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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Blog Tour/Interview ♥ A Haunting of Words Anthology ♥ #giveaway $10 GC


A Haunting of Words Anthology
by multiple authors
GENRE: Drama/Horror

BLURB:

From Scout Media comes A Haunting of Words—the third volume in an ongoing short story anthology series featuring authors from all over the world.

In this installation, the reader will experience a multi-genre journey beyond traditional haunts; from comedy, to drama, fantasy, romance, and horror, these stories put eclectic spins on the every-day ghost tale. Whether you are running from the ghost of a vengeful mother, falling in love with an apparition, touring with a deceased famous musician, saving a newborn from a possessed crib, or having a specter cat as a sidekick, these stories of hauntings and apparitions will warm your heart, send shivers down your spine, and tickle your funny bone.

Whether to be enlightened, entertained, or momentarily caught up in another world, these selections convey the true spirit of the short story.


INTERVIEW with DW Vogel

What is your writing history?
Like so many avid readers, I always knew I had a novel in me.  You know how you read something and think, “I could totally write a book someday”?  We all say that, don’t we?  But you never know what life is going to throw at you.  I had just turned forty when the doctors told me I had breast cancer.  All of a sudden I didn’t have the luxury of “someday” anymore.  So I sat down and wrote my first novel.  That was six years and hundreds of thousands of words ago.  I hope I have a lot of “somedays” left, because I have a lot more books to write.

How many books have you written? They can be published or not published.
 I have four published books at this moment—Two books in a science fiction series, a feminist epic fantasy, and a nonfiction  book about… writing fiction.  I have three completed mystery/thrillers that are currently looking for homes, a secret project with my publisher that just got pushed back to next May, a YA paranormal that pokes at the back of my brain from time to time, and an old, half-finished YA fantasy, which makes me feel like I left a puppy outside in the rain.

What genre do you like writing the most? 
That’s like asking which of your kids you like best. I like different things about each of the genres I write.  I love the worldbuilding of speculative fiction, but my mystery/thrillers are all about secrets and lies.  Human monsters can be the scariest beasts of all. 

What challenges do you face in this genre?  
The challenge of speculative fiction is keeping everything straight.  When you’re creating a whole new world, nothing is a given.  It’s easy to get lost in your magic system, or your geography, or your timeline.  For my mysteries it’s that delicate balance of making sure the reader has just enough clues so they don’t figure things out too early, but aren’t blindsided by a twist that comes out of nowhere.

Tell me a little about your current WIP.  
I’m currently working on the third book in the Horizon Alpha series.  It’s about a group of human colonists who crash on a distant planet that’s in the middle of its own Cretaceous Period.  It’s been called, “The Walking Dead” meets “Jurassic Park.”  Book three will wrap up this part of the series and should be out next summer. 

How do you typically begin your project? Do you create outlines and character profiles or jump in head first with the initial idea?
I used to be a total pantser.  I’d just sit down and start banging away.  That lead to a whole lot more rewriting once the story was hammered out and I saw all the tangents that needed to be streamlined.  Now I’m a loose plotter.  Before I start a project I’ll have a two or three page list of plot points and very basic character profiles.  I try to do as much of my research in this planning phase as possible because I’m way too easily distracted.   If I pause in my writing to go look something up, I’ll lose two hours down the internet rabbit hole.

What aspect of your writing do you consider your strength?  
I’m very good at keeping the fluff to a minimum.  My work tends to be very spare, which lets me keep the pace clipping right along.

Your weakness?
I’m very good at keeping the fluff to a minimum.  Quick pace?  Sure.  But sometimes that leaves a reader wanting more description, or more time to enjoy a scene.  My agent is always asking for more, more, more…more atmosphere, more description. This is why everyone needs critical readers.  We all have our blind spots. 

Do you focus on one project or do you work on multiple manuscripts at once?
I never work on more than one by choice, but sometimes publishing deadlines mean setting aside a half-finished work to write something else.  It’s always hard to jump back into the middle of a work in progress that you’ve left idle for months.  But that can be a good thing… fresh eyes can revitalize a manuscript.

What is the first book that made you cry?

Watership Down.  It might actually be the only book that ever made me cry.  



GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

The authors will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway






16 comments :

  1. I enjoyed reading the interview; congrats on the tour and I hope it is a fun one for you :)

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    1. Thank you so much! I've really enjoyed being part of this project.

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  2. Congrats on the tour and thank you for the interview and giveaway.

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  3. Thanks so much! This was such a fun project to work on.

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  4. Your story was one of the hart-string pullers in the book. I knew right away it was one of my favorites when I read it. Was it based in any real-life event?

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    1. "Rowdy" is a story that kind of wrote itself. I'm a veterinarian, so being the final stop in an old dog's last day on earth is part of my everyday life. Helping pets move on when it's time and helping their families on that painful day is one of the great honors of my job.

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  5. I loved your story "Rowdy" in A Haunting of Words! So much emotion packed into so few words. I look forward to reading more of your work.

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    1. Thanks! I love the challenge of a super short story. Really makes you think about what’s important.

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  6. I just love your cover and I would love to read your book.

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    1. Thanks!! You can find all my books at www.wendyvogelbooks.com. Happy reading!

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  7. Great interview! Congrats on the tour!

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