Michelle Scott received her MFA from Wayne State University. Her stories have appeared in such places as Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, All Possible Worlds and Realms. Her fantasy novel, The Dragons of Hazlett was nominated for a 2009 EPPIE Award. Michelle’s YA novels include the vampire romance, Blood Sisters, and the fantasy Uncommon Magic. Her latest fantasy novel, An Anthem for the Battle Lands, was recently released from Mundania Press, LLC. Michelle lives in southeast Michigan with her husband and three children.
Interview:First of all, Welcome to Journey with Words and thank you for stopping by to answer a couple of questions and to let my readers get to know you a bit better.
Michelle: Thank you so much for hosting me! I’m glad to be here.
Q: Tell me a bit about yourself.
Michelle: I’m a pretty average person (a middle-aged mother of three) who loves to read and write urban fantasy. I’m also a huge movie buff and am addicted to movie theater popcorn with extra butter and Milkduds. I’ve been writing for nearly twenty-five years which is as long as I’ve been married. Since my husband is a teacher, in the summers, we love to make road trips with our kids. So far, our favorite vacation spot has been Glacier National Park in Montana because it reminds us all of the Lord of the Rings movies, lol.
Q: What types of stories do you turn to when you want to read a book? Are you a Paranormal Romance girl, or do you like them more action oriented, more grounded on reality than fantasy… what genre you prefer the most?
Michelle: I’m urban fantasy through and through! Although I do enjoy PNR, I’m more about action than romance. For a while, I was reading a lot of science fiction and horror, but I’ve changed my obsession to witches and demons. I also read a lot of non-genre and historical fiction. I have to admit that I love interpersonal drama and emotional. Strong characters are what win me over every time.
Q: When did you realize that writing was your passion?
Michelle: When I was a teenager, I set up a card table in my parent’s dim, dank basement and wrote by the light of this rusty, old desk lamp my dad had rescued from the trash. I spent hours down there. This was long before personal computers let alone the Internet, so I felt very isolated (and kind of tortured in a romantic sort of way). It was then that I realized creating characters and settings was my favorite activity.
Q: In your Goodreads profile you mention that you are both an Indie Author as well as a traditionally published author. How would you compare both processes?
Michelle: Strangely, they’re a lot the same: you write the book, edit the book, re-edit the book, and find a cover for the book. The biggest difference between the two is that, as an indie, I have control over everything, which is both good and bad. It’s good because I have 100% say over everything in my book including the release date. On the other hand, as an indie author, I must hire an editor, design a cover (or pay an artist to design one), and handle distribution. Also, all expenses come out of my own pocket rather than the publisher’s.
Q: What do you like most about writing fantasy?
Michelle: I love how there are no limits in fantasy. Nothing is tethered to reality. It’s so much fun to take an everyday setting (like an apartment or a public park) and give it a supernatural touch. I hope that doing this makes my readers look at this ordinary things in a new way. Stephen King has made me fear the most mundane things (like garbage disposals and clowns), and while I don’t exactly want to frighten my readers, I do want them to consider their world in a new light.
Q: You have written books about vampires, magicians, angels and devils; which supernatural creature was easier for you to write? Do you have a favorite?
Michelle: I have to say that the demons and angels were the easiest to write about; although, I’m not sure why. Maybe because I have done more thinking about heaven and hell over my life than vampires and magicians. The magicians were the most work, but that was because their stories are set in alternate worlds, and world-building no matter how fun, can be a chore.
Q: What inspired you to write Lilith Straight the way she is?
Michelle: Lilith is not always a likeable person (especially at first), but she grows a lot as a person over the course of the series. What I like about her is that her inner dialogue is very honest. She may lie to herself, but not to her readers. In writing Lilith, I wanted a character who was flawed but had potential to become someone better. Someone who might belong in Hell, at least at first, but at the same time has enough promise to keep Heaven’s attention.
Q: What’s next for you?
Michelle: I’m planning on releasing the third book in the Lilith Straight series in December of 2012, and I’m already working on book four. Also, I’m elbow-deep in a novel about a down-on-her-luck actress, a theater full of vampires, and a hot vampire hunter who owns a comic book store.
Well, Straight to Heaven is already on my To-Be-Read List, now I know to keep my eyes open for books 3 and 4 as well. By the way, that last novel sounds like is going to be lost of fun; vampire hunter in a comic book store, lots of possibilities... ~.^
Michelle, Thank you so much for stopping by to talk to us a bit. You are welcome to comeback anytime. Best of luck with your work.
If you guys want to know more about Michelle and her novels, feel free to check her out @:
- Straight to Hell, Book 1 (available now at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords)
- Straight to Heaven, Book 2 (available now at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords)
Lastly, thank you my amazing followers for dropping by today, if you have your own questions, feel free to ask them on the comments section below!
Do you like this post? Please link back to this article by copying one of the codes below.
URL: HTML link code: BB (forum) link code:
0 comments:
Post a Comment
I love to hear from you! Please leave your comments below!