Megan Hart

May the 4th be with you!

Also, check me out at Carina Press’s blog today…there are giveaways to be had!

Hi, and welcome to another edition of The Meaning of! My guest today is Beth Kery, author of Release (among other awesome books!)

Scene:

A plow had cleared Wells Street perhaps an hour ago, but the sidewalks were thick with untouched snow. They walked on the side of the street, because there wasn’t a car in sight. The ”L” tracks over their head and the high-rises gave them a small measure of protection against the swirling, stinging snow for the first part of their trip, but north of the loop they were more fully exposed.

They finally turned right from Dearborn Avenue onto Oak Street. Sean grabbed her hand to keep her steady as the brutal Lake Michigan wind cut through her wool coat as though it were made of tissue paper. The wind came off the lake at Oak Street Beach and zoomed between the buildings, creating one of the most unpleasant wind tunnels in the city.

While shoppers patronized Michigan Avenue for the more famous stores, the block on Oak Street between Michigan and Rush was prized for smaller, high-end fashion boutiques. When Genevieve’s father had passed away, she discovered that he’d named both her and her mother as the beneficiaries on his modest life insurance policy. Genevieve had used it as start-up money for her business.

She’d wanted to succeed in her own right, but part of what had propelled her manic hard work in those early days was the desire to show her father she’d made good on his legacy. She’d burned to make his life worthwhile . . . to make the ghost of him that resided in her brain proud.

She noticed as they plodded along the snow-laden street, their shoulders to the wind, that very few shops were open. She shivered and squinted at Sean. Snowflakes clung to his eyebrows and whiskered jaw. His dark blond hair had been streaked with white. He looked resigned to his frozen discomfort.

“Whose idea was this, anyway?” she asked.

He threw her a dry glance. “Had to have been some crazy girl from Gary, Indiana. Boys from N’ Orleans are too fragile to go out in a blizzard.”

Keeping up with Sean’s long legs in the thick snow had got her heart pumping. She snorted between pants. “Fragile, my ass.”

“Too smart then,” Sean added with a rakish grin that told Genny she’d been forgiven for her foolishness.

Explanation:

The reason this is one of my favorite scenes in RELEASE is a very personal one. It gives me some satisfaction to know that I’ve had life experiences that can give me accurate information for a scene. I’ve lived in downtown Chicago for more years than I care to admit, and the little details in this bit sort of highlight some of my true-to-life-experience in the city. I’ve endured several blizzards and can attest to the fact that a bad snowstorm in an urban environment is a unique experience.

I lived on Oak Street for years. Once, when walking around the corner from Michigan Avenue to Oak, the winter wind coming off the lake/beach area made me stumble and slide on ice—completely out of control—for about ten feet and come very close to being thrown on the pavement before I finally righted myself. I must have looked hysterical. I’ve never experienced wind tunneling down a street like I have on Oak.

It’s little stuff, and most people wouldn’t be aware of whether it’s accurate or not, so I suppose there’s a good argument that it doesn’t matter much. For my own part, though, it really does give me a smile when I write something and I know for a fact there are only a handful of people who would know those little details.

******

Find out more from Beth at her website.

http://www.cynthiaeden.com/romance/write-on-wednesday-megan-hart-on-writing/

I’m over at Novel Thoughts talking about forgetting stuff. Stop on by…or, you know. Don’t. Whatevs.

M

I’m guest blogging over at Seductive Musings!

First off, thanks very much for agreeing to be interviewed for my blog. I’m going to get my enormous fangirl SQUEEEEE out of the way right off the bat so we can get on to the interesting stuff.

OMG I TOTALLY LOVE YOUR BOOKS OMG THEY ARE MADE OF AWESOME!

*ahem*

An introduction: Chelsea Cain, author of New York Times Bestselling novels Heartsick
and Sweetheart
lives in Oregon. Before starting on her career writing thrillers, she worked as a journalist for The Oregonian as well as writing several non-fiction books.

On to the questions…

Heartsick was your first published novel, but not your first published book. How has the experience of launching what many call a “first” book with such success, including NYT Bestseller-dom, national acclaim and lots of media attention, been different from or the same as your experience with your first few books?

