J.’s Comments (group member since Nov 02, 2011)

J.’s comments from the Q&A with J. Leigh Bralick group.

Ah, good guesses! Buuuut....maybe that's part of the surprise in store for Merelin, that they aren't the ones there to meet her. Want to guess again? :-)

Damian...I'm having some issues with Damian. After all, he's a Marine now, so I don't want to make him go AWOL or something. If he goes on leave any time soon, he might pop into the story, but for right now, Merelin's kind of stuck on her own. And not too happy with me about it either, let me tell you! O.o Yikes.

Ah, man. Wonder if there's an easy way to get it converted? I always kind of toy with the idea of composing some music for book trailers/whatever, but then I get stuck. Kind of like how I get stuck when I imagine I can create a whole cgi book trailer all by me onesies.... Yeah, not so much! *sigh*

I now have two whole chapters up on Smashwords! Wow. I guess it's some progress, anyway...

Wow, this book is turning out kind of strangely. The world(s) is/are totally different than anything I've ever written about. I mean, the human world isn't that weird, it's just not my typical milieu...

Hah, I've done that too! It's always exciting...

Keri, are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year?

You definitely should! I think it's great that Smashwords is doing this for NaNo...

Hey, that's pretty fantastic! You don't happen to have a recording of it or anything do you?

Ah yes, I know Danny Elfman. He is awesome, one of my favorites! ^_^

The novel I'm writing for NaNoWriMo is up for free on Smashwords! It's a work in progress, of course, but it would be awesome if you wanted to read along as I'm writing, and shout out any questions, comments, or suggestions along the way!

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Shadow and Light. Night and Day. The Ethers have been at war longer than the memory of man. The fate of humanity depends on their stalemate, but they care little for mortals...until one girl finds herself caught at the very heart of their war.

Here's where I get to ask you fun or random questions about things and you get to answer them.

First question: If DaLR were to be made into a movie, what song would you put in the movie trailer?

Here is my vote: Summoning of the Muse -- Dead Can Dance.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this song? And you know what I just realized? I never even noticed that the title of that album was "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun", which is totally cool for Arah Byen. ^_^

Thanks Keri! So glad you're here!

Isn't it funny how stories do that to us sometimes? I even felt that to some degree with DaLR -- not that I didn't believe in it, but I felt like I needed to pursue it rather than the story that's closest to my heart.

You know, simple stories don't have to be bad stories! You could always eventually throw in some twists, unexpected revelations, reversals, etc. Maybe as you're writing one will suddenly just pop out, and then your friend will be left scratching his head and wondering what happened! I always find that having at least one little tragedy at the ending -- something not happening exactly right for the protagonist or the world or something like that -- makes all the difference between a satisfying ending and an annoyingly happy one. ;) I mean, even something as small as: Yes, Bob and Linda get together and live happily ever after, but Linda is forced to move away from Colorado and the mountains she loves...... Or something along those lines!

Care to share a synopsis of your mysterious NaNovel?

Haha! Nice try, Amanda! =)

I am glad you miss Yatol. ;) There really was more to him than you might think at first. I tried to give little indications about him throughout DaLR, so you might find it interesting to go back now and reread everything that's said about him. It would at least help you understand him, his sacrifice...you know. Yes, I'm being mean. No, I'm not telling.

Keri - I do believe Merelin gets back to Arah Byen. And I do believe she's in for a bit of a surprise when she gets there.

Any guesses about who will be the first characters she will meet when she arrives? (Hint: it's not Yatol.;)

Thanks for breaking the ice, Jen! Aw, come on. School assignments totally count. Err...sort of. For...school. Right? ;-)

And yes, thinking is a serious condition. Please exercise caution and avoid operating heavy machinery.

Okay, this is a great question!

Well, I think there aren't many scenes or characters I would choose to delete. I like each of the characters for different reasons, and many of them who didn't end up having very prominent roles in DaLR will actually return in Subverter.

However, I think my greatest challenge with this novel was simply that I took so long writing it. I mean, let's be honest. I got the story idea when I was twelve. Now, there's nothing remaining of that earliest draft anymore, but any time you have a story where the bulk of it was written when the writer was a teenager, you're going to have problems. I edited the heck out of that story. Wrote and rewrote. But I always felt like it might have been such a better story if I'd started it from whole cloth as someone who was a little more mature. The story is quite simple, in its broadest strokes. Not a lot of intricacies, revelations, reversals, subplots, or anything like that.

So yeah, I guess if I could do anything different, I would.......go back in time and not get the idea until I was at least 24? ;-) Nah. I probably would try to find some way to develop the plot in a bit more intricate manner. But I really just needed to come to some closure with the novel, so eventually I just threw in the towel and said, "it is what it is."

I'm excited, though, because Subverter is from whole cloth. It's brand new. And I think it's going to be a whole lot better. :-)

Here's where you can try to ask me questions about Subverter. And maybe pry an excerpt or two out of me. If you can.

Here's where we can sit back, have a cup of coffee and some chocolate, and talk about writing, favorite books, must-reads, most-loathed, and whatever else relating to books that you can think of.

This is the place where I paint a big bullseye on my head and let you sling your questions about me, at me. Ask away, oh curious ones. I will answer most questions.

This is a place where you can ask me questions about Down a Lost Road. If it has anything to do with this book, ask away!

This is where you get to introduce yourself. I'm...um...J. Leigh.