Guest Post: Gene Doucette

As you may well know, Gene Doucette's book Immortal has been one of my favorites since I was able to get my autographed copy from the author himself.  When Gene - @GeneDoucette on Twitter - posted that he was doing an April Blog Tour to support and promote Immortal, I jumped at the chance to host him.  I've already hosted Adam in my blog, and you can see that post here.  Today's post is an interview I did with Gene.
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1. Of course, the first question has to be...why did you choose to be a writer?

I can’t answer this question without sounding pretentious, but: I didn’t choose to be a writer, I just am one.  To find the “why” I’d have to go back to first grade and figure out what might have happened back then to convince me this is what I wanted to do, because after that my mind was pretty much made up.

2. What made you decide to go from writing books like "Beating Up Daddy" and "The OTHER Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook" to a novel like "Immortal"?

I try out different things all the time.  I believe the historical order of my writing career is: journalist (high school), playwright (high school and college), novelist and playwright, humor columnist, essayist, satirist, novelist, screenwriter.  Novelist comes up twice because in the dark, distant past there is My First Novel, which will Never Be Seen By Anybody if there is any justice.  Immortal is actually my third completed manuscript.

I started writing humor columns because I had a venue for it, originally on one of the AOL channels back when AOL was something people actually used.  But all I’ve ever been looking for was a place to combine what I do well with what people will want to buy in large quantities.  If the current self-publishing ebook environment existed a decade ago my life would have been much more awesome, I’m convinced.

But okay, I haven’t really answered the question.  The answer is, humor columns got boring after a while.  I needed to try something new.

3. Where did Adam as a character come from?  What was your inspiration for this man?

I… don’t know, honestly.  I learned about him at the same time and at the same speed the reader does.  In other words, I developed him by writing as him, so the inspiration was more like a series of small decisions. 

I see him as a consequence of his environment, but his environment is the scope of human history, so what would that mean?  To survive this long he’d have to be extremely clever, occasionally paranoid, fully capable of murder, and so on, and so on.  He’d also need a reason to keep on living, so he can’t be so bitter that he’s given up on making real human connections, which means he needs to find a way to fit into whichever society he finds himself. 

These are the kinds of thoughts that helped me create his character, but they came about as a series of if/then statements I posed while I was already writing the book.

4. I know you're working on the second book in Adam's story.  Do you have an idea of how many books you plan on using to tell his story?

It’s going to take at least three, and I say that because I left some unanswered questions on the table at the end of the first book and I wasn’t ready to answer them in the second book (Hellenic Immortal) so they’re going to be dealt with in the third.  After that, we’ll see how much I have left in me.

5. Are there other stories lurking, waiting to be told?  Or are you just sticking with Adam's stories for now?

Most of my new writing for the past two years has been in screenwriting, but with Hellenic Immortal in draft form and another unrelated novel (Fixer) finished and awaiting a rewrite, I haven’t had to make time to work on a new novel.  That will change once it’s time to write the third Immortal book.  I also think it might be fun to take the established reality Adam lives in and write for another character in that reality.

6. I've been asked this question before so I thought I'd pass it on to you...what is your writing process when you sit down to work on one of these books?

The process is, I sit down and start writing.  When I don’t know what comes next I stop, anguish for a few days until something occurs to me, and then sit down and start writing again.  I am very much a fan of letting my unconscious solve my problems for me.

7. What are your plans for the future in regards to your writing?

Short-term, I’m just trying to get Immortal the attention it deserves.  My hope is to bring up its profile enough to make a mass market deal a reality.  Long-term, I would love to see a screen version.  Adam would translate extremely well in a cable series.

Other than that, I’m sitting on a prize-winning feature length thriller screenplay called Charlatan that still needs a home.  There’s Fixer, which also needs a home.  And I have a few screenwriting projects that are lying dormant and should blow soon.

8. Final question: what are your views on traditional vs. Indie publishing?

Is this something people take sides on? 

