Interview with:DeannaJewel [deannajewel]
WRITING
 | What did you first read? How did you begin to write? Who were the first to read what you wrote? Beyond the childhood books we've all read, I remember about 13 or so starting to read the Gothic historical romance novels by Victoria Holt. I couldn't read her books fast enough. From there, I moved on to Kathleen Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, Virginia Henley, Johanna Lindsey and so many others.
It wasn't until I injured my back about age 35 that I tried my hand at writing while recuperating. I joined a writers' group and critique groups and they helped me immensely with my writing and honing my skills. My first novel was such a learning experience and ended up being about 550 pages. The beginner books on writing had stated that one should start off small when first writing but by the time I'd read that, I had already finished the 550 pages so no, I didn't start off small.
The first to read my work were my critique partners. I wasn't comfortable enough with myself or my writing to let anyone read it that I was close to, fearing criticism I suppose. My partners helped me with edits and many books I purchased on editing, voice, grammar, etc, all helped me become a better writer. Readers can visit my home page at: deannajewel.com |
| | What is your favorite genre? Can you provide a link to a site where we can read some of your work or learn something about it? My favorite genre is historical romance and has been for many years. I love the fact that so many of the great authors I read include the history in their work. I'm more partial to settings in England, Scotland and Ireland, but also enjoy time travel novels set anywhere.
I do use a website that helps with feedback for writers, poets, etc and my work can be seen at www.writing.com/authors/butterfly55_55. Never Surrender, my Indian time travel romance, is now in print and e-book as well as my second novel - No Turning Back, an historical set in England, 1778, which is actually my very first novel, after MANY edits and revisions!
I'm self published as a POD author so my books cost a bit more but are also bigger than the standard paperback. My books are 6 x 9 and can be seen on my website. |
| | What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write? I'm a seat-of-the-pants writer. I may jot down the main story lines but other than that, my characters pretty much write the story, as is the case in Never Surrender. That novel happened when I visited my brother and his family in Dubois Wyoming. I can't actually explain what happened or how, but the characters popped into my head and created a movie-like image and I just wrote what I saw in my mind. Their dialogue, their feelings, their actions....it just happened and I wrote. I wish each book was that easy to write. With what I learned writing Fire On The Water, Never Surrender turned out much better and was an easier read.
Other story lines and character profiles are always coming to mind and I have a card file that I keep these ideas in so I can use them as I choose. I also have files of reference materials and that alone can get one carried away. I do remember while researching my first novel, my girls refused to go to the library with me after a while because I would never want to leave. |
| | What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story? To hold my interest as a reader, the author needs to not talk down to me and assume I can only pay attention to one plot at a time. I prefer detailed novels with two or three or four things happening in the story at one time. I did have many agents and editors tell me I had too many plots yet those friends I had read my stories said they followed it just fine. I know publishers have to be careful on the books they take on to be sure they sell, but I know in time, my books will get into the hands of those who enjoy more than one plot to a book.
A good author will also pull me into their story and into the location, to make me feel as though I am one of the characters standing in the group taking part. That, to me, is a great author. When I have to pull myself out of the story and put down the book, yet all day I'm thinking of the characters and their locale, that's a good book.
I also need to have characters with depth in their personalities and care about the other characters. They have to be true to themselves and those close to them. I have to have an ending to the story that is satisfying, either ending well enough for book two or three and to end on a happy note if it's one book standing alone.
Readers will find that my chapter endings will usually leave them hanging so they have to keep reading on to the next chapter. I rarely end my chapters with a scene that ends there. That allows the reader a place to put the book down so they can come back to the story later. I don't do that because I don't want the reader putting my book down. Is that bad? To some it may be, and to those readers I apologize, but if they can't put the book down, then I've done my job as an author. |
| | Does reader feed-back help you? I love reader feedback that's why I posted chapters to writing.com. It's a great site for beginners. Other members can read what is posted and give feedback for reward points on the site. I recommend that site to anyone who writes and wants to share their work, being novels or poems. Go to www.writing.com and check out the site. |
| | What do you surround yourself with in your work area in order to help your concentrate? Depending on the type of story I'm writing, yes, I surround myself with pictures of the locale and music is a good inspiration for me so I usually have that playing also. When I wrote Never Surrender, I listened to Native American cd's and it took me to places in my mind that made it easier to write the story. That might sound crazy to those who don't write and don't understand the process.
