Cherie Reich's Blog, page 91

Author Interview with Lisa Rusczyk

Today we have an interview with Lisa Rusczyk. She is the author of several books and an editor. Her book Chasing the Dark was published by Passionate Writer Publishing (PWP) yesterday. You can purchase it here and read my review of it here. 

Lisa's Blog







(I'm in bold. Lisa's answers are regular.)  Thank you for joining us, Lisa. Tell us a little about yourself. I just moved into a new house with my soon-to-be husband and our six cats. I work two jobs, one writing for Demand Studios and the other editing and critiquing manuscripts for Passionate Writer Publishing.

How exciting about the new house and upcoming nuptials! Congrats! I just want to say I loved reading Chasing the Dark. You have a fantastic way with characters and bringing them to life. Chasing the Dark involves the darkness of humanity with drugs, rape, murder, etc. And, yet there is a light to the characters and hope. How did you come up with such a fascinating idea for this novel?

I passed an ambulance one day and wondered if there were people who chased them down to see the destruction. I wondered what kind of people would do that and why.

Lawyers do that. Well, unsavory ones. *laughs* I've read on your blog that it didn't take you long to write it. How long did it take you? Do you normally write novels so quickly?

This book took six days to write and years to edit. I usually take a whole lot longer to write a book, sometimes up to five years.

That's just amazing! I can't imagine writing a first draft of a novel in just six days. I know you're also a freelance editor right now for PWP. Do you find your editing experience helps you when you write short stories and novels? 

It definitely helps. Spending all day reading, editing and putting a lot of thought into what might make a story better helps all my writing.

What is it like to edit a novel? Do you focus on content or grammar/spelling or both?

At first, I was hired as a proofreader, so I mainly did grammar and fixed mistakes. Now I have more editing responsibilities and can make decisions on word phrasing and taking out things that aren't necessary. My editor has a lot of faith in me. She says, "Just make the book better."

I've always thought I would be a great proofreader, but I don't know if I would want the responsibilities as an editor. I'd be terrified I wouldn't know enough to make someone else's book better. It's so great you can do it, though. You're also the editor/creator of the blogzine Hazard Cat. Tell us a little about it and what do you look for in your submissions.

Anything cat-related that touches me in a personal way will always get accepted. It's been amazing how many people write so well about cats and their habits and their stories. I wish I had more money so I could post every day, but in time that might be happening.

Cats rule! I enjoy reading that blog. So, you edit and run your own blogzine. What other works do you have available for people to read that you've written?  

The Blue Pen, Sam the Night Person, Full Moon in December, A Dream of the Past, and The Message. Mixed genres. 

Oh, don't forget your 21 Lucky Shorts on Amazon! *grins* What are you working on currently?

I'm working on a few projects right now. I'm getting through a short story for an anthology that one of the other PWP writers is putting together. I also have several novels that I pick at from time to time.

That's great, Lisa! I don't know where you find the time for all you do. Do you have any other projects forthcoming?  

I have nothing to be published planned right now after this one, Chasing the Dark. Need to get crackin'.

I'm sure you'll have something else soon. Thanks so much for joining us today and the best of luck to you!

Thanks again, Cherie!!!
  

Promo Monday

Today I'm pleased to promote my good friend Lisa Rusczyk's book Chasing the Dark. It comes out from Passionate Writer Publishing today! And, be sure to drop back in tomorrow to read an interview with Lisa.


Title: Chasing the DarkAuthor: Lisa RusczykPublisher: Passionate Writer Publishing (October 25, 2010)Link to Purchase: http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/chasingthedark.htm
Book Blurb: Melanie's a budding artist always looking for the next high. She finds it one night when Sora and Josh take her on an ambulance-chasing ride. They watch a gruesome scene as the bodies are removed from the wreckage. Melanie doesn't know why, but she is both attracted to this new pursuit and afraid of where it will take her.

The chasing brings Melanie closer to the mysterious Sora, his secret past, and the darker things that happen in the city at night. Along the way Melanie must face her own demons while escaping the drug dealing business.

Join Melanie and her friends Shara, Manny, Max, Sora and Josh as they confront and chase away their own personal demons.
Review:  Lisa Rusczyk's Chasing the Dark introduces the dark realm of an artistic drug dealer pursuing her next high. This character-driven novel paints raw and gritty emotions. At times, Melanie pulls the reader along with her stream-of-consciousness that reminds me of Faulkner's work, but Ms. Rusczyk writing is so much more fascinating. Despite the horrors told from drugs to rape to murder, hope and change fills the novel. Through "chasing the dark", the characters find light, love, and happiness. Chasing the Dark is unlike anything I've ever read. It is refreshing and poignant, and I loved it.

