Texas Stars Recap

Heather Reid (HR): Pretty Dark Nothing is a good read for Halloween because it's creepy, has demons. Faith or fear, love or lies. The second book will be out in September 2014.

Krissi Dallas (KD): I wrote the Phantom Island series. It's about a group of teens at summer camp who find a portal to magical island. It's got adventure, romance, magic, drama, friendships. There will be four more books, but with time gap between them.

Jeramey Kraatz (JK): The Cloak Society is about a supervillain society. My main character was born into it; his parents run the organization. Teen superheros show up during heist; he saves one and has to decide if he can be a good guy but also prove himself to parents.

Mary Gray (MG): The Dollhouse Asylum is about teens who have been granted asylum from apocalypse, but have to reenact tragic love stories or die. It's a standalone. I'm working on something different. It's the type of story about one big moment so it's a standalone.

Victoria Scott (VS): The Dante trilogy is about a seventeen year old guy, sexy, cocky, who goes to work for the devil collecting souls.

Q1. Plotter or pantser?
MG: I was a pantser, but that may change. To be seen.
JK: Talking about plotting versus pantsing with kids, I thought it meant people pulling pants down. I'm a plotter. I always start with about 20 pages so I've got about 2000 words under my belt. I have to know where I'm going.
KD: I'm somewhere in between. I know my major points and make it up in between. I like my characters to dictate where they go. I recommend My Story Can Beat Up Your Story [by Jeffrey Schechter]. Every project is different.
HR: I am a pantser. Yeah... I've tried plotting, but...no. It hems me in, feels like I'm handcuffed. The story starts organically with a character. I do plan ahead each day so I know where I'm going and what I want from each scene but nothing too rigid.
VS: I want to be a pantser, but I'm totally a plotter. I write a one-sentence pitch for my book, then write one main internal goal and external goal. For example, a character wants to buy a house (external goal), but her internal goal is that she wants a family. You often have to let go of the external goal to achieve the internal goal. I write out act 1, 2, 3, then add in bullet points. I think of scenes and where they should go.

Q2. How do you come up with your ideas?
HR: Anywhere. Pretty Dark Nothing came from own experiences with night terrors and depression when I was younger. What if that voice that tells you you're not good enough... this girl can see demons who exploit those fears. I saw a documentary on the Dust Bowl and got interested in that time period and want to do a story in that time. I have some ideas for that. I was sitting by the sea in Scotland when the character came, fully formed. I wrote four pages, couldnt do anything with her then because I was doing edits but maybe someday.
VS: I get my ideas kind of from ripping off other people. I heard about a book about a year and a half ago, loved it, but not what I expected so I wrote what I expected to, and that became Fire & Flood. Many ideas come from movies.
MG: I was living in Virginia and wanted to move to Texas. Since I couldn't move there yet, I wrote a book about going to Texas. I've been around manipulative people and wanted to explore that so I wrote about a girl trying to escape that poisonous relationship. I think the current day is lame because everyone is always on their phones; we don't interact so now I'm on a historical kick.
JK: This is the great and awful thing about ideas: they're everywhere, but I can only write so many of them. That's why there are so many unfinished novels on my computer. I read and collect comic books. I was doing a project in college and interning at Marvel for X-men, and I wondered, "What about this medium has me coming back? What do I like? What do I not like?" Villains exist for heroes to punch; then they disappear. There are lots of hero origin stories but not for villains. Oh, by the way, my cat's name is Loki. What would a kid supervillain be like? I filled notebooks full of questions. Writing a book is just answering those questions.
KD: I wanted to do something different. I couldn't do guitar because of my nails. I wanted to write novel or do music video with my students. Watching LOST, I started playing with an idea if a group of teens found an island. I spent a month plotting world and tribes. Spy novel I'm working on, had a dream, at flight school to become pilot, walked past window and a guy was there, but he was supposed to be dead.

Q3. What are you working on now in one word? [boy, authors ARE bad at math! :P]
JK: I'm working on the third book for Cloak Society. I hate this word, but... epic.
VS: Revenge.... prostitution....
MG: Guillotine

KD: Spy
HR: Sequel, sacrifice.

Q4. Favorite ice cream
VS: Fish food
MG: Cookie dough
JK: Chocolate w nuts
KD: Braums peppermint

Q5. Football: watch or fall asleep
KD: Watch football
[I think everyone else said they'd fall asleep]

Q6. Tea or coffee
MG: Hot chocolate
[Everybody else booed because hot chocolate wasn't an option, but I defended Mary's choice because she and I seriously don't drink tea or coffee. It's a religious thing.]

