Today I'd like to welcome author Michelle Lowe. Thanks for taking time the time to share with us today. Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a Georgia born native who has spent most my life near the Atlanta area before pulling up stakes and moving clear across the country with my husband, Ben, and our two daughters. History piques my interests, especially European history. I’m a big nerd at heart. I love reading science-fiction and fantasy stories, and I enjoy old B horror films. I also get a kick out of playing classic Atari video games.
I’m a daydreamer and animal lover. I have two young kitties, Nico and Max, and one demanding guinea pig. I took up writing as a serious career choice twenty years ago, learning a lot and sharpening my skills along the way.
My works include several published novels such as The Warning, Cherished Thief, Atlantic Pyramid, and Children’s books, Poe’s Haunted House Tour, and The Hex Hunt series. My latest published escapade is the third installment to my steampunk/fantasy series, titled Legacy-The Underground, released on the 20th of September. Legacy and Legacy-The Reunion, are the first two out of this six-part series.
A six part series. That's too ambitious for me. I think that's so amazing. Michelle will you share a short excerpt from your new novel with us?
The morning fog was heavy and moist. When Pierce opened his eyes, he found he had to wipe dew off his face with his coat sleeve. The campsite was empty.
“Taisia?”
He rose and scanned the area. The mist prevented him from seeing much.
“I’m over here,” she called from within the fog
He followed the direction of her voice and soon, poles appeared. They were tall timber posts jutting up nearly as high as Stonehenge just over yonder. They weren’t perfectly shaped poles. Most of them stuck up like thick fingers pointing crookedly toward the sky.
But the beams hadn’t been there before, right?
A small gathering of men, women, and children, stood inside the circle. They were dressed in robes and holding crackling torches. The firelight blended into the dull, misty morning. Some of these people wore masks made of leaves, while others had tattoos on their faces. Their hair was lengthy, matted, and braided. They appeared not as ghosts, but more like echoes of a population long gone. They were worshipers of nature who praised the gifts that the earth had provided them. Gifts that modern men and women took for granted.
They watched Pierce as he approached the place of his birth. No one uttered a word as he walked by. He had no fear of them, but they forced him to wonder, Why have they come?
Taisia stood in the center of the circle.
“Taisia,” he said. “What’s going on?”
As he drew near, he noticed gunshot wounds in her, and the blood that poured from them.
“Don’t believe it, Pierce,” she told him.
Throughout your writing career, have you been given any helpful advice?
I had a writing mentor years ago who had founded an online writer’s workshop called Wolf Pirate Projects. It’s no longer around, but while I participated in this program I learned so much about writing and character development that I otherwise may have never learned on my own. I owe the people at Wolf Pirate a great deal of gratitude. Also, I’m not sure if this qualifies as advice and it wasn’t said to me personally, but there’s this lovely quote by Toni Morrison, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
I like this quote a lot because if an author writes what he or she wants to read, the story will be more enriched by the care and devotion the writer is willing to put into it.
I think that's great advice. Michelle, if you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
For years I’ve been wanting to go to England. As I mentioned before, I have a fondness for European history, and naturally, England has loads of it. I’d like to travel around the island and visit various locations, including (because I’m a nerd for the Robin Hood story) Nottingham and then go for a long stroll through Sherwood Forest. Also, I wrote one nonfictional book, Cherished Thief, about legendary highwayman, Claude Du Vall, and I’d like to go to some of the places and hotels he frequently visited such as The Holt Hotel in Oxfordshire where it’s said that he haunts Room 3.
I loved Robin Hood, I would enjoy visiting those places too, but you'd be on your own for The Holt Hotel. I am a big chicken. Nothing scary for me. Currently, what are you working on?
I’ve finished with Legacy, i.e, I have written all the books and they are ready for editing once I have the money up to do so. Now I’m working on the next series, The Age of the Machine. It will be more steampunk than Legacy, and I aim for it to be four books, but we’ll see. 😉
Michelle, tell us a little bit about your main characters.
First off, I have to say that Pierce Landcross is downright my favorite character I’ve ever created. He has made all these stories I’ve written so much fun and readers have taken a shine to him. Pierce was born into a family of rovers in England, 1817. He and his older brother, Joaquin, were separated from their troupe at Abney Park in London and spent years searching for them. Along the way, they became common criminals, thieving to stay alive. Pierce is highly intelligent, charming, crafty, and despite being a thief, he’s very loyal to his good friends and loved ones. Trouble always finds him at every turn, which keeps his life a continuous adventure.
Taisia Kuzentsov is a remarkable woman who is also Pierce’s love interest. She is very brave and kind-hearted, who will do whatever it takes to protect the ones she loves. Taisia had grown up, performing as an acrobat in a Russian circus, but her heart yearned for more, and so she left to find her own way. She is as bright as she is beautiful, and her captivating personality has a way to draw people to her.
Sometimes her passion runs away with her, and she can, at times, jump to conclusions in an instant. All in all, Taisia is a strong-willed, compassionate woman who takes no flak from anyone.
Pierce and Joaquin became estranged when Joaquin tried killing him by slitting his throat. Pierce later finds out it was a witch named Freya who cursed Joaquin by tricking him into drinking demon’s blood that prompted him to attack his little brother.