Flash Fiction Fridays

Elevator
The elevator doors parted, and I stepped inside. Pressing M for Main, the doors closed, and I began my descent.
"Ohh."
My brow furrowed.
No one was in the elevator with me.
"Ohhhhh!"
I blushed. I could hear the people from the elevator beside mine. How embarrassing!
"Wait. Ouch. Hold on."
The elevator jolted to a stop. The lights flickered and went out. The emergency lights glowed dimly.
I wondered if the power had gone out. I sighed.
"I know what you did." The male's voice sounded in my ear, and I gasped.
I was still alone. The car beside me must've stopped too.
"What do you mean?" The high pitched female's voice asked.
Something hit the wall. I jumped.
"You know, bitch."
"Oh. You know."
"Yeah, I know."
"Then, why didn't you tell me? Why come here to me?" She sounded angry now.
"I had to see you…to make certain."
"Let go of me. You're hurting me."
I heard a slap. I didn't know who slapped whom.
"You can't get away with what you've done, Yvette."
"You have no proof. None. You hear me."
The lights flickered again. The elevator hummed and began moving.
"No, I don't, but I don't need any proof."
She laughed, but it was cut off. "What? No, no!"
Bang!
I leaped away from the elevator wall. Was that a gunshot?
Level Two.
Level One.
Main Floor.
The doors opened. The floor was quiet. I didn't see anyone.
I bolted out the elevator and heard another ding. The other one had stopped. I turned, unable to look away but wanting to run for it all the same.
The doors slid open.
BANG!

NaNoWriMo Preparation

November is drawing ever closer, and it is a little over a week until NaNoWriMo begins.

Last year when I wrote Virtuoso, the only planning I did was a blurb and an outline. Anything else that came up happened while writing. If I needed to know something, I googled it and went on. I did stick mainly to the outline, but some good surprises came up when I was writing. I finished the novel on November 29th and came in at a little over 68,000 words.

Then, the problems with Virtuoso revealed themselves to me one by one. First, I realized the novel would be much better in first person instead of third. I thought that was the biggest problem, but easily fixed by rewriting the novel and thinking in first person. Then after speaking with an agent about it, I realized the other problems from the beginning's premise being similar to another book to one of the character's ages. In other words, come December, I'll be doing research and MAJOR rewrites. Yes, I didn't do very well on the research either, and I want to make certain things in the novel more authentic. I won't say what they are, so I won't give them away, but it'll be better. Really.

So for Sarah's Nightmare, I didn't want to make the mistakes from the past over again. I want to be as prepared as possible, have as much research done as possible, so I can go into this novel knowing what to write. I've written blurbs, an outline, a timeline, and a synopsis.

Now, I'm working on character sketches. Originally I was going to do character sketches for everyone in the book. Yes, everyone, even that minor character that comes in only once. I was going to know his/her life completely. Then, I realized I have a little over a week to do it, and character sketches are hard. So, I've decided to focus on the main three characters: Sarah, her boyfriend Ted, and grad student Marc. So far, I've finished Sarah's character sketch, and I'm working on Ted's. It's not easy populating their worlds, knowing important events in their life that shaped them for who they are at the beginning of the novel. It's exhausting. But, when I was writing a flash fiction piece about Sarah, she came to life for me. I felt like I could write her because I knew her. I knew how hard it was to see her best friend in the whole world move away and have her grandpa die the same year. I knew how she wanted to fit in so badly at a college party that she drank too much and woke up with a tattoo. Or the embarrassment over her first teaching job in high school and how she couldn't handle the pettiness of it all.

I'm learning about Ted now, and he's interesting too. Boy, it's so hard to become a psychiatrist. Twelve years of school and residency, and a test bases whether you'll be a psychiatrist or a flunky. I know his driving need to understand humans because his first wife told him he didn't understand who she was. I feel his commitment issues toward Sarah, despite the fact that he loves and cares about her. It's fascinating stuff. I can't wait to get to Marc's life, even though it takes a while to have the character reveal himself.

If I finish those three character sketches, then I want to write some basic world building profiles, so I know what their world looks like.

Then, I hope to do some research next week. There are some complexities to this novel I don't know how to write them since I don't know about them. True, some I know from movies and such, but I want to do real research or at least enough to get me through this first draft. I can always do more after when I revise.