Q8. Who would win in a fight: you or the person to your left?
MG: Jeremy would win
JK: Krissi would win
KD: Heather would win

Q9. You have twenty bucks. What do you spend it on?
VS: Modcloth
MG: Books
JK: Books
KD: Books
HR: Books or Xbox games

Q10. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
VS: Mexican food
MG: Beef jerkey
JK: Cheese
KD: French fries or pizza

Q11. What are you watching on tv right now?
VS: Originals
MG: Rain
JK: American Horror Story
KD: Big Bang Theory
HR: Sleepy Hollow

Q12. Favorite city.
VS: Nola
MG: Austin
JK: Chicago
KD: Dallas
HR: Edinburgh

Q13. [I don't remember this question, which sucks because clearly it was a good one! May have been wrestling an alligator vs lion.]
VS: Death by alligator. I want the death roll!
MG: Can't face either one
JK: Alligator because it's cooler. Swampy and atmospheric.
KD: Alligator bec allergic to cats. Unfair advantage.
HR: Alligator because it will fall asleep if you flip it over.

Q14. Will you participate in NaNoWriMo?
VS: Yes! Just signed up. Going to continue my current wip [work in progress] but I just want to hashtag all day long.
MG: No. I would neglect my children.
JK: No.
KD: I would like to, but I need to finish my current novel.
HR: I can't do nano because I'm currently doing edits due December 15.

Q15. Who is your favorite hero or villain?
VS: Joker, all day long. Especially Heath Leger.
MG: Scarecrow, played Cilian Murphy.
JK: Gambit! I have a poster of Gambit framed on my wall. Gallactis is my favorite villain.
KD: Loki just because of Tom Hiddleston. Superman has been there all my life, but I currently love Iron Man. Maybe that's just RDJ.
HR: Wolverine, but maybe that's Hugh Jackman. Lex Luther.

Q16. How long have been writing?
VS: I started writing 3 years ago in October.
MG: I grew up in a house where it was considered a waste of time to read fiction or write.
JK: I've always been a writer, but don't let that discourage you if you haven't always been. I didn't know would write for kids or even write fiction.
KD: Always. I wrote my first book in third grade. It was about a girl who formed band and became a rock star, then woke up and it was all a dream. I called it Golden Afternoon because I loved Alice in Wonderland and the flowers.
HR: Since I can remember. I used to compile stories I loved, rip them off [her notebook], staple them and carry around the house. When I was 19 or 20, I relized it could be a serious career. Just writing.

Q17. What did you read as a kid and what have you recently loved?
VS: R.L. Stine. Christopher Pike. The Lovely and the Lost & The Beautiful and the Cursed [by Paige Morgan].
MG: Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. Recently, research and lots of nonfiction. Steelheart [by Brandon Sanderson].
JK: Lois Lowry. The Ruins. The Shining. If You Could Be Mine [by Sara Farizan].
KD: R.L. Stine. Christopher Pike. Trixie Belden. The Baby-Sitters Club. Sweet Valley High. Nancy Drew. Recently: Pretty Dark Nothing. Splintered by A.G. Howard. The Collector.
HR: Christopher Pike. V.C. Andrews. Anne Rice. Dean Koontz. The Archived by Victoria Schwab.

Q18. KitKats or m&ms.
VS: Kit kat
MG: M&ms
JK: Almond m&ms. I'm like an old man.
KD: M&ms
HR: I have an allergy to wheat so no kit kats or regular m&ms. I like peanut m&ms.

Q19. Favorite movie.
VS: What Dreams May Come
MG: Gladiator and V for Vendetta.
JK: Return of the Lving Dead
KD: True Beverly Hills
HR: Beauty and the Beast, animated.

Q20. Most important piece of advice about being an author.
VS: Decide why you're writing the book. Writing it for art's sake or yourself or being commercial. It is different, writing for yourself or wanting to sell. Artsy books, having a niche, those stories need to be told, but they are different.
MG: I don't get to write full time yet. I hate myself if I write just for the sake of writing. Write what you love. I write what's important in my heart. Imagine editing a novel you can't stand.
JK: Write. Sitting down and forcing yourself to write, after those 20 pages when it's no longer a really great idea. Pillage on. No, wait, pilgrim on? Whatever, keep going on!
KD: Study your craft. Be good at what you do. More than read the works of others. Read craft books. Don't do it halfway. Just read. Read everything, every genre. The best way to have a story is to have a story in your soul. That's not just books, but movies and tv. Study bad books, well not bad, but stories that don't resonate with you and figure out why.

Giveaway:

While at the event, I snagged signed copies of Victoria's The Liberator, Jeramey's The Cloak Society and Krissi's Windchaser for this giveaway. Open to the US and Canada. Ends 12 am cst March 27. Full giveaway policies are stated in the Site Policies tab at the top. All entries will be verified. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dollhouse Asylum Launch Party

Posting this recap as part of my Event Recap Month makes my heart hurt a little bit. Mary Gray is one of my local authors, and I always try to be very supportive of them. I bought an extra copy of The Dollhouse Asylum with every intention of posting this recap around the book's launch in October, but I got overwhelmed with life and kind of forgot about it, which makes me feel horrible! But at least I can try to make up for it by posting it now.

