Tag Archives: Inspiration

August 29, 2011

Project Clove

By Anne Michaud

Confession: I sometimes feel like a fraud. I write for young adults and I have not a clue as to who they are, what they want, their dreams and nightmares. These kids I write for are so different from me, they live in a world invaded by technology, where stardom is more important than being human and individualism rules over decency.

Who are these kids growing up with a distant war on terrorism? Are they changed by the way each season brings a new environmental catastrophe? Has the world changed so much since I was their age that their problems and angst aren’t the same as mine were?

I don’t know – or more accurately, I didn’t know the answers to these questions.

Things happen for a reason. I won a copy of the Project Clove, an anthology of 150 poems, letters and soul-baring stories written by Centennial Regional High School students. To say it moved me would be lying; it tore me to shreds.

Broken hearts, distant parents, coming out of the closet, bullying, awkwardness, not fitting in, sadness, anorexia, anger, questions with no answers, rape, incest—it’s all real, authentic to the core.

And then, there are also pure gems… Excerpt from Pigeons (don’t) fly, written by Joe, 14.

In this immense world,

With no clock to tell time,

With no existence of time,

He had been attempting with many tries

To spread wings like the pigeon.

Talent? That girl is 14 years old – a poet, someone who (hopefully) will grow up using words as an outlet for whatever’s going on in her life. I do hope she never gives up and continues to write, her poem is by far my favorite of the lot…and she’s only in secondary 2, for crying out loud!

And then Rahimi, 15, writes about cutting, an action that chills me, leaves me blank.

It’s like I’m addicted to the pain.

The feeling taking refuge in my veins

Leaving me feeling confused and alone

Wiping at the streaked tears that seem to be stained.

Burned into my skin forever

Becoming a part that I cannot escape

Sometimes I just want to hurt all over.

I read this, breathlessly, finally seeing the seducing factor of this terrible action: to forget. And I get this young girl, I understand what she means, because if I’m honest with myself, there are many things I want to forget, too, even though I am an adult.

So this connection, this understanding of young adults I seek so desperately, has always been within me. I’m not changed, I still feel the same as when I was 16, all confused and angry—I feel the same because back then, I was already me. I’m insecure at times, I do and say things I regret, and I’ll always be the shy girl from back then…and this is why I write, to express myself, to say what I need to say.

Things happen for a reason, like me reading the Project Clove and understanding kids, who have done so much for me without even knowing it. By reading the power in their terribly raw words, this anthology gave me hope. Writing does change the world, and through all this violence (the theme of this collection), there’s something quite beautiful and true.

The book is available through Centennial Regional High School. All you have to do is email: cynthia.elston@rsb.qc.ca. She is in charge of the compilation and distribution of the Project Clove.

*** The poems can be found on pages 89 and 98 of The Project Clove, 2011, Youth Fusion Quebec ***

31 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Good Book, Highly recommended, YA

August 25, 2011

Seriously Cute Blogger Award

By Anne Michaud

Sometimes I wonder what I would do without Twitter. True, some people use it to spam with self-promotion, but there are diamonds amongst coal-like Anita Grace Howard, an amazing writer who gave me this award:)

Puppy Club rules are:

1st RULE: You do not talk about Puppy Club.
 
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about Puppy Club.
 
3rd RULE: You talk about 5 books/films/TV shows you’ve read or watched in the last 12 months.
 
1) Michael Grant’s GONE saga: on an ordinary school day, everyone above 15 years of age poufs out in thin air and a bubble surrounds a small community by the sea. It’s violent, it’s YA, it’s one of the best story I’ve read in a while. 7 books, people – get them.
 
2) Deathly Hallows part 2: This one scene, the one when Snape (beep), I lost it. I’m no crier, I’m not an emotional gal, but Alan Rickman pulled it off. The glare, the hair, the cape, the darkness, I’ve always loved him, but at that moment, I loved him even more.
 
