Shelfari

My Bookshelf

Sunday 25 January 2015

Interview with Stephen Christiansen

Please welcome Stephen Christiansen


Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am 45, married to a wonderful and beautiful wife. We just celebrated 17 years of marriage. We have a lovely 13-year-old daughter. We live in Everett, Washington and both work together in medical billing, for the same company. We are very active in our community and help with Camp Fire USA.

I was a Navy brat for 16 years before my dad retired and moved to Camano Island, Washington, so I've traveled a lot and got to explore the world. I feel very fortunate to be able to see great landscapes, mountains, deserts, and forests. I’ve seen ruins of ancient civilizations and some of the greatest cities of today. I’ve seen the best and the worst of people and now I’ve been able to put it all into a great storyline.


What bought you to the world of writing?
I’ve always loved reading. It let me go to new, fantastic places and meet wonderful people in the realms of imagination. I guess my mind has always been very creative and now I’m able to release that creativity and share it with the rest of the world.

When I think about it, I think it was a way to escape from the traumas of my childhood. I wasn’t raised in the best of environments and writing let me create a world that I could live in for a short amount of time. I guess this series is still an outlet of my younger years.

What is your first book and what do you think of it now?
My first book is the first book of the Orbbelgguren Series called “Istobarra Commencement.” 

It’s a little slower in the character development than some of the other books of the series, but I didn’t want a several hundred year old female lead to change her personality over night. I think the readers have been very pleased with the book and it sets a good ground level for the rest of the series.



What type of books do you write and do they fulfil your reader’s needs?
I write fantasy fiction, or high fiction. It’s similar to Lord of the Rings or the Dr’zzt books by R.A. Salvatore. Yes, many readers of high fiction have come to love the books.


Would you like to feature a book, if so which one?  Tell us about it?
I would love to feature the 10th book of the Orbbelgguren Series called “The Troll Wars” 

This book looks at war in its entirety. It shows bravery and stupidity, sacrifice and self-promotion. It looks at famine and disease. It talks about financial, political and religious points of views. This will test relationships and allies. In the end, every life that this war touches will never be the same again. It’s very action packed and very emotional. I think my fans will like it.



How long does it take you to write your first draft?
I write about one thousand words a day so a typical book of about 100,000 words takes about 3 months to write the initial first draft. However, “The Troll Wars” is 120,000 words so it took 4 months to write. Then, when the book is done, there is another month of editing.


Do you plot or not, if so why?
I plot about half of the book. I know where I want my characters to begin and how I want them to end. I also know some of the middle of the plot lines. However, I leave room for the characters to surprise me, as they often do. I find that good characters write themselves.

On the other hand, the plot of the series as a whole is complete. Each book is part of a great plot line, each plot is a minor portion of a greater whole.  


Do you write in 1st or 3rd person, or have you do both?
I usually write in third person, but now that the question has been asked, I think I’m inspired to add some first person perspective. There may be a point in book 14 to bring that into play. We shall see.


How do you edit your work?  Do you leave your draft alone for a while or edit as you write?
I do some minor editing during my writing. However, after my initial rough draft, I do a spell check and a first read through. Then I put the story into the correct format and redo some of the structuring. When that is done, I do a second spell check and my final read through. I’m usually very happy with the results by then.


What type of people/readers do you market your books to?
I market to a lot of geeks and gamers, those who would be interested in Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and dark elves. However, many of my readers aren't into these genres and have still loved the series. I think readers have a way of surprising an author and a good plot line reaches beyond its genre. 

Do you self-publish or have you worked with an Agent/Publisher?
Currently I’m a self publisher through Lulu. It’s not easy when I have to write, edit and then try to promote my own books. I still have a family, home, and full time job, so there is a lot of work to be done. An agent may be helpful, however that would start to get into profit. I’m still bouncing around the idea if I should go with an agent eventually or not.


How do you promote your writing?
I post to my Facebook page 
my Lulu page 
blog on my Goodreads page 
and finally tweet as 


Where can we buy your books?
You can buy the books on Amazon 
 on B&N 
and iTunes 
But the lowest prices available are on Lulu 


Who are your favourite authors?
My favourite author is Edgar Allen Poe. My other noteworthy and influential authors are Stephen King, R.A. Salvatore, and Silverberg. I think that readers will be able to see aspects of each in several of the books.


Do you have any more information you’d like to share with us?
There have been some shows that I used to watch that have contributed to my inspiration. These include “The Outer Limits”, “The Twilight Zone”, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “Ray Bradbury”, and “Tales from the Dark Side.” These have given me off-the-wall plot lines, twists, turns and different perspectives. I think the reader will be able to see some of these influences in the series and will be pleasantly surprised.
                                                 
Thank you for your time Stephen, we look forward to hearing more about your up and coming books.


