Post by buffysmglover on Aug 31, 2007 21:32:01 GMT -5
This is the first of a series of interviews with my site that I have been given permission to post here.
From www.btvs-angel-authors.moonfruit.com
What has been the most unforgettable experience for you so far in your time of being an author?
Have you always wanted to be an author? Even when you were a kid?
What other author/s have you enjoyed working with the most?
What is the book you believe to be the best book you have written?
Where did you come up with the idea for that book?
Speaking of ideas, where did you come up with the previously unmentioned details of Buffy after season seven (Queen of the Slayers, my favorite Buffy book)?
Considering that I have only just begun my Angel fandom, I have only read two of your Angel books. What is the first Angel book you would recomend to your fans?
You have just released the Buffy book Carnival of Souls (or so says BuffyMag). How do
you think that relates in quality to all of your other works? (It's as equally as good I'm sure.)
Other than Buffy and Angel, what based on television series or set of books do you enjoy writing the most?
Stepping away from Buffy and Angel, which of your books are you most appreciative?
What books do you recomend for teenagers?
Did you grow up around many authors or in a wealthy family?
What would you like potential fans to know about you or your books?
Below, I ask that you add anything else that you would like to be mentioned or that you would like people to know:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The most unforgettable experience was selling my first novel. I had sent in the three chapters and an outline of a young adult novel, and my agent called to say that the publisher wanted to go to contract. That meant that the book was sold even though it wasn't finished. I was extremely nervous the entire time I was writing it, because I was worried that the publisher might change their mind and tear up my contract!
The second most unforgettable experience was walking onto the Buffy Sunnydale High School set. It felt so much like a real high school that I started to get kind of depressed, LOL. I told Joss his set depressed me and he said, "Me, too. But it hadn't been for high school, there wouldn't be any Buffy."
2. My father and my grandmother both thought I would make an excellent writer, but I wanted to be a ballet dancer. I even dropped out of high school and moved to Germany to study dance. I do NOT recommend doing that!
3. I have loved working with all my coauthors. Each of them has been fantastically talented. I love collaboration. It's like going on a treasure hunt with a partner who can read the parts of the map that I can't.
4. I find it fascinating that my opinions of books I have written vary wildly, usually depending on how confident I'm feeling about the one I'm working on now. I loved the book MAKING LOVE with Melanie Tem, and SPIRITED, which I wrote alone. I'm more likely to like parts of books--a scene I think I really nailed, or a good plot, things like that. I love THE BOOK OF FOURS and I loved the original version of CITY OF, which I had to change to please The Powers That Be. It was the novelization of the first episode of ANGEL, and it had to be 180 pages long. Since the script was about 51 pages long, I had to add a lot of my own story. But I did things that weren't going to be in Angel's story on the show, so we had to change it. My editor told me the first draft of CITY OF was the best book she had read in a decade, and I was stunned.
5. For CITY OF, I thought about the flashbacks of Angel's life that we had seen on Buffy. I also had images of snow in my head. I don't know why. SPIRITED came about because I wanted to sell a retelling of a fairy tale to my Buffy editor. My daughter's name is Belle. I also knew that my editor and I loved the movie, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. So in a fit of inspiration, I transferred Beauty and the Beast into the time period of LAST OF THE MOHICANS (Colonial America.) I wrote the proposal in 45 minutes, including some research on the Algonquins, and sent it to her in the middle of the night on a Friday night. She emailed me back that she was buying it. Sweet!
6. Thanks for your compliments on QUEEN. I knew I had to incorporate everything Joss had written into Angel Season Five, and I also knew that my publisher wanted to market it as a Buffy novel, not a Buffy/Angel crossover. I wanted to include the idea that the Forces of Darkness all really pissed off at Buffy, and I wanted to explore what the effect of the unleashing of the Slayer power would have on all the girls who became Slayers. So I just kept moving bits and pieces around until I came up with something that seemed cohesive. I wanted to do a lot more--Willow's mom had a bit in it, which my editor wanted to cut; and I wanted to take more time getting Faith and Robin back to Italy. But I was running out of pages.
7. For Angel, I would suggest the books I wrote with Jeff Mariotte, and CITY OF.
8. Carnival of Souls is out in April. It takes place in Buffy second season, so I'm a little apprehensive that fans may be expecting a sequel to QUEEN OF THE SLAYERS. COS was originally planned as a Stake Your Destiny novel. My editor suggested writing it as a linear novel so I did that instead. But coming after QUEEN, I hope it pleases the fans.