Will I get it all done in a little over a week? Personally, I doubt it, but I do feel like I'm better prepared to write this novel than the two I've written before.

That's a good thing, right?

Wednesday's Writing Update

Wow! Yes, folks, a week has already flown by, and it's time for another Wednesday's Writing Update. I actually have updates today, but I can't say they're all good news.
Yesterday, I received my rejection for "Lady Death" from Rogue Blade Entertainment's Assassins anthology. The editor loved my opening, but he felt the story fell short in the end. He thought I should go back through it and explore the premise of assassinating Death. He said that the story would likely double in word count, if I did so. I have to say that I agree. I loved my beginning, too, but perhaps I rushed the rest of the story. I let the story and myself down. Next year, I plan to return to this story and make it the story it should be. Perhaps then it'll find a home.
Today, I received my rejection for "Melek Katili" from the More Scary Kisses anthology. It was a brief form rejection. I had sent them an email about my story submission yesterday, too, since I hadn't heard from them since I submitted through their online form. They hadn't received it, but then it was rejected. I'll have to find another place to send it. Does anyone know a place that accepts 2600-word paranormal romance stories? I really can't focus on sending it out right away, since I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo, but it'd be nice to know of some other places.
I have written quite a bit this past week. I've written 3049 words, which isn't too bad. I finished writing my flash fiction for October. I wrote part one of the three part story I do on Raven and the Writing Desk with Lisa Rusczyk and Aubrie Dionne; it'll be on the blog Monday. I also went back to "They," a post-apocalyptic short story I originally planned to send to Pill Hill Press's Aftermath 2013 anthology. I still might finish it up and send it. The deadline is November 5th. Perhaps I can get to it this weekend. *crosses fingers*
Then, I've been planning for NaNoWriMo. I writing this novel very differently from anything else I've written. I'm trying to go into it with all the research done. I've written blurbs, an outline, timeline, and a synopsis so far. I'm working on character sketches (including the flash fiction pieces for my blog), and I hope to do some world building sketches. Then, I do have some research, particularly concerning missing children and newspaper articles. Typically when I write a novel, I may have a brief outline, but then I run with it. If I don't know something, I look it up quickly on Google and then begin writing again, but I wanted to see how the more planned approach works for me. I'll keep you updated.
It looks like for the rest of October that I'll be planning my NaNoWriMo novel and perhaps finishing up "They." I still have four submissions out there (one in revisions, two short listed, and one contest entry). I need to submit more, but I want to go back through my old short stories and do some edits/revisions on them before I send them back out. It'll have to wait until after November and most likely until sometime next year, since I have a short story to write in December and revisions/research/edits to do on Virtuoso.
I tell you...a writer's work is never done.
But, that's okay. I'm willing to do the work.
Now, off to work on more character sketches. Yay! Not really. *grins*

Promo Monday

On today's Promo Monday, I'm promoting DRACULAS by Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson. I was lucky to receive DRACULAS as an ARC (advanced reader copy), and it was fantastic and so much fun to read!


Title: DraculasAuthors: Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul WilsonTo purchase: http://www.amazon.com/DRACULAS-Novel-Terror-ebook/dp/B0042AMD2M
Book Blurb: A DYING MAN'S GREATEST TREASURE…
Mortimer Moorecook, retired Wall Street raider, avid collector, is losing his fight against cancer. With weeks to live, a package arrives at the door of his hillside mansion—an artifact he paid millions for…a hominoid skull with elongated teeth, discovered in a farmer's field in the Romanian countryside. With Shanna, his beautiful research assistant looking on, he sinks the skull's razor sharp fangs into his neck, and immediately goes into convulsions.
OPENS THE DOOR TO AN ANCIENT EVIL...
A rural hospital. A slow night in the ER. Until Moorecook arrives strapped to a gurney, where he promptly codes and dies.
WHERE DEATH IS JUST THE BEGINNING.
Four well-known horror authors pool their penchants for scares and thrills, and tackle one of the greatest of all legends, with each writer creating a unique character and following them through a vampire outbreak in a secluded hospital.
The goal was simple: write the most intense novel they possibly could.
Which they did.
A Word of Warning:
Within these pages, you will find no black capes, no satin-lined coffins, no brooding heartthrobs who want to talk about your feelings. Forget sunlight and stakes. Throw out your garlic and your crosses. This is the Anti-TWILIGHT.
Review: DRACULAS is a collaboration of four great horror writers Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson. Despite having four authors, this horror novel blends seamlessly from scene to scene, point of view to point of view. The pacing speeds along from the very first bite. DRACULAS is everything a vampire novel should be. Gore, horror, humor, and fantastic wit fill the pages. Benny the Clown gives Stephen King's Pennywise from IT a run for his money. The twist at the end leads to the possibilities for a sequel, which I can't wait to read! The novel had a very horror movie feel to it, and I would be first in line to see it, if it ever was made into a movie. If you're looking for good horror or something scary for Halloween, DRACULAS is the book for you.

