Vixenwriter

I’m over at Mad’s house today guest bloggin! Come on over and say hello…

Wheee! I finished the polish of my short novel partial, dirty/bad/wrong last night along with the newly revised synopsis and mailed them both to my agent this morning. Megan and I emailed, critted and IM’d back and forth last night until what was quite late for her, working on our intertwined scenes.

It’s interesting to see how a project sort of takes on a mind of its own. The story for me is about dichotomy, about my character and her internal divisions of self. When it came time to write the partial so my agent could pitch, I was like, “meh.” I love the idea, I wanted to write it, but not right when I needed to. So every word was like a job. And then I realized the issue was I didn’t have enough meat and I couldn’t very well have 50K of sex or even 50K of internal discussion or worse, some contrived black moment. So I brainstormed and the story settled into the place it needed to be and I finished it in just a day and a half. By the time I finished last night with the little adjustments after some crit, I was so thrilled with it. I love it and I’m glad I kept at it. I love Megan’s story too and I think combined, they’re just fabulous together. Funny how that works!

Sven progress yesterday - 3125 = and 10,938 words for the first three days! In real terms those words represent a completed partial, a revised synopsis and the start of a new novel. (the partial already had been started).

A very good start to Sven!!

I’ve been guesting in a few places! First over at Amy Smith’splace - there’s a prize so head on over!

And today I’m at RR@H Novel Thoughts and Book Talk talking about secondary characters - also with a contest!

I’m a huge fan of Carrie Vaughn’s, Kitty books and when I wrote her a note to say so I asked if she’d be willing to do an interview which she quite graciously agreed to. If you haven’t read her books yet, what are you waiting for? The Kitty books (as I’ve said here many times) are fabulously original and fun and I truly can’t wait to see where she goes next.

LD: I’m a huge fan of your Kitty books - I think for me, the thing that stands out most is your approach to Kitty, which isn’t stereotypical at all. I love how Kitty grows with each installment. There’s a huge difference between the Kitty who cowered and took a whole lot of guff in Midnight Hour and the Kitty who charged out of her cabin and yelled at a faceless enemy in Takes A Vacation. Has that been your plan all along or did she just grow on her own as you did each book?

CV: The story that anchored the first book was Kitty learning to stand up for herself and come in to her own. Sort of a “coming of age” story. The stories that have come after have been a natural progression of that, certainly. The more successful she is, the more confident she gets, which means she’s able to do more. While I may not necessarily have an overarcing plan, I’m definitely interested in telling stories about an empowered character, and about Kitty learning to take charge of her life.

LD: On that note - do you have the whole series sketched out or is this just a write as you go process for you?

CV: Half and half. I really don’t know how many books about Kitty I have in me at this point. I do have certain things I want to write about, and I have the last book in the series planned, so I know where I want her to end up.
I’m not always sure what getting there is going to look like.

LD: Where does Kitty go from here?

CV: Well, in the next book, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, she returns to Denver and ends up confronting Carl and Meg once again, among other adventures.

LD: Do you have any writing rituals?

CV: Not really. I do listen to music, that’s a pretty essential part of my writing.

LD: Are you a pantser or a plotter?

CV: Both. I like to know what the ending is. In fact, I usually write the last scene before I finish writing the rest of the book. But my outlining is usually pretty minimal and I end up having to do a lot of mini-outlines and plotting and thinking about the book while I’m writing. Sort of a process of outlining and writing and revising at the same time. Mostly, I can’t wait to start writing the thing, even though I ought to do more outlining. It feels like a really chaotic way of doing things, but it usually seems to work out okay.

LD: What’s a typical writing day like for you?

CV: I spent the first part of the morning checking and answering emails, taking care of business items, playing catch up. I’ll try to get a little writing in before lunch, then take a break when my dog and I go for our long walk. Usually, the bulk of my writing gets done in the afternoon. I try to pack it all in in the afternoon so I can go play in the evening.

LD: What’s up next for you?

CV: I’m revising the fourth Kitty book, and working on the first draft of the fifth one, as well as planning the next couple. In the midst of all that I’m also a contributor to Wild Cards, a series of shared world anthologies about superheroes edited by George R. R. Martin. I have a story in the next volume, Inside Straight, due out from Tor in January, and I’m currently working on the one after that, Busted Flush. I’m also always working on short stories and other projects. Seems like the more I write, the more ideas I get!