On the whole, it’s been pretty fucking awesome. I get to see my book in airport stores next to gum and neck pillows! And I have this great publisher full of great people whom I actually truly like, and they spend money to market me and to market the books, which is huge. I get to travel all over the world. I’ve been to Oslo. Oslo! (Can I just say how much I love the Norwegians?) Financially speaking, my life has changed completely. With my other books – mostly illustrated humor books – I wrote them for the process, and because they afforded me a little bit to live on. But I never actually considered the fact that I could make a good living writing – you know, be “successful” – because how many people actually get THERE? I’ve always just written to entertain myself. I wrote HEARTSICK because it was thick into a thriller faze and I had finished reading all the thrillers I loved, and it seemed easier to write one than to find one that somebody else had written. What’s the quote? “I’ve never understood why someone would write a book, when you can easily buy one for a few dollars?” I’m sort of the opposite.

On the other hand, there have been a lot more demands on my attention. I spend a lot of time doing marketing because people are interested, which is awesome. But it changes the ratio of writing time. It’s a constant challenge, because if I don’t write, I won’t have anything to promote, and if I don’t promote, people won’t find the book in great numbers, and then I won’t have the opportunity to write.

One of the reasons I picked up HEARTSICK (actually, I requested it as a birthday gift and got it, SCORRRRE!) was because I’m fascinated by the premise of a female serial killer. You’ve said “in real life, there aren’t that many violent female serial killers. We tend to kill quietly, suffocating our babies or poisoning our husbands, and we tend to get away with it. But I wanted to explore a woman who killed violently, like a man, because she liked it.” (via Chelsea interviews Chelsea for the Oregonian on your blog)

The idea seems to be that female serial killers most often don’t do it violently, or get a sexual charge from it, the way traditional male serial killers do – yet you created Gretchen Lowell, one of the most fascinating serial killers AND women I’ve ever read.

Did you worry at any point while writing the book you wouldn’t be able to pull it off? That you couldn’t make her…well…believable?

God, yes. I totally worried that she wouldn’t be believable. Because I did a lot of research. And the thing about psychopaths is that real textbook psychopaths are not very interesting. And there haven’t been a lot of violent female serial killers, so right there I was stretching people’s believability meters. But one of the things I did, in writing HEARTSICK – and a HUGE liberation to me as a budding thriller writer – was to say, the hell with it. I’m going to write the book I want. I’m not going to worry about avoiding stereotypes or clichés or being authentic all the time. I’ll just tell the story I want how I want to tell it, and I’ll hope that I can bring something to the narrative that elevates it enough that readers will come along for the ride. HEARTSICK, in many ways, is a kind of fan fiction. Because I took characters and situations I loved from books and TV shows and movies that I loved and I threw them all in a big stew and tried to tell my own story.

Did you think about how your novel and characters might be compared to another popular novel – Silence of the Lambs? Did it matter?

About halfway through HEARTSICK, when Susan and Archie go to visit Gretchen in prison, I was like, uh oh, this is SO Silence of the Lambs. I even put that line in where Gretchen calls Susan “Clarice,” so readers would know that I knew. But even so, I was surprised at how that comparison came up in every single review of the book. Because while there are similarities, they’re not huge. But I think that Silence of the Lambs is such a pop cultural touchstone that it’s hard to avoid. And it’s a great book, so I appreciated being compared to it in any way.

Hannibal Lector, the “villain” in Silence of the Lambs, is arguably as much the hero of that story as Gretchen is the heroine of Heartsick and Sweetheart. Why do you think readers love to love these characters who do the worst, most awful things – acts that nobody in their sane minds would find compelling, much less sexy – and yet we loooooove Gretchen on the page in a way I hope I wouldn’t if I met her in real life. Why???

That’s a complicated question. I think that we’re attracted to people with power who are good at their jobs. (Even if their jobs are serial murder.) We’ll also attracted to wit and charisma. I also think there’s something really compelling on our lizard brain level about people who are able to cross that social barrier that prevents the rest of us from committing murder. As for Gretchen, there aren’t a lot of strong female archetypes in fiction, especially thrillers, so think that readers enjoy seeing a woman who is so totally in charge.