3) Dark Life by Kat Falls. I’ve had ENOUGH of those supposedly dystopian YA novels where writers invent ridiculous and implaussible worlds as an obstacle to love and lust. Which is why this book made me believe in publishing houses again, and it gets better because the sequel Rip Tide is out now.
 

She even looks like me. A little.

4) The Nightmare Before Christmas, by beloved Tim Burton (see my banner? LOVE him!) I watch it at least five times a year and I am no fan of musicals. But the story, the gloomy cuteness, the skeletons and spiders…What a genius, that man is. I still kick myself for having missed his exhibition at the Moma then in Toronto. *self-loathing pout*

 
5) The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. Oh, this man knows how to give life to a manuscript, how to develop characters and how to put, well, fire in fiction. Every writers should own this book, he is a master of the craft and gave me hope again:)
 
As this award goes, I have chosen three great gals and two cool dudes who also share a passion for writing:)
 
 
Spread the love, cute bloggers!

23 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in All about me, myself and I

August 22, 2011

Chatting with Colin F. Barnes

By Anne Michaud

Fellow writer and friend Colin F. Barnes stops by to chat about influences, old and new…

AM: I’ve always been attracted to the darker side of things in music, movies and books, and I often try to remember where, how, when and what started it…but I guess it’s always been a part of me since I can’t recall what triggered my passionate affair with the blackest of nights. What was it for you? Do you have a better memory than me?

Dashing industrial dude - circa 1998

Colin Barnes: Like you it’s quite difficult to remember a specific time or event that triggered my interest in the darker things. I think for me personally, it was a culmination of cultural and personal situations. When I was younger, I was a bit of a rebel and was never interested in the popular media of the time, and being a budding artist and dealing with teenage depression I was naturally attracted to darker music, fiction and art. This fascination with all things dark continued to my adult years where I use writing as a medium.

On the topic of media, what were the standout films, bands or books that made the most impact on you.

AM: I remember being scared out of my wits by the original Amityville Horror and ET (still can’t watch either), and then The Shinning (cannot believe my sister made me watch it so young) probably contributed to my vivid nightmares.

I LOVED historical books until I realized they weren’t fictional and got me worried about Humanity. ‘The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it,’ Elizabeth Bennet said and I couldn’t agree more. I was engulfed into Anne Rice’s vamps world right after and decided I prefer to spent my time with goths:)

With Robert Smith's self-portrait

Music? Let me shout it out: THE CURE! I was ten the first time I heard Close to me and never looked back. The lyrics, the melodies, the voice! I will never get enough of them, and they are an endless source of inspiration. They opened doors for Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Chameleons, James, Skinny Puppy, and a bunch of others that I still listen to. Old school, I’m not good with new bands.

How about you? Which movies, bands, and books triggered your dark side?

Colin Barnes: I think we have a very similar timeline of influences. For me, the standout horror films that got me hooked were The Thing, Amityville & Nightmare On Elm Street. I was probably 9 or 10 when I was home from school ill and I found some of my parents’ VHS tapes. I started watching The Thing and despite being terrified (of the film and of being caught watching it) I was hooked. The next big memory was when I was about the same age, probably the following summer. I was staying at a friend of my parents place in a really seedy part of London. It was an apartment block and we could hear druggies shooting-up outside the bedroom. The kid of the parents decided it would be a good idea to watch Nightmare on Elm Street – I didn’t sleep that night, and had nightmares for weeks, but I still loved it.

Gothic flair right there

As for fiction, that came quite early. I was bored with the books we were reading at school and my reading ability was more advanced than was expected. So while most people were reading books for children (Roald Dahl) I was reading things like Dune, and The Shining and Carrie. Like you I got into Anne Rice and read everything that she wrote. Which was an odd choice for a teenage boy from Essex! But the goth lifestyle appealed to me greatly. I also really got into H.P Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith amongst a bunch of other horror writers.

