Thanks for coming to read another great Ask an Author interview! This time I have the fabulous Lindsay Klug here. She’s a fellow Silver Publishing author and a great writer.
Heather: Thanks, Lindsay, for coming to answer questions for me today! So let’s get started.What’s one thing you wish you would have known before you got published?
Lindsay: One thing? Gosh, I could go on for hours here. I suppose it would have to be the patience required in the process. You wait and wait, and wait some more to be accepted. And then you get the contract, do a little happy dance, pop a bottle of wine to drink yourself into a fantastically euphoric state. The next morning, you wake up hung over and realize hey: now the real game begins. It’s the edits, cover art, proofs, finals. Just the edits alone can take a month, depending on how long your manuscript is. Going line by painstaking line is horrendous, and let me tell you something. When I opened the document and saw all the red, my heart exploded in my chest. What a feeling. The thing to remember is they’re only trying to make your work the best it can be. Never take it personally.
Heather: That’s very important advice to remember. The editors you work with just want to see your book in the best state it can possibly be in before they send it out into the world. But it can be hard to remember that in the moment when you’re knee deep in edits! So, before edits and cover art, there’s the actual writing of a story. Do you plan out an idea before you write or do you just fly by the seat of your pants?
Lindsay: A character will seep into my brain and plant a seed quietly, ensuring it lays deep in the folds of my brain before they sneak out. From there, I let the idea fester for about a week or two before I set my fingers to the keyboard. The character drives my story forward.
Heather: I always find it fascinating to learn how people come up with their ideas! Festering seeds in your brain is a new one! LOL! On to my next favorite question. What quality do you love most about your hero and heroine?
Lindsay: They’re strong, stubborn, and imperfect. My heroine can (guaranteed) make it on her own without anyone or anything to help her out. The hero is a compliment to her.
Heather: I LOVE strong, fierce heroines who can take care of themselves. Isn’t that how we all want to feel? And a hero that compliments her instead of contradicts her is the stuff fairytales are made of! Characters are really what make or break a story for me. How do you come up with names of titles and characters?
Lindsay: The main character comes to me with a name. The secondary’s are where I have an issue. That’s why baby name websites come in handy! Until the story is complete, the manuscript sits on my desktop titled as the main character’s name. Titles are next to impossible for me.
Heather: I love baby name websites too! I have a few favorites that I hit all the time. I love that your main characters always have names right away. I wish I could say the same is true for me. I’m a real mix. Sometimes names are the first thing to come, and other times it’s a real struggle to find the ‘right’ name. Last but not least, the most important question of them all… If you could be any animal, what would you be and why? (Silly, I know. LOL!)
Lindsay: I’d be a cat. They get to lay around all day and sleep, have a constant food supply, and their toilet is cleaned by someone else. What a life.
Heather: A cat would have a great life anywhere except my house where they’re likely to have toys dropped on their heads, eyes poked, and be dressing in build-a-bear clothes. Currently, our dog fills this role! Poor Indy…
Thanks again, Lindsay, for stopping by my blog today and answering all my silly questions. It was fun having you here! Best of luck to you with your new release What I’ve Learned!
What I’ve Learned blurb:
Abigail Jones is a former prostitute who buys her freedom from a Mexican cartel boss and forges a new life. Secure in the knowledge that she’s escaped her past, Abigail’s world falls apart when her brother’s head is delivered to her in a brown paper box. And when the cartel boss sends an assassin to take her life, Abigail can’t deny the danger she faces.
Encumbered with her brother’s infant son and gripped by fear, Abby shares her story and the evidence her brother accumulated about the cartel to the police and finds herself abruptly thrust into Witness Protection. Beginning a new life as Quinn, the recently divorced mother of little Paul and middle school guidance counselor, Abby is moved to a quiet neighborhood with quaint houses and white picket fences.
While Abby struggles to recreate herself and tries to focus on conforming to the rules of the program, not to mention life with a small child, the cartel continues their search for her. And although life seems to slowly return to some form of normalcy, little does Abby know that her past is slowly closing in on her.
If you’d like more information about Lindsay Kulg, which you should because she’s awesome, click on the links below!
Links:
http://lindsaysbooks.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/infidelqueen
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lindsay-Ks-Author-Page/187702457906751
3 pings
Heather says:
August 3, 2011 at 8:59 am (UTC -5 )
Thank you, Lindsay, for being a part of my blog today!
Shoshanna Evers says:
August 3, 2011 at 9:59 am (UTC -5 )
Your book sounds really interesting, good luck with it!
Janet Lane Walters says:
August 9, 2011 at 4:13 pm (UTC -5 )
Nice interview. Patience is a great writer’s asset. So is persistence. Your book sounds great.