Emily Guido, the author of the Light Bearer series, was kind enough to award me with the Shine On Award. If you haven’t checked out her blog or her books, you should. I have the first two on my kindle right now. There are no rules for this award, so I am going to copy Emily and do a self interview… well, sort of. Actually, I’m going to let a few of my characters ask me a question. (Yes, more of that crazy author talking-to-myself)
Torina: You have the weirdest character names. I don’t even know how to pronounce some of them. How do YOU say them?
Me: They aren’t weird. they’re cool. But, here is a short list of some of the “oddballs”:
- Katelina – Kate-lean-a
- Jorick – Jour-ick (this is incorrect as it is really Joe-rick, but I don’t care)
- Kateesha – Kuh-teesh-uh
- Torina – Tore-ee-na
- Velnya – Veln-yuh
- Verchiel – Ver-chee-el (This may also be wrong but I don’t care)
- Traven – Tray-ven
- Jorge – Hor-hay – I believe this is the correct pronunciation, ala the old Chicken plant
- Sorino – Sor -ree-no
- Kai - rhymes with “eye”
- Eileifr – This is an authentic name, so I don’t know. I sort of stab at it: Ee-ill-if-er. I’m sure this is wrong.
- Celedine – another authentic name; Kel-a-dine or Sell-a-dine, depending on my mood
- Sadihra – Suh-dear-a
Oren: You love fantasy/sci-fi but write vampires. How does that impact our story? Are you taking out some sort of dissatisfaction on us?
Me: I’ve been rewatching the old X-men cartoons lately and the X-men remind me of my vampires; they’re like this group of superheros with all these bizarre abilities and none of them really get along. They drift in and out, so you can get different characters back stories and such. As for the fantasy aspect, to start with there are a LOT of characters. I try to kill some off to keep the numbers down, but it’s hard. Though I could choose any weapons, I usually pick bladed ones – my brother is the one who pokes his nose in and demands guns all the time, which is good because that gives it the action feel it needs. Also the characters are always on a “quest” to defeat the “villain” – there’s generally a new villain in every book – and to do this usually involves lots of traveling. Instead of trooping through the wild lands running into orcs they tend to stay at motels and get attacked by vampires, but it’s the same kind of thing with, essentially, the same pacing. Maybe that’s why the series appeals to lots of non-vampire fans? Because it’s really a superhero/fantasy series pretending to be paranormal?
And no. I just like to torture you.
Verchiel: Hello great, lovely author! When am I going to get my spin off series?
Me: Sorry. It’s not on my project list. Though I’m considering some Executioner short stories.
Micah: Do you actually do any research, or do you just make this crap up?
Me: Yes, I do research. Mostly it’s online. My search history is insane. I like youtube videos of things (like for Heart of the Raven I watched a video of riding on a helicopter, private planes landing, a grenade launcher firing, etc.) but I’ll take text if that’s all I can get. I usually just make locations up, but for Heart of the Raven I needed some real-ish ones, so I used google maps zoom in/street view function and also flickr photos among others. Offline I’ve used info from the Backwoodsmen magazine, Popular Mechanics, Mythbusters, Deadliest Warrior and a rather awesome documentary on Japan, just to name a few. I also ask a lot of people. My brother is my weapons expert, for instance, and in this book since they go overseas I happened to have some friends who have also gone to those places, so I collected data from them. I think this is the book I’ve done the most research on.
Katelina: Since I never get to eat real food, shouldn’t I lose weight?
Me: Pfffft. Have you SEEN the calorie count on twinkies? Besides, you’re eating regularly most of the time now.
Loren: Speaking of twinkies, they’re, like, gone. Are you gonna take that reference out of the first book coz it kinda dates it, you know?
Me: I’m not planning on it. I have faith Twinkies will return! Besides, I kind of fell like once it’s published, it’s published (short of typos or mistakes) and rather than rework old material I’d rather write new stuff.
And that’s enough from the peanut gallery. If you have a question, leave it in the comments section.
In the meantime, go check out the blogs of these lovely bloggers who I am sharing this awesome award with!
Tricia Drammeh
/ January 28, 2013Well deserved! Congrats.
Joleene Naylor
/ January 28, 2013Thanks!
Sue
/ January 28, 2013that cracked me up
Joleene Naylor
/ January 28, 2013Glad it was fun! Had a hard time coming up with something, LOL!
Roger
/ January 28, 2013Nicely done.
Joleene Naylor
/ January 28, 2013thanks!
dm yates
/ January 28, 2013Yes! A no rules blog. Love no rules. Micah was too funny. And, let’s just consider giving that sweet little Verchiel his own series. You know I’m on his side.
Joleene Naylor
/ January 28, 2013Ha ha! Yeah, I think there are a few people who are rooting for a spin off, LOL!
ccbn213
/ January 28, 2013Thanks, Jo…and congrats! I never got an award before.
Joleene Naylor
/ January 28, 2013You’re very welcome and you deserve it!
Barbara
/ January 29, 2013Congratulations and thank you! I loved all your questions and answers. No rules is good!
Joleene Naylor
/ January 29, 2013You’re very welcome! Yeah, no rules means you can just toss it in a post if you want, or come up with something fun
Ascension For You
/ January 30, 2013Thanks for the award Jo ….I like your take / angel on the blog post … brill Jo…you are so creative!! Love your explanations/ pronouncation of the names too …
Joleene Naylor
/ January 30, 2013You’re very welcome! This was a fin one to do!
Ruth Ann Nordin
/ January 30, 2013LOL esp on Katelina’s question. And no, Twinkies can’t be permanently gone. Those are classic.
All this time I’ve been pronouncing Katelina as Kat-a-leen-a. Oops.
It was fun to watch your characters ask you questions.
Joleene Naylor
/ January 30, 2013I am waiting hopefully for the reemergence of Twinkies. I just hope they taste the same.
Ha ha! Well I always say pronounce them however you want. That’s how my Kindle/text to speech readers all say it, too!
thejissilly
/ January 30, 2013I think vampires when I see the xmen too. That Wolverine can suck the life right out of you.
Joleene Naylor
/ January 31, 2013You’re thinking of Rogue