I had two distinct musical tastes growing up that informed my worldview. The first was metal. Metallica and Black Sabbath specifically. And then the more gothic stuff. I was really into Bauhaus, and later Switchblade Symphony, Anathema, Katatonia etc… I too am pretty old-school when it comes to music, there’s very few modern bands that I like as much as my old favourites.

Krueger knows how to accessorize

AM: People used to think I was so weird as a child: Freddy Krueger was my official crush for several years. Then Jason (so tall and dark and mental) and anyone who wasn’t a preppy and popular. And instead of thinking what’s wrong with me, I’ve celebrated my love for the monster, not the hero.

So how does it transpire in your work? When you write a crazy shit scene, do you put a specific band on? Have you ever been so inspired by a book or a movie that you wrote a story from it?

Colin Barnes: I’ve been there with the whole ‘weird’ thing. When I was in secondary school and we first got computers, I started a project to create a Freddy Krueger computer game. The teachers didn’t approve.

Music is a great catalyst for me. To write certain things I have to be in the right frame of mind. I’m usually gloomy most of the time anyway, but I’ll select certain music for certain scenes. Early Metallica is great for action scenes, and the doomy atmospherics of Anathema or Kyuss, for example, are good for slower paced weird stuff.

As for inspiration, I’m inspired on a daily basis by so many things. I think all my work in some manner comes from something else — it can just be something small. For example, I wrote a flash piece called ‘From Dust to Joy’ because my workplace reminded me of the dusty smell of a library carpet. With regards to other books and stories, I think the thing that inspires me the most is my own arrogance in that I think i can do better. When I read a story I like, I instantly think of things that I think would improve it or make it more weird, dark or extreme – and then that melds with other ideas.

How about you? Is there certain media that moves you to write particular types of stories?

Don't look into my red eyes too long...

AM: I get most of my ideas from drifting thoughts, mostly when I’m reading or watching a film. More often than not, it’s the failed opportunity of a plot that gets my mind going, wanting to rectify the situation in my own words. Especially if a story takes the easy way out, I jump on the chance to mess it all up with my own characters struggling in my own worlds. Much like you, some ideas come from the fact that I want to do it better:)

And of course, I always turn the dark notch to the max, because I really don’t want to see a happy fairytale ending when we’re going to die, some sooner than others. Speaking of dying, what do you want the world to remember you by?

Oh, trouble right there

Colin Barnes: I have a bit of a pessimistic outlook to death and legacy. I just see myself as a pretty inconsequential mote of dust floating about. When I die, I don’t expect anything of me to be remembered. Perhaps a few people might pick up a book or something, but I don’t think there’ll be any lasting memory. As to what I want the world to remember me by — well, I suppose as I don’t believe that I will be remembered in a great detail, I suppose being remembered as the finest writer of my generation would be nice – but then again, I won’t be around to be aware of that acknowledgement so it seems kind of moot. In the end, I guess ‘a good guy’ would be enough.

What about your legacy? Do you write to leave a legacy?

AM: Yes. I want to change the world.

Colin F. Barnes blogs, and I highly recommend his #fridayflash:)

16 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in All about me, myself and I, Musing

August 18, 2011

Sister Mine

By Anne Michaud

I often wonder about lights in the sky, if there’s something else than stars, planets and a map of black nothingness. Here’s my #Fridayflash spilling a hair over 1k – enjoy:)

Sister Mine

The first time you came into my room at night, you stood at the foot of my bed, motionless, clutching yourself. “They’re coming for me. You have to help me hide. And lie. But you can’t let them know you’re lying!” Dark night, the blue moon cast a shadow on your features, hiding your eyes. Opened or closed, I never knew.

That following morning, Mom found you crammed between the washer and dryer in the basement. You denied sleepwalking, all those horrid nightmares, your screams waking the whole house at least once a week. But Dad wouldn’t allow this kind of talk, he didn’t believe in psychiatrists either.

