Author Interview with Sparking Citrus

Last month Rosalynn, who runs Sparkling Citrus asked me if I'd like to do an author interview and a character interview. She also did a rec of Coffee and Cigarettes. I said sure, why not. Yeah, it's shameless self promotion, but whatever, you have to put yourself out there sometimes.

So, anyways, that being said, this is the interview.


1. I saw in the A/N of chapter 1 that this started as a one shot as original fiction? Why did you decide to continue it?
It did start as an original story, and with each chapter has continued to be an original story. I post two versions of it. One with my original characters and one with Paul and Leah. I decided to continue because I felt like there was more there, a story that needed to be explored and told. On the original side, there was a lot of feedback and people wanted to know what happened next, so I kept going.

2. Do you have any desired to be published?

I do want to be published, but I don’t feel like the stories I have to tell are very good, or original. I’m a big scaredy cat and will probably never even attempt it.

3. How did you find Twilight?

Back when Myspace was cool, they had lists of the top 100 hottest books at the moment. Twilight was one of them. I saw the cover and read the short description they had, and I wanted to read it. Little did I know how irrevocably it would change my life.

4. How did you get into Fanfiction?

It started with the ever popular fic by Psymom, Stranger Than Fiction. Everybody was talking about it; raving about it. I jumped aboard the band wagon and read along. After I finished reading it, I read a few more and thought, Hey, I can do that. At the time, I was going through some stuff and feeling downright depressed about my own writing. I figured, I’d write one story and see how it turned out. I never expected anyone to read it, but they did. And as they say, it was all downhill from there. Lol.

5. What made you decide to be on the pro-wolf side of the fandom?

When I started writing, it felt like the fandom was flooded with Edward and Bella or Jasper and Bella stories. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it wasn’t really something I wanted to read. I wanted to read about Jake and Bella. When I decided what to write, I wrote what I wanted to read, what I wished more people (at the time) wrote.

6.  What is your favorite canon fic?

It’s a tie between Wide Awake and Master of the Universe.

7.  What is your favorite non-canon fic?

Second Chances by AugustBlack.

8. Is Capeside a real town or molded after a real town?

Capeside is a fictional town modeled after the very real town of Seaside, Oregon. Some real places of Seaside are in Coffee and Cigarettes.

9. What made you decide to have be the town for the heartbroken?

It seems like whenever you have a broken heart, everyone around you is happy and all too ready to tell you that everything will be okay, that it will work out, that one day you’ll be happy again. No one wants to hear that when they’re suffering. They want someone to sympathize, or even empathize with what they’re going through, to tell them, “You know, that really freaking sucks. Want me to kick the bastard in the nuts for you next time I see him?” After my ex and I split, my sister didn’t tell me it would be okay, that I would be fine. She offered to drag his stuff into the street, set it on fire, then mail it to him with a note that said, “Happy anniversary, shit head.” That made me feel so much better than hearing that I would be fine. In a way, a town for the heartbroken was what Leah needed because it brought her to Paul.

10. How would you deal with a broken heart?

Get really, really drunk, watch sappy chick flicks and cry until I was numb. It sounds pathetic, but it’s what I did, last time I had my heart broken. Then I tossed out everything that reminded me of him and left town. Then one day I found that it didn’t hurt so bad, and eventually it didn’t hurt at all.

11 Do you have plans for more fics?

I always have plans for more fics. Whether they work out or not is a different story. But I do have a few ideas rolling around in my noggin.

12 Of all your fics, which is your favorite?

Full Circle. Writing that fic took soo much out of me, emotionally, but it was worth it. Taking the characters from teenagers in Disenchanted and throwing them into the situations they went through was challenging, but so worth it.

13. If you could give one piece of advice to new authors, what would it be?

Write what you know and be yourself. Don’t give in to what other people want. There are going to be people out there who don’t like what you are doing and they’re going to tell you. Take it with a grain of salt and keep on trucking. For every one person who wants to break you down, there will be ten more willing to build you back up. Don’t forget that this is your story. You imagined it, you own it. Don’t be afraid of that.

I'm so glad I didn't give this up...

Around this time last year I was working on a story called Between You and I. It was the tale of a girl with a drug addiction and her best friend who'd been in love with her all his life. Well I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote it, but it was a mess...just page after page of writing, no chapters, no definition..just garbage.

So I decided to stop the story. I couldn't fix it - well I could have but at the time I didn't think I could. So I stopped writing it, put it in my folder with all the other failed attempts and forgot about it. I decided that I would no longer writer, that I would just stop being who I was. I am a writer, plain and simple. It's what I do when I'm bored or stressed, upset or happy. Writing is my therapy and I just gave it up.