When I wrote Fire On The Water, I had pictures of England, castles, London Bridge and many ship pictures and harbors. I researched the period dress and castle interiors and life aboard ships. I loved it because I love to read about life in England back in the 1700s. Let's not get me started on that! |
| | Do you write on a computer? Do you print frequently? Do you correct on paper? What is your process? I write on the computer and edit on the computer. When I feel I've edited as much as I can, I then print it and wait a few days to re-read it. I mark my changes and additions in red and input those back in the computer. Once I feel I'm close to what I want, I print out a few chapters at a time for someone to read and critique for me, asking them to mark in red the areas that stick out for them as questionable so I can rewrite them.
The editing process can go on forever so one has to know at a certain point that the story has been edited enough. I use my critique people for that, depending on how many comments in red I receive back from them and how they FELT as they read my work. If I haven't drawn that reader deep into my story so they feel the character, then I need to continue with the edit process until the reader is pulled in deep to experience what the characters experience. |
| | What are you working on now? I've started my third novel about an abandoned lighthouse with a ghost or two who is attempting to get two people together who have shared a previous life because these two people were soul mates before; each is still searching this life for that 'one true love'.
The heroine is eager to transform the lighthouse into a bed and breakfast of her own but the lighthouse is owned by someone she can't reach who won't return her calls. She is immersing herself in her work to avoid her past and has moved to a new town to start fresh.
The hero is a very busy man who owns his own business and has no interest in selling a lighthouse left to him years ago by his grandfather. The place spooked him when he was a curious child who saw lights in the tower back then; it was left empty and unattended even when his grandfather owned it.
Will the ghost be successful in pulling these two strangers back together? And WHO is this ghost? Is he a sea captain from years ago looking to recapture the love he lost?
Visit my blog and website to stay informed of how the story unfolds. |
INTERNET
| | Where can we see some of your work online? I'm like to think I'm all over the internet. Deanna Jewel can be 'Googled' if I may use that phrase. I have several websites to stay connected to readers who have not yet tried one of my novels. I run ads, write my blog, comment on other blogs, make my own book trailers which can be seen by searching for Deanna Jewel on YouTube. I hope you enjoy them.
I have two chapters of each one of my books listed here: www.freado.com/users/1124/Deanna-Jewel
Most of my websites are also listed here: www.deannajewel.com but again, Google to see more. |
ENTREPRENEUR
| | Up to what point is luck is important? How do you attract it? We all create our own luck because I'm a firm believer that we attract what we think! One has to be able to envision where you want to take yourself on this journey of life. If we can't envision our goals as something that WILL happen for us, why bother?
If people constantly think that others are out to get them, that nothing good will ever happen for them, nothing ever WILL happen for them. Think for a moment about the successful people you know. Do you assume they sit around thinking about bad things in their life or do you suppose they are always thinking of ways they can market themselves or their product so more people will see what it is they are trying to sell, whether it be themselves, a product or a novel that the author wants to share with others along with the characters they've created that a reader may be able to relate to?
I ramble on here but as you can see, I'm passionate about getting everyone to think about what you want to attract in your life. We need to think about a successful business, successful friends and hang out with that type of person if one day, that is where you want to be. We have to create our own luck and make things happen for ourselves. Nothing ever happens to those who wait for someone else to make them HAPPY...am I making sense here??
That leads into another version of attracting what we think! If we want to be happy in our lives, we can't hang around with people who are always unhappy and putting others down because the other person is successful due to what that person has made happen in his own life. Look around you and your circle of friends. Are there some who hang together and none of them are happy or even make good things happen? That's because they attract what they think! There is no better example than to show that; we must be with like-minded people because they also attract what they think.
I'll stop here because I could go on and on about this. I hope I have at least planted a seed in YOUR mind to begin a new day and start thinking about what YOU want to attract!! |
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DeannaJewel
Lewiston, ID - USA
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