Thursday, October 19, 2023
Today I am at Teri Polen’s place, participating in her Bad Moon Rising festival of books and author interviews. This feature is an annual event bringing together authors for the entire month. Teri has a set of questions from which the authors can choose to answer. The results are fun and often surprising. Come visit by clicking here.
I’m sharing the Q& A here. However, since I want you to visit us at Teri’s, comments are closed here.
I hope I can be as fun and exciting with the questions I’ve answered as everyone else has been. This part is such a great way to get to know authors. Here goes.
Fun Questions
Would you rather be scared or scare someone?
Ha. I’m scared most of the time anyway, so I’d rather scare someone else. Although in a good way. I hope to do a little of that with A Peril in the Bayou. In seriousness, I have a lot of nightmares. For several months being chased by lions was a recurring theme. More recently, giant tarantulas were wreaking havoc on a highway. I should probably start making short stories from each nightmare. Haha, they’d be bizarre enough.
In A Peril in the Bayou, the characters don’t encounter either of those beasties. It’s nature and elemental entities that are the real danger in that haunted bayou.
Would you rather watch Hitchcock’s Psycho or Spielberg’s Poltergeist?
I love to study Hitchcock’s work, so I choose to watch Psycho. One thing Hitchcock was known for was the “long shot” which was explained with the example of the way the camera first shows you a street in the neighborhood, then you are in the front yard of the house and see the people through their window, and finally you are taken inside the house where the people are. That concept has inspired me in writing, and I try to remember and use it (at least to a degree) in the opening of my stories to set the tone and anchor the setting in the reader’s mind. For instance, here are the first two paragraphs of my featured book:
Rain pinged against the tin roof of a bungalow on the outskirts of New Orleans. Neither the rain nor the night brought down the temperature leftover from a hot, humid day. Inside, a rotary fan chugged and grunted a counterpoint to the night-song of frogs and crickets, and the bass moan of something unknown in the distance.
The fan created the breeze that Nature refused to relinquish. The sleeping woman tossed fitfully. Slumber held no relief from the heat. Dreams provided no respite from the sense of unease that had followed her throughout the day.
Would you rather listen to Edgar Allen Poe or Stephen King tell a scary story?
That one is easy. I love watching interviews with Stephen King, so I’m all-in for listening to him tell a scary tale. There’s a great conversation/interview between King and George RR Martin on Youtube. Here’s a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR7XMkjDGw0
Writing Questions
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
You know I’m a self-proclaimed research geek. How long I spend researching depends on how much I already know, how difficult it is to find credible sources, and how long my story is expected to be. I spend a couple of weeks researching in advance. However, I continue to research, hundreds of little details, all throughout writing the story. For example, questions like “When did that term come into use?” or “In what country did that name originate?” “When was that device invented?” Actually, I get so into the research, that in many of my books I include a section at the end with some “Real World Notes.”
How do you select the names of your characters?
This isn’t really one of my questions, but I had to give it a “shout-out” because it’s something dear to me. My answer would take up several pages, so I’m not including it here. Maybe a post at my blog one day.
You feel uninspired and you’ve sat at the computer for an hour without adding any words. How do you get your creativity flowing?
Why, I get someone to give me “three random things” as a prompt, of course — just like I do for my weekend blog serials. Strangely enough, that kind of prompt only works for me if someone else gives me the things. When I make my own, it doesn’t have the same effect on me. If anyone wants to follow along, I’ll soon be starting part 2 of the latest one. The first half, Atonement in Zugzwang is now available as a novella. If anyone wants to catch up by reading it, here’s a link:
What are you working on now?
All throughout this year I’ve teased myself that I would finish finalizing The Delta Pearl: a Steampunk Riverboat — within a matter of weeks… and I still haven’t finished. I also very much want to finish Wheel of Fortune, an urban fantasy set in the 1960s, but that’s not looking too likely for this year. Plus, I’m gradually working on another volume for my non-fiction Author Tool Chest series. It’s a book of details for 1920s settings. I will have at least one city (around the world, but mostly in the USA) for each letter of the alphabet. But I keep stopping to do other book related things, like writing A Peril in the Bayou…
Book Blurb
Rich with atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties and New Orleans, A Peril in the Bayou begins when Clover Flanagan, assistant to renowned psychic medium, Daphne Moultrie, travels with her to New Orleans to see a spiritualist leader. Mother Leafy agrees meet Daphne, but on one condition — Daphne must travel a haunted bayou so she will understand those spirits. However, Leafy has a rival who is a dangerous woman.
Despite cryptic warnings from a spirit, they head to New Orleans. In the bayou, Clover’s gifts begin to awaken. So do Voodoo gods in want of a sacrifice, and powerful primeval entities of the swamp, which comes to vicious life.
Also on hand from the first book, A Peril in Ectoplasm, are Albert and Phineas in important roles. Housekeeper, Maisy is not entirely left out either. Don’t miss this thrilling romp through 1920s New Orleans.
Universal Purchase Links
Kindle: relinks.me/B0CKGRJS8F
Paperback: Coming soon! (The paperback will be available by the time this post goes live.)
About Teri Polen
Teri Polen reads and watches horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, and anything Marvel-related are likely to cause fangirl delirium. She lives in Bowling Green, KY, with her husband, sons, and black cat. Sarah, her debut novel, was named a horror finalist in the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Teri’s Books
Get all of the information and purchase links for Teri’s books here.
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