Ask the Author: Michelle L. Levigne
Answered Questions (10)
Michelle L. Levigne
Hi, Lilyyy
Thanks, I'm always looking for people willing to post reviews of my books. What genres do you prefer reading? Which of my books have you read already? I can provide you audiobook download codes for a limited number of my books (it takes a while to get them recorded and edited), and can provide epub or mobi/Kindle files for my most recent releases.
Just let me know what appeals to you. Check my website for new and upcoming titles: www.Mlevigne.com, and also www.YeOldeDragonBooks.com
As for how I decided I wanted to be a writer ... it seems more like writing chose me. I've always had a very active imagination, and a strong passion for stories. I got in the habit of continuing TV shows and books I loved by making up new adventures for the characters in my imagination, and gradually adding my own characters. I had tried writing down some of the stories I made up, but they died quickly, until high school. I had a story consuming too much of my energy, when I needed to study for semester exams. So I wrote down the story, expecting it to die ... and it kept growing. It and several books after it were just awful, and will never see the light of day. But that was my launching point into writing as my passion and now my career.
Thanks for asking!
Thanks, I'm always looking for people willing to post reviews of my books. What genres do you prefer reading? Which of my books have you read already? I can provide you audiobook download codes for a limited number of my books (it takes a while to get them recorded and edited), and can provide epub or mobi/Kindle files for my most recent releases.
Just let me know what appeals to you. Check my website for new and upcoming titles: www.Mlevigne.com, and also www.YeOldeDragonBooks.com
As for how I decided I wanted to be a writer ... it seems more like writing chose me. I've always had a very active imagination, and a strong passion for stories. I got in the habit of continuing TV shows and books I loved by making up new adventures for the characters in my imagination, and gradually adding my own characters. I had tried writing down some of the stories I made up, but they died quickly, until high school. I had a story consuming too much of my energy, when I needed to study for semester exams. So I wrote down the story, expecting it to die ... and it kept growing. It and several books after it were just awful, and will never see the light of day. But that was my launching point into writing as my passion and now my career.
Thanks for asking!
Michelle L. Levigne
My current work-in-progress is the follow-up to the Refuge books in my Commonwealth Universe SF series. At the end of "Moonbirds," Talon and Mykal reported that they had spoken with Admiral Dorwen about using the caves and canyons where they and the Moonbird sisters, K'reeth and K'rin had taken refuge, to establish the Peace Village, where Ayanlak and Na'huma could learn from each other and work toward peace on their shared world.
So the current book, which I hope to turn in to Writers Exchange, my publisher by the end of October, is the story of the first few moons of building the Peace Village, and all the conflict they face from both races -- and the rediscovery of some lost technology of the Ancients ....
So the current book, which I hope to turn in to Writers Exchange, my publisher by the end of October, is the story of the first few moons of building the Peace Village, and all the conflict they face from both races -- and the rediscovery of some lost technology of the Ancients ....
Michelle L. Levigne
Good morning! Thanks for checking. Yes, "Bitter Sweet" is my baby. I hope you enjoy it! I've been having a lot of fun with the whole faerie tale mode as a launching point for stories. It started out as a short story, then became a screenplay, then a novel. Right now, the screenplay is being revived and making the rounds of contests and hopefully producers ... someday!
The sequel, "The Wolf that Was," came about because my publisher said the villain didn't suffer enough for his crimes, and I needed to bring him to his just rewards.
Hope you enjoy the book. It's one of my favorites.
The sequel, "The Wolf that Was," came about because my publisher said the villain didn't suffer enough for his crimes, and I needed to bring him to his just rewards.
Hope you enjoy the book. It's one of my favorites.
Michelle L. Levigne
Many ways.
1 -- I see a movie/TV show or read a book where I want the story to keep going, or I like a character or situation that makes me go, "Hmm, what if ..." and I fiddle with the society, the "toys" and history or magical/telepathic powers. The characters become so "real" to me that they demand to have their story told. I must obey.
2 -- I see a movie/TV show or read a book that just did NOT make sense. Utterly stupid. Logic holes big enough to fly the Enterprise through. I want to fix it. I want to figure out how it SHOULD have ended or the problems/challenges should have been faced/resolved. Or I hear writer friends griping about utterly stupid TV shows or movies or books, and we talk about how they should have been done, and then that launches me in a totally new direction, hopefully for a better story.
3 -- I have dreams, images that stick in my head that just won't let go. There have been mornings when I wake up and can't get the image, the fragments of the dream out of my head, and I keep thinking about it, filling in the holes .... and by the time I'm heading to the office, I have a couple pages of notes that will someday turn into the outline or at least the foundation of a book. Or several.
