interview: Michael R. Johnston, author of THE WIDENING GYRE

As part of the ongoing celebration of upcoming debut novels, I’ll be running highlights of interviews from a number of my fellow debuts through the end of 2019. The full interviews are available on DebutAuthors19.com.

Today, we’re continuing the series with a conversation with Michael R. Johnston, author of THE WIDENING GYRE, a work of science fiction releasing from Flame Tree Press on March 14th, 2019.

About the Book:

Once a war hero of the Zhen Empire, Tajen Hunt has become a freelance starship pilot, scrabbling for a living on the fringes of the Empire.  When his estranged brother is murdered, Tajen discovers that he was killed by Imperial agents.  Betrayed by the Empire he used to serve, Tajen gathers a crew and sets out to finish his brother’s quest—to find the long-lost human homeworld, Earth.  What they discover will shatter 800 years of peace in the Empire, and start a war that could be the end of the human race.

Interview Excerpt:

What’s the story behind the title?
When I was first drafting the story, I called it Things Fall Apart, because the story is inspired by Irish history, and that’s one of my favorite lines from the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, in his poem “The Second Coming.”

Then I remembered Chinua Achebe’s book of that name, and I decided to change it to The Widening Gyre.  Some friends didn’t like it, and I let myself be talked into changing it yet again.  But then my editor, Don D’Auria, said he preferred The Widening Gyre, and since I did, too, I happily changed it back. 

How long did you take to write this book?
I began writing it in July 2012, began really taking it seriously after I attended the Viable Paradise SFF writing workshop in October of 2013, and finished the first draft in July 2015.  I did some rewriting, and started submitting it to various agents & publishers in January 2016.  I got the acceptance from my publisher in May 2018.

What kind of research did you do for this book?
I did a lot of reading on Irish history, as well as researching the dismantling of the British Empire. 

What did you remove from this book during the editing process?
There was an extended “dream” sequence in which Tajen had a conversation with an AI, unaware of what it truly was.  But it wasn’t working, and as written it blurred too many lines, so I took the AI out and replaced it with a simpler scene. 

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I’m much more of a plotter.  Maybe it’s my English teacher training, but I can’t get traction on the story until I first work out the characters, and then outline the basic plot.  I still get a lot of ideas to add in as I’m writing, and some things change in the process, but I definitely plan the shape of the story before I begin drafting. 

What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why?
I like the point where I’ve nailed down the plot, I know what’s going to happen, and I can just write.

What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?
Getting the outline done.  Making sure that the plotlines not only make sense, but are interesting.

Can you share your writing routine?
I still have a day job as a high school teacher, and a child in grade school, so I have to write when it fits.  During the school year, I try to write every night for at least an hour after my daughter goes to bed.  During breaks from school, I write throughout the day--most of the work on The Widening Gyre was done during the summers.  That said, I am working on ways to increase writing time, such as giving up some of the television I used to watch, among other things. 

What are you working on right now?
I am working on a couple of things.  First up is the sequel to The Widening Gyre, titled The Blood-Dimmed Tide.  I’m also working on the plot outline for a new IP, another space opera set in a place I’m calling the Boundless Empire.  And finally, I’ve got an epic fantasy that I’d outlined, but which I took back to the drawing board to replot, because I love the characters and the basic idea, but a lot of my original outline doesn’t work.

About the Author:

Michael R. Johnston is a high school English teacher and writer living in Sacramento, California with his wife, daughter, and more cats than strictly necessary. His debut Science Fiction novel, The Widening Gyre, will be released 14 March 2019 by Flame Tree Press. He can be found at mjohnstonbooks.com and Twitter @MREJohnston

Contact Michael:

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How to Find THE WIDENING GYRE

At your Local, Independent Store /// Amazon /// Barnes & Noble

Author interview: Felicia Grossman

As part of the ongoing celebration of upcoming debut novels, I’ll be running highlights of interviews from a number of my fellow debuts through the end of 2019. The full interviews are available on DebutAuthors19.com.

Today, we’re continuing the series with a conversation with Felicia Grossman, author of APPETITES & VICES, a historical romance releasing from Carina Press on Feb. 18th, 2019.

