Lauralynn Elliott's Blog, page 72

Interview With Michelle DePaepe

Today I'm interviewing Michelle DePaepe, author of The Gardener. One commenter will be receiving a coupon code from Smashwords for a free copy of The Gardener and also one for my new novella, Guardian Vampire. So without further ado, here we go.

When did you become interested in writing?



It's funny to me that I grew up as such a bookworm, and I wrote some poetry and songs when I was banging around on a guitar as a teenager, but it didn't occur to me that I could actually write a novel until sometime during college. When I got hooked on European history, I used to get fabulous grades on essays and loved literature, but never considered switching majors to focus on writing. (Maybe that was a rebellion thing…since my mother was an English teacher.) By the time I graduated, though, I knew that I wanted to write fiction. I wrote my first novel, A Demon Rose, in 1996. But, I consider that one to be a 'training novel' that will never see the light of publication. I wrote a lot of short stories after that, thinking that I was trying to run before learning to walk.

What genre interests you the most?

As a female, I have an uncommon penchant for horror–but not the type you see in slasher flicks or some of the low budget teen movies. I really like well written paranormal horror–the kind where you know it's not a true story, but you're still afraid to walk across a dark room at night after closing the book. When I was a kid, I lost a lot of sleep, staying up late and reading books by Stephen King, John Saul, Peter Straub, and F. Paul Wilson. They are true 'kings' of the genre. But, so much horror is written from the male perspective. I want to read and write more dark stories with female protagonists. I love anything with ghosts, vampires, demons, or ethereal dark creatures, and a woman who uses her brain to solve the conflict.

Who are you favorite authors?

There are so many! I love Anne Rice, Tanith Lee, Poppy Z. Brite, and Margaret Atwood. Some of my favorite male authors include Edward Lee, Bentley Little, William Peter Blatty, and James Reese. I also love older literature from authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oscar Wilde, and classic horror from writers like Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, and H.P. Lovecraft.

What is The Gardener about?

I consider this novel to be 'horror lite'. It's a ghost story that includes a bit of romance. A small town psychic gets in over her head when she tries to contact her client's dead husband and accidently brings back the ghost of a Victorian murderer instead. Shortly after, her client ends up dead, and the client's daughter, an art gallery owner from New York City inherits the house where the ghost now resides. She finds herself falling for a sheriff's deputy and the ghost who tries to worm his way into her heart. But, time is running out for all of them as the psychic desperately tries to find a way to undo her mistake as the bodies begin piling up in town. (I entered this novel in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Contest a few years ago, and it placed as a finalist in the competition. I've rewritten it since then, and I'm thrilled to have it published online as an indie author.)

What are you working on now?

I have a few projects in the works. I'm almost done with Eaters, a short novella. I could tell you that it's about zombies, but it's really about finding yourself in a crisis situation where your whole world is turned upside down and danger lurks at every turn. How do you hold it together, and how do you find the strength within yourself to do what's necessary to survive? If you've gotten hooked on the AMC television series, 'The Walking Dead', you'll like this story.

Thank you, Michelle. I hope you sell lots of copies after people get their new eBook readers for Christmas. :0) Everyone be sure to comment so you'll be entered for two free eBooks!

Interview with Michelle DePaepe and Free Stuff

Tomorrow I'll be doing an interview with Michelle DePaepe, author of the paranormal thriller, The Gardener. I really loved this book! And one commenter will be chosen at random to win free eBook copies of both The Gardener and my latest paranormal romance, Guardian Vampire, from smashwords.com. Free stuff is good!

Guardian Vampire Now Available

Guardian Vampire is finally published! You can find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords .

Partially Published

I uploaded Guardian Vampire to Smashwords, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble during my lunch hour today. The process with Amazon and B & N takes awhile, but you can find my book at Smashwords already at Guardian Vampire Yay!

Anya Kelleye's Blog

Anya Kelleye has a link to an interesting article over on her blog,

Anya Kelleye-Thinking Out Loud

Trudging Along

I'm still working on editing Guardian Vampire. I found one chapter where I used the unnecessary "that" multiple times. It makes it sound clunky or something when "that" is used so much. A couple of years ago, I probably would have never caught that problem. I feel like I'm getting better at the editing process. I found a couple of discrepancies that I need to fix…just minor stuff. It's so much easier to catch things when I load the book onto my Kindle.

I'm about 1/3 way through editing Jon Eli's crime novel. I HAVE to get this done before Christmas.

I'm also working on a set of "Twelve Days of Christmas" eggshell ornaments to put on my Etsy website. I doubt I'm going to get these on in time for Christmas. Maybe if I offer two day priority mail service for the price of regular mail….

And I don't have my Christmas shopping done!

Release News!

My latest novella, Guardian Vampire, will be released soon. I'm shooting for December 15. But you know how those "best plans" sometimes work out.

Upcoming Events

There are a few things happening in December that I want to share with you.

First, I'm going to interviewing, here on the blog, Michelle DePaepe, author of the paranormal thriller, The Gardener. I really enjoyed that book and can't wait to read more by her. A little birdy told me she's working on something else right now.

Second, I'll be releasing a novella before Christmas and possibly a novel as well. More information on those in a day or two.

Third, Jonathan Eli, author of the science fiction novel, The Last Cabbandeum, will be releasing a crime novel/murder mystery soon. I'll also have more about that soon.

November was busy with NaNoWriMo. December will be editing, editing, editing….

I Won NaNoWriMo!!!

50,349 words in 29 days! Squeeeeee!

Various Things

Wow, I can't believe it's been 8 days since I've written a blog post. I'm such a bad blogger.

I had a great Thanksgiving at my Dad's house. We've never had Thanksgiving there before and we had a houseful. Tomorrow (Saturday) is my turn to cook and I'm going to have a few people over, too. I'm going to be soooo tired tomorrow.

I also have a question. Is it wrong to use a reference to something in your book that not everyone will get? (I have that happen to me sometimes when I'm reading and I get a little annoyed by it, but it's not a big deal.) And the people who will get it will think it's funny, I think. No matter what kind of book I'm writing, I can't seem to refrain from putting a little humor in it. Anyway, everyone my age and older and some a little younger will get the reference. Younger readers, I'm not sure. I guess it depends on whether you watched The Waltons or not. LOL