Guest Author: Belle Whittington

I'm so pleased to have this chat with Belle today! If you read my review of Cicada yesterday, you know how much I loved it. I emailed these questions to Belle before I read Cicada, so there are definitely no spoilers and they give you a nice idea of what Cicada is about-and hopefully convince you to read it for yourself.

Belle resides somewhere north of Houston, Texas in a small inconsequential town with the smallest most inconsequential name. There, in the shady reaches of the pines, elms, and oaks, she daydreams of adventures and secrets that she weaves throughout her stories. She shares a home with daughter, Linda Belle, and her Lancashire Heeler, Sascha Marie, and has her mother as a next-door neighbor. 

As a student of literature, Belle is earning her degree in English at the  University of Houston. She hopes to teach literature at the college level some day.

What Cicada is really about:

There are aliens in Cicada, yes. But there's more of a depth to the story. Cicada is the story of loyalty among friends who accept each other and love each other for what each of them are. It's the story of how friends and family can help each other overcome anything life throws at them...even unearthly beings that leave crop circles in the tall pasture grass.

On exploring new territories: 

It was definitely breaking into new territory writing Cicada, when the YA market was demanding vampires and werewolves. Not that I don't love vampires and werewolves, mind you!  But it's just if I didn't get Cicada down on paper, I would have exploded! LOL! Oh, yes, it was definitely fun exploring new territory! I love the characters in Cicada and almost feel as if they are members of my own family! Each one of them has as very important, specific purpose in the story, and getting to know them during their very turbulent last summer together was an awesome experience!

Favorite authors:

Oh, boy! This is a very difficult question to answer, because I probably love every author I've read! Being a Literature major tends to make me love all the authors whom I've read! LOL! But I'll try and include a variety of authors whom I love (this is by no means a complete list): The authors of the Anglo-Saxon heroic ballads, especially Beowulf (whomever that was!), J. K. Rowling, Cornelia Funke, Beth Revis (on of my new faves!), Amy Kathleen Ryan (another new fave!), William Shakespeare (love, love, love!), Chaucer, Charlaine Harris... I could go on and on, but I think I've supplied a good variety of authors I enjoy reading :-) 

On writing rituals: 

This is a great question! Yes, I have a certain routine while I'm daydreaming my stories. Music is definitely a must for inspiration. Each one of my characters have a theme song, and I have a favorite play list of songs to listen to while writing :-)

If it's not a secret, what are you currently working on?

It's not a secret :-) Actually, Cicada is the first in a planned trilogy. It has actually developed quite a following of readers who have contacted me requesting that I extend it beyond a trilogy. But I only see it as being in three books. I'm currently writing the two sequels. The second is Firefly. The third has not been named yet, though I've got an idea of what it may end up being named. I've included a sneak-peek of Firefly at the end of Cicada as a bonus for readers :-)

(Let me just add, it's great. The first three chapters really wet your appetite and leave you hungry for more)

Advice for those of us who are just starting out:

Read, read, read! Read across the genres. You never know from where your inspiration will come! Become an avid people-watcher...there's no better place to gain ideas for characters. :-) 

Write, write, write! Get that story out of your head and onto paper without stopping to edit...that can be done after you've finished. And always listen to great music! :-) Oh, and don't forget the coffee! <3

Ivana, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to stop by your lovely blog and chat a while with and your readers! I hope that each and every one of you will stop by and say hi at any or all of these places:

• Goodreads
• Facebook
• Twitter

Thank you, Belle! The pleasure was all mine!

Check out the trailer for Cicada! It was made by Belle's daughter, who also designed the beautiful cover.

And what would this interview be without some music :)

Guest Author: J. Gabriel Gates

I love doing interviews with authors, especially when I loved their book so much and I want more people to know about it. J. Gabriel Gates is the author of one of my favorite recent reads, the YA horror The Sleepwalkers. My review is here. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a well-written and all-over frightening read this Halloween season.

About the author: 

Nationally acclaimed author J. Gabriel Gates is a native of Marshall, Michigan. The son of an educator, his passion for the written word began at a young age. During college, another passion – for performing – led him to get his B.A. degree in theater from Florida State University.

During his years in Los Angeles, he appeared in a dozen national TV commercials and penned several screenplays while laying the groundwork for his career as a novelist.

His first two novels, Dark Territory: The Tracks, Book 1 andThe Sleepwalkers, are in stores now.

He currently lives in Southwest Michigan.

In the spirit of the season, I asked Mr. Gates some horror-related stuff. Here's what he told me: 

Three horror books that everyone should read:

The first horror book I ever read was "Dracula" by Bran Stoker, and I still think it's brilliant.  My favorite book of all time is "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski, which is creepy on complicated levels.  It's not for everyone, though - the first sentence of the book says so!  Of course everyone loves Stephen King, so I'd have to recommend "The Shining" as a classic book of his.  I also really enjoyed "The Taking" by Dean Koontz.  His prose is so clean, it's amazing.  I guess that was four. Whoops.  And while we're going crazy, let's add my book, "The Sleepwalkers."  There's five.

