.

LZ: Do you remember your experience writing your first fiction manuscript? Did you find it difficult?

PD: I didn’t find writing at all hard with my first book! But then… I knew none of the “rules” and really just belted that puppy out. Too bad for me, because once I learned nobody would publish a 187,000-word book, I realized how much editing I had ahead of me. Live and learn, right?

LZ: Is there anything important you feel your readers should know about you and your work?

PD: Depend on getting a happy ending from my stories, no matter how dark the opening. I’m certain romance makes the world go round, so no matter what the sensuality level in my stories, there’ll always be plenty of romance.

LZ: You are also the editor in chief for Lyrical Press Inc. In what ways does the position affect your own writing?

PD: It’s forced me to really prioritize and be unrelenting about putting aside time for my own books.

LZ: What can readers expect next from you?

PD: One of my best books, Fantasy Mountain, is being revamped, re-edited, and will be re-released by Lyrical Press in January. I’m very excited to now have my favorite book with my favorite publisher! I’m making it the cornerstone of a series, Fantasies, Inc. Next in line is Fantasy Cruise Ship, which I hope to finish writing in the next month or so.

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To purchase Fallen Star Trouble, visit http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_25&products_id=259.

To learn more about Fantasy Mountain, visit fantasymountain.webs.com.

For details on Piper Denna/Autumn Piper, visit www.piperdenna.com and www.autumnpiper.com.