Okay, okay.  I spent two plus years getting notes back from traditional publishing houses saying they loved Immortal, but since they couldn’t figure out how to sell it they weren’t going to try.  What they meant was, it’s not a single genre book and so they didn’t want to take a chance on it.  I hated this then and I hate it now, but I do understand it.  This is a money business with a narrow margin, and there’s more money to lose for a large house that’s printed 10,000 copies it can’t move than for an independent publisher that’s printed 1,000 or gone with print-on-demand.  It’s easy to get down on the big houses for not taking chances, but this is the direction every industry goes when it converts from making things to making money.  The same thing has happened in Hollywood.  And it’s not anyone’s fault; in a free market system the businesses that find the cheapest way to make money—meaning the ones that can most consistently guarantee success—are the ones that survive.

I love the indie publishing market, and I support it as much as I can, but that doesn’t mean if a big house offers me a deal next week I’m turning it down.

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You can purchase Immortal on Amazon here and from B&N here and on Smashwords here.

Writing Wednesday - Guest Blogger G.L. Drummond

Today we're hosting Ms. G.L. Drummond (aka @Scath on Twitter) to celebrate the release of her new book Code Walker.  We're celebrating with a guest post in her blog tour...and a contest!  The following is the description of the book, taken directly from Smashwords:

In the fickle worlds created when cyberspace and reality overlap, it’s all too easy to blur and shift lines…moral lines, lawful lines, lines of code and destiny, until the surreal becomes real. Walking those lines back to the source, and rebooting the system, isn’t exactly a job for a girl who plays nice - but it does pay extremely well.

As Riley Cabot never qualified as a ‘nice girl’, life as the Code Walker is sweet.

Only thing about codes is that they break.

Now, I did mention something about a contest, didn't I?  I have a coupon code, generously granted by Ms. Drummond, for a free e-book copy of Code Walker from Smashwords.  I'll be awarding that coupon at random to a commenter on this blog post.  I'll announce the winner for this contest in the same post I announce the winner of my own contest.

Now...on to the interview!
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Thanks for having me, Annikka!

You were curious about the inspiration behind Code Walker. I’ll have to lay the blame at the feet of all the sci-fi novels I read as a kid (and adult), plus movie watching.

I’m certain the most obvious comparison will be The Matrix movies, because of the virtual reality hook.

Books and movies I’ve devoured simmer in some hidden corner of my mind, and every so often, a Voice starts talking to me. Or at me, as the case may be.

That’s what happened with Code Walker, while I was working on a different project in 2008. Riley said ‘Brain jack’, and then TJ laughed. I knew he was an AI, and that she was a code walker with an alter ego that did cyber assassinations, among other things.

I had to stop what I was doing, and write down what they were telling me.

Seth popping up in the first chapter was a surprise. Somewhere around 16k or 17k later, we all ran out of juice. I put Code Walker away, and returned to another story.

I kept meaning to finish it, because I knew how it would end, and that there was even a possibility of a second story afterwards. But other stories kept getting in the way.

That’s a problem I have. If I know how a story is going to end, I sometimes lose enthusiasm to finish it. The one thing that will offset that is having a lot of feedback ongoing while I’m writing something. I thrive with feedback, to the point that I can finish a 35k novella in 8 days, if I have a constant source of it.

What can I say? I work better with an audience, LOL.

Finally, this year, I pulled Code Walker out and finished it. Woohoo!

You also wanted to know about my creative process.

First thing to know is that I seldom use outlines for anything. I don’t always know how a story is going to end. Much of the time, I write in a linear manner, but there are instances when non-linear comes into play.

It’s pretty much whatever works for the particular story. All first drafts are written with pen and paper.

Each story begins with a Voice speaking up inside my head. The Voices seem to prefer popping up when I’m driving, or out at the barn, cleaning stalls and feeding horses. Weird, huh?

