Cool Questions from 8th Graders

I was privileged to be allowed to read to students at Bowie Junior High school a few weeks ago. Here are some things they asked:

What themes do you write about? I write about people who struggle. In the Phantom series, the two main characters struggle with loneliness and with growing up. In All For Love, the woman struggles with so many things from infidelity, to alcoholism, to abortion and suicide. And in Stutter Creek and Lilac Lane, the protagonists struggle just to stay alive.

Who inspired you to write?  Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, Mary Stewart (The Crystal Cave); in other words, all my favorite authors

How long does it take to write a book?  From a few weeks to a few months. Writing in first person (like in my Phantom series) is much easier than third person like my adult series (for me, at least).

How do you get over writer's block?  If I get stuck on a story, it usually means my brain is fried, so I’ll go for a walk, or go to Sonic for a diet vanilla Coke. If I write myself into a corner from which I can’t possibly escape, I put that tale aside and start a new one. I have a file of hundreds of ideas for stories.

Were you excited when your first book was published?  Yes! I was also very excited the first time I had a short story published (way back in the dark ages). I remember getting a letter in the mail and literally screaming my head off inside my truck. I think I had picked up the mail and was sitting in there to open it.

Who is your favorite author?  Stephen King — although I have to say his earlier work excited me more than his recent work. I love Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, The Body (Stand by Me) and stories like that. I also loved The Dead Zone and The Stand. One of his newer works that I like is Joyland.

What is the hardest part of writing a book? Staying off Facebook and/or other social media. I also spend hours just reading articles on MSN, etc. I’m a very nosy person.

How do you decide on titles?  Sometimes the title comes right away, but sometimes it’s later, in the story. And then sometimes, it doesn’t come at all and I depend on friends and readers to help me find it.

Do you have other people help you with ideas?  Hmmm, no. I’m sort of close-mouthed about my ideas, but I do have a writing group (eh, Ms. Harris?) to help with rough drafts.

Do you have places you go to write?  No. Just my computer (s). Or if I get an idea away from them, I write in my iPhone notes or my handy dandy mini spiral that lives in my purse.

How many kids do you have? 2.5 (I inherited a beautiful daughter from my husband’s ex, but she isn’t actually my husband’s daughter. It’s complicated. LOL.)  I also have 5.5 grandchildren ;-)

Do you use symbols? Yes. And I usually don’t even know it until later, when I read it through.

What method do you use to brainstorm? Free writing — I just write without stopping and without thinking. It works best when I’m really tired. Which is most of the time.

What is your writing process? Catch as catch can. I love to write in the morning with a cup of coffee. And I always write the best parts first. I don’t outline, but I do write the ending as soon as possible. It’s like my goal, to get to the finish.

How do you choose your words to create a better mental image? The muse does that. My very best work doesn’t come to me consciously, but subconsciously. I really loved this line from ALL FOR LOVE, “The moonlight was seductive, it lay across the water like a transparent veil across a woman’s hair.” But I have no idea where that line came from. I wrote it out just like that, without stopping. And then I thought, well, I like that.

What is your favorite type of figurative language? Oh, I love metaphors, but similes are easier and they often pop into my work unbidden. I have to cut them out frequently. I also love onomatopoeia. Poe was the expert at making up his own sound words like susurration and tintinnabulation—I try to do that from time to time. I also fall into the alliteration trap sometimes—I love it, but it has to be seeded into sentences sparingly or it sort of starts to suck.

Why did you write Chems?  Awesome question! Chems came from an image of a boy finding a zombie in his dad’s toolshed. But I didn’t want just any old zombie—I wanted a zombie hero. So that’s what I wrote. I decided the government could make one using chemicals. Funny thing is, my cousin and I wrote an entire novel based on this blue pseudo zombie. We wrote every night sending the pages back and forth via email (she lives in Washington DC), but alas, the book somehow devolved into a zombie romance (I know, I know, it really was a horror story then) so it’s now simply lurking about in my Mac seeking asylum from the land of the dead novels.

Thanks for the cool questions kids. Take care and thanks to  your teacher for allowing me to come and invade your classroom!

Afterthought: Thank you, ToysRUs for coming back from the dark side. And thanks to the mom in Florida for helping them see the light. 

Joyland Review, Doctor Sleep preview

In honor of Halloween . . .

I loved Stephen King's Joyland, it was a place I wanted to return every time I had to close the book and go away.  It isn't horror.  It is a ghost story.  It is, in my opinion, a character driven ghost story, my favorite kind of tale.  Don't believe me?  Just read my ghost stories starring Jase and Stevie-girl.