Freya Bates has very big plans which involve the Landcross family and with the assistance of a Trickster god, she’s getting closer and closer to achievement.
Promoting books is one of the challenges most authors struggle with. How do you promote your books? Any tips you can share?
I’ve tried a lot of things, mainly asking for reviews. It’s hard work and takes up a lot of time, which sadly most is wasted due to the fact that you can send out 400 review requests, received maybe 50 responses offering to read your work and only get a handful of reviews—if you’re lucky. And therein lies the kicker because gathering reviews and having a lot of them IS the greatest asset in terms for selling books. I’m pleased to say that most reviews for my novels have been positive ones, and readers are enjoying my stories and style of writing, but I haven’t yet accumulated enough attention to get more readers buying my books on a regular basis. I do book signings at shows, such as Gaslight Steampunk Expo in San Diego and WonderCon in Anaheim, California, with plans to attend more shows in the future. It’s a great way to meet actual people and build relationships with readers. My tip is to send out as many review requests as possible and work to build your fan base, get a mailing list going and keep those on that list informed about your work(s). Set up book signings so to meet people face to face.
Is this a stand-alone novel or part of a series?
I do have a standalone story for Legacy and it’s also written out and ready for editing when the time comes. It’s a dieselpunk tale, titled Boom Time. I don’t wanna dish out any real details about the it because it’ll ruin the surprise for readers as they read on through the Legacy series. I will say this, I’m very pleased with this story and can’t wait to share it to the world!
That sounds so exciting. With all your novels what has been is the easiest part of the writing process? What is the hardest?
The most fun is coming up with all these new ideas and getting them down on paper. The most challenging part is coming up with all these new ideas and getting them down on paper. Some days the story will just swim blissfully out of your head, and before you know it, you’ve got thousands of words written. Most days, though, the ideas don’t swim but rather drift lazily in a pool, not really doing much else. You find yourself staring blankly at your monitor screen or notebook pad, struggling to get one damn sentence down. It’s tough pulling an entire story out of thin air, but when storytellers do so, it’s truly magical.
Do you have people read your drafts before you publish? How do you select beta readers?
Asking people on Goodreads and even Facebook is a good way to find betas, but it’s also a lot like trying to get those precious reviews. More often than not, you’ll get people offering to read over your work and then hear back from them no more. It’s frustrating because you, the author, are waiting for their input only to receive radio silence. It drives writers mad, which is why so many of us, (among other reasons that come with being a writer) we become alcoholics. Lol. I’ve decided to cut all that noise out, for I’m fortunate enough to have a friend who has been beta reading my work before I have my books professionally edited, and then she proofreads it before publication. And she hasn’t let me down yet! It is important to have your work looked over by someone other than you, and if you find a good and trustworthy beta reader, even if you pay for one, you’re a very lucky person.
I have had similar struggles with sending manuscripts to interested readers only never to hear back. Gratefully I have a few go to readers I can count on. Who designed the artwork for your cover? Or did you design it yourself?
With Legacy, my publisher designed the cover for volume one. I broke away from them, however, and so created my own covers for Legacy two, three, and four (which I aim to have released sometime this year.) As long as I can make them eye-catching and not cheesy, I’ll continue designing my own covers.
What was your writing process like?
Once I have enough snippets of a story to write out an outline—as I mentioned before—I try to put as much detail into the framework as possible. With characters, I’m too lazy to pan out their personalities, hobbies, or appearance. Instead, I let them tell me themselves as I continue to write about them. Once my outline is solid enough, I take out my notebook and pen. Yip, I write all my first drafts in longhand. The reason is that I don’t enjoy sitting in front of a computer screen trying to figure out where the story needs to go next, and also, I can bring a notebook anywhere and write, write, write! I wrote out a whole chapter once while camping. And when I do type it all in, the second draft is so much better because basically, I’m writing the story out all over again. It does take a lot longer to complete a full manuscript this way, but for me, it’s well worth it.
I have done that a few chapters at a time. It can be hard to find time to write and I don't always have my computer on me. But a whole manuscript handwritten, wow, that is a lot of work. It's great though to find what works for you. What are your hobbies aside from writing, if any?
I like to oil paint and sometimes I enjoy doing arts & crafts, especially when I make a new steampunk hat or anything that has to do with Halloween!
Any last words you'd like to share with us, Michelle?
I’d like to reach out to the aspiring writers out there. I once read that you can make anything by writing. And it’s true! Writing opens minds, introduces new perspectives and brings people into worlds they’d never knew existed before. Writing is an art form that is beautiful, tragic, complex, stunning and horrifying. My best advice is to develop a thick skin, learn from constructive criticism and read! Read! Read! Read! Because when a writer is reading, it’s different from non-writers. We’re not just reading, we’re studying. We’re finding out new ways to describe things, broadening our vocabulary, and learning how these other authors thread their stories together. Whatever genre you write, reading will help significantly when you put your own pen to paper. And write what you want to write about no matter what the market says because writing is also supposed to be enjoyable. 😊
Thanks for sharing with us. Be sure to check out all of Michelle's books. Happy Reading!!
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Author Amazon page: http://amzn.to/2bNh8WQ
Author Goodreads page: http://bit.ly/2nJZae7
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