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Too Many Witches – Scott Nicholson

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Scott Nicholson I would like to introduce Author Scott Nicholson the winner of the IndieBRAG Medallion. Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Scott, please tell us about your book, Too Many Witches. I'd did IF I WERE YOUR MONSTER with Lee Davis and really liked his art, so I kicked around for another "monster" type of book. What inspired you to write this story? I liked the idea of "too many cooks spoil the kitchen," so I wondered what would happen if little witches tried to out-do each other on a wicked potion. Is there a message in your story you want young readers to grasp? It's a story about friendship and working together, but also inspiring children to be creative. Who or what inspired you to become an author? All the great books, art, and music I've been lucky enough to find have inspired me to be creative. Ever since I was young, I have always been making up stories, songs, and pictures. Dr. Seuss was probably one of my strongest early influences.

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Authors' Chat

The Mill River Recluse – Darcie Chan

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Darcie Chan I would like to introduce Author Darcie Chan the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion. Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Darcie, please tell us about your book, The Mill River Recluse. The Mill River Recluse is the story of Mary McAllister, a woman who has suffered from severe social anxiety disorder her entire life. As a result of certain events that occur in her youth, Mary’s condition worsens until she becomes a virtual prisoner in her marble mansion that overlooks the tiny town of Mill River, Vermont. The townspeople are completely unaware that she keeps a secret, one which will change all of their lives. Were there any challenges you faced writing this story? I wrote The Mill River Recluse in the evenings, after work, and it took more than two years to finish. The hardest thing for me, other than the fact that it was my first novel and I was learning a lot writing-wise through trial and error, was just finding the time to write at all. My day job at the time was very demanding and often required substantial overtime. What is the most surprising thing you learned while creating your book and…

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Authors' Chat

In Search of the Fuller Brush Man – Douglas Carlyle

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Douglas Carlyle I would like to introduce Douglas Carlyle, the winner of the B.R.A.G. Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Douglas please tell us about your book, In Search of the Fuller Brush Man. The novel is highly biographical, yet “fictionalized.” It has very little to do with the Fuller Brush Man per se. My mother died of cancer in 1987. She kept a journal while she was dying. Her last written words were “Fuller Brush Man”. The plot centers around Sean Marcum who searches for the meaning of his mother’s last words. She used to teach him all of life’s lessons via riddles, and he is certain this is her swan song she intended for him to decipher. There is a problem. Sean is lousy at riddles and puzzles. His search turns into an obsession that leads him year after year from one dead end to the next. Add to this Sean’s mid-life crisis, then the death of his first true love, Kim, and Sean is in real trouble. But wait! Kim and Sean remained close all their adult lives, and it turns out she never let go of him. In fact, she penned a novel about…

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Authors' Chat

Ripple – Tui Allen

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Tui Allen I would like to introduce Author Tui Allen, the winner of the the B.R.A.G Medallion. Please tell us about your book, "Ripple." Ripple arose from my fascination with two facts:· Dolphins were fully evolved 20 million years before humans came down from the trees.· A dolphin brain has ten times the capacity of the human brain for processing sound.It made me realise how little we really know about dolphins, how great is their mystery and how presumptuous we are to consider ourselves worth more than them. I want my readers, to wonder if this story might really have happened and then to want to give all cetaceans the benefit of the doubt and accord more respect to all those life-forms which humans, through their own limitations, cannot possibly fully understand. The book had a working title, "Ripple of Sound." The story brewed in my brain for twenty years before the novel emerged. The poem version was the first incarnation of the story. The poem is included at the end of the book. It's about twenty years older than the novel What were some of the challenges you faced while researching for your story? I needed to…

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The Last Seal – Richard Denning

Stephanie Hopkins
  Author Interview: Richard Denning Layered Pages has the honor of introducing Author Richard Denning. Two time winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion! -Stephanie Richard please tell us about your book, The Last Seal. The Last Seal is a historical Fantasy set during the Great Fire of London in the year 1666 – a fire which destroyed the heart of the city and made 70,000 people homeless. I started reading up on the fire when I was designing a board game I published a couple of years ago AND for a scene in a Time Travel novel I also wrote. When I read about the fire I came across a lot on what beliefs and superstitions people had. I found about the widespread paranoia about foreign plots and conspiracies that people had at the time as well as their belief in magic being real. All that came together very quickly into a idea. I asked myself what if the fire was not just an accident, what if there really were secret societies involved and a supernatural explanation behind the great event? So here is a synopsis of The Last Seal. September 1666: a struggle between two secret societies threatens to destroy…

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Voice of the Dophins – Hardy Jones

