Mayra Calvani's Blog - Posts Tagged "interview"

Nicole Weaver is an award-winning children's author. Her love for languages and other cultures resulted in her writing three trilingual children's pictures books, Marie and Her Friend the Sea Turtle, My Sister Is My Best Friend and currently under contract My Brother Is My Best Friend. Nicole Weaver is a veteran French / Spanish high school teacher and adjunct professor of French at Arapahoe Community College in her hometown of Littleton , Colorado. Author , Nicole Weaver donates a large portion of her book proceeds to Mercy& Sharing . To learn more about Mercy & Sharing please visit:http://www.haitichildren.com/


Do you consider yourself a born writer?

No, I am not a born writer. I started writing when my two older children left home to attend college. I experienced some major depression. A friend of mine talked me into attending a local writer’s conference. I left the conference with an urgent need to start writing. I entered a poetry contest sponsored by my local library. I won first place and from there I branched out and wrote a children’s picture book. The therapeutic benefits from writing had me completely hooked.

Tell us about your recent release. What was your inspiration for it?

I got inspired to write My Sister is My Best Friend after I met my half sister for the first time in 2008. We immediately became best friends. My imagination took off. I began thinking about what it would have been like if I had grown up with her. I came up with a very positive story that portrays two twin sisters who get along and enjoy each other's company instead of being yet another typical story about sibling rivalry.

Tell us about your children's books.

My first book titled, Marie and Her Friend the Sea Turtle is based on true events of my childhood days in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I lived with my father near the beach. Sea turtles came to shore to lay their eggs within walking distance from my home. I loved watching the mother turtles lay their eggs and later return to the sea. One unlucky turtle was stuck on the beach and much to my dismay; my father and uncles had plans for the poor turtle. In short, Marie and Her Friend the Sea Turtle is about what happened at the beach so many years ago.


My third book is very similar to My Sister is My Best Friend. My Brother is My Best Friend is currently under contract with Guardian Angel Publishing. It is a story about two twin brothers. A blogger left a message on my blog asking me to write a book about twin brothers, and that is how I came up with the idea to write the manuscript. Much to my delight, My Brother is My Best Friend came to be.


What was your favorite book as a child?

I loved The Curious George Series. I loved the pictures and reading them helped me learn how to read in English.

What are you working on now?

I am working on a manuscript, which is currently being critiqued. I think the manuscript should be ready for submission soon. I wrote a story about fraternal twins. I thought it would be great to complete the series. My first book is about two twin sisters, second book about twin boys and now the third about a boy/girl twin.

Where are your books available?

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/My-Sister-Best-...

My Publisher:
http://www.guardianangelpublishing.co...


Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/My-si...

Do you have a website/blog where readers may learn more about you and your works?

Yes, readers can go here:

http://nicole-weaver.com
http://mysisterismybestfriend.blogspo...
http://marieandherfriendtheseaturtle....

Mayra , thank you for taking the time to interview me.

George A. Bernstein is the retired President of a Chicago appliance manufacturing company, now living in south Florida. Able to retire early and looking for something to do besides play golf, he leaned on a life-time flair for storytelling and turned to writing novels. He spent years attending writing seminars and conferences, learning to polish his work and developing a strong “voice.” Bernstein is acclaimed by his peers as a superb wordsmith.

His first novel, Trapped, was a winner in a small Indie publisher’s “Next Great American Novel” contest, and received high praise, gaining many mostly 5-star reviews at Amazon (reaching their “Top 100”) and Goodreads. His 2nd novel, A 3rd Time to Die (A paranormal Romantic Suspense) has also garnered mostly 5-Star & 4-Star reviews, with one reader likening him to the best, less “spooky” works of Dean Koontz & Stephen King.

The Prom Dress Killer is the third of his Detective Al Warner Suspense series, with the first, DEATH’S ANGEL, and the second, BORN TO DIE, already garnering rave reviews. Bernstein has the next Warner novel already in the works, to be published in 2017. Readers have likened Bernstein’s Detective Al Warner to Patterson’s Alex Cross.

Bernstein works with professional editors to ensure his novels meets his own rigorous standards, and all of his books are currently published by small indie press, GnD Publishing LLC, in which he has an interest.

Bernstein is also a “World-class” fly-fisherman, setting a baker’s dozen IGFA World Records, mostly on fly-rods, and has published Toothy Critters Love Flies, the complete book on fly-fishing for pike & musky.

Connect with Berstein on the web:

http://suspenseguy.com

http://amazon.com/author/georgeabernstein

http://facebook.com/georgeabernstein

Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, The Prom Dress Killer. To begin with, can you gives us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?   

A: The Prom Dress Killer begins with a psychotic serial-killer abducting young auburn-haired woman, and eventually killing them, leaving their bodies in peaceful repose, donned in fancy prom dresses.

Miami’s crack homicide detective, Al Warner, is on the case, but has no inkling as to why these girls were taken and then executed? What was their connection besides their red hair, and why the prom dresses?

Warner’s hunt for this clever psycho is stymied by a lack of clues, as bodies begin to pile up. As he desperately searches for the latest victim, the murderer finally makes one tiny error, possibly exposing his location.

As Warner and the FBI doggedly zero in on their fleeing prey and his newest captive, the action escalates. Unlikely players are drawn into a tense, deadly game. As the stunning climax plays out, Warner is trapped in a classic Catch-22. In order to snare this lethal psycho, he must make a decision that may haunt him forever.