Thank you, Carrie Vaughn! You can check out her website here and order her books from Amazon here.

Okay okay, let’s get the disclosure out of the way lest anyone get shirty – Megan Hart is a friend, a dear friend and someone who, if I had to choose a group to be stuck on an island with, she’d be on the list. However, that aside, I can tell you it is my sincere belief that Megan is an amazingly talented author as well as having the very good taste to be one of my partners in crime.

Her second Harlequin Spice novel, Broken releases May 1 but it’s shipping now and showing up on shelves so I wanted to take total advantage of our friendship and coerce her into a quick interview for my blog or I’d pester her relentlessly at RT where we’ll be roomies and she can’t escape me.

Tell us about Broken (and don’t bore the kids at home with your recount of how Lauren Dane hated the idea because you know that was before you changed it and made Joe into a likeable guy instead of a tool):

Broken started, simply enough with an image: a man and a woman on a park bench. I had this overwhelming image of a very lovely man who couldn’t be faithful – why would a man like that be constantly seeking out women? Why would the woman with him listen? And what would stop them from just giving in to lust and consummating it? That’s how it started and it grew from there. And oh, yeah, you hated the idea when I first mentioned it. HAHA! (editorial note: I hated the idea of an icky cheater! Joe is not an icky cheater in the version you showed me and wrote, so there.)

What writing rituals do you have?

Well, I mostly write Monday – Thursday while my kids are in school, while I drink copious amounts of Diet Coke with Splenda and listen to music. Sometimes to shake it up, or if I can’t get away from the distraction of the internet, I got to a coffee shop and drink copious amounts of coffee and listen to my iPod while I write on my Alphasmart. My writing ritual is: WRITE.

What draws you to a certain idea?

How invested I become in the characters. How believable I can make them. How much I want to find out what happens to them.

Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Pantser. I usually know the beginning and the end but not so much the middle…I keep notes but often end up with a different idea that comes to me in an AHA moment while I’m writing. It sort of flows that way. One thing leads to another (to quote the Fixx, yeah yeah yeah!)

What’s your favorite spot on a man’s body?

I really dig forearms. And the small of his back.

Give us three books you’ve read more than once and what about them made you want to pick them up again?

Imajica by Clive Barker – a great, fantastical love story that I can read over and over and still find something new to love.

The Stand by Stephen King – ooooh, whee, I do loves me some post apocalyptic stuff!

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein: I love the whole message

Two doors, behind one is a naked Ewan all ready to go, the other has Keanu with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of Jameson – which door do you pick?

Curse you. How can I possibly be expected to choose such a thing? I mean, really. That’s hardly fair. Let me think on that…well…I guess I’d have to choose Keanu because though I do love some naked Ewan, Keanu is and has always been my number one, numero uno (a love that’s lasted twenty years!) and flowers and Jameson would only be icing on the cake.

Lastly, give us a sneaky peek into Perfect or whatever it’s going to be called, pretty please:

Haha, well, when I figure out what they’re going to call it, I’ll let everyone know. Here’s a bit about it:

Anne Kinney has a perfect marriage. Her husband James is handsome, charming, sexy. So’s his long-lost best friend Alex Kennedy, who shows up after years away. It shouldn’t be a problem, right? Any friend of James’ and all that. But what Anne finds is that Alex and James share a friendship deeper than it appears, something she’s not a part of. At least, not until the two men set out to seduce her into a relationship that seems at first glance to be for her pleasure. As the summer moves on, Anne and Alex forge a relationship beyond being the bridge between him and James. As she learns more about Alex and her husband and the friendship they began so long ago, Anne also learns more about herself and what she expects and wants from life and love. And how sometimes, being honest is more important than being perfect.

Megan Hart has written approximately a buttload of books and novellas in several genres. She likes to dye her hair purple and wear striped socks and she’s a very good writer. If you haven’t picked one of her books up yet you really should. And by the way, I bought my copy of Broken - just so the FCC knows. She just did a website overhaul - g’wan, check it out.