9. Actually, I loved writing for WISHBONE. I adored Wishbone and my editor had told me I was the new "Wishbone Girl." I was going to write all kinds of books--mysteries, super-mysteries, etc., but then the entire publishing program got canceled and there was no more Wishbone at all. I loved working on SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH because those books were so much fun. My liaison at Paramount, Paul Ruditis, is now a freelancer, and a friend of mine. It was a happy experience all the
way around.
10. My non-Buffy and Angel's: for teens, SPIRITED, PEARL HARBOR 1941, and the SMALLVILLE books. I've also written quite a bit of horror, but it's pretty tough stuff.
11. My father was a psychiatrist in the navy, and I grew up in a military environment. I didn't know any writers. There's a wonderful convention called the World Antsy Convention. The first time I went to it, I met all kinds of writers who were like me--collected the same art, bought the same coffee cups--and I was so happy I burst into tears.
12. I would like slightly older fans to know that I'm writing for Harlequin now! I'm an author in the Silhouette Bombshell line. I'm writing a trilogy about a young woman who discovers she has magical
powers and has to head up a family called the House of the Flames. The first book is called THE GIFTED: DAUGHTER OF THE FLAMES. In this world, "Gifted" are people who have powers, like hers.
13. I want people to know that all the writers I know work very hard, and it really means a lot to hear from fans. There's a lot more to being a freelance writer than just thinking up stories. We have agents and editors to deal with, and while it's a wonderful profession and I love it, it is harder than I thought it would be, in some ways. I'm not complaining--it's also one of the few professions I can think of where people pay people like me to watch our favorite TV shows!
I also want people to know that my daughter, Belle, and I, have sold a short story together. It's called "The Further Adventures of Lightning Merriemouse-Jones," and it will be in an anthology called FURRY FANTASTIC, out next fall. Our editors, Martin H. Greenberg, Jean Rage, and Brian Thomsen, liked it so much that they have asked us for another story for an anthology titled PANDORA'S CLOSET. Now Belle is writing a novel about Lightning G. Mouse. She owns a pet mouse named Lightning.
From www.btvs-angel-authors.moonfruit.com
What has been the most unforgettable experience for you so far in your time of being an author?
Have you always wanted to be an author? Even when you were a kid?
What other author/s have you enjoyed working with the most?
What is the book you believe to be the best book you have written?
Where did you come up with the idea for that book?
Speaking of ideas, where did you come up with the previously unmentioned details of Buffy after season seven (Queen of the Slayers, my favorite Buffy book)?
Considering that I have only just begun my Angel fandom, I have only read two of your Angel books. What is the first Angel book you would recomend to your fans?
You have just released the Buffy book Carnival of Souls (or so says BuffyMag). How do
you think that relates in quality to all of your other works? (It's as equally as good I'm sure.)
Other than Buffy and Angel, what based on television series or set of books do you enjoy writing the most?
Stepping away from Buffy and Angel, which of your books are you most appreciative?
What books do you recomend for teenagers?
Did you grow up around many authors or in a wealthy family?
What would you like potential fans to know about you or your books?
Below, I ask that you add anything else that you would like to be mentioned or that you would like people to know:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The most unforgettable experience was selling my first novel. I had sent in the three chapters and an outline of a young adult novel, and my agent called to say that the publisher wanted to go to contract. That meant that the book was sold even though it wasn't finished. I was extremely nervous the entire time I was writing it, because I was worried that the publisher might change their mind and tear up my contract!
The second most unforgettable experience was walking onto the Buffy Sunnydale High School set. It felt so much like a real high school that I started to get kind of depressed, LOL. I told Joss his set depressed me and he said, "Me, too. But it hadn't been for high school, there wouldn't be any Buffy."
2. My father and my grandmother both thought I would make an excellent writer, but I wanted to be a ballet dancer. I even dropped out of high school and moved to Germany to study dance. I do NOT recommend doing that!
3. I have loved working with all my coauthors. Each of them has been fantastically talented. I love collaboration. It's like going on a treasure hunt with a partner who can read the parts of the map that I can't.