Different kinds of love

Elizabeth & Darcy (Pride & Prejudice)- healthy
Casablanca - unselfish
Katniss and Peeta - first forced, then honest
Lars and the Real Girl - unhealthy
Marc Antony & Cleopatra - selfish
V for Vendetta - complicated
Rumplestiltskin and Belle (Once Upon a Time)- imbalanced
Romeo + Juliet - love at first sight
Wuthering Hieghts and Anna Kerenina - destructive
Anna Karenina - destructive

The Dollhouse Asylum fun facts: First title was My Fragility. The trailer was made before the book sold.

Q1. What are you most proud of in the book?
Mary: I'm most proud of the most difficult aspect. It's not commercial; it's very artsy. Not everyone will love this story. I wrote what was in my heart. I wrote what was important: escaping unhealthy love. It's a very private kind of story.

Q2. Who do you relate to the most?
Mary: Cheyanne. I haven't gone through what she has, but I've been around it. Not everyone is Buffy, the kick-butt heroine. Even the underdog deserves to tell her story.

Q3. What would you change for your next book?
Mary: I learned a lot about the process and won't go through those pitfalls. I'll trust myself more and be more open to criticism.

Q4. What's on the horizon?
Mary: I've tried four separate projects. It's hard to love something and follow it through to the end. Right now I'm working on something historical.

Q5. Did the story change through the process?
Mary: It began and ended the same and kind of stayed the same on the way, but scenes were deleted and added. I wrote flashback scenes before Elusian Fields, and those became my favorite.

Q6. Teo or Marcus
Mary: I've got a soft spot for both of them. Marcus is based on my husband, so how could I not? *audience awwwwws* Teo was my bad-guy kryptonite. He's graceful, but what does he do with that grace? He controls people.

Q7. Where did you get your characters?

Mary: From real life. My villain is based on real people, not killers, but they have that manipulation and power. I've seen that control used, and it's the most haunting, horrible feeling.

Giveaway:

This giveaway is open to the US & Canada and ends at 12 AM cst March 21. 5 winners will be chosen. 1st place (US & Canada) will receive a signed copy of The Dollhouse Asylum and a signed bookmark. 4 2nd place winners (US only) will receive signed bookmarks. Good luck! Please read all my giveaway policies stated in the Site Policies tab at the top. Any entries not in accordance with those policies will be disqualified. Also, PLEASE make sure you know what email address you use with Rafflecopter is that is how I notify my winners! Don't let your prize go unclaimed and passed to someone else!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Big Brothers Big Sisters Benefit Signing Recap

Last fall, just a week or so before Thanksgiving, I took about an hour and half off from work to jaunt down to my favorite local Barnes & Noble to attend a special signing with Krissi Dallas, Mary Gray, Heather L. Reid, and Victoria Scott that benefitted Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Q1. Describe your book!
Victoria Scott (VS): My characters make worse decisions. I have a 17-year old boy who dies and works for devil collecting souls. He is not a good person. I wanted a character who makes bad decisions. When he meets someone who makes good decisions, will he stay the same or change under influence? Fire & Flood is about people in a race searching for one dose of a cure. Each participant is given an egg, which is called a pandora. The pandoras are animals with powers that may help win race.
Krissi Dallas (KD): I write out of happy places in my life. Phantom Island series is dealing with two settings. There's a certain magic at camp. You make relationships and learn things about yourself. But I also wanted the real world and magic world to have their own special magic. There's a world with elemental magic. You can deal with issues in a magical world that are easier to deal with than in real world.
Heather Reid (HR): My main character has nightmares, and then the nightmares come to life and enter reality. It's a scary, creepy book about love or lies, faith or fear, darkness or destiny. When I was younger, I suffered from night terrors and sleepwalking. I thought, what if a  teen girl saw demons. The voices that say you're not good enough, not pretty enough...they were real voices. It's all about what's beautiful and broken.
Mary Gray (MG): My story used personal experiences, and exorcised personal demons. I wanted a story that was enticing and captured the manipulation of a bad guy on women, but also had hope. I wanted to show an unhealthy relationship. I also love classic characters and wanted to showcase that. Cheyanne has to learn to remove herself from feelings with the bad guy.