1 -- I see a movie/TV show or read a book where I want the story to keep going, or I like a character or situation that makes me go, "Hmm, what if ..." and I fiddle with the society, the "toys" and history or magical/telepathic powers. The characters become so "real" to me that they demand to have their story told. I must obey.
2 -- I see a movie/TV show or read a book that just did NOT make sense. Utterly stupid. Logic holes big enough to fly the Enterprise through. I want to fix it. I want to figure out how it SHOULD have ended or the problems/challenges should have been faced/resolved. Or I hear writer friends griping about utterly stupid TV shows or movies or books, and we talk about how they should have been done, and then that launches me in a totally new direction, hopefully for a better story.
3 -- I have dreams, images that stick in my head that just won't let go. There have been mornings when I wake up and can't get the image, the fragments of the dream out of my head, and I keep thinking about it, filling in the holes .... and by the time I'm heading to the office, I have a couple pages of notes that will someday turn into the outline or at least the foundation of a book. Or several.
Michelle L. Levigne
The newest Young Wizards book by Diane Duane -- the City of Bones trilogy -- Septimus Heap Book 3 -- Allegiant and Insurgent, to find out what happens next -- plus catching up on the classics I've had sitting in my to-be-read pile for years, like Sense and Sensibility, The Robe, To Kill a Mockingbird, and an anthology of Horatio Hornblower books. My to-be-read pile is topping out at around 100 books, along with about 200+ in my Kindle/Nook/iBooks apps.
Michelle L. Levigne
That's a hard one because there are so many fictional couples out there that I love to visit again and again, especially if the author keeps writing more stories about them -- and also because there's always something about their relationship that irritates me. Somewhere along the lines of, "You've been through ## stories/adventures/dangers together, haven't you two learned anything yet?"
The official answer -- for now -- is going to be an upcoming couple I'm going to write about, because there's so much fun to anticipate. Because it's going to be silly, and there's so much potential of storylines. Look for the adventures of Jane Bondservant, Agent 777, and her former nemesis, Dr. Jose Noway, after he leaves the evil supervillain business and they become allies, trying to straighten out a crime-fighter/superspy school that has produced far too many megalomaniacs bent on conquering the world.
At least, that's the storyline plan for now. It may change, once I get a publisher interested in it.
The official answer -- for now -- is going to be an upcoming couple I'm going to write about, because there's so much fun to anticipate. Because it's going to be silly, and there's so much potential of storylines. Look for the adventures of Jane Bondservant, Agent 777, and her former nemesis, Dr. Jose Noway, after he leaves the evil supervillain business and they become allies, trying to straighten out a crime-fighter/superspy school that has produced far too many megalomaniacs bent on conquering the world.
At least, that's the storyline plan for now. It may change, once I get a publisher interested in it.
Michelle L. Levigne
I can listen to the voices in my head! There are too many positive things about being a writer to list here. Some can be negatives, if you don't keep them under control. Writing is the best fun you can have, but demands solitude. It's an adventure every time you sit down at the keyboard, but can also be utter frustration and panic and a headache if you have deadlines or you can't figure out what to do next. You'll get weird looks, and can even get in trouble -- such as if you're researching things like bio-warfare or espionage and the government finds out ... they might not believe that it's research for a book! It's utter freedom inside your head, and enslaves you at the same time, because those stories demand to be told and will make you miserable until you obey!
Michelle L. Levigne
Usually writer's block comes from having too much to do, too many projects I want to work on, rather than being unable to think of something. There's a traffic jam in my head, pressure to get something done. Usually I have a deadline of some kind, and I want to work on something else. One of the best tactics is to divide up my day into sections for different chores. Mornings are for rough drafting or the creative aspect -- new books. Afternoons are for the day job -- earning a living. Evenings are for editing, revising something that was written months before. Determine when you have the most creative energy and protect it like the crown jewels. That is YOUR time, and no one has any right to waste that time and use up your energy that should be devoted to your writing.
Michelle L. Levigne
Read, constantly. Write every day. Carry a journal. Record every idea, no matter how stupid it might seem. Recycle -- meaning never throw out anything you write. Today's stupid, dead-end story might be the answer to a plot problem 5, 10 years from now. Give yourself permission to write a first draft that is so bad, if you printed it out and lined a bird cage with it, the bird would die. You can only improve from there. The important thing is to get SOMETHING written, so you can start revising. And HAVE FUN!
Michelle L. Levigne
Right now I'm revising and polishing ANNE'S OGRE, book 7 of the Quarry Hall series -- women's fiction. This book picks up some threads of stories and lives introduced in previous books: ANNE and DARCY, and explores more of Vincent's dark, mysterious past. I'm having fun with it -- other than the deadline of June 1 to turn it in to my publisher!
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Thanks for the reply! I really enjoy fantasy and YA as well as clean (or relatively clean) romance and historical fiction. I read other genr ...more
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