From then until the words run out (meaning when the Voice(s) decide to wander off, or tell me ‘That’s it. The end.’), I just write. I don’t worry about problems like skipped scenes or someone magically knowing something they didn’t the chapter before the one I’m writing.

All of that is stuff to fix when I begin editing. I go over and over each story before turning them over to my beta readers. Once they’ve all weighed in, I cut, add, rewrite, and then go over and over the story again. After that, the story goes to one of my two editors.

When the editing is finished, I approve edits and incorporate suggestions. And spend even more time going over it before finally deciding it’s ready to be published.

Any time during the actual writing, things may halt for some research or world building. There’s only a few of my stories, mainly those that belong in a series, which have a lot of world building notes involved.

So that’s my creative process: a Voice speaks, I listen and begin writing. Pit stops for research and/or world building as necessary. Go over and over each to fix mistakes, fill holes, or tighten things up.

Not all that exciting, but it does give results.
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For a limited time, you can purchase Code Walker for .99 on both Amazon for the Kindle and Smashwords.  The offer is limited and expires on on April 25th.  So I'd hurry in and purchase your own copy of this awesome book.

Writing Wednesday - Guest Blogger K.D. Sarge

So here I am on Annikka's blog and she's not around. I'd love to TP the trees and short-sheet the bed, but there's that katana to worry about. Especially since I've misplaced my axe.

So instead I have some questions. I'm going to go ahead and answer them, but I'd love to hear other opinions too.

What's wrong with escapism?

People look down on speculative fiction as "escapist" but I think when those critics read, they probably also prefer books that take them away, whether it's to a dark and moody New England town or Siberia or what have you. To me, that's what a book is for--to take the reader out of her life and show her someone else's. We may be glad to come back (The Scarlet Letter) or sorry (The Lord of the Rings) but we're grateful we got to go.

Escapism isn't running away. It's taking a break. Who doesn't need that sometimes? Especially if you come back from that break revitalized, stronger, maybe even with new ideas to try on whatever in your life you needed to get away from.

What exactly is a Gay Theme?

I remember an article about gay marriage in which the writer asked why we had to have the line between "regular" marriage and gay marriage. If he, a gay man, were to walk his dog, would it be called gay-walking? I think of that when my stories are said to have "gay themes."

Maybe the problem here is that "theme" is a technical term to writers. To me, a theme is what the book is about. Taro's book (Knight Errant) follows his attempts to balance his own desires against those of the people he loves and honors. In another book, Joss Ravid fights to keep a young girl alive after she becomes the focus of a feud among ruling families.

Taro and Joss are both gay. It's one of about two things they have in common. Both deal with romantic relationships in their stories, but it's one more struggle, not the main conflict of the book.

Gay characters do not a "gay book" make. And saying a novel doesn't have a gay theme should not imply that there's anything wrong with books that do.

Who are those adults you write for?

I don't like that the "adult" label is increasingly applied to anything and everything regarding sex. I understand why it's "adult" and not "racy" but I still think we could find a better way. (I also firmly believe that a portrayal of unexamined violence is far more harmful to a child than a gratuitous sex scene, but that is a whole other rant.)

On occasion, I write some seriously sexy stuff. But I have a story that's about a fourteen-year-old boy who has been a sex slave since about seven. Suddenly he's thrust into high school and expected to be a normal teen. I doubt there will be any sex in it at all--but I would assert that story is as adult as anything I've ever written.

Also, just for the record--having a gay character does not make the story adult. Some people just need to grow up.

How difficult did you find it to write a gay couple?

I didn't think of it that way at all--or it probably would have been horribly hard. Instead I wrote two young men and let them find their own way into a relationship. That was hard enough.

I have the advantage of setting on my side in this. It's sci-fi. I did work to avoid stereotypes, but it helped that I didn't have to justify using or ignoring what's perceived as gay culture in twenty-first century America. Therefore Taro is about as manly as they come--brash, confident, competent, strong in body and in person--he even wears military fatigues most of the time. He's also as gay as they come. If orientation is on a spectrum, Taro is alllll the way at the end.