Then I found out about this stuff called fan fiction. You write stories based off of other writer's characters. I have an unnatural obsession with the Twilight Saga so I figured I would give fan fiction a shot. If no one read the story I wrote then I would quit writing for real. I would put down the pen and find a new hobby, one that I was better at.

My first fan fiction story was a story titled OneohEightpointNine and it was based off of the characters Jacob Black and Bella Swan from the Twilight books. It was, if I'm being honest, lame. But people read it. Not a lot, but enough to give me the kick in the ego I so desperately needed.

I finished the story, wondering, "What now?" Should I write another one, maybe something more original, more me, (basically meaning, writing my own story, just using the characters names.) I debated over it, considered it, but thought about all my previous failed attempts. My first story was more like a short story. It only had 30,000 words, but it was the first thing I'd ever started and finished that had more than one chapter.

Well, I was listening to the radio a few afternoons later and they played Your Song by Elton John. Lucky for me I have paper stashed around the house. I sat down and quickly started writing, thinking, "oh here we go again, another story I'll never finish."

Boy was I wrong. 108.9 was like the gateway drug. Ideas started coming to me from all over. I would jot them down, but I kept going with the story I was writing. I titled it Pictures of You. It's the story of a model who goes to sit for a painter with a past he's not proud of. There's cheating and infidelity and that sounds bad but its really not. Well, not really. The story was nominated for two awards, something called a Sparkle Award and something called a Moonlight award. It won third place in the Sparkle Awards and heaven only knows what with the Moonlight awards because the site never posted the winners. (mental note to self, stalk the site runner...lol..jk).

I finished Pictures of You then started and completed two more stories. Now currently on my fourth story I wonder why I ever wanted to give this up. I've written three novels (I call them that because on my computer they have original character names, and places that have nothing to do with the twilight novels.) and am eight chapters away from finishing the fourth.

Then this morning I get an email from one of my readers who says she's nominated my fourth story and me for an award. To me, that makes writing worth it. To know that I have touched these lives with my words...it's...insane...I mean, most days I look at it and I can't believe it. Two nods for one story, another nod for Full Circle, now a nod for Unattached and a nod for best author of the year...I mean I know it's just fan fiction and no one outside of that community really cares about it...but its a huge community and its an honor to be nominated regardless...

and to think I almost gave it all up..I almost stopped doing what I love because I didn't feel like I was accomplishing anything.

Even if I was never nominated I wouldn't stop now. I have met some really great people, made some really great friends and have this sense of accomplishment that I have written this and people have liked it, some have loved it. I have made people cry with my words, they have cried along with me when a character becomes ill and dies, or when a character reveals a traumatic past. These people have touched my life in ways they probably won't ever understand because in a way they saved me.

Good Reads and See or Flee Flicks: A Book & Movie Review

 This post might contain spoilers about the novel The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and the movie Dread. Don't say I didn't warn you :)

I had an idea today as I folded laundry, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane playing on my mp3 player. I read a lot of books and watch a lot of movie, majority of which are lamespice beyond words, that and my friend Laurie and I trade movie and books, letting each other know what was good, what was bad and what might be worth reading or watching. So for starters, we'll begin with a book I've been listening to a little each night, and a movie I watched today.

First up is Dread. I am a great lover of horror movies, that being said this movie wasn't "scary" per se. It says it was one of the "8 films to die for after dark horrofest." Horrorfest? No. Gory? You bet your ass it was - in certain parts. Nothing on the level of Saw or Hostel, but gross nonetheless. It stars Twilight hunk, Jackson Rathbone as Stephen Grace, the film's main character (well one of them). I know some might be put off because he was in Twilight, but let me tell you something - the Twilight movies do not do this kid justice. He is a better actor than the Twilight movies make him out to be. I was surprised. But moving on...

This is not a movie to watch with the kids around...it has nudity and lots of cursing. And the grody factor as well...

The whole jist of the movie is this guy wants to do a fear study, to find out what scares people...he recruits Rathbone and another girl, luring them in with the possibility of using the study for their thesis. They are film students and jump on the opportunity and the trio set out to interview people about what scares them.

Rathbone reveals what scares him, his female counterpart reveals a terrifying childhood and the guy who wanted to do the study reveals what happend to him.

At the conclusion of the study, the third guy goes a little batty, does some crazy stuff...etcetera, etcetera...don't want to give too much away.

The ending however, OMG! The ending shocked the sin out of me. I think it might have been the films one redeeming quality. It was a good concept, the movie, but somewhere something got lost in translation. The acting was good, the soundtrack was horrible and there was too much boob for me. There were also a couple of plot holes, things the crazy guy did that confused me and the only explanation I could come up with to reason why he did the things he did was because he was crazy. And that's not a good explanation.

So I give it three stars out of five. If you like sorta lamespice horror movies that aren't really scary you'll totally dig this. You'll also dig this if you think Jackson Rathbone is hot. I did not consider myself a rider of the Jackson-is-hot bandwagon, but this movie converted me.