About the Book:

Appetites & Vices tells the story of Ursula Nunes, the least popular Jewish heiress in 1840’s Delaware, and Jay Truitt, a recovering opium addict hiding behind his rich playboy persona. What starts as a faux engagement to help Ursula’s social standing, turns into actual love. The novel follows Jay's struggle build a new life and Ursula’s struggles to fit into both Jewish and gentile society, while discovering that everything is a little easier with a partner. The book explores of the difficulties of American Jewish identity, addiction and interfaith romance.    

Interview Excerpt:

Where did you get the idea? 
Appetites is a faux engagement story and I love that trope (romance is all about the tropes). And I really, really, really wanted to write a heroine in a historical romance that could’ve been my ancestor (there’s no British nobility in my blood, I promise), who got to have a really big character arc because why should the heroes have all the fun screwing things up? 

What’s the story behind the title? 
Appetites & Vices comes from my CP (critic partner) group. My original title was terrible and they would not let me query with it so, led by my writing bestie, MJ Marshall, we brainstormed and everyone else along the way loved it. 

No spoilers, but tell us something we won’t find out just by reading the book jacket. 
Both Appetites and its sequel, Dalliances & Devotion, are parents-and-children books in a lot of ways. The romantic relationship is primary but the biggest secondary relationships are those sort of family bonds. 

What kind of research did you do for this book? 
It’s historical so a ton of research. It’s set in my area of the country (Delaware and Philadelphia)—where I grew-up—just a few centuries earlier—so I kind of knew where to go, i.e., Rebecca Gratz’s letters and writings as well as Winterthur Museum and Gardens etc. 

What did you remove from this book during the editing process? 
Oh gosh, before querying, I removed original chapters three and four as well as the first half of chapter one, because they were cute but didn’t push the plot forward. I also added a bit of backstory to my hero after an R&R. But other than that initial stuff, I didn’t remove anything else big. 

What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why? 
I love editing, especially big edits. It feels like spring cleaning and because you are finally molding your clay. Drafting is throwing the clay down on the wheel, editing is where the fun begins. 

Can you share your writing routine? 
I’m a mom and I have a full-time day job so I write whenever I can. In hallways, when the kids go to bed, anywhere and everywhere.

Do you have any writing quirks? 
I overdue any suggestion, at least the first time. Too few contractions? I make so up so I can add more. Too many adverbs? I take them all out. I have to always watch of I go to extremes.

About the Author:

Which book influenced you the most?
One? I have to pick just one? I always I’m historical romance with a bit of a Jewish humorous women’s fiction voice. Like Joanna Shupe, Alyssa Cole, Beverly Jenkins, and Elizabeth Hoyt have been huge romance influences, while Nora Ephron, Susan Isaacs and Jennifer Weiner have been huge voice inspirations. I read Heartburn when I was like ten and it was totally inappropriate but it also changed my life because I understood the tone, the humor, and the dynamics.

What are you working on right now? 
Appetites & Vices has a sequel, called Dalliances & Devotion coming out in August, so there are edits there. I’m also drafting something entirely new, but still American now, and there’s a Regency I’m editing. 

If you could write in another genre, what would it be? 
Probably mystery/thriller. I LOVE legal thrillers. I binged read Richard North Patterson in the ‘90s when I was way too young for those books as well. But that’s a genre I still read a ton in. 

Connect with Felicia:

Twitter

Website

Buy APPETITES & VICES

Interview with Megan Collins, Author of The Winter Sister

As part of the ongoing celebration of upcoming debut novels, I’ll be running highlights of interviews from a number of my fellow debuts through the end of 2019. The full interviews are available on DebutAuthors19.com.

Today, we’re continuing the series with a conversation with Megan Collins, author of THE WINTER SISTER, releasing from Atria on Feb. 5th, 2019.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

THE WINTER SISTER is an exploration of grief and guilt—how the two can compound each other and how forgiving ourselves can be even more difficult than forgiving others. Though the book begins with the murder of eighteen-year-old Persephone, its story really belongs to the people who loved her: the mother, Annie, who drowned her grief with alcohol until she had nothing left; the sister, Sylvie, who tried to escape her past by lying to her friends and herself along the way; and the boyfriend, Ben, who’s long been suspected of being the one who killed Persephone, even though he swears he’s innocent. Sixteen years after the devastating murder, the lives of these three characters intersect once again, and it’s only then that the truth about what happened to Persephone finally comes out.    

