Interview With Author Silver James

Please help me welcome paranormal romance author, Silver James.

Silver, how did you get into writing as a career? Do you write full time or still have a day job?


I wanted to be an actress when I grew up, but you know...that whole had to be skinny thing? And moving to California? Not going there! I always told stories in my head and in school, I started writing them down. Making a living as a writer is a chancy thing, so I had several careers while I continued to write—both fiction and technical articles. Now that I'm retired from the real world, I can devote as much time as I want to my imagination.

What do you hope your writing brings to readers?

Escape. That's what reading did (and does) for me. I hope my readers are swept away to a different world where they can experience life through my characters, and enjoy both the thrills and the chills, all the while safely ensconced in their favorite chair.

I love that answer, Silver. Your current release is FAERIE FATE. What attracted you to write Paranormal?

Ever since I peeked behind the curtain of the Wizard of Oz, I've been intrigued by what's hiding behind the Veil. Faeries, witches, shifters, and magical folk of all ilk fascinate me. I enjoy giving them a voice.

Good heavens, I guess that's when I became hooked on paranormals, too. I used to have nightmares about the witch. Whew! I digress, back to you--is paranormal the only genre you read?

I grew up reading westerns and sci-fi, a love learned from my dad. Then I discovered Andre Norton and her Witch World series. I still read all across the board—thrillers, romantic suspense, and paranormal!

Great, another eclectic reader. Who are some of your favorite authors?

J.D. Robb, Roxanne St. Claire, Leslie Kelly (especially writing as Leslie Parrish), Jennifer Lyon, and Jayne Castle (Jayne Ann Krantz) in the romance genre. Robert Ludlum and Tony Hillerman, Andre Norton, and Anne McCaffery. Just to name a few.

Tell us about your writing process. Are you a plotter or a pantzer?

I heard a term the other day—plotzer. I think that's a good description. I start with well-defined characters, usually, and I let them tell the story, though I have a end point I nudge them toward, sort of. The fun part of the process is the detours I end up following. Most often, a character will present her/himself and I'll spend time getting to know her/him. The plot evolves as I learn more about the character, especially when additional “critters” line up to be introduced, thus filling out the story. My critique partner calls me an “organic writer”—whatever the heck that means. She says I get immersed in the story and live vicariously through my characters, thereby breathing life into my words. I hope she's right!

What great terms, plotzer and organic writer. Do you have a writing schedule?

I tend to write every day, even on weekends, though I don't always manage that schedule if real life decides to intervene. If I'm under a deadline, then it's Katie-bar-the-door stay-the-heck-out-of-my-way. Everything is put on hold until I'm done.

Are you attending any conferences this year or scheduled as a speaker?

I'm headed to three this year. First up, I'm actually at the OKRWA Summer Heat Mini-Conference this weekend. Today, in fact, I'm at an Oklahoma City area Barnes and Noble, signing with three other terrific authors attending the conference: Lucienne Diver, Alicia Dean, and Amanda McCabe.

In July, I'm headed to Orlando for RWA Nationals and over Labor Day weekend, I'm going to New Orleans for Heather Graham's Writers For New Orleans conference. Good times ahead!

Oh, I am so jealous! Any guilty pleasures or vices you’d care to share?

Homemade bread—baking AND eating! Starbucks Mocha Frappicinos. And lobster tail dripping in lemon butter. Coffee. I must have my coffee fix in the mornings.

Now you've made me hungry. LOL What advice would you give to pre-published authors?

If you love writing, write. Write for yourself. Write what you enjoy reading. Study your craft and become the best writer you can be. Keep sending out queries. Don't give up. Someday, the right manuscript will land on the right desk at the right time—and you'll get the call.

Silver, that's very good advice. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself?

I have a warped sense of humor. I'm owned by two Newfoundland dogs and the lolcat who rules us all. I hate doing laundry. In fact, I know I'm REALLY suffering writer's block when I start doing the wash! And when I say I've been there, done that, I'm not joking (or bragging). I'm older than dirt and have been lucky enough to do some amazing things in my life.

Hmm, all that sounds normal to me. Tell us about FAERIE FATE.

Time travel. Reincarnation. The mystical folk of the Tuatha dé Danaan. In FAERIE FATE, the first of three inter-related books, we meet Clann MacDermot, Clann O’Connor, and a feisty woman from the future, returned to the past to make things right. FAERIE FATE is a tale of love and loss, of lessons learned, of feuds and fealty.

Celtic, one of my loves! Can you give us a blurb?

If you could go back, do it over again, would you take a chance to find true love? What if you had no choice?

On her fiftieth birthday, the faerie catapult Rebecca Miller a thousand years into the past to find her happily ever after with Ciaran MacDermot, Chief of Clann MacDermot, the last Fenian warrior in his line. In the twenty-first century, Becca is old enough to be Ciaran’s mother. In the tenth, she’s young enough to be his bride.

The Fae forgot to mention one slight stipulation. The lovers must be bound before the Festival of Light, or Becca will forever disappear into Tir Nan Óg, the faerie Land of the Ever Young. Will they discover the binding words before time runs out and they’re torn apart forever? Or will their eternal love defeat their Faerie Fate?

Without the words, history is doomed to repeat itself.

Intriguing! Would you share an excerpt with us?

The little clock she’d received as a present on her twenty-fifth birthday whirred and chimed the time. One small, tinkling chime. Two. Finally, twelve in all. Midnight between March twentieth and March twenty-first. The vernal equinox. The day when light and dark, good and evil, love and hate all balanced on the finely tuned axis of mother earth.

Voices, strange with lilting accents, whispered somewhere in the darkness of [Becca's] dream.

****

“She sleeps,” said a soft voice, feminine, one Becca didn’t recognize.

“Aye.” The second voice was deep, male, arrogant.

“Will she remember?”

“Nay, she’ll not.”

“How then will she know what to do?”

“She’ll know.” He sounded confident.

“What of him?”

“Aye, he’ll definitely know now. He should have known the last time, but she was too afraid, and he was too full of himself.”

“What is so different this time?” She was skeptical.

“She was young then, not matched well to him. Now, she’s no young soul. She’s had all those lives without him, the lonely nights, and the ache in her heart for all time. This time, she has courage born in the fires of suffering. She’ll know not to run from him, but to him.”

“You’re sure with the knowing of it this time?”

“Aye.”

“And, if it doesn’t work?”

“Ciaran dies. Again.”

A sharp intake of breath came from the woman. “That cannot happen. Too much went wrong the first time.”

Wow, you sold me there! Where can readers find your books?

The Wild Rose Press

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

How can readers learn more about you?

They can always find me at Penumbra, my blog and website: www.silverjames.com and they're welcome to poke around in the shadows there. If they tweet, I'm silverwriter on Twitter.

Silver, thank you so much for sharing with us today. Please leave your comment or ask Silver a question. A comment will enter you in my Saturday drawing, so be sure and leave your email address.