                                                                          

Saturday 17 January 2015

Meet Author - C M Wilson

Introducing to you the lovely C M Wilson



Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am C.M. Wilson. I like candle light dinners, long walks on the beach… sorry… I always feel like I’m pimping myself off for a date. I live in Michigan. I've lived here for most of my life and base most of my books off of places from here, although Glow Stick was placed in a fictional city in Michigan.




What brought you to the world of writing?

Honestly? Being an only child. My mother’s answer to the problem of “I’m bored” was to give me a book and then have me write a book report about the books I read. Sounds like torture, right? I liked it. And from the books, I started thinking about the plots that I would do different things with. More specifically, Sweet Valley High. The different things I thought needed to happen to Sweet Valley High have been added into the Northern Lights series.


What is your first book and what do you think of it now?

Northern Lights Part 1. I have a love/hate relationship with that book. That book has gone through 15 different reincarnations since 1996. When my publisher said “I need you to look at it one more time” I threw a temper tantrum that rivalled of a room full of toddlers being told that they had to take a nap.


What type of books do you write and do they fulfill your reader’s needs?

I write interracial romance (except for Glow Stick) and I’d like to think so. Although a couple of my Northern Lights readers say no, simply because the cliff hanger endings kill them. LOL


Would you like to feature a book, if so which one?  Tell us about it?

I keep talking about Northern Lights, so let’s go with that one. It’s going to be a ten part series. The first book is out now and the second one comes out in two weeks.

Carrington Levesque looks like she has it all together. She’s rich, pretty and the apple of her daddy’s eye. A blond hair, blue eyed beauty, with one flash of her pretty smile, and you’re sure she could have the world at the tips of her fingers. But, looks can be deceiving. Carrington’s issues have issues. Abandoned by her mother, she lives in constant fear that everyone else will leave her too, especially if she isn’t perfectly perfect. That is, until she meets Eli.

Eli Warren, a 19 year old 6’2” dark skinned African American man from Detroit, is Carrington’s opposite in every way. With a criminal record, and a brother who is convinced that crime pays, and pays well, it seemed inevitable that Eli would end up another statistic. He spent a lot of time feeling like he had no control over the direction of his life. Until he meets Carrington, and then for the first time he wants to be in the driver’s seat of his own destiny.

It’s been called the urban Sweet Valley High. (As a side note: I screamed… and bounced… and cried… when it was deemed that. LOL)


How long does it take you to write your first draft?

If it’s during National Novel Writing Month (November) then a month. But generally about 2 – 3 months.


Do you plot or not, if so why?

Yes. To the tee. I can be convinced to be a little lenient as I’m going along but when I’m driving somewhere – I like to know how to get there. I cannot just sit down and start writing. My brain doesn't work that way. There was a time where I didn’t stray from my outline. Now that I know what I’m doing, my characters tend to look at my outline and say “Isn't that cute… she’s trying to write the story…” and high jack it from time to time. Or I’ll look at it and say “unless you’re trying to go in circles, you don’t need that.” But for the most part by the time I start a book, I know the beginning, middle and end.


Do you write in 1st or 3rd person, or have you done both?

I write in 3rd. I’m going to attempt to write in 2nd person (journal entries) in one of the Northern Lights spin offs.


How do you edit your work?  Do you leave your draft alone for a while or edit as you write?

I edit for grammar as I go write. And then when I’m done, I read it and make notes about what I need to change (and take out things that don’t need to be there) and then go back and fix the notes. Then I read it one more time. Then I send it to the publisher and editor who do their magic to it and then they make their notes and send it back to me and I change those notes. LOL


What type of people/readers do you market your books to?

Anybody who will read it. LOL. I’m lucky because even though I write Young Adult, a lot of adults read YA. Though I’m trying to get Glow Stick into High Schools because it’s about bullying.


Do you self-publish or have you worked with an Agent/Publisher

I self-published a few years ago, but I am published with BraveGirl Publishing now.


How do you promote your writing?

Thru Facebook, I've done a few book signings, I’m working on a blog tour now, I've done some interviews  

Where can we buy your books?

Off of Amazon, BN.com, Kobo, Smashwords, CreateSpace and BraveGirlPub.com

Who are your favourite authors?

I’m kind of old school in my authors, V.C. Andrews, Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson. Though I devour anything Sara Shepard puts out.


Links


My Amazon Author Page where you can find my books: 

http://www.amazon.com/C.M.-Wilson/e/B0058I00PE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Our website: www.bravegirlpub.com


Do you have any more information you’d like to share with us?

Northern Lights part 2 drops very, very soon. And my first adult, contemporary romance, The Wrong Side of the Mississippi comes out in February.