Interview Excerpt:

Where did you get the idea?

 THE WINTER SISTER is inspired by the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter, which has always been my favorite myth because of the many ways in which it can be read—as a story of motherhood, a story of what happens when we refuse to let go of grief, or a story about the effects of trauma. The idea for this book came to me when I wondered what would have happened if Demeter had had another daughter, if Persephone had had a sister, who was left to navigate her childhood in the wake of her mother’s neglect and rage and unending grief over Persephone’s disappearance. Sylvie, the narrator of THE WINTER SISTER, is my answer to that question.

How long did you take to write this book?

 It was about two years from the initial outlining of this book to the final revision I made with my agent before it was sent out on submission. But during that time, I took nearly a year-long break, as I got stuck for a while and chose to focus on revising another project instead.

What kind of research did you do for this book?

In a way, I feel like I’ve been researching this book for half my life, ever since I first heard the myth of Persephone, and in all the years since, whenever I’ve re-read it, taught it, or devoured any reimagining or adaptation of it I could find.

What did you remove from this book during the editing process?

When I worked with my agent on this book, our goal was for me to get it down from 135,000 words to under 100,000 in order to tighten the story and improve the pacing. At first, that seemed like such an impossible task because it meant cutting a quarter of the novel, but once I got into a groove, I was trimming down sentences ruthlessly until I was left with prose that was much more muscular and could therefore pack a bigger punch than its previous, more padded version.   

Can you share your writing routine?

 I have a home office that I write in, and given my teaching schedule, I tend to do most of my writing in the mornings. This works best for me because my mind is fresh, and it means I can spend time at night just decompressing from the day by reading or watching TV.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Megan Collins holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University. She has taught creative writing at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and Central Connecticut State University, and she is the managing editor of 3Elements Review. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, her work has appeared in many print and online journals, including Off the Coast, Spillway, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and Rattle. She lives in Connecticut.

Connect with Megan:

Website: www.megancollins.com
Facebook
Twitter: @ImMeganCollins
Instagram: @megancollinswriter
Goodreads

Buy THE WINTER SISTER

Interview with Erin Bartles, Author of WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS

As part of the ongoing celebration of upcoming debut novels, I’ll be running highlights of interviews from a number of my fellow debuts through the end of 2019. The full interviews are available on DebutAuthors19.com.

Today, we’re continuing the series with a conversation with Erin Bartles, author of WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS, releasing from Revell Books on New Year’s Day, 01/01/19.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The story begins when journalist Elizabeth Balsam is tasked with returning a box of never-before-seen photos of the 1967 Detroit riot to a relative she didn’t know she had. Elizabeth wants to use them to further her flagging career. But as she connects with her long-lost great-aunt in the family’s 150-year-old farmhouse outside of Detroit, she begins to uncover the stories of two women who lived in that very house a century apart, who were involved in the Underground Railroad and the tumultuous Civil Rights Era. What she discovers about her family’s past has repercussions for her own future.

Interview Excerpt:

How long did it take for you to write WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS?

The first inkling of the idea came in 2011 or 2012. I researched for all of 2013. I drafted it in 65 days at the beginning of 2014. Then it was revise, revise, revise. I signed with my agent in 2015. We went on submission in 2016. In 2017, I signed my publishing contract. And it finally hits shelves January 1, 2019. It’s been a long road. 

How much research did you do for WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS?

I read well over a thousand pages on women in the Civil War, Michigan’s involvement in the Civil War, the Underground Railroad, funerary practices in the Victorian Era, Reconstruction, the Great Migration, Jim Crow, the development of the city of Detroit, civil unrest and the Detroit riot of 1967, and more. I also watched documentaries, listened to podcasts, and interviewed people who had lived in Detroit in the 1960s.

 
How did you get into writing?

I was an English major, so I adore great writing, be it novels, poetry, plays, short stories, or essays. After reading other people’s novels for work for about a decade, I think it was inevitable that I would try my hand at writing one.

 What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?

Finding time. I work full time. I’m a mom. I have a house to keep up. Etc. Finding time is always, always a struggle. But if something is important to you, you make it work.