I wrote this novel as a natural progression for my Detective Al Warner series. This is the 3rd, and I’m well into the 4th, with at least 2 others outlined.

Q: What do you think makes a good suspense novel? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?

A: Suspense, thriller and mystery often get lumped together. For me, it’s first about who the characters are; secondly, a deadly terror threatens them, putting them in fear for their lives; and third, an action-packed climax, with a surprise the readers doesn’t expect. A mystery is more about solving a crime, while a suspense is about extreme jeopardy.

Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?

A: When I begin a novel, after conceiving the overall plot, I imaging my main characters, and use 4 x 6 cards to detail their physical and psychological make-up. I list their cars, their homes, their pets – anything I may need later. It’s important to keep all their data straight.

Next I outline the novel, chapter by chapter, with only a few sentences for each as a guideline. This is very flexible, as once I begin writing, the characters inevitably take over the action, often leading me to places I never expected. And they evolve into more complicated, more deadly (in the case of the antagonist), more loveable people.

Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?

A: I wanted Detective Al Warner to be human, not a super hero, despite being labeled “The Hero of Miami” because of his killing a previous serial-killer, while almost dying himself from a gunshot wound. He’s a tough, street-wise homicide cop with great instincts, but has a softer side. He takes the death of ever victim very personally, and has an unshakeable morality. He’s the kind of guy who rescues a wounded golden retriever and brings the newspaper to the door of his elderly neighbor to save her the steps. He never expects to find love, but when he does, with surprising partners, he’s a tender and expert lover. On the other hand, he has no qualms over killing a vicious psycho. He would rather see him dead than in custody, but he fights that urge, trying to apprehend rather than kill. Readers tell me the love his character.

I’ve done some character interviews for Warner, but they’ve all been after the novels have been published.

Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?

A: He just comes to me. His physical characters just “pop out” of my mind. As I mentioned earlier, he really creates who he is, psychologically, as the story develops. A lot of that comes to me at night, while awaiting sleep. Suddenly, I see him doing things I hadn’t imagined earlier … always worse things, at that. My critique group love how “creepy” (their words) he’s become.

Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?

A: At a writers’ seminar, they asked, “What’s the worst thing that can happen to your protagonist?” When we came up with an answer, they asked, “What can be worse than that?” And then later, “Even worse than that?” In a suspense or thriller, you have to make bad things happen to your characters … even sometimes, the villain … and things have to go downhill from there. A scene of trauma or danger can’t be over in a half page. It should be even chapters long, and while your readers know everything will end up well, you’ll have them on the edge of their seat … and sometimes you’ll make them wrong. That’s what readers say about my novels: they never know what’s going to go wrong next.

Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?

A: I find that many writers err on both sides of what’s right here. Some are so into the story they forget to tell the reader what the characters look line, where they are, and don’t describe the setting. Others bury the reader in mountains of description that takes them right out of the story.

I like to feed descriptive information in a bit at a time rather than do it all in a “dump.” A quick mention of a silk Armani suit. That he smoothes his sparse moustache; she ran her fingers through her wavy auburn locks. The shriek of circling sea gulls; Smells of oregano and garlic; The sense of feel – the moist, salt-laden breeze wafting with a gentle caress. Small, quick things that set a scene without overburdening the reader. Smell is one of the senses many author forget to use, and it can be an important memory trigger in the novel.

Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?

A: I had an idea I liked: Scheherazade. I know that sounds strange, but I love the stories and concept of A Thousand and One Nights. I thought of writing a current day novel where a desperate woman uses her story-telling ability to delay and entertain a killer until she can be rescued. Rochelle Weitz becomes that woman in Prom Dress Killer.

Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?

A: I’m not sure. I was always an “artful storyteller,” But after attending a plethora of writing classes at conferences, I blended that with skillful craft. Some of the simpler things were to keep it short: sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. How to build tension is craft. How WELL you build that tension is art. How beautifully you write scenes may be art, but how you blend it together for a seamless story is craft.

Where many new authors fail is that they may have the art, but lack the craft to make it compelling. Those are things I learned at the many conferences and seminars I attended.

Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?

A: First, the love of writing. We do it because we’re impelled to tell a story. Secondly, the imagination to conceive of people, places, and things to make a great story. And last, but far from least, the willingness to accept expert constructive criticism from editors and agents, and be willing to make changes to improve your work.

After Trapped was selected as “The Next Great American Novel,” my editor there made many great suggestions on how to improve it, including turning the whole novel into First Person POV of the protagonist, Jackee. That required a lot of rewriting, but made for a much more powerful narrative.

On the other hand, she also asked me to change the ending, but I refused – and argued my case successfully with the editor. One of the most common comments I get on that novel is, “I loved the ending.” So you have to be open to change, but also be willing to stand up for what you feel is right.

Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. What do you think about that?

A: Nope. Homework was a drag. I rarely needed it to excel, even for the toughest math classes. But writing is a joy, so I find them nothing alike.

Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?

A: The library, of course, but mainly Google. Surgeons asked if I were a doctor because I got the medical details of Locked-in Syndrome so perfectly for Trapped, but it was all there on Google. And I was able to download a 30 page symposium from the BAU division of the FBI, regarding serial killers, and I’ve used that in two of my Warner novels.

Q:  Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?

A: For many new novelists, writing is an avocation, hoping to become a vocation, but for all but a very slim few, there’s not a lot of money in it. Do it because you love it and because there’s a story there fighting to get out. Don’t chase trends, because by the time you finish your work, that fad will have burned out. In other words, write what you feel you MUST, not what you SHOULD. Your outcome will be better for it.