Seven Questions with Wynelda Ann Deaver!

It's the fourteenth, so it must be time for Seven Questions with Selah Janel! This month, we're talking to author Wynelda Ann Deaver!

SJ: As a writer, what is your absolute favorite part? What's the part that makes you want to hide under a bed and scream? 

WAD: My absolute favorite part is when my eyes go out of focus, the computer, tv, everything disappears and I’m in the story. It’s like living your own movie, and nothing else is quite like it, except perhaps the way children play and are in the action.  Hide under a bed and scream? That would definitely be revision and marketing. Revision because I just want to scream when I do it, marketing only because I don’t know how (that homework is superhard, mom!)

SJ: Is there a character you've written that definitely comes from you and is a part of you? Who? 

WAD: There are two. The first character I wrote, Alex, was who I was and who I wished I was at the time (20 odd years ago). Completely bad-ass, rides dragons, sword fights with the boys, loyal to the end and interested in justice. She was also the heroine I was working with when my mom died, so a lot of the grief, and the hitting and screaming… that came right from me. Other than her, the character I’m currently writing is based loosely on some of my experiences (she had some of the same, but I threw in a few Greek Gods, a magic garden, and well… you get the idea.) So her past is similar to mine, but what’s happening to her now? Not so much LOL.

SJ: Have you ever written any plot point or scene that makes you blush for any reason at all? 

WAD:Any and all love scenes make me blush to write. Always have, probably always will. Since my primary genre is fantasy, I can get away with a lot of fade to black.

SJ: If you had to have a cage fight with a character you've written, who would you choose? If you got to kiss them better at the end, would your choice change? 

WAD: Someone I wanted to hurt, or who I wanted to hurt badly? That would be the Blue Mage (aka Asshat) from Dragon’s Champion. I can’t stand people who feed on the pain of others. Kissing of the boo-boos? Definitely Ares, the hero of my current work in progress.

SJ: What is your biggest pet peeve with yourself as a writer?

WAD: I don’t write enough. I feel as if I should be writing reams and reams every day. Instead, I wake up, get my son ready for the bus, go to work, come home, spend time with the boy, and then possibly write. I’m getting better at it, making sure that I get words down in the story every day. It’s slow, but you know what? I’m not a single college student living with my parents anymore either.

SJ:  What's the author that you hope to live up to someday? Who's your inspiration? 

WAD: There are too many to count! Frances Hodgson Burnett is one of the reasons I wanted to start writing, along with Madeline L’Engle. Their stories transported me. Now, of the writers I currently read, hmm… I love Lynn Flewelling, Mercedes Lackey, Carol Berg… All of who write wildly different tales, set in  fantasy worlds.   

SJ:  Why MMP? What's your favorite part about working with them?

WAD: Let me tell you a story. I wrote a novella in college, and I was offered a contract on it about 5 years later. Well, technically I never even received the contract. The editing “help” I was getting was vague at best, and downright lazy in parts. I grew so frustrated I pulled the novella (which I knew needed work, but I needed help with it). A friend and fellow writer recommended I submit Dragon’s Champion to MMP, and I am so glad I did. Not only has everyone been professional (from getting the contracts, to cover art, to editing)… they’ve also been incredibly kind (helping out, answering a newbie’s endless questions).

Bright, funny Constance sets off to rescue herself when she first sets foot on the Dragon’s Path. Along the way, she’ll encounter a merry band of brigands, a shop full of dresses (and temptation) and a Golden Dragon. Constance will find out that by taking that first step… she just might find her destiny.

http://mochamemoirspress.com/dragons-champion/

Tune in next time, where I respond to Wynelda's writing prompt challenge!

Telling Stories by Wynelda Deaver

I’m a fairly eclectic reader and writer, so some people wonder why I don’t do a whole lot of horror. In
my teen years, I started reading horror with Stephen King and tore through all of his books. But as for
writing horror… Well, I’ve only ever told one off the cuff horror story.
And scared myself to pieces.

We were camping, Mom and Dad in the RV, my best friend, Regina and I in a little pop up tent. Like any
good story teller, I used description from the things around us. A spooky house up on a hill. Brown hills
(in California, this happens more than you’d think) full of demon deer.

Demon deer?

Well, yes. While I can’t remember much of the story, I do remember to this day the demon deer herd
with eyes that glowed red in the night. Which you know, doesn’t sound quite so scary right now. Of
course, I have (cough, cough) many years between that trip and now. I’m also safe and sound in my
house. No hills. No spooky houses.

No demon deer.

But that night, oh that night. As a story teller, that little detail was a stroke of genius. As part of a teen
girl duo who could talk themselves into just about anything? Not so much. Every time a deer got caught
in the headlights, so to speak, we saw red. Sleeping in a tent? Great fun for shadows to prey on your
mind. Everything became fodder for the horror story we were living in our own minds. Squeals of “Did
you see that?” and “What the hell was that?” peppered the night air.

By the time we stumbled into the RV because we’d scared ourselves witless, the whole campground
gave a huge sigh of relief. We knew this because we were told by the other campers. All day long and
into the next night. “No more stories, girls, I need my beauty sleep.”

At least my parents didn’t laugh at us when we could hear them. It must have been hard to stifle the
giggles when we came crawling in, defeated by the night.

Since that night so many moons ago, I have stuck to writing what I do best: Dragons. They may eat you,
but at least you’ll see them coming.

Wynelda
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You can check out Wynelda's fantastic dragon stories, in December, with the release of her first Mocha Memoirs Press's story, DRAGON'S PATH.