I write romance and erotic romance and love to read thrillers and horror – imagine my twisted and somewhat shameful delight when I read Sweetheart and Archie and Gretchen’s relationship got the spotlight. You’ve said Heartsick is about the violence and Sweetheart was about the sex. Did you find writing the books different with those “slants” — is writing sex/emotion different or the same than writing violence/emotion for you?

I think of these books as their own sort of twisted romances. I realized early on that Archie and Gretchen’s relationship was all about the intimacy of violence. So it seemed natural to explore both sides of that. The “slant” is the same. Intimacy. It’s the power that shifts. Every scene between Archie and Gretchen is about these tiny and colossal shifts of power – who has it, and who doesn’t.

Which do you think Gretchen likes more? Killing or having sex?
I think the two are totally entwined to her.

You wrote Heartsick while pregnant and with a small child in the house, without a contract in hand. How was writing Sweetheart a different experience for you? How about Evil at Heart, a third Archie/Gretchen book coming out in September 2009 (OMG I CAN NOT WAIT! I CAN NOT WAIT! I CAN NOT WAAAAAITTTT!!)?

It was weird, because when I was writing HEARTSICK it was to not get a job. I kept thinking if I can just finish this book and sell it then I won’t have to get a job. That’s a real motivator, let me tell you. But when SWEETHEART came along, it was my job. I’d been given money. And a deadline. We were suddenly very comfortable. So I found myself not writing for myself anymore, but for all of the people counting on me – my editor and agent and publisher, the marketing staff, my husband and daughter, etc.

How do you resist the siren song of Twitter and Facebook long enough to get any writing done? Or actually…I’m not sure you do…

It’s hard! Social networking is such a distraction because it pulls me out of the zone. It may just be a moment – a quick update, an attempted witty rejoinder – but then I go back to the work and I’ve lost the momentum. On the other hand, it’s an important way to keep in touch with readers and stay on people’s radars. And just touch base with friends. I’m still negotiating it, obviously. I need to start making rules. One hour in the morning. One hour at night. Did I just write that? That will never happen. But it sounds like a good idea, right?

Something that just occurred to me: Archie and Gretchen both have a strong “ch” sound in their names. How did you choose their names? Do you have a special method for choosing character names, do they have to have a special meaning, or is it always just crazy random happenstance?

That’s very insightful of you! I liked the way that their names sounded together – that hard consonant sound in the middle – like even their names belonged together. Names are always fun. And curiously hard to come up with. I have this terrible habit of getting sounds stuck in my head, so that I’ll write a scene and realize that I’ve given everyone names that start with A, which is really confusing to the reader. Or I’ll name a character after someone famous without realizing it. These days I like to work my friends’ names in. Just their first names or last names, never both. There are lots of things like that in my books – in-jokes for me and one or two other people.

You’ve compared yourself to Susan Ward rather than Gretchen Lowell, and it’s obvious from your website you like coloring your hair, a trait Susan shares. Do you ever color your hair crazy colors, say…oh…blue or purple? And do people stare at you in the grocery store or say “what color were you trying for, hun?” And do people say stuff like “oh, right, you’re that ‘creative’ type” as though that were the name of a disease? Or…is that just me?

I’ve done many shades of red (from natural to magenta), pink stripes, platinum, blonde, brown and black. Black lasted five days. I looked like a Goth seventeen year old. Even worse: I looked like a thirty-something mom TRYING to look like a Goth seventeen year old. Color is funny. There are always some people who love it, and some people who don’t. I’m not good with hair compliments, though. When someone tells me they like my hair, I immediately change it. I don’t know why.

You write thrillers. What do you like to read?

I’m a very loyal series reader. I still read everything that Robert B. Parker puts out. Ditto Jonathan Kellerman. I love Val McDermid’s thrillers. But my taste is all over the map. Mostly I go for the funny and sublime. Give me a smart-ass with a lyrical prose voice, and I’m yours. The narrative vehicle is secondary. TV. Comics. Books. Poems.

What are you working on right now?

Book four of the “heart” series. Let me know if you have any titles with the word “heart” in them, that aren’t totally irritating.

