Entries by tag: puddles
Congrats again on your 1st place finish in this year’s Meager Puddle of Limelight Award for Best Opening Line, What’s the name of the story the opening line is from?
It’s called Ghostkiller, a 74K word Urban supernatural.
Tell us a little about it. Is it published? If so, where can folks find it?
It’s not published.
How many times did you change the opening line before you settled on ‘Aren't you a bit young to be raising the dead?’
I almost never change the opening line. It’s the seed for the whole rest of the book.
What’s your preferred genre/wordcount?
I started in fantasy, with Unbinding the Stone, but my last published novel, St. Martin’s Moon, is in a genre I call Science Fiction Gothic. My first novel came in at over 100K words, but there was a lot of world-building, of sorts. My later stories have been ending up considerably smaller. I don’t have a preferred wordcount, I just keep on going until the story’s done.
What’s your current WIP?
I have a number of stories in progress, but the one that’s currently front and center for me is a huge effort of Fan Fiction. I’m rewriting an entire season of my favorite TV series, Chuck. Season 3 had a number of problems and I’m fixing them.
Are you a pantser or an outliner?
Definitely a pantser. I usually start out with a first line, or an image, and I spin the story logic out from there. Even if I have an idea for how the story should end, I don’t know how the story will get there, and often the meaning of the ending is completely different when it does.
What are your long term goals as a writer?
My goal is to write stories that I want to read. I call myself as author and it’s a significant part of my self-definition, but I’m reluctant to call myself a professional. Writing is too personal for me, I have to want to write what I’m writing, I have to care. Not that I would mind the occasional movie deal.
Tell us about your very first sale.
I went to the library one day and looked in a book called the Writer’s Market, and found a list of publishers, and what they accepted. From that I made a list of publishers who accepted manuscripts from authors, and Echelon Press was on that list. I simply sent them an email and asked if they were interested, and were they ever interested! I only found out later that they weren’t supposed to be in that issue of the book! We both got lucky.
As a reader, does a good opening line make a difference to you?
It sets the tone of the story, definitely, active or not, dark or not. I have some constellation of criteria for what makes a story appeal to me, but I have no idea what it is.
What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard?
I wish I’d heard some. I don’t belong to any groups. I suppose it might help but I can’t write to anyone’s schedule.
What was the last story/novel you pitched/submitted?
Ghostkiller. In fact, I just recently spent an entire weekend with the help of one of my Facebook groups developing a query for it, which I sent in last week, so, fingers crossed.
What was the last story/novel you read?
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of fan fictions on the web. Most of them are pretty short, and quite a few are very good. My wife recently discovered my Elizabeth Moon collection, and she decided to add to it, so I’ve been rereading some of her work as well.
Where can readers find your work?
My stories are primarily available on the web, places like Amazon and BN.com. I have a complete set of links on my website, www.marcvunkannon.com which I’ll have to update right after I finish this.
Where on the web can you be found?
My stories are available at many online sites, Amazon, BN.com (which is right now the only place to find my short story Off the Map), and OmniLit.com. My own website is www.marcvunkannon.com, with some free samples of the novels, while my blog is up at http://authorguy.wordpress.com with a lot of links on the About page. If you want to see some of my free writing go here.
What do you know now, that you wish you'd known when you first started writing?
Who says I know anything now? The big thing to be aware of is how hard it is to get published, and how much work is involved getting the books into people’s hands. If you’re going into it looking for easy fame and glory, you won’t find it here. It wouldn’t have stopped me, but still…
Is there’s anything I didn’t ask you, that you want to answer anyway?
Dialog. One of the benefits of my fanfiction writing is the practice I get writing other styles, especially narrative.
Who do you think would win in a fight, astronauts or cavemen (and why)?
Obviously the cavemen, since they would get the dinosaurs to fight for them.
Like many writers, Marc Vun Kannon started when a story came along and
decided that he should write it. Don't ask him why.
Others followed, until now he’s afraid to go out of the house without a recorder or
notebook in his hand. But he shows them, he refuses to write the same story twice!
Congrats again on your finish joint runner-up in this year’s Puddle Award for Best Opening Line. What’s the name of the novel or story it comes from?
Lie Awake at Midnight ya paranormal fantasy work in progress. Title is subject to change because I can't seem to make up my mind.
Tell us a little about it.
