Tuesday Talks | Favorite Christmas Stories/Books

Hey guys, so it's been quite a while since I've done a Tuesday Talks post, but I hope to get back at it and this is my first attempt, we'll see how long my streak lasts.

If you don't already know, Tuesday Talks is a Goodreads group started by Janie and Janelle where we discuss book related topics every week. And in the theme of the holiday season we're going to talk about our favorite Christmas stories/ books.

This'll be a fairly short post because I don't usually read/watch Christmas-related books/movies unless it's something shown in school. I feel like it's definitely something I've missed out on as a child and as a result I want to spend my adult life catching up. So let me know some good Christmas/ holiday themed books and stories that are cute, fun and set the mood for the holiday season! 

Words With an Author | Allan Stratton

Hey guys, welcome to another Words with an Author. Today we get to interview Allan Stratton, author of The Dogs. I had the pleasure meeting Allan at BEA this past May and I'm super excited to read his book. Let's get into the interview! 

1. How did you get into writing? When did you first start writing?

I started writing before I could spell, sounding out the letters. I think I was instinctively trying to understand the world I was in, by making up stories.

In high school, I was cast in the original production of a play by James Reaney, a Canadian playwright. I showed him a play of my own and he published in his literary magazine. It was seen by a producer who asked me if I’d like to adapt it for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. That was my first break.

2. Where did you come up with the ideas for your books? Who/ what is your inspiration?

The inspiration depends on the book. Some come from dreams, some from real life. THE DOGS is from real life. My mom fled with me from my dad when I was a baby; he had a very violent side which people on the outside world never saw. We stayed on my grandparents’ farm and then in the nearby town of Kincardine, which is very much like Wolf Hollow.

3. Are any of your characters based on people you actually know, if so which ones?

Not exactly. For each character I ask myself, if I were this person in this situation what would I want? What would I do to get it? It's a bit like an actor's improv with me playing all the parts. I include details from real life - for instance, like Cameron, I talk to myself out loud - but the characters are always different from any real life models.

4. If you had to pick only five books from your bookshelf you could keep, what would they be?

i) The Complete Works of Shakespeare -- which is maybe a cheat since there are 37 plays plus poems. My favorite Shakespearean tragedy, btw, is King Lear; my favorite comedy is Twelfth Night.)

ii) Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

iii) Crime and Punishment (or The Brothers Karamazov, a tossup) by Dostoyevsky

iv) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

v) Grimm’s Brothers Fairy Tales

5. How long did the writing process take for each of your books?

On average a first draft takes me nine months. That’s part of why I call my books my “brain babies.” (The other part is because they come out of my head; they have my intellectual DNA.) I then do about another two months of re-writes, spread over six months that include time for getting my editor’s notes.

6. Who are some of your favorite authors?

The authors who wrote the books mentioned above. I also really like Jonathon Franzen, Margaret Atwood, Robert Cormier and Teresa Toten.

7. What actors/ actresses could you see playing the characters of your book?

Too many to mention. I thought the film of my YA novel CHANDA'S SECRETS (film title: LIFE, ABOVE ALL) was very well cast.

8. How did you come up with the title and cover of each of your books? Did they morph as you wrote the book, or were they constant?

The titles come to me in the course of the writing. I don’t really know how. I guess it’s the way parents find names for their babies. 

My publisher comes up with the covers. I comment on the English language ones. My books are published in foreign languages with different covers. To see some of the range one can get for the same book, go to my website, click under “Books” and scroll down.

9. Are you planning to write any other books?

Oh yes, it’s what I do for a living. I’m working on one right now.

10. What would your advice be to someone who's aspiring to be a writer?

Read, read, read. Write, write, write.  Also, write because it’s what you love to do – what you have to do, as surely as breathing.

11. Finally, just to wrap things up, what's your favorite color and why?

Blue, because it’s the color of water and sky, and I find it very calming.

If you want to connect with Allan: 

http://allanstratton.com/index.html

Words With an Author | Lyndsay Faye

I have yet another Words with an Author post for you guys! Today we're going to talk to Lyndsay Faye, author of the recently released The Fatal Flame. I had the pleasure of meeting her at BEA and she is a fantastic person. Let's get into the interview! 

1. How did you get into writing? When did you first start writing?

I always loved the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, so I started writing fanfic cases when I was really little-- like twelve, maybe. I just didn’t want the adventures to end, so I made up my own.  Michael Chabon, Pulizter Prize winning author, says all novels are sequels, and what he means by that is that no one would pick up a pen or a laptop if they hadn’t been inspired by something else first.  It was Sherlock Holmes for me.

2. Where did you come up with the ideas for your books? Who/ what is your inspiration?

My books are largely based on real historical events mixed with a healthy dose of fiction.  Jack the Ripper and the details of the murders he committed in Dust and Shadow were entirely real; the Irish Potato Famine and the birth of the NYPD were real, and actually happened the same summer, in 1845, which is the plot of The Gods of Gotham.  So while many of my characters are imaginary, the grander scope of events is historically accurate.