**Editor’s note…Heart of Glass?

What’s the book you haven’t written yet but would love to write?

I’m planning on starting a new series soon, and I’ve got a story knocking around in my head that I’m anxious to get out on paper. Every time I get to steal away some time for it, it’s a treat.

What’s the book you will NEVER write?

I will never write a children’s book.

Rapid fire portion!

Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate.
Back or front? Back.
East or West? West.
Up or Down? Down.
In or Out? Out.
Left or right? Left.
On or off? Off.
Sam or Dean? Dean.
Kirk or Picard? Picard.
Kirk or Spock? Spock.
Sex or violence? Sex.
Sects or violins? Sects.
Wars or Trek? I can’t decide this one.
Mac or PC? Mac.

You stand before three doors. What colors are they, what’s behind each, which do you choose and why?

Black – past
Red – present
Pink – future

I choose the red door, because I live too much in the past and future and not enough in the present. It’s something I need to work on. Plus, red is my favorite color.

Thanks so much for answering my questions, Chelsea, and good luck with your next release. (OMG I CAN NOT WAAAAIIIITTTTTT!!!!)

And one last question: when will Archie and Gretchen come out with an episode 2?

Three words: Labor Day episode.

Find out more about Chelsea Cain and her fabulous and delicious Heartsick, Sweetheart and Evil at Heart at her website. Find her on Twitter, too!

Thanks for the interview! (I ordered Evil at Heart and can’t wait to read it. Srsly.)

M

New book trailer!

And don’t forget to pick up a copy of Evil at Heart from your favorite bookstore. Comes out Sept. 1!

Interview for Anne Calhoun:

What’s your name? Who’s your daddy? And hey, babe, is he rich like me?
LOL!

Seriously, what’s your name and what do you do?

I’m Anne, but without James and Alex . Most days I’m pretty boring – I write, I cook, I clean, I do yoga and the housewife/mom thing. I work part-time editing audio for presentations and doing transcription to justify a rather obscene Starbucks and shoe habit.

Your first novel is now available from Ellora’s Cave — tell me a bit about Liberating Lacey.

Ah, Lacey. Well, Lacey’s a 36-year-old newly single woman who thinks that maybe she missed out on something when she married her first lover at 22. She goes to a bar and picks up Hunter, a Clive Owen lookalike/younger cop, for a one night stand…except it turns into so much more than just one night. Hunter and Lacey embark on a sexual journey through all of the “firsts” Lacey never explored with her husband, but intertwined with the sex is a profoundly emotional experience. While she’s older than Hunter, the book is more of an exploration of how two people from very different worlds find that those differences just don’t matter when it comes to the strength they can draw from love.

How long have you been writing? Is LL your first novel, or do you have some “drawer babies” as I like to call them?

I’ve been “writing with the intent to publish” (which for me means I stopped whining about wanting to be a writer and started writing) for about three years, and I have SEVERAL drawer babies. I wrote three category novels that didn’t fly and an erotic romance I’m not sure I want to do anything with. When I started writing I felt like a failure if I didn’t sell what I wrote. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with the idea of writing something to explore a topic/theme/situation or, God forbid, learn something about writing and letting the chips fall where they may in terms of sales.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

Read. I’m currently into historical romance, but I read a ton out of genre. Lots of nonfiction, lots of whatever people recommend. I’m a huge fan of Sharon Shinn who writes fantasy-ish stuff with just enough romance (if you haven’t read Sharon Shinn, immediately order Mystic and Rider and/or Archangel from your favorite bookstore. They’re awesome). I bake bread, and I quilt. I used to knit rather obsessively but I’ve got some repetitive motion stuff going on that’s keeping me from the “chick with sticks” thing.

Do you have links to a website, blog or buy pages?

My website is annecalhoun.com but I’m far more active on my blog at annecalhoun.wordpress.com. That’s the place to keep up-to-date with mememe, and the site includes a Liberating Lacey page with information about music, trivia, and an excerpt. If you’d like to buy the book, go to the Liberating Lacey page at Ellora’s Cave.

