Amber Foxx's Blog, page 46
December 6, 2013
How I Write
I used to be an actor, dancer and choreographer, and loved improvisation. Writing is getting into character in all the roles and doing “improv”. I start with characters, and create situations that will challenge them. I’m what writers call a “pantser”, meaning I plot by the seat of my pants for the first draft. My favorite part of writing is the arrival of a new character. They seem to show up and reveal themselves in ways I don’t plan or expect, and this brings new complexity to the lives of my ongoing characters. I like mining my ongoing characters’ past lives, too.
I have critique partners who read my works in progress. There’s nothing like another writer’s input to make for better writing. Revising can take longer than creating. I rewrite a book at least five times, sometimes more. The series may seem to come out fast as it gets published, but each book has actually been in progress for years. I have a stash of scenes and ideas extracted from books I didn’t use them in, and probably always will. I review my writing recycling bin periodically and clean it out. I find occasional gems as well as scenes that I need to reinstate that I thought I should cut—and a lot that makes me glad I cut and revise so much.
December 1, 2013
Settings in My Books
Although Mae doesn’t love Northeastern North Carolina, I do. I love the flat swampy land, the little towns, the farm fields, the colorful and caring people I met when I lived there. It was interesting to write about it from the point of view of someone who struggles with the place. Cauwetska and Tylerton are fictitious towns, but the landscape is real. It was a pleasure to revisit its sights and sounds as I wrote. The Ghent section of Norfolk, VA is another favorite place that gets to play a role in the first book.
The love of my life is the state of New Mexico. In the Calling, New Mexico hovers in the distance—Bernadette’s home state. It will get a starring role later.
New Mexico
As the T-shirt by Dukatt in T or C says, “Not Really New, Not Really Mexico.” For friends and readers who have never been there, here’s link to a video that will take you on a trip to the Land of Enchantment. Longest URL I’ve ever seen. Great song and video. This band (two young guys from ABQ) won a contest to promote the state.
January 16, 2011
Putting the Mysterious in Mystery
Paranormal mysteries grounded in the normal world, the mysteries are not so much ” who dunnit” as who are we, beneath our masks, manipulations, self-deceits, best intentions, and outright lies? People are a mystery. The nature of reality is mystery. Love is mystery, how it comes and how it changes, how it sometimes ends. I write the stories I would like to read: psycho-spiritual mysteries, driven by complex layers of character. Murder is not the only way to destroy a person. Crimes are not the only secrets.
One of my spiritual teachers, a Native medicine woman, once told me that the world is 50% physical and 50% spiritual. She said that many of our problems come from being out of balance with the spirit world. In my books, the spirit world is real. Spiritual energy and power are real. There are people who have it, and people who fake it. There are those who use it well, those who misuse it, and those who are afraid of it.
To explore this kind of mystery, I created a protagonist who is down to earth yet gifted as an intuitive healer and psychic, with a talent for finding lost animals and missing persons.
I hope you’re curious to know more. Stay tuned. The first book in the series featuring Mae Martin comes out in December.