You were obviously going through something big – big enough to wake your little brother at night, subconsciously. Then you began to change, your stupid friends wouldn’t come around anymore, you began locking yourself in your room and staying in on the weekends. Mom noticed, but Dad wouldn’t hear about it, thinking it was a phase that would go away. It didn’t, but you did.

***

It took them eight months to find something, and it was nothing. A shoe in the woods at the edge of town, by the foothill where you used to read before supper on long summer evenings.

Dad changed his after work gin and tonic from less tonic to straight up. Mom pretended she didn’t see, but she was the one buying the groceries.

We had to talk about this, if not for you, for those you left behind. “She isn’t coming back, is she?’’ I asked Mom when Dad was out, wrecking the woods to find you. As if you’d materialize safe and sound, and he’d bring you where you belonged. Our Dad, our hero.

“Don’t ever say that.’’ She stopped scrubbing the invisible spots on the kitchen counter and turned to me with dead eyes: someone had taken you and it was too late. “Christopher, go do your homework. I’ll take care of this mess.’’

She’d been cleaning that kitchen for hours, no mess left to scrub.

***

You’d been gone for eleven months, two weeks and five hours. Mom still hoped, Dad still drank, and I thought I’d never see you again. Forgetting was our new family motto, although no one ever spoke it out loud. But not me, I wouldn’t forget you.

‘’To Jenny,’’ I raised my glass of milk for your birthday, and everything went silent for a second. I don’t even know why I said it, I guess I felt you.

The lights flickered, the entire house buzzed for a good three seconds. And this weird noise, like we were about to blow up. Then, a black out.

Mom and Dad checked the fuse box, but I stayed at the kitchen table, finishing my macaroni and cheese. I guess it’d be hard for Mom to stop cooking what you asked for year after year.

Our parents ran around the house as if we lived in nuclear times, under attack from invisible forces. Maybe they felt you, too, and wanted to get away as fast as possible—because if we felt you in the room but you really weren’t there, it meant we’d lost you forever.

***

That night, I heard something strange. I went to the window, and in the sky, a star shined brighter than the others. It turned a paler shade of blue, pink, and yellow. The colors of a rainbow, on your birthday, from you to me.

“Jenny…” I prayed and wished you’d hear me.

The star turned into a million of them, a piece of the sky detached itself from the endless map, and a pyramid of lights danced. The sky fell that night, beautiful and frightening.

I never mentioned it, but every other night, one of the stars glittered more than the others. Sometimes, when I got lucky, it turned pink. Your favorite color.

***

The policemen came once, shoulders low and faces grave. They had bad news, they didn’t have time to step inside, refused coffee and cake. Mom and Dad stood side by side, waiting. Did they find your body? Had you gone from missing to dead?

The case was to remain open for five years, but the searches were non-conclusive. They offered counseling schedules and a package. Great, they’d brought a present. More like a bomb, in our house.

They left one minute after that. Dad stayed downstairs and Mom went to their bedroom’s en-suite. She got into the shower, her sobs louder than the water. I stayed in my room, waiting for someone to tell me it was a joke, that you were okay, just a runaway in a cool city, waiting for me to join you.

***

Two years, three months, eleven hours, that’s how long it took you to get me. I’d changed schools and had a piercing, but none of it mattered that much.

“Christopher.” Clear with every syllable, waking me in the middle of the night, like you used to. “Christopher.” Every hair on my body stood on end. “Look into the sky.” Your voice, Jenny.

The summer wind gusted and lashed the trees lining the street. I opened the window, letting in the hot air, my curtains shifting, their shadows eating my walls. The A/C went out with the power in our house.

I shook from head to toe, but couldn’t look away, couldn’t ask the voice to stop. I felt you; I sensed you close to me. And you repeated for me to: “Look into the sky, Christopher.”

The stars moved, changed, soft blue, pink, yellow, twisting and turning, making me lose all perspective. Massive as it came down, and silent, like a summer storm: a spaceship.