Some Dinosaur Love

I can't remember if I ever mentioned it on this blog, but I love dinosaurs. If I liked science more, then I would have become a paleontologist. No joke.

My love for dinosaurs first goes back to the book Danny the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff. It's the first book I remember reading as a child.

Then, in eighth grade, I read Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. It's one of my favorite books and favorite movies. I love the "what if" about it. Although, personally, I don't think we should ever recreate velociraptors. Big no no. I am also fond of Michael Crichton's The Lost World and the other two Jurassic Park movies.

When I was applying for a children's librarian position, I used dinosaurs for a pre-school activity. I didn't get that position, but I'm glad. I had fun creating my dinosaur project, and I have a much better job now as a library assistant for a small academic library.

I think my favorite dinosaur is the brachiosaurus or former brontosaurus or whatever the hell they're calling it these days. I'm also very fond of the stegosaurus. Like me, they're all vegetarians. *grins*

Someday, I would like to write a dinosaur book.

And, what brought this topic of dinosaurs? For one, I'm bored out of my mind but too tired to do actual work on my upcoming NaNoWriMo novel or a short story. For two, they had this cool article over at AOL news about the Tyrannosaurus Rex possibly being a cannibal. How exciting! I love when they figure out new things about dinosaurs. You can read the article here.

Rawr!

Flash Fiction Fridays

Hotel of Horrors
"Run! Hurry!" I grabbed my wife's hand. Illuminated by emergency lights, the room numbers sped by.
"I'm trying." Mari hefted up Drew, our five-year-old son.
518. 516. 514!
I slipped the key card out of my pocket and into the slot on our hotel room door. The light remained red. "Shit, come on!" I tried again.
Down the hallway, the stairway door banged hard against the wall.
"Mommy!" Drew cried out.
"The other way, Zack." Mari stared wide-eyed at the encroaching shadows. Her arms circled protectively around Drew.
I looked at the key card, turned it around, and tried the door. The light turned green, and I flung the door open. "Hurry!" Their footsteps grew louder, closer. They were gaining.
We dashed inside, and I leaned against the door.
Bang.
The door swung half-way open. "Help me!"
"Hide, Drew." Mari ordered while throwing herself against the door.
A claw curled around the wood.
We pushed and shoved. The claw retracted. The door closed. I turned the deadbolt.
Bang.
The door held.
"Drag over that table. I'll keep against the door," I said.
Bang.
The jolt jarred me, but Mari was quick, snatching a round table and dragging it over. I shoved it under the knob.
Bang. Bang. Bang!
The table scooted backwards from the pounding.
"We've got to get out of here!" Mari searched the room.
Drew huddled at the corner of the bedpost. A wet spot spread below him on the carpet.
I stepped away from the door and lugged the nightstands to the door.
BOOM!
The entire door shook, but it held.
A thick silence covered us like a blanket.
"Are they still out there," Mari asked.
"I don't know."
Drew whimpered.
"We need a way out." Mari knelt beside Drew and wrapped her arms around him.
Those creatures had trapped us. I could see only one way out. Grasping the curtains, I slid them to either side. The nighttime skyline twinkled at me. "We're going to have to jump."
"What? Are you crazy? It's five stories. We'll never make it."
"I can break the windows open." I looked around the room. "We'll throw the mattresses down and tie the sheets and curtains together to make a rope. It's the only way, honey."
The wheels turned in Mari's head while she processed the information and their choices. "Maybe they're gone."
"Maybe," I said.
She kissed Drew and crept over to the door. The silence remained. Scooting around the table, she peeked through the peephole. "I don't—" She jerked backwards and yelped.
The axe blade split the peephole in two.
"Break the damn windows." Mari yanked Drew to the other side, snatched the sheets off the bed, and tied them together.
Drew cried.
The axe pierced the door again.
I grabbed a chair and swung it.
A chunk of door fell.
Yellow eyes peered in.
The glass spider-webbed outward.
Another swing and the glass shattered.
Wind whipped into the room.
Wood cracked like a gunshot.
Mari screamed.
They were inside.