Now for the rapid-fire part of the interview:

front or back – front – I’m short
black or white – Is this a formal or summer event? Is it a wedding? Am I the bride? Please God, don’t let me be the bride…I’ve done that once and my advice is to elope. Do not pass Go, do not collect…wait, get the money, but…what was the question?
chocolate or vanilla – Am I wearing black or white? Is this a formal event? Are we outside? Which is melting faster? Is there syrup? Wait…is my kid there? If my kid’s there I’m wearing all the ice cream flavors.
Sam or Dean – Dean, but slut that I am, I’d play rock-paper-scissors with either of them.
Kirk or Picard – Picard, any color, any game
Spock or Kirk – Old Star Trek – Spock – New Star Trek – both. Oh God, wouldn’t that be fabulous?
up or down – hmmmm…I am a tree, an ancient tree, with roots spreading deep down into the ground and branches swaying up in the air. Oooooohhhhhmmmmmmmmmm.
left or right – left. Left wing, left coast and most assuredly left behind.
in or out – In. Definitely in. Wait a minute…what are we doing? Do I have to drive? Am I wearing black or white? Nothing? I’m out.
Star Wars or Star Trek – Battlestar Galactica
Dracula or Frankenstein – Neither. Like human males aren’t difficult enough?

Sorry…I don’t do rapid-fire well!

You stand in front of three doors. What colors are they, what is behind each, which do you choose and why?

The first door is black and behind it is the tar-like, sticky, hot, smelly bog of procrastination. The second door is red and behind it is a red Mini Cooper with a white racing strip with Tahmoh Penikett (aka Helo from Battlestar Galactica) in the passenger seat. He’d holding a bottomless cup of soy chai latte from Starbucks, the key to amazon.com’s warehouse, another key to a suite at Hotel 57 in New York City. The smile on his face tells me I’m going to the hotel before Amazon’s warehouse. The third door is white and behind it is the virtuous life of a suburban mother and housewife who writes romance. I choose door number three…because I love my life.

Anything else you’d like to share with the class? I mean…readers?
Class dismissed!

Thanks, Anne!

M

G’wan over and check it out.

Over at Riding With the Top Down!

I ran into Heather and Lindsay more than once at the Cherry Hill con, but it wasn’t until I got home and, via the wonders of Facebook, that we actually met. They’ve got a neat project going on right now, and I thought it would be neat to let all you Supernatural fans out there hear about it.

Hi, Heather and Lindsay! Thanks so much for agreeing to be interviewed for my blog.
Thank you, Megan, for taking the time to interview us. It is an honor to talk to you about what we love to do!

1. How did Support Supernatural get started?
Originally it started because we were afraid that Supernatural was going to be canceled and not be back for Season 3. So we started post card campaigns to send thank yous to the sponors of the show and The CW to let them know how much we loved the show and wouldn’t let it die without a fight.

2. How long have you been running the site?
It’s been a little over 2 years now.

3. What’s your favorite part about working with the site?
Heather: I love searching for all the links to tell people about. I also love getting all the interviews we have been getting lately. It’s awesome to have such cool stars opened to doing interviews for such a little ol’ website like ours.

Lindsay: My favorite part is simple – being able to do two things at once: promote Supernatural, the best show on television, and help out some wonderful non-profits.

4. How many conventions have you been to? Which has been your favorite?
Heather: I’ve been to four conventions so far. I would say the first EyeCon and the last Creation convention in New Jersey were my favorites. Just because they were so laid back and I was more comfortable at them seeing that I now had friends to hang with. The first convention I went too was awesome because I was so nervous about everything, but in a good way. It was so exciting.

Lindsay: I attended the same four as Heather. My first certainly was special! I’ve loved them all though. There is a lot to be said about meeting people who are just as passionate about something as I am.

5. What led you to begin fundraising for charity using the Support Supernatural site? Can you describe a bit of the process that goes into collecting donations and making sure they get where they’re supposed to go?
Heather: I think Lindsay and I thought it would be a good idea to raise money for charity and hopefully be able to get Supernatural into the news more. Lindsay had lots of contacts and knew how to get the right addresses to send our press releases to. This was a way to get our campaign into the news along with SUPERNATURAL.