Rafe may be closer to what people think of when they think "gay man," but it's also a bit of a trap, because Rafe is not gay. He's pansexual. His more "gay" behaviors--interior decorating, for instance--are taught skills to make him more valuable.

Which rather amuses the hell out of me.

Did it make it difficult to find an agent?

I really think it did. Not because of any prejudice against gay characters, but because people didn't know what to do with it. Things are changing (Thank God) but there has long been a belief that gay fiction is a genre, and science fiction is a genre, and mixing genres is Not a Wise Move. Sure, the more well-known writers can do it, but beginners need to toe the line.

I'm afraid I don't like lines.

These beliefs on genre-bending may be borne out by sales; I don't know. It may be like the belief that white people won't buy books with people of color on the cover--a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What I do know is that if we writers don't put other stuff out there, the system will only become more hidebound. Turtleduck Press is one answer to that--we'll edit each other and we'll insist on quality, but quality what doesn't matter. Poetry, novellas, choose-your-own-adventure...we'll try whatever we like.

We're kind of betting that we're not the only ones tired of being told what people will read.

And that's why I self-published.

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K.D. Sarge is the author of Knight Errant, published through Turtleduck Press.  You can find her on Twitter @KDSarge and on her website http://www.kdsarge.com/.

Writing Wednesday: Guest Blogger Racquel Henry

7 Things an Author Website Should Have

by Racquel Henry

There's been much debate on whether or not an author should have a website before they're published. My take has always been, “what can it hurt?” Whether you're published or unpublished, if you're going to take the plunge and opt for a website, there are features every author website should have. I've compiled a checklist containing seven items.

1. A Homepage

   

In a way, a homepage is like a cover page. It looks nice, it's more professional, and it provides an overview. Your overview should include your name, what kind of writer you are, a picture of  yourself, etc.

2. An “About Me” Section

Also known as an author bio. Readers want to know about you. What do you do in your free time besides writing? What's your favorite book? Where are you from? How do you write? Obviously you  don't want to get too personal here, but a couple of quirky facts should do the job.

3. Publications

   

If you've been published, then you definitely want to have a section where readers can find out what you've written. If you have a book out, or it's soon to be released, make sure you list it and make sure    there's a buy button or link to where people can purchase your book.  If your work appears in magazines or  newspapers, add a link to that as well.

4. Blogs

   

Having a blog is always a good idea. It connects you to other writers and has the potential to draw more readership for your writing. You can either have a section on your site where you blog, or you can use a blog host such as blogger or wordpress. If you do choose to use a host, then provide a link from your website to your blog site. 

5. Latest News

   

If you've done any interviews, radio or TV shows then you should always have a link to those. If your novel or book is featured anywhere or is given a positive review, then link that also. The same goes for readings, speaking engagements or major projects.

6. Excerpts

   

An excerpt has the potential to wet the appetite of the reader. These days people tend to be more guarded with their money. They want to make sure they're spending it wisely. Having an excerpt of your book could have a positive outcome on the reader's decision to actually purchase the book.

7. Contact Information

   

You never know who is looking at your site. You need to be accessible. Someone could want to schedule an interview with you or maybe a big director wants to make your novel into a movie. You can include information about your agent if you have one, an email, an address, etc. If you do include an address, I would suggest a P.O. Box and not your home address. There are still a good deal of psychos out there.

   

So, when you're ready to start building that author site, include those seven things and you've got one awesome website!

Racquel Henry is an MFA student at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is the editor and co-founder of The Black Fox Literary Magazine. In her free time she enjoys reading, writing, music, and web design. Racquel is in the process of editing her first novel tentatively titled, What's In the Fabric. You can find her at her own blog, Racquel Writes http://racquelshenry.blogspot.com or on Twitter: @RacquelHenry