On Influences... 

I read a really broad range of books, so there are all sorts of authors that have influenced me. I grew up reading fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Brooks. For years I've been reading a lot of classics: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dostoevsky, Melville. my mom has read every book Stephen King ever wrote, so I grew up around a lot of  his work, too. I also loved "Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux. I wouldn't say that any one author or book had the most influence on my writing style, though. I try never to emulate anyone. It all gets mixed up in the blender of my subconscious and comes out how it comes out! 

What I like and what I hate in horrors:

I'm not a big fan of funny, silly, campy, or cheesy horror. I hated the "Scream" movies. To me, if it's horror, I want it to be genuinely scary. I'm also not a big fan of slasher stuff, either. Repetitive dismemberment gets pretty boring after a while. Ditto with zombies--sorry, zombie lovers. "Ten very different people have to band together in a shopping mall / hospital / military compound to fight off a bunch of mindless ghouls." Snore. I feel like it's been done to death. The reason horror can grab us so deeply is that there are dark things beyond our comprehension that are real. I happen to believe that disincarnate spirits of the dead exist. Evil forces exist. Demonic forces exist. And we innately fear them. So horror can be way more than silly escapism-it can tell tales of great battles against forces that we don't know much about, but are intuitively predisposed to revile. It taps into a region of the sub-conscious that's rarely touched except in dreams, and that's profound.

About the characters in The Sleepwalkers:

I love all the characters, but I definitely relate most to Caleb. I feel like a lot of stories have protagonists who are misfits or outcasts in some way, but Caleb is the opposite. He's popular, athletic, smart and ambitious. With a misfit characters, their journey is usually one of discovering their own self worth, gaining confidence, feeling comfortable in their skin. Caleb, on the other hand, is already comfortable. He's doing great and has already planned out every detail of what he believes will be productive, successful life-then he gets a disturbing letter from his long-lost childhood best friend, and everything he thought was true about life gets turned on its head. He has to re-evaluate what's true, what's real. I think that's an interesting and unusual journey for a protagonist to take in a book like this. And I absolutely relate to Caleb. Growing up, I was athletic, smart and fairly popular. I wasn't an angsty teen. Like Caleb, I thought I had everything figured out. Then as my experience broadened, I discovered that maybe I didn't know as much as I thought I did. I was humbled. But the core pieces of my personality-my confidence, my work ethic, my ambition, those things helped me to steer the course. I think the message is, it's okay if you're not a rebel or a misfit. Well-adjusted people can be interesting, too.

About previous and upcoming projects:


My first novel, Dark Territory, book one of The Tracks series, is now available in stores, and its sequel Ghost Crown will be coming out in March. The Tracks is a teen fantasy series about kung-fu, magic, and star-crossed love, set in a small town in middle-America that's embroiled in a gang war. It's awesome. You should read it. Right now I'm working on another novel that I'm really excited about, too. It's an epic dystopian drama called Blood Zero Sky, which is  scheduled to be released in fall of 2012 by my publisher, HCI. So, I'm keeping busy!


Many thanks for participating!


Find Gabriel online:
Official webpage ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads

Guest Author: Alicia 'Kat' Dillman & Giveaway

Willing to See Less is happy to present the guest of the week-YA author Alicia 'Kat' Dillman. Alicia is the author of Daemons in the Mist (my review HERE) and not only a talented writer, but also a wonderful artist (just look at the cover and her "profile" picture). Read the interview and enter the giveaway for some signed goodies.

Author, illustrator Alicia “Kat” Dillman is a life long resident of the San Francisco Bay Area. She received a BFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art University and has spent the last few years working as a professional illustrator. She shares her studio with her boyfriend Scott Aleric Vancil and their two rescue kitties Crash the Stampede & Princess Diyogee.When not writing and illustrating she can be found performing in historical re-enactments, participating in weekly industry chats, dancing, watching anime, or sewing cosplay.

• Why Daemons?

I was never really drawn to vampires or werewolves; I always liked the more unusual things of myth much more. A lot of ancient myths and cultures have horned beings and deities and I always thought they were beautiful in their own strange way. Also I liked to take existing creatures and weave my own take on them into the mix.  A few of my upcoming projects feature those creations. But why Daemons specifically? Because of my love of myths I stumbled upon the Hellenistic Greek definition of Daemons one day. It's actually this ancient belief that inspired our modern versions of demons and angels. The Greeks broke these spirits down into two categories - the good Kalodaemons and the bad Kakodaemons. If you've already read DITM you'll notice I borrowed this spelling for my Daemons.

• Tell me a little about your writing process.