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo 2010

 
Yes, It's closing in on that time again. November and NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) is fast approaching. And I'll be attempting it for the second time in my life. You can see my writing profile on NaNoWriMo's official site here. Last year, I wrote Virtuoso, my YA Paranormal novel and completed the first draft in a month at 68,000 words. This December, I'll be doing research and major rewrites to get it agent ready.
This year, I'm writing Sarah's Nightmare, a thriller/horror novel. In a year's time, I've grown as a writer and over the past week, I learned so much about writing that I feel like my head might explode. I'm going about Sarah's Nightmare completely differently than I have my first two completed novels. First, I've written two different versions of blurbs. I prefer the second one because I wrote it more recently. 
Here it my most current book blurb: A government secret program nestled under the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Five children ripped from their homes at twenty-year intervals.
With one exception in 1985.
Thirty-year-old Sarah Richards is an assistant professor for Star City College, pages away from finishing her doctoral thesis, and has a live-in boyfriend, psychiatrist Theodore Merriweather. She's happy and settled in her life. When she agrees to teach a History of Criminology course for a fellow professor, a case of missing children sucks her into the past and her own nightmares of wall monsters. The lights might not keep them at bay this time. The disappearances are happening again. While Sarah and grad student, Marc Bishop, race against the clock to stop this government conspiracy, they realize nightmares really do come true.

Then, I wrote a timeline, since aspects of Sarah's Nightmare range from 1944 to 2010. The only other timeline I've written was for The Phoenix Prophetess, and that was while I was writing it.

Now, I'm working on an outline of scenes I'd like to write. I'm hoping to finish the outline today, so I can work on a synopsis. I did have an outline for Virtuoso when I wrote it, but I still haven't written synopses.

Here is where my path diverges from how I approached novels. I used to have my brief outline and ran with it. The characters and setting revealed themselves as I wrote. Any research that popped up, I did it quickly at the time. Of course, I now realize the first draft might be better if I know all of those things BEFORE I begin writing. So, over the next couple weeks (OMG...it's just a few weeks away! *panics*), I'm doing full character profiles, world building profiles, and making a list of what research I need to do and doing it. I might not get it all done before November 1st, but the more I can get done, the more I know, the better the novel should be, right? Well, it's the goal. I'm hoping by the time November 1st comes, I can sit down and write the novel in a month...or at least 50,000 words of it by November 30th. I'm going to see how writing a novel this way works for me. If it works well, I'll have to do it for my previous novels and from now on. I'll update on how all this works out.

Is anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? How do you prepare for it?

Wednesday's Writing Update

Today is Wednesday's Writing Update.I feel like I have so much to tell, although most of it will be links on what I already said in previous posts.
Last week, I attended my first writers conference, the James River Writers Conference. It was completely amazing, and I can't wait to go back next year. I learned so much, and, seriously, if you have a chance to go to one, GO! You won't regret it. To read about my experiences at the conference, including speaking with the literary agent Melissa Sarver, go here.
As I mentioned previously, I was working on Virtuoso. Now that I spoke with Ms. Sarver, I realized I need to do some more research and a MAJOR rewrite. Thus, for the sake of NaNoWriMo, I'm putting Virtuoso aside until December. Once the rewrites are done, I'll be sending out my first partial request (a few chapters) to Melissa Sarver. I want to send the best work possible, so it won't be until next year before she gets it.
Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I'm gearing up to begin writing Sarah's Nightmare. I set up my account to reflect this book and added a book blurb to it. My profile is bookworm0753 on the NaNoWriMo website. Please add me if you're on it!

I haven't heard back from any submissions lately. I should know more in the next couple weeks.
I received my contributor's copy of Mertales over the weekend, and I received the limited edition hardback copy of Bloody Carnival.

My cat Cinderella enjoyed sniffing the new books, and she even showed her horror face for Bloody Carnival. (Actually, I caught her yawning. *laughs*)


Today, I plan to write my horror flash fiction for Friday.
Also, I reviewed two wonderful horror books on my review blog. Read my review for Ben Larken's The Hollows: Book 1 - The Ticking here. Read my review for Draculas by Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson here.
That's all the news I have for this week. I'll leave you with a new adorable picture of Romeo.