Lindsay: That’s right, Heather. I have experience in marketing/public relations. I planned events and worked on marketing campaigns (at my former job) for 6 years. The one constant I found was that if there was a charity tied in, the event or marketing plan would be a success. Plain and simple, helping charities is always a win-win.

As for the specifics of making sure the donations go to the right charity, we allow everyone who wants to donate to write personal checks to the charity if they do not want to donate online. And for the online donations, we use firstgiving.com, which sends the money directly to the charity. The less that comes through our hands, the better. We’re just the middle men (women)!

6. Why Supernatural?
Heather: I have been a fan since day one. When I saw the original previews for the show I knew I would love it. I was a big X-Files and Buffy fan. I had also seen Jared Padalecki in Gilmore Girls and Jensen Ackles way back in his Days of our Lives days so I knew I liked their acting. It was right up my alley.

Lindsay: I often joke about my hubby “doing this to me.” He wanted to watch the pilot so badly, so I checked it out with him and I instantly loved it. I’ve never enjoyed a show more. I’m the kind of person who always roots for the underdog. And it was clear to me from day one that Supernatural was an underdog. It’s on a smaller network and has always had stiff competition. So I promote it every chance I get!

7. Favorite Supernatural episode?
Heather: Oh man…….that’s a hard one. I love the funny ones like Hell House and Ghost Facers. But on the other hand the more emotional ones are great too for that brotherly moment feel.

Lindsay: This in indeed tough. I agree with Heather that he humorous episodes are classics and I find myself watching those over and over, probably because they are not emotionally draining. If I had to narrow it down to just one favorite, I’d have to say my favorite episode is probably “What Is and What Shall Never Be.”

8. If you could be dropped into an episode of Supernatural, which would it be, and why?
Heather: Wow ….. interesting question…yeah I have to think about this one…I think Hell House or Ghost Facers.

Lindsay: Wow, what a great question! I’ve never thought about this before. Hmm…I think I’d have to be in a light-hearted episode. I cry at the drop of a hat, so I would not want to be a basket case. “Hollywood Babylon,” “Tall Tales” and “Monster Movie” are fantastic episodes and it would be a blast to be dropped into any of them!

9. Who’s been your favorite celebrity encounter and why?
Heather: Aside from meeting Jensen and Jared?? I think getting to see Chad Lindberg at the conventions is great. He always greets you with a smile like he knows you and has known you for years. He’s such a sweetheart. Everyone else is awesome too. Love them all!

Lindsay: Gosh, there are so many wonderful moments at conventions. I have honestly loved meeting every actor! But besides meeting Jensen and Jared (which is always rushed but beyond cool), I really enjoyed meeting Gabriel Tigerman at Eyecon. It was also wonderful to meet Traci Dinwiddie and Misha Collins in New Jersey. They were both incredibly charming. And I agree with Heather that Chad is just a class act. He remembers everyone, which really means a lot. The more I think about it, I could say nice things about every actor I’ve met thus far at conventions!

And the rapid fire portion of the interview!
(Heather’s first / Lindsay’s second)
Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate / Ditto, Heather!
Dean or Sam? Sam / Dean
Left or right? Right / Left
Coffee or tea? Coffee / Ditto Heather!
North or South? North / South
Mars or Venus? Venus / Mars

Anything else you’d like to add? Please include information on Support Supernatural, the site address, specifics on the fundraising, etc.

www.supportsupernatural.com
www.firstgiving.com/adogsliferescue
We’re also on MySpace / Facebook / Twitter.

Fundraising goal: $10,000
Campaign ends: 8/14/09

We’re doing this for shelter animals (the true underdogs!) and we’re doing this in the hope of more publicity for Supernatural. We are also doing this so the fandom can come together once again to prove how awesome they are! We know we can meet our fundraising goal because Supernatural fans are the most passionate fans in the world.

Lindsay: I’m sure some Supernatural fans think we’re nuts for having large fundraising goal in a recession. But I say, go big or go home! We can do this! And you want to know my real lofty goal? If we do this right, we hope for:

-More press for Supernatural, which could lead to

-Higher ratings, which could lead to

-More advertising revenue, which could lead to

-A BIGGER SEASON FIVE BUDGET for Supernatural!

Like I said, Heather and I like to dream big!