Apart from history, what inspires me most is passionate storytelling--what makes these people tick?  Who would they kill for?  Who would they die for?  That sort of thing.  I write about people who are confronted with terrible choices.

3. Are any of your characters based on people you actually know, if so which ones?

That’s a tricky question to ask an author, because the answer is 1) all of them are, and 2) none of them are.  Take Timothy Wilde, for instance.  He’s a completely made up person.  But I borrowed my friend Ian’s face for the character, he’s a bartender and an artist because my husband is a bartender and an artist, and strangers confess things to him without prompting because the same thing happens to me personally.  So he’s a combination of completely made up, several loved ones, and autobiography.  Nearly all of my characters are like that.

4. If you had to pick only five books from your bookshelf you could keep, what would they be?

Oh my lord.  Hmm.  That’s impossible, but here are some top picks: the Sherlock Holmes canon, The Lord of the Rings, Lolita, the complete poems of T. S. Eliot, and the complete works of William Shakespeare.

5. How long did the writing process take for each of your books?

They take about ten months a piece.  I do six months of research at the Bryant Park branch of the NYPL, mostly reading historical diaries and newspapers, and when I get bored with the research and start itching to write, I know I’m ready.  Then I write like the dickens and try to make everything sensible and evocative at the same time.

6. Who are some of your favorite authors?

Tana French is a big favorite of mine--she writes gorgeous, lyrical mysteries.  Gillian Flynn ditto, and Gillian I can vouch for as being an utterly fabulous person, because we were nominated for the Edgars the same year and got on swimmingly.  Love me some Richard Siken poetry, some Neil Gaiman, some classic Raymond Chandler.  I’m an omnivore.

7. What actors/ actresses could you see playing the characters of your book?

That’s very difficult for me, because they live so fully in my head. I could really see Natalie Dormer as Mercy Underhill, though.  She would kill it.  And John Goodman as Chief George Washington Matsell.  And if Steve Buschemi ever played Jakob Piest, my life would be complete.

8. How did you come up with the title and cover of each of your books? Did they morph as you wrote the book, or were they constant?

Well, I have nothing to do with the cover--that’s the cover designer’s job.  But the titles do change from time to time because publishers want to go in another direction.  For instance, Dust and Shadow used to be called Knife Point.  The Fatal Flame was once The War of the Needle.  You need to find something that works for the marketing team, a title everyone can really get behind.

9. Are you planning to write any other books?

I already have! Just wait for 2016.

10. What would your advice be to someone who's aspiring to be a writer?

Sit down and write.  It’s all about practice.  And I don’t care what kind of practice, either--write what you truly enjoy or admire, what makes you feel something.  Write fanfiction, or poetry, or personal memoir, or swashbuckling stories with loads of dragons.  Write what you love, and sit down long enough to finish it.

11. Finally, just to wrap things up, what's your favorite color and why?

Oh!  Royal blue, like really vivid cobalt electric rich blue.  I have no idea why, though.  I’ve always loved that color.

Connect with Lyndsay Faye here

Words With an Author | Lindsay Marie Miller

Hey guys! Welcome to another Words With an Author. Today we get to interview Lindsay Marie Miller, author of Emerald Green and Me & Mr. Jones, let's get into it! 

1. How did you get into writing? When did you first start writing?

When I was sixteen, Twilight had taken over the world, and I had never seen anything like it. The saga was exciting, romantic, thrilling, and addictive. I couldn’t put any of the books down, and when the first film came out in November of 2008, I went to see it at the theatre three times, and I never re-watch movies at the theatre. Ultimately, Bella and Edward’s story had such a profound effect on me that I came up with the crazy idea of writing a novel of my own. That winter, I put pen to paper and the story that resulted was my debut novel, Emerald Green.

2. Where did you come up with the ideas for your books? Who/ what is your inspiration?

With Emerald Green, I expanded a short story that I had written for an assignment in one of my previous English classes and thought nothing of. Essentially, that story developed into the meet cute for my two main characters — Tom, the mysterious, yet alluring new student, and Addie, the seventeen-year-old high school junior who would claim his affection.

In the case of Me & Mr. Jones, I was inspired by the prospect of a forbidden romance, because it was a dynamic that I had yet to conquer in fiction. For the main protagonist, Finley O’Connell, it is the new college professor (Cabel Jones), rather than the new high school student who keeps her pulse racing. The illicit nature of their relationship sets an entirely different tone than that of Tom and Addie’s, and I always like bringing in new elements with each new story and respective list of characters. Romance remains, just a different kind of romance. 