Doctor Sleep arrived the day after I finished Joyland (yes, I'm a one-click addict with no plans for rehab), and the moment I read the inscription -- to Warren Zevon -- I knew I was going to like the book.  What I didn't count on was how the very reintroduction of Dick Halloran and Danny Torrance would immediately transport me back to my youth.  (Sidenote here,  thanks to Kimmie Orr, my hubby's cuz, I was able to attend a speech given by Stephen King at George Mason University a while back.  He was receiving an award, but he was also talking about Doctor Sleep, and I will admit, when he described the RV people, I really wondered how they could relate to little Danny Torrance, but guess what?  It all makes sense.  In a twisted, horror-story kind of way, which is the best way, of course).

I was a newlywed ~ 34 years ago ~ when someone gave me The Shining.  I read it almost nonstop in my little Freight Company office amidst the dust motes and cobwebs when I should have been cleaning and typing up way bills on the old Royal typewriter.  But I couldn't tear myself away from The Overlook Hotel, it was just too creepy, too intriguing, and too darn scary.  When the woman in Room 217 grabbed little Danny, I could've sworn the branches scratching on the old corrugated tin siding of the freight dock were her fingernails . . .

Now, back to the long-toothed woman in Doctor Sleep (yes, I could've easily been finished by now, but I'm pacing myself.  In other words, I don't want it to end).  On the other hand, I understand Dean Koontz is joining the .99 club.  I'll be checking out that bargain, too.

Afterthought:
Went to see the movie Rush.  Let me just say, I loved Opie, I loved Richie Cunningham, now I love Ron Howard.  We sort of almost grew up together, didn't we?  And in my humble opinion, he knows how to make an honest film.  He doesn't beat us about the head and shoulders with ideals.  He doesn't feel the need to change our politics. He tells stories.  That's why I will always go to a Ron Howard film.  Just like Stephen King, I simply love the way he tells a story.

Seriously, Who Wrote This Thing?

I don't know about you, but when I'm reading a book or watching a movie or even a TV show, I am constantly critiquing the writing.  Sometimes, I wish I'd written the story (jealousy), but other times, I wonder how the heck the story-writer ever got hired.  Especially when it comes to detective shows on TV.

I won't say which popular television detective series I'm talking about, but just let me say this: I love the main character--he is smart and flawed--and the actor who plays him is awesome, but the actual storyline is often downright ridiculous.  Sometimes, it is so silly I lose interest.  I mean, it's a detective series.  Shouldn't there be a law that the writers have to follow some sort of logic to get from point A to point B? On top of that, even I know that you can't arrest someone without probable cause.  And that pesky Miranda warning?  Not really deemed necessary in this show. . .  they just slap the cuffs on the perps and throw them in the car.

I can't help it, the omission of those little details really bug me sometimes.

Now one of my favorite cop-type shows is NCIS.  The writing in that show usually leaves me without complaint, and the characters?  Well, they make the show.  Blue Bloods is another fave.  Okay, I'll admit it.  I watch it mainly because of Tom Selleck and the family values the writers promote.  Although they almost lost me as a viewer when they lost Detective Jackie--I really liked her character.

Big Bang Theory is another show with great writing, usually.  (Not a cop show, of course)  At least it's great when they leave out the lab-animal jokes.  They will definitely lose me as a viewer if they keep doing those.  I don't think the suffering of animals or people is EVER appropriate comedy material.

With movies, I am sooo far behind.  My hubby hurt his back and can't sit through an entire movie right now.  That's why I haven't done any reviews lately. (And yes, I am having popcorn withdrawal symptoms, thanks for asking.)

As for books, I've become a very slow reader.  I think it's because I've been doing lots of writing and rewriting.  But of course I am reading (I'm still alive aren't I?).  So just for the record, I'm finishing up WOOL, by Hugh Howey and I have really enjoyed it even though it's extremely dark.  It's so original, and so plausible . . . and the writing is, at times, lyrical.  Plus, I think the fact that my hubby's auntie (Hi, Aunt Linda!) actually once owned an abandoned missile silo lends the book an authenticity to which I can relate (having been down a couple of levels myself).

I've got tons of other books downloaded and some started and dropped, and I'm looking forward to Stephen King's new ones, too.  (I've got The Wind Through the Keyhole, but haven't started it yet).  I've also got Dr. Sleep pre-ordered, (at least I think I do, I often forget about it when I do that) and I recently read an article stating that he isn't going to publish Joyland in digital, only print.  He wants to help bookstores, he says.  I admire him for the thought, but couldn't one simply order the paperback from Amazon?  And wouldn't that sort of defeat the idea of having to go into an actual bookstore?  Oh well, it's the thought that counts, or so I've heard.

Now, tell me about Joe Hill's latest, Nos4atu?  Have you read it?  And what about Neil Gaiman's upcoming adult book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane?  I might buy it just for that title.  And then there's Jeannette Walls' soon-to-be-released . . . and of course all my indie author friends who are publishing one title after another. . .

But tell me, what about you?  What are you reading, or watching?  And do you ever ask yourself, "Seriously, who wrote this thing?"

Afterthought: Check out my sidebar giveaway for Stutter Creek.  Only four more days!