‘’I’m scared.’’ Barely a whisper, but you heard me. You always did.

‘’Don’t be. We’ll be together.’’ And then, as if I doubted the voice wasn’t yours, ‘’Journeys may end and nights might fall, but Brother, you will always be loved.’’

‘’And through the hardship of rain and the sorrow of dreams, you will always remain Sister mine.’’ I’ve remembered these words ever since you first read them to me at bedtime, back when I was a kid and you were my world.

Home in the stars

I’d never be alone again, Jenny, because I joined you. The stars became my home, and I turned them blue just for you.

44 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in #fridayflash, Short Fiction, YA

August 15, 2011

Chatting with Rusty Fischer

By Anne Michaud

It’s impossible not to encounter @ruswriteszombie on Twitter or the blogiverse, and since zombies don’t write, I just had to ask him to speak in their name!

AM: I loved your novella Ushers, Inc -what inspired you to write such a funny/creepy story?

Rusty Fischer: It just seemed like such a fun “mashup” of genres. I was able to put my love of writing and reading YA together with the cheesy, late night, B-monster movies I love so much. I also got to add zombies, vampires AND werewolves in the mix and let these “geeky” kids use their movie knowledge to become a real strength when no one else – not the cops, the government, not even the Marines – can stop the monsters.

AM: The way you present yourself as a writer is quite astonishing: accessible, always helpful, and a huge zombie fan. What motivates you to have such a strong presence on the web?

Rusty Fischer: Two words: I’m shy! Like, painfully shy. But I’m also a former teacher and it’s very important for me to write YA and still try to foster reading in young adults. So promotion is very important to me, but can get difficult when I have to, you know, actually leave the house! But now I can do so much online, without standing around looking gawkish and uncomfortable. I can speak freely and share my opinions and blog about publishing advice and host giveaways or write guest posts and people can either respond or not. It’s great!

AM: That’s a great advantage to have been a teacher first, you know exactly what these kids go through – not that you’re old enough to not remember how it was when you were a kid, but times are changing so fast… Will you ever consider writing for adults and in other genres or will you stick to horror YA?

Rusty Fischer: I actually do write for adults. This year my first-ever adult contemporary romance comes out from Aspen Mountain Press. It’s a Christmas romance. So about half the year I spend writing YA supernatural horror-slash-romance and the other half it’s adult contemporary Christmas romance. So… try figuring that out.

Basically, after decades of chasing trends and trying to “fit” in here or there with this publisher or that, and getting rejected each and every time, I said, “You know what? No one’s reading this stuff anyway, so… why not write exactly what you want, have fun with it and maybe one day folks will read it?” So that’s what I did and, I like to think, that’s what I’m still doing.

Rusty blogs and give plenty of free goodies for authors, too!

12 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in Good Book, Highly recommended

August 8, 2011

Chatting with Julie Campbell

By Anne Michaud

Another great author met through a writers forum…

AM: I really loved the premise of Senior Year Bites and how fresh it felt to 1)not have a love triangle 2)find real girls with real friendships 3)a pov on vampirism we rarely get. Where did you get your inspiration?

Julie Campbell: Well, to keep it short, a lot of the love triangles bug the crap out of me. Teaser: There is some relationship tension and betrayal, or perhaps just perceived betrayal, in the second novel. The real friendships I stole from a middle school and high school friendship I had with two other people. Obviously it is not completely the same, but I based it off of my experiences. The POV on vampirism was me reacting to something I was missing in novels. Most of the vampire novels are not from the vampire’s POV and I wanted some more. So I wrote one. Actually, I’ve written several, but this currently the only one getting published that is from a vampire’s POV.

The actual idea from the novel came from a dream I had about a girl who got changed into a vampire her senior year of high school. Mostly on a whim I decided to write a few pages (a friend also wrote a few pages with that prompt and we compared to see how different they would turn out. They were quite different). The few pages turned into a novel.