3. Are any of your characters based on people you actually know, if so which ones?

Typically, I don’t visualize characters as anyone I actually know in my own life, because that would make it very difficult to differentiate the pieces of truth from the pieces of fiction. However, I am a very intense movie-watcher, always paying attention to actors and actresses, as well as keeping up with their biographies and current film projects. My male leads tend to be inspired by whichever Hollywood heartthrob I am infatuated with at the time, though that is not always the case. The closest thing I can compare it to is dream casting. If you could choose any of your favorite actors to fall in love with in this fantasy world we call fiction, then who would it be? Usually, I never have to ask myself this question though, because I already have someone in mind.

4. If you had to pick only five books from your bookshelf you could keep, what would they be?

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

5. How long did the writing process take for each of your books?

Emerald Green probably took me about one year to write in high school. After college graduation, I rewrote the original 50,000 word manuscript and expanded it to about 82,000 words. The first time, as a teenager, I was just having fun with a new hobby. But the second time around, I had already completed five other novels, so the rewriting process was much more focused on literary elements. I added more characters, cut unnecessary scenes, and restructured most of the plot. Although, most of the main events in the book have remained.

Me & Mr. Jones was a novel that I completed in college, but later rewrote, simply because my style, skill set, and knowledge had developed into a much different voice by the time I was ready to publish it. In the case of these two books, there was an initial writing period and then a later rewriting period. While those are exceptions, my writing process still does involve a lot of rewriting, though I won’t always go so far as to rewrite the entire book. I’m definitely the type of writer who is always scratching through words and drawing arrows on the page to add new ones. As far as the amount of time it takes to write each book, it depends on the length, but I can typically finish each manuscript in about 2-3 months. As a novelist, I think you get faster with each book, simply because your years of experience increase and you get much more comfortable with the process; it becomes second nature.

6. Who are some of your favorite authors?

Nicholas Sparks, Stephanie Meyer, S.E. Hinton, Paulo Coehlo, Maggie Stiefvater, Veronica Roth, Anna Godbersen, Amanda Hocking, Jamie McGuire.

7. What actors/ actresses could you see playing the characters of your book?

For Emerald Green, Steven Strait has always been the Tom Sutton that I see in my head. I envision Dylan O’Brien as Ricky, Al Pacino as DeMilo, Colton Haynes or Scott Eastwood as Hugh, and Hal Holbrook as Daniel. As far as the female characters are concerned, I’ve thought of Lily Collins for Jeanine and Emma Roberts for Nicki. The toughest question of all would be who to cast as the main protagonist, our heroine, Addie Smith. My honest answer? I have no idea…

8. How did you come up with the title and cover of each of your books? Did they morph as you wrote the book, or were they constant?

Emerald Green was one of those titles that just popped into my head with no prior warning. For the cover, I wanted to evoke the main emotions felt by the characters in the story: romance, suspense, intrigue, and darkness. That’s why Tom and Addie are centered on a long canopy road in a dark, mysterious forest. Once I thought of the title, it stuck, but the cover art certainly morphed up until the release.

The cover art process was basically the same for Me & Mr. Jones, as far as the overall concept of an evolving prototype is concerned. The title, however, was inspired by an old R&B song, called “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul. The song depicts an adulterous affair between a married woman and her lover. I wondered what it would be like to reverse the roles and remove the extramarital subtext. In Me & Mr. Jones, Finley and Cabel are both single, unmarried, and interested. Only, Cabel is Finley’s professor. The illicit nature remains, but there is no third-party spouse who is being cheated as a result. Simply put, the main obstacle for Cabel and Finley is a rule that, if broken, could put them both in jeopardy.   

9. Are you planning to write any other books?

Absolutely! There are three more books coming in the Emerald Green series, and I have a sequel planned for Me & Mr. Jones. In addition, I have various other writing projects that will be releasing in the near future.

10. Have you had to do any outside research or a book you've written?

Not really. Sometimes, there may be words or terms that are not entirely clear to me that I would like to include. Other than that, neither book has required much outside research, because I rely so heavily on my imagination.

11. Where is your ideal writing location?

Locked in my bedroom with the shades drawn. While that may not sound very glamorous, it is the most ideal to me, because it is where I can concentrate the best and really focus on my characters. 

12. What would your advice be to someone who's aspiring to be a writer? 

If you write, you are a writer. Don’t let anyone ever convince you otherwise. The more you write, the better you will become. So just keep at it and write as many stories as you have in you. You’ll be surprised where they may lead.

13. Finally, just to wrap things up, what's your favorite color and why? 

Well, my birthstone is emerald, which probably has more to do with my debut title, Emerald Green, than I’ve ever realized before, so green. Green leaves, green tea, green eyes. I bumped into Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Hale in Twilight. I know, it always goes back to Twilight…) the other day, and he has the most striking green eyes I have ever seen. What can I say? Green is just a beautiful color. 

Connect with Lindsay using the following links: 

Twitter: @Lindsay_MMiller

https://www.facebook.com/LindsayMarieMillerAuthor

www.amazon.com/author/lindsaymariemiller

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LindsayMarieMiller

www.goodreads.com/LindsayMarieMiller