Just saying.
lol.

Okay now onto the book part of this here post. A while back I was perusing the New York Times best-seller list, looking for an interesting book for one of my book characters to read and I happened along this book. The title grabbed my interest, so I googled and read the synopsis of the book.

Curiousity piqued!

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (also known as The Lost Book of Salem) is an engaging tale of a young woman, Connie Goodwin, who heads to her late grandmother's home to prepare it for sale. Once there she finds a mysterious key and an even more mysterious slip of paper bearing the name Deliverance Dane. One thing leads to another and Connie finds herself delving into centuries long gone in search of answers.

I don't want to give too much away, but when I read more reviews of the book my interest started to wane. I did not think it would interest me at all, but when I found it at the library in an audio book I thought, eh why not. I can put it on my mp3 player and listen to it while I clean and if I don't like it, no harm done.

I was intrigued from the start. The book switches points of view, going from Connie's point of view in 1991 to various points of view over various years from the late 1600's up. The novel is essentially about the Salem Witch Trials and events that spawned after that, but it's more intricate than that, a little bit of mystery, a dash of spookiness, a pinch of intrigue, and a sprinkle of romance.

I love it, and I haven't yet finished, but I'm sure the ending won't disappoint, but if it does I will be sure to pass it on. Rating it, I give it a five out of five. It's a definite must read, especially if the subject of witches and mystery intrigue you.

So have you read this book or seen this movie? Share your thoughts. Did you love it? Hate it? How come?

Next week:

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
and
Duplicity starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen

Who are they?

In a recent post here, someone made a comment about not knowing who Stefan and Damon Salvatore or Sam and Dean Winchester were.

(Pause for dramatic effect..lol)

And I thought well hmm...not everyone is a cornball like me...lol...and not everyone likes uber handsome but-oh-so-devilishly-bad vampires or all that supernatural nonsense...I do however love all that corny nonsense. So this here post is a glimpse into me...

Once upon a time a author named L.J. Smith wrote a book called...(dun dun dun!!!!) The Vampire Diaries. I think book one is titled The Awakening, I say think because I haven't read it. One friend said it was kind of lamespice, another said it was good but it made her hate the show. Whateverspice, its all good. I didn't read it because I didn't want to. But back to the matter at hand. This fall the CW converted it into a TV show starring Paul Wesley as the ever broody, totally smexy Stefan Salvatore..aka the good brother.

Now at first I totally loved Stefan because Damon was a dick. Until this episode: The Lost Girls, where he pranced around on some structure in the house looking delicious (it didn't hurt that the song was awesome too, Anberlin's remake of Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence).  He might not be everybody's cup of tea, but he makes fun of Edward Cullen and Twilight and New Moon which totally cracked me up..yes I am one of "those" people..aka the ones who like Twilight and all that jazz..but it was still funny...I'd take the Salvatore brothers over Edward Cullen anyday...'nuff said.

So anywhoo, this is Ian Somerhalder as the viciously delicious Damon Salvatore, aka the jerky brother...

I'm not sure what exactly the point of the show is...lol...but Stefan's in love with a girl who looks exactly like his ex-vampire girlfriend Katherine, who was a skank and slept with both brothers. Damon's been looking for her and Stefan just wants to be a normal teenage and, like, be angsty and broody and makey-outey with Elena, the chick who looks like Katherine. It's entertaining and they sucked me in....lol..I'm such a drone...

Moving on to the next part of my post..Sam and Dean Winchester...(huge dreamy fan girl sigh..lol...I'm 27 going on 10..but shh don't tell, it'll just be our little secret). A friend of mine turned me on to Supernatural..gah I don't even know how..I think there was a Thursday night when nothing was on but Supernatural so I started watching was like, um hey, this Sam guy is way hot..so I rented all four seasons and went nuts. The rest, as they say, is history.

So for starters we have Jared Padalecki aka Sam Winchester aka "I swear to all that is Holy if I EVER see you walking unguarded down the street I will utilize the super spacious trunk of my smart little Focus and kidnap you."

for realsies.

And then Jensen Ackles aka Dean Winchester...he's a cutie too, but in an abrasive way..lol..

                                Dean                                               Sam


Ignore the puzzled expressions, it's a screen shot from Thursday's episode...you'd look confused too if you were standing in Eden talking to Joshua and he told you God decided he didn't care anymore...that and their cast photos are from like, five years ago..and it looks like Sam hasn't had a haircut since then. If anyone out there in cyber space knows this dude...please, beg him to get a haircut..the shag-a-doo is so not working for him..lol..

So there ya have it. Stefan and Damon, Sam and Dean...all in all that equals a damn good Thursday night...lol