Find WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS on Amazon.

Full interview here: DebutAuthors19.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ERIN BARTELS is a copywriter and freelance editor by day, a novelist by night, and a painter, seamstress, poet, and photographer in between. Her debut novel, We Hope for Better Things, is scheduled to be released in January 2019 from Revell Books, followed in September 2019 with The Words Between Us, which was a finalist for the 2015 Rising Star Award from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Her short story “This Elegant Ruin” was a finalist in The Saturday Evening Post 2014 Great American Fiction Contest. Her poems have been published by The Lyric and The East Lansing Poetry Attack. A member of the Capital City Writers Association and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, she is former features editor of WFWA’s Write On! magazine.

Connect with Erin:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

Goodreads

Author Interview with B.P. Donigan, author of FATE FORGED

As part of the ongoing celebration of upcoming debut novels, I’ll be running highlights of interviews from a number of my fellow debuts through the end of 2019. The full interviews are available on DebutAuthors19.com.

Today, we’re kicking off the series with a conversation with B.P. Donigan, author of FATE FORGED, an urban fantasy from Red Adept Publishing, releasing 12.18.18

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Growing up on the streets of Boston, Maeve O’Neill learned to rely only on herself. Paying bills isn't glamorous, but her life is on a better track—until she starts having agonizing visions of torture. Desperate to rid herself of the paralyzing episodes, she follows her visions to the scene of a murder. Instead of answers, she gets an unexpected gift from the victim: Magic.

With the unwanted power, Maeve becomes the access point to all of Earth's untapped magic. Now, powerful enemies are after her and staying alive means striking a bargain with an untrustworthy ally with a long-shot plan. Maeve has to keep the magic in check until she can get rid of it, but her control is slipping and everything could go wrong. If the plan fails, her unlikely ally betrays her, or her enemies catch her, she'll be handing over all of Earth's magic...and her life.

Interview Excerpt:

How long did it take for you to write Fate Forged?

I first sat down to write a novel four years before Fate Forged was published. The first year was all about learning how to write a novel. I've always been an avid reader, and I knew what I liked, but I had no idea how to plan, plot or pace a novel. An entire second year was spent editing my work in progress and then getting beta readers and critique partners.

How much research did you do for Fate Forged?

I researched everything! For the story itself, I had to map out the character's road trip, and Google search weapons, how to realistically kill someone in hand-to-hand combat, and watch lots of videos online just to make a coherent fight scene. For a while there, I was pretty sure my internet searches were going to flag an FBI raid on my house.

 
Did anything change significantly in your book during the writing or editing process?

A: Yes! Many of the character's names changed, and the title of Fate Forged used to be The Lost Sect, which I liked, but the publisher didn't think had enough depth. After some soul searching, I decided "Fate" was a thread that will reach across the entire series, and then I attempted to find a title with the word Fate that didn't sound like a romance novel! To make it all cohesive, I ended up coming up with titles for the first three books (as well as the Series Title) so the extra effort was worth it.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Plotter all the way. I’m always looking for better ways to plan out the plot, the characters and pacing. For me, it’s so much easier to write creatively if I know the bones of the story are solid.

Find FATE FORGED on: Amazon | Kobo | Red Adept Publishing | B&N | GooglePlay

Full interview here: DebutAuthors19.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

B.P. Donigan was born and raised in Wasilla, Alaska (which would later become famous thanks to one infamous politician who could see Russian from her house, but at the time was about as rural as you can get).

She attended college in rural Idaho earning a degree in Print Journalism, and then not-so-rural Utah earning a degree in Marketing, and finally moved to very-not-rural Boston where she lived and worked for ten years. After paying her dues to the Extreme Winters, she resides now in sunny California, with her two kids, two fish, two dogs… and one amazing husband. Like any good superhero she spends her daytime building her cover story behind a desk, and her nights saving the world (on paper, at least).

New Interview on the "Yes, And..." Podcast

I had a great time talking with Jennifer Whitacre Gardner​ on the Yes, And... podcast about motivation, work ethic, and the inspiration behind TITANSHADE. Jennifer’s doing great work, and the podcast is well worth checking out!

Here’s the link to give it a listen: Yes, And… Podcast with Dan Stout