Q2. How did you get into writing and why?
KD: There's something in a writer where you see storylines around you. What if this happened? You create fantasies. I started writing things down as a child because I could see characters doing stuff. It wasn't until I was an adult that I had enough material, enough life experiences to put writing into a series. Let your creativity take you!
HR: If you love to write, don't worry about anything. Just put the words on the page. I remember when I was 4 or 5 years old, re-imagining favorite stories. I would staple pages together and tell my mom, "Look I have a book!" But I still wanted to be a Dallas cheerleader or an archeologist. Then I remember being 11 and wanting to be published author. I said would publish by 16. It didn't happen, but that seed stayed with me. It took seventeen long years of hard work; not everybody's journey is the same. If there's something you're passionate about or that you love, don't give up. You'll probably have to work hard, but don't give up. VS: *starts singing "Don't Stop Believing"*
MG: I loved essay questions as a kid. I always waited until end to turn mine in so teacher would see mine on top. My parents weren't very supportive of writing so it wasn't until I had my first child that I really started to write. I would be exhausted after playdates, but I would come home and want to have something special.
VS: I started writing just because I loved books. I worked in advertising after college. Get laid off a lot. What do I really want to do.... I didn't really like anything other than books.

Q3. How much time do you write a day?
VS: Two hours in the morning, two in the afternoon plus marketing, answering emails, online chatting, etc.
KD: I do most of my writing on Mondays and Wednesdays because I'm a part time teacher, and I'll meet with writing buddies and write for hours at a time.
MG: Since I have little ones, they come first. When all my kids are in school,I'll be able to write full time. It's whenever have time right now. I have to make it happen.

Q4. Does it "flow?"

HR: Sometimes, sometimes not. I write slowly, very deliberately, because I love words. I love the rhythm of words. You build momentum. At first it is hard, but the more you know the story, the characters, the better it flows.
KD: In the writing world, you're either a pantser or plotter. I'm a pantser, and we fly by seat of our pants. I let the story flow wherever it wants, but the revision stage is really important. By the third or fourth book, the characters know where they need to go. I do plot out points. Big scenes come out, but the way to get there, I have to fight for every word.
VS: I am a plotter. I loosely outline every book. I'm militant with writing. I do 2000 words every day. I always have an idea where the story needs to go and where words come out

Q5. How do you concentrate on writing and focus on story?
MG: One night a week, I'll take off, and my husband takes kid duty. In the afternoon,  if my kids can watch a show, I have some time. My best writing, though, actually comes in the car. Alone, in the quiet. 
HR: It depends on the day. Some days I'm focused on my book; other days my focus is on laundry or dishes. When I'm thinking over a scene, not sure where it's going, it takes time. But it's easier when I know where it's going. It helps to have friends to keep focus. A support system.

Q6. How are characters people? How do you have them in your head?
VS: My characters don't exactly feel like real people to me, at least until the third Dante novel was written, then I missed him. I could hear things he would say.
KD: Reading Dante, I can hear Tori. Dante and Tori are similar. Dante is a good guy.
VS: He's a horrible good guy.
KD: My characters' lives are different from my mind; I do think about what they would do in real life. I can't imagine being done [with the series]. It will be hard to say goodbye because it's such a reflection of your heart. There's no way to separate completely. It's hard to put out there, but it could be your story. It could be your friend who helps you walk through life. I do feel sad then they're hurt. I'm like, "I'm sorry! It's okay! Pep talk!"
HR: My characters live and breathe in my head. I write organically, definitely a pantser. I start with characters and get to know them before the story starts. I was writing a scene and I was like, "what? What are you doing?!" I knew that version was what really happened. She was telling her story to me, and I was just writing it down. There's a little bit of me in all my characters.
MG: I feel closest to my characters if I hear a song that encompasses their feelings. At the gym, I heard a song and I was like, "oh yeah! Standing up to the villain!" I heard a song in the car for the love interest and wrote a scene that didn't connect to any others, but I knew him in that moment. The villain is so real to me right now.

Q7. As you develop the characters, do the characters develop you in real life?
MG: I know a woman in real life who is having trouble standing up to her husband. My main character had to stand up to the bad guy. I told her, "you have to stand up to yourself." Sitting here, you think, yeah, stand up to someone who's abusing you, but I definitely learned it in that moment.
HR: Absolutely. My writing taught me a lot about my characters and about my own demons.
KD: One main villains in book is a female character. I find myself very fascinated with the way I wrote her. It's like if I gave in to every selfish, dark part of myself, and I realized that's how I wrote her. Villains aren't entirely evil. There are some that deserve what's coming to them, but there are others that are redeemable. They're the hero of their own story. I wrote her from dark place in myself.
VS: Fire & Flood didn't affect me, but definitely felt that way about Dante. He helped me get swagger in real life!

I don't have a corresponding giveaway for this recap since I didn't get anything signed, but I hope you enjoyed it and received some special insight into these awesome authors' minds. I know I'm really lucky that I get to call these amazing women my friends, and I love having the opportunity to see them often. Do any of their answers have special meaning to you?