AM: I’m so glad you’re mentioning your sequel, because for most writers, going back to a story after publication for its second installement is rather tedious. How are you tackling it? Do you keep a SYB bible close by?

Julie Campbell: I actually love sequels. It gives me more chances to play with characters I love. I have a really good idea of where I’m going with the sequel to Senior Year Bites. Right now it is titled Summer Break Blues. I started writing before I created a SYB bible, but I have recently read SYB a million times for edits so I remember most of the details. I also have notes on characters, events, and all that and that is helping me keep things straight (so like a mini-bible). I have plans to create a true SYB bible now that I have a little time to think. Sequels are fun, but keeping track of everything can be tough.

AM: Great title, love how you keep the same vibe throughout. Does it mean you’ll treat us with a third book in this series? If so, do you know what it’ll be about and if not, what will you be working on next?

Julie Campbell: I have a third book planned, though I have no idea how I’m going to keep the title theme going. I’m sure something will come to me. If the third book goes well I do have some ideas for more books in the series as well, though it would likely focus on other characters. The main characters from the first three would end up being supporting characters at least some of the time. The book I’ll be working on next after Summer Break Blues will be the second Tales of the Travelers (Arabian Dreams) novel.

AM: Please tell me how you got inspired for Arabian Dreams – I already know, but want to share.

Julie Campbell: I was out trail riding on my Arabian horse, Sabaska, and I always have this feeling like I’m getting transported to other worlds when I ride with her. I thought it would be fun to write a novel about a girl who travels to other worlds on horseback and has fantastical adventures. The idea originally started out as a series of connected short stories, but in the way of things it turned into a novel instead.

Julie Campbell shares her thoughts and developing projects on her blog, too.

15 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Good Book, Highly recommended

August 1, 2011

Chatting with Seleste deLaney

By Anne Michaud

I’ve met Seleste deLaney over this wonderful forum full of writers and have noticed her quick wit and readiness to always help a friend in need…and she’s quite the writer, too.

AM: I didn’t really know what to expect reading Badlands –being classified under ‘romance’ sub-genre and all– but I found the steampunk and action elements so strong, it made me wonder: was the developing relationship between your two main characters planned or did it just happen as you wrote the story?

Seleste deLaney: Thanks for the compliment! Actually, the romance was planned from the beginning. Personally, I like stories where there’s a really even balance between action, non-action drama, world-building, and romance, so that’s what I strive to write. It’s frustrating for me as an author because some places label Badlands only as steampunk, and a lot of steampunk fans were irritated by the romance. Hence, I’m really glad most places have the proper label on it LOL.

AM: I keep asking myself what identifies a story as romance, because sex scenes are present in most novels nowadays. Could it be that in the romance genre, the male counterpart cares more deeply and shows more feeling than in literary novels? How do you as a writer decide: ok, this is romance, because…

Seleste deLaney: For the most part, I’m a plotter, so romance is woven in from the earliest stages. I was once told that unless the love story between the main characters WAS the primary plot, it wasn’t a romance. Personally, I don’t believe that. For me, it qualifies as a romance if falling in love is a major plotline and on a level at or very near the external conflict. That may or may not mean sex. But in the case of Badlands, the heroine has a specific set of ideas about sex, love, and men. Her change in viewpoint (brought on in part by an unexpected sexual attraction) is another defining characteristic of a romance: where falling in love changes one of the characters in a substantial way. In general, I look at it like this: if you can take out the characters falling in love, and it doesn’t alter the plot and/or climax, then it isn’t a romance. The characters falling in live needs to be integral to the story as a whole. After all, people don’t fall in love isolated from the rest of their lives.

AM: I couldn’t help but totally get immerse into Badlands’ world: women rule part of the country, it’s dusty and dry like the Wild West, and the techno-steam is the right amount of punk. Where did you gather the inspiration for it, and how do you plan to keep it going for the second instalment?