In her own words: 'I watched my mom live in a fog after the accident that killed my stepmom. The wreck also took my brother and sister, and it left my dad in a hospital in another town for six weeks. I had my own problems aside from everything else. Who doesn't when she's almost sixteen and just finding out she'd been born into a family of vampires? But I'm getting ahead of myself. Hello. I'm Destiny Bradford, and this is my story.'
How many times did you change the opening line before you settled on ‘The number of parents I have should be illegal.’
At least four, and it's apt to change again, honestly.
Tell us about yourself.
I am a southern gothic fiction writer who grew up in the coal mining community of Woodbine in southeastern Kentucky. I have lived away from the mountains and lived deep in the mountains. My current home is in Central Kentucky with my lifepartner and our cat. I am the mother of two young men and am an avid supporter of kidney disease awareness and living organ donation awareness. The mountains, their culture, their superstitions, their particular magics, will always be in my heart and my blood.
What’s your preferred genre/wordcount?
Paranormal Fantasy, although my publisher has me pegged as Southern Gothic. I say there's a fine line there.
Are you a pantser or an outliner?
I'm actually somewhere in between. I start with a general idea and go from there. Once things are a bit more solidified in my head, then I might sketch out what the most important events are and when they occur.
What are your long term goals as a writer?
Right now that is "live through the publication process without having a nervous breakdown".
Tell us about your very first sale.
I was asked to write a short story for an anthology. I was terrified.
As a reader, does a good opening line make a difference to you?
This is where I get to say, "It really depends." No, it really does. If it's a writer I'm unfamiliar with, it matters to a degree. What matters more to me is the blurb on the back, the reviews in the front, and the pages I glimpse as I thumb through.
What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard?
Douglas Clegg blogged about napping several years ago. It reminded me that even I need to take breaks. So I do. When I need one, I go rest. I don't always necessarily nap, but sometimes I just lay down and read for a while or lay down and close my eyes and rest.
What’s the worst?
"You should turn this friendship into a sexual partnership." Couldn't do because of plotline reasons, and the idea really grossed me out. This comment told me the person hadn't understood the story at all -- if she'd even read it.
What was the last story/novel you pitched/submitted?
Midnight - adult southern gothic. Published by Apex Publishing next year.
What was the last story/novel you read?
Mira Grant's Newsflesh series, including all the short stories (well, except the short that comes out this summer, of course). Good stuff there. I was in a medical clinic on Wednesday and went down to the basement, where the vending is, and flipped out a little when the elevator opened. Long, empty, bare hallways.
Do you belong to a writing/critique group? Why?/Why not?
Matter of fact, I just wrote about this. The group I talk about in the post is called Worlds of Wonder, and they're wonderful people. Writers Groups and the (New) Writer.
Where can readers find your work?
Harlan County Horrors, which I edited, scattered through my website, and in the Help anthology.
Where on the web can you be found?
http://mariadkins.com and http://facebook.com/mariadkinsfan
What do you know now, that you wish you'd known when you first started writing?
How hard it is. I can handle the isolation and the boredom (yes, there's sometimes boredom and tedium). But sometimes the writing comes hard and turns a day, week, month, or longer into pure drudgery.
Is there’s anything I didn’t ask you, that you want to answer anyway?
42.
Congratulations to 
Marc Vun Kannon
winner of this year's Meager Puddle of Limelight Award for Best Opening Line.
Here are the final results:
1st place: "Aren't you a bit young to be raising the dead?" Marc Vun Kannon
Joint runner-up It all went wrong when she hit the angels. Rachel M. Thompson
Joint runner-up The number of parents I have should be illegal. Mari Adkins
4th= They thought I was you, but I wasn't. Bart Palamaro
4th= The woods called to him; they always had. Kay Kauffman (aka 
kayporque)
6th I'm ok with people asking me how it feels to live without a leg. Jakob Drud (aka jakobdrud)
7th= The dead philosopher came out of his cavern only when both the moons of Mars were below the horizon. Christine Lucas (aka silverwerecat)
7th= Once upon a time we’d been friends, the witch and I. Rhonda Parrish (aka rhondaparrish)
In addition to the all-important bragging rights, Marc wins a signed copy of Fur-Face and two of my I are a writer! pens, as well as an interview and/or guest spot here on An Englishman in New Jersey.
Rachel and Mari also win an interview here, where they can bask in the meager puddle of limelight my blog will provide.