FAQ

Here are snippets from some of my interviews:

Q: Do you have a specific writing style?

A: I’m not sure if it’s a style or not, but I love dark stories with a message of hope at the end. I think the best novels contain elements of romance, mystery, danger and the supernatural, so I try to incorporate those in my work...

Read the entire interview at Night Owl Paranormals.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

A: Where to begin…Okay, big confession here: I had an imaginary friend when I was about five years old—a bubble appropriately named Bubbie. So I guess I had a jump start on making things up and acting like they were real. I always loved both writing and drawing. For some strange reason, when I was in eighth grade I thought that I had to choose between the two and, at that time, I chose art...

Read the entire interview at Nocturne Romance Reads

Q: What do you like best about this subgenre [urban fantasy]? The least?

A: I love strong female characters. I grew up reading science fiction, fantasy, mysteries and thrillers. For years, women were seen as victims in books. Need to ratchet up the tension in your plot? Put a woman in peril. I really hate that tactic and I hate the implication that women can’t protect themselves. Urban fantasy is known for strong female protagonists who can fight the bad guys and win, sometimes saving the world in the process. It may seem over-the-top, but isn’t that why we love fiction in the first place? We want to visit an imagined universe where the rules are different...

Read the entire interview at Romance University: Urban Fantasy: Hot or Not?

Q: Mankind seems to have this obsession with finding the Fountain of Youth. But, I think the real question is why? Why want to live forever? Would you, Merrie, go the Fresh Start route?

A: Katie, I think we all have a built-in desire to live, rather than die. It's part of our survival instinct. So, in my opinion, the desire to live forever is really just an honest confession to the fear of death. Would I go the Fresh Start route? Ah, now the plot thickens. [dastardly laugh] Actually, no. I would choose to be a One-Timer, like the main character in Afterlife, Chaz...

Read the entire interview at I Smell Sheep blog.

Q: Interesting historical tidbits about our smelly zombie friends are liberally placed throughout “How to Draw Zombies.” What type of research/prep work did you do for this book. (If you say Wikipedia I’m going to feel very foolish for this question… well more foolish anyway.)

A: I bought a stack of reference books, and I asked my zombie-loving friends for advice on where to look for more information. I realized along the way that mythical creatures change as time passes. The genesis for the zombie began thousands of years ago and has changed quite a bit since then. So I knew that the zombie myth would have changed even by the time this book came out. That’s actually one thing I like about myths: every person who retells one gets the opportunity to add their own details and change it up. I mean, who heard of sparkly vampires before Twilight?

Read the entire interview at The Zombie Nation.

Q: What was the inspiration for the story [Afterlife]? Besides providing entertainment, what do you hope readers will take away from it?
A: The inspiration for the story came from an article I read several years ago in a scientific journal. Apparently, many scientists believe that if we could find a way to lengthen the telomeres in our DNA, then we might have discovered the key to immortal life. I took that idea and built a world around it, based on the assumption that we had already developed that technology...

Read the entire interview at Divine Detour.

Q: What’s your favorite non-essential item on your desk?

A: A cutout greeting card of Glinda, the good witch from The Wizard of Oz. I don’t remember seeing the movie as a child, but it must have made a big impact on me. For a long time I refused to answer to anything but the name “Glinda.”

Read the entire interview at Number One Novels.

Q: What's the best book or seminar on fiction writing you know?

A: I have two seminar favorites. One is a fiction class that James Scott Bell often teaches at Mount Hermon. I bought the MP3s after attending that series of lectures and I keep them on my iPod. I listen to them every time I start a new book. And my other favorite lecture was the speculative fiction class taught by you, Mr. Jeff Gerke, at the 2010 Mount Hermon Writer’s Conference. When I got home from that conference, I spent two days typing up all of my notes from your class. It really helped me put together the plot and the characters for my third book. Plot is my weakness. My brain just doesn’t think that way, so I’m always scrambling for help when I’m plotting my stories.

As far as books go, I love Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell. And, since I’m an intuitive writer, often the best teaching device for me is just to read a fabulous novel. I learn so much about structure and pacing and character just by reading a well-written book

Read the entire interview at Where The Map Ends.

Q: I loved Omega [from Afterlife], but had a question—I just have to word it correctly so as not to give spoilers. Omega, who is a dog, seems very smart to me. Was he simply a smart breed of dog, or did the things done to him in the lab make him more intelligent? I also noticed he could be a twin of your dog in the picture on your website:)

A: Interestingly, when I first wrote the book, Omega had actual thoughts and they were very primitive. But in the process of editing, those were all taken out. What I was really trying to communicate in Omega’s scenes, besides his character, was his intuitive nature, the ability that dogs have to “read” a situation and instinctively know what needs to be done. One of my dogs—the one in my author photo—is super smart when it comes to any social behavior situation. He can stop a dog fight by just walking in between two dogs. He’s very gentle with children and our cat, but he knows when he needs to stand up for himself with our other German Shepherd. So I was trying to create a dog who was extremely loyal and had “street smarts” which would eventually put him in charge of a wild dog pack. By the way, I never mention it in the book, but in my mind the dog pack was descended from Katrina dogs: dogs who had survived Hurricane Katrina and then banded together when they couldn’t find their people. And yes, Omega could easily be a twin of my Joshua!

Read the entire interview at Wayfaring Writer.