Because of my background in musical theater I grew up seeing stories in a non-linear way since most plays are not rehearsed in chronological order. It's probably due to this that I write non-linearly.  Non-linear writing means I write what comes to mind at the time and then piece those bits together during the pre-editing process. It requires you to be able to track the whole stories in your head as a whole though, so if you're not use to thinking of stories in this way I wouldn't advise it. I do research and outlines during the writing process as needed but mostly I just live in my stories and let it expand outward naturally. It's a lot like walking through fog, you never know what will be waiting there in the next few steps but when it appears you just know that it was always meant to be there. I used to use this whole 4 files system I worked out for my writing, but this summer moved everything over to Scrivener, which I love very, very much. Most days I want to hug it for making everything so much easier and streamlined.

• How long did it take you to write DITM?

About 2-3 months not counting edits. A big chunk of it, about 53k was actually written in 21 days during NaNoWriMo. Most of my writing was done on the computer but I also did a fair bit in my travel notebook.

• Where did the idea for DITM come from?

You know it's funny you should ask, when I read your review of DITM I burst out laughing because it was actually that song Waking up in Vegas, that inspired the story. I was driving down the freeway on my way to dance like I do most Tuesdays when that song first came on the radio. And then the story was just there inside my head. It's like Patrick and Nualla were always there inside my head just waiting for me to get around to noticing them and recording their story. Most of my stories are inspired by the music I listen to. When I listen to music I see stories; like small movies playing in my head. Because of the music magic I actually make playlists for every project I work on. The playlist for DITM will be released, along with extra art, and world info, on The Marked Ones micro site that's currently in production.

• You are currently working on a DITM visual novel. What is a visual novel??

A Visual Novel is an art form that is extremely popular in Japan. Not to be confused with a graphic novel, a visual novel is what would happen if you put a comic book, novel and click through adventure game into a blender. It's kinda like the visual version of those choose your own adventure books. However, when a visual novel has no branching  storylines it is called a Kinetic Visual Novel. DITM is going to be a kinetic visual novel released in 11 5-chapter blocks. The VN is full color with anime style characters and painted backgrounds much like a Miyazaki film and will be playable on a long list of devices. To find out more and see behind-the-scenes production shots you can visit http://www.katgirlstudio.com/featured/visual-novel/ 

• Can you tell me about the DITM cover illustration (which I think is gorgeous)?

It took me about 3 days to create the cover for Daemons in the Mist. I actually drew two sketches for the cover but decided that the character (Nualla) looked too passive in the first design and she is anything but passive. I included a process animation for the cover here. http://www.katgirlstudio.com/portfolio/book-covers/daemons-in-the-mist-cover/ . I used to create my art differently but currently I work 100% digitally. I do my work in Painter 11 (I'll soon be switching to Painter 12) mostly with brushes I created myself. I usually work in a 4 layer process; sketch, ink, base, details. First I sketch the illustration in blue digital lead. Then I turn the opacity on that layer way down and ink over it on a new layer. When that's complete I turn off the sketch layer since I won't be using it again. Then I create a layer under the ink layer and do my base painting. Lastly I create a layer on top of everything to do my details. All of my newer illustrations feature process animations so you can see how they come together: http://www.katgirlstudio.com/category/portfolio/

• Will there be sequels to DITM?

Currently The Marked Ones is slated to be an open ended-trilogy. The first book being Daemons in the Mist, the second being The Storm Behind your Eyes and the third is yet unnamed.

• Who are your favorite authors?

My favorite authors currently are JK Rowling, Rick Riordan , Holly Black, Maggie Stiefvater and my friend Seanan McGuire.

• What are you currently working on?

Currently, I'm working on production art for the visual novel game of Daemons in the Mist. The game is being created by NovelEXP and will be released in 5-chapter blocks. We are aiming to have the first installment out later this month. Book-wise these are the titles that are slotted to come out next: The sequel to Daemons in the Mist, The Storm Behind your Eyes.  A stand-alone apocalyptic YA novel called The Stars Rain Down on Me. A stand-alone YA fantasy novel with a Jane Austin feel to it called The Girl with the Kaleidoscope Eyes. To find out the status of any project I'm currently working on you can always visit my Works in Progress page http://www.katgirlstudio.com/projects/works-in-progress/

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, KAT!

=^.^=

Website: www.katgirlstudio.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/KatGirl_Studio

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/KatGirl-Studio/328820976920

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Kat has generously offered an ebook of Daemons in the Mist (you have a choice between Kindle or Nook format) and a prize pack that includes signed prints of the artwork for the book and a mini book pin. 

The cover illustration on the left is 5x7 and the other 8x10. Both are printed on high quality luster photo paper and signed. 

Since they will be sent to the winner by the author, this giveaway is restricted to participants from US & Canada only.

To enter, 

• you have to be a follower. If you haven't already, join the group of Awesome People who are my followers through Google Friend Connect.
• more things you can do: follow me on Twitter, like WTSL on Facebook, spread the word about the contest
• leave an email or otherwise indicate how to contact you if you win
• winner will be announced on August 31  

 

GOOD LUCK!