4. I find it fascinating that my opinions of books I have written vary wildly, usually depending on how confident I'm feeling about the one I'm working on now. I loved the book MAKING LOVE with Melanie Tem, and SPIRITED, which I wrote alone. I'm more likely to like parts of books--a scene I think I really nailed, or a good plot, things like that. I love THE BOOK OF FOURS and I loved the original version of CITY OF, which I had to change to please The Powers That Be. It was the novelization of the first episode of ANGEL, and it had to be 180 pages long. Since the script was about 51 pages long, I had to add a lot of my own story. But I did things that weren't going to be in Angel's story on the show, so we had to change it. My editor told me the first draft of CITY OF was the best book she had read in a decade, and I was stunned.
5. For CITY OF, I thought about the flashbacks of Angel's life that we had seen on Buffy. I also had images of snow in my head. I don't know why. SPIRITED came about because I wanted to sell a retelling of a fairy tale to my Buffy editor. My daughter's name is Belle. I also knew that my editor and I loved the movie, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. So in a fit of inspiration, I transferred Beauty and the Beast into the time period of LAST OF THE MOHICANS (Colonial America.) I wrote the proposal in 45 minutes, including some research on the Algonquins, and sent it to her in the middle of the night on a Friday night. She emailed me back that she was buying it. Sweet!
6. Thanks for your compliments on QUEEN. I knew I had to incorporate everything Joss had written into Angel Season Five, and I also knew that my publisher wanted to market it as a Buffy novel, not a Buffy/Angel crossover. I wanted to include the idea that the Forces of Darkness all really pissed off at Buffy, and I wanted to explore what the effect of the unleashing of the Slayer power would have on all the girls who became Slayers. So I just kept moving bits and pieces around until I came up with something that seemed cohesive. I wanted to do a lot more--Willow's mom had a bit in it, which my editor wanted to cut; and I wanted to take more time getting Faith and Robin back to Italy. But I was running out of pages.
7. For Angel, I would suggest the books I wrote with Jeff Mariotte, and CITY OF.
8. Carnival of Souls is out in April. It takes place in Buffy second season, so I'm a little apprehensive that fans may be expecting a sequel to QUEEN OF THE SLAYERS. COS was originally planned as a Stake Your Destiny novel. My editor suggested writing it as a linear novel so I did that instead. But coming after QUEEN, I hope it pleases the fans.
9. Actually, I loved writing for WISHBONE. I adored Wishbone and my editor had told me I was the new "Wishbone Girl." I was going to write all kinds of books--mysteries, super-mysteries, etc., but then the entire publishing program got canceled and there was no more Wishbone at all. I loved working on SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH because those books were so much fun. My liaison at Paramount, Paul Ruditis, is now a freelancer, and a friend of mine. It was a happy experience all the
way around.
10. My non-Buffy and Angel's: for teens, SPIRITED, PEARL HARBOR 1941, and the SMALLVILLE books. I've also written quite a bit of horror, but it's pretty tough stuff.
11. My father was a psychiatrist in the navy, and I grew up in a military environment. I didn't know any writers. There's a wonderful convention called the World Antsy Convention. The first time I went to it, I met all kinds of writers who were like me--collected the same art, bought the same coffee cups--and I was so happy I burst into tears.
12. I would like slightly older fans to know that I'm writing for Harlequin now! I'm an author in the Silhouette Bombshell line. I'm writing a trilogy about a young woman who discovers she has magical
powers and has to head up a family called the House of the Flames. The first book is called THE GIFTED: DAUGHTER OF THE FLAMES. In this world, "Gifted" are people who have powers, like hers.
13. I want people to know that all the writers I know work very hard, and it really means a lot to hear from fans. There's a lot more to being a freelance writer than just thinking up stories. We have agents and editors to deal with, and while it's a wonderful profession and I love it, it is harder than I thought it would be, in some ways. I'm not complaining--it's also one of the few professions I can think of where people pay people like me to watch our favorite TV shows!
I also want people to know that my daughter, Belle, and I, have sold a short story together. It's called "The Further Adventures of Lightning Merriemouse-Jones," and it will be in an anthology called FURRY FANTASTIC, out next fall. Our editors, Martin H. Greenberg, Jean Rage, and Brian Thomsen, liked it so much that they have asked us for another story for an anthology titled PANDORA'S CLOSET. Now Belle is writing a novel about Lightning G. Mouse. She owns a pet mouse named Lightning.