Seleste deLaney: The story was inspired by a piece on DeviantArt that someone said reminded them of me. It was this lone woman on the top of a cliff, streaked with blood, weapons by her side…and I knew I had to tell her story. As far as keeping it going, the second story is Henrietta’s, so the way we see the Badlands is a little different. It’s an outsider’s image rather than someone who has known it all her life. Plus, there’s more ground travel involved (though the Dark Hawk is still in it), so we get to see different sections of the landscape.

AM: I love companions – can’t wait to read Henrietta’s story!! Last questions: why did you adopt a nom de plume, and what inspire you to become Seleste DeLaney?

Seleste deLaney: I decided to write under a pseudonym because I also write YA. My identities aren’t a secret, but I wanted to ensure that teen readers didn’t pick up my adult stories accidentally. As for choosing the pen name, the first part was easy. Seleste is a variation of the name I’ve been known by online for years (as well as my Pagan name). The last name was a combination of things. First, I wanted to pay homage to my favorite author and the woman who encouraged me to pursue publication, Kelley Armstrong, so a friend and I were going through the last names of her minor characters, looking for a last name that fit well with Seleste. When we ran across Delaney, I knew I wanted that one since the main character in the first novel I worked on when I got serious about my writing was named Delaney Craft. (It was only after I chose the name that Kelley’s The Gathering came out and it ended up Maya’s last name was Delaney, which killed my whole “minor character” plan LOL).

Seleste’s books are available here and Julie Particka’s here. Yes, they’re one writer, but the genres are quite different.

24 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in Good Book, Highly recommended

July 25, 2011

Chatting with Tori Scott

By Anne Michaud

Thanks to Twitter, I have met an awesome author: Tori Scott.

AM: Reading Four Houses, I wondered if the deconstructed narration inspired you to write the story first or did you think of your plot the ‘traditional’ way and then explored with structure?

Tori Scott: I started by thinking of the plot the traditional way. I was actually listening to a trippy song and had this vision of a girl standing before two houses. The more I thought on it, the more I liked the idea of the girl being surrounded by houses, and those houses being choices. Later that night, I was lying in bed thinking about the story. Then it just hit me, and the idea for the more unique structure was born.

AM: The broken narrative works so well with the creepy atmosphere. I’m ALWAYS listening to music when I write–I cannot function without it, and depending on the scene/story I’m writing, I play different genres/bands. A fight scene develops so well with Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly, and when I need a sad mood, The Cure, Bauhaus and Chameleons UK provide such rich textures…

I need to know: What was the song–and more importantly, are you often inspired by music? If so, which bands, and do they influence what you write?

Tori Scott: I actually have no idea what the name of the song was. I heard it at a restaurant and spent three days trying to find it online before giving up. Like many writers, music is definitely a source of inspiration. I use it more for particular scenes than I do for entire books or ideas. For example: I listened to Limp Bizkit’s Break Stuff for a recent fight scene. Overall, I like harder rock: System of a Down, Nirvana, Linkin Park. Stuff that gets your blood pumping and the creativity flowing.

AM: Speaking of creativity, you and I share a love of the dark — how did you come about the horror genre?

Tori Scot: Growing up, I watched my mom read everything horror. She is a huge Stephen King fan. On top of that, both she and my sister love horror movies–the bloodier, the better. I also have a love for dark elements, but my work isn’t quite as extreme. I’d say my writing has a touch of dark, whereas a writer like Stephen King is immersed in it.

AM: So should we expect your debut novel to give us chills like your short story Four Houses does?

Tori Scott:My debut, should it get picked up (my agent plans to submit it in September), is more of a dark comedy. Meaning it’s meant to make you laugh, but you know you shouldn’t. It also has romantic elements weaved in. So, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

Tori is represented by Laurie McLean of Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency and you can follow her on twitter and her website.

　

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