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Hardy Jones I would like to introduce Author Hardy Jones the winner of the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion.   Please tell us about your book, "The Voice of the Dolphins."The Voice of the Dolphins is the story of more than thirty years of filming and research among dolphins around the world. In 1978 filmmaker Hardy Jones was swept into the universe of dolphins. In his work as a filmmaker he came to know many of these magnificent animals as individuals. "I know when I'm with them that I'm relating to creatures as intelligent, social, and imbued with emotion as I am." Hardy's life became even more closely entwined with dolphins when he learned that he and the dolphins share a genetic trait that imperils both his life and the survival of dolphins worldwide. Starting with the film that came from his first life-changing encounter with spotted dolphins in the Bahamas, he's made over 70 documentaries for PBS, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and foreign broadcasters. "Filming became my entrée into the world of dolphins but not my ultimate purpose there. My true aim was to get inside the minds of these enormously intelligent and friendly animals." His book…

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Authors' Chat

Six Steps to Sustaining an Indie Career

Geri Clouston
Six Steps to Sustaining an Indie Career By Scott Nicholson (Scott Nicholson is author of the new mystery thriller Liquid Fear—available for 99 cents at Amazon, BN.com, and Smashwords—as well as The Skull Ring, The Red Church, Disintegration, Speed Dating with the Dead, and 20 other books. He resides at hauntedcomputer.com.) I am not sure anyone yet knows how to sustain an indie career in the digital era, despite some people who have been self-publishing since the dinosaur days of paper. The only ones who have careers are those who are already closing in on their indie million. If it all ended tomorrow, they could probably manage okay with some smart investing. Those who are getting a decent income right now could see it go one of two ways. If it ended tomorrow, a solid percentage would immediately shift to giving their books away to “build audience,” even if a paying audience down the road seems unlikely. Those who quit their day jobs to go indie can probably find other jobs, and have a great story for the grandkids about when they were ‘real authors.” A few will continue to parlay indie success into a corporate career. But even corporate…

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Authors' Chat

Use of Social Media: Scary but Necessary

Geri Clouston
Use of Social Media: Scary but Necessary After writing my first book and self-publishing it through a company who does such things, I thought that the tough and time-consuming work was completed. Boy was I mistaken! I quickly realized that the process of promoting my book was every bit as hard and time consuming. And, I realized that using social media was going to be a huge asset to promoting my book. Now, I must admit, at that point in time I was only using Facebook. I had begun on Twitter and had abandoned it because I did not want to take the time to learn how it functioned and Facebook seemed easier for the novice to understand. Further, blogging was a totally unknown media that I only presumed was some new swear word when people mentioned it in conversation with me. I was really not any where near the mainstream of social media: not in the ball park as they say. So, I went back to the company that helped me publish and selected their social media program option. For six weeks, I had my own media publicist who taught me about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging and Hootsuite, a…

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Authors' Chat

Doug Carlyle

Geri Clouston
Doug Carlyle My second novel, Vinegarone, is in the hands of beta readers and my editor. I'm looking forward to self-publishing that novel this summer or early autumn. I attended a writers' conference this past April sponsored by the Houston Writers Guild, of which I am a member. The conference served two purposes. First, it provided some long overdue time for me to surround myself with like-minded people who enjoy writing. It was during one session that I experienced a badly needed "ah-ha!" moment, enabling me to clarify a particular weakness in the plot of Vinegarone that had been nagging me for far too long. That moment of inspiration allowed me to finish the novel to my satisfaction, and I am my own worst critic. I will never publish junk! Secondly, it reaffirmed my belief in self-publishing. If a noteworthy agent contacted me tomorrow and expressed interest in my novel would I foam at the mouth? Perhaps. But let me share a bit of my experience in Houston. I was particularly struck by the break-out sessions lead by authors Rhiannon Frator and Nikki Loftin. Rhiannon Frater
http://rhiannonfrater.com She is a well known, self-published author of zombie/vampire books. She has recently been…

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Authors' Chat

Writing Tips from Joe Perrone, Jr.

Geri Clouston
Writing Tips from Joe Perrone, Jr. Inspiration - I find ideas everywhere there are news articles, books, movies, real-life situations.  Sometimes I'll be reading a non-fiction book, and something in it will give me a direction for one of my books.  This is where I got the idea for Twice Bitten.  Another "germ" came to me when I was mowing my lawn, and resulted in the genesis for Changes, a literary novel that I am working on, periodically.  Naturally, real life experiences help me to flesh out events and characters.  Inspiration?  It's all around you!  Use it. Routine - My routine has evolved over many, many years.  Once I have a "germ" of an idea, I begin roughing it out in an outline.  Then, I decide what characters I'll need to tell my story.  I like to do a little "bio" for each character, which includes age, height, weight, interests, hair color, eyes, etc.  I save these for reference as I proceed with my writing.  Each day, when I'm moved to write, I first go over what I've written in my previous session, and make editing, proofing changes as needed.  I don't write a single new word until I have…

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