Sunday, March 8, 2009

Interview With Me, By You

Well, I'd intended this to be my final interview for Deadly Vixens. However, since the people I had lined up for this interview somehow keep not getting the questions back to me (not mentioning names, but I'm glaring at them telepathically), I'm left at odd ends for this one.

Never let it be said, however, that I was not able to improvise.

So, here's the deal. I want people to leave questions in the comments for me to answer. I will check the comments often during the day and answer the questions (provided they're not too personal). Sound like fun? Does to me!

Now, let me answer some of the more likely questions now, just to get them out of the way:

1. I don't have anything published as yet, nor do I have anything coming out soon.

2. I do have some romantic works in progress; I'll include samples on my Thursday blog if anyone wants.

3. I just had this idea today; my apologies for not soliciting questions sooner.

That should about cover it.

All right, readers, question guns at the ready. . .FIRE!

Pandem
vagabondsaint.wordpress.com

5 deadly screams:

Gracen Miller said...

Very, very sorry, Pandem if you're referring to me. *cries you some crocodile tears* My family has been sick since Thursday and before that... um ... well ... my ... um ...cat ... um ... *gulps nervously* ... ate ... um ... the e-mail? ;-) That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :P

Once my brain has processed the springing forward, I might have more questions for you, but for now, my first question is:

1. In your experience, editorially or personally, what do you think men would prefer to see more of in romances?

Pandem said...

More lesbian scenes. *s*

Seriously, I think men would be more interested in romance novels if the storytelling, had a faster pace. More action probably wouldn't hurt, either.

Aside from that, I'm pretty much drawing a blank here. . .it's as hard to say what all men would like as it is to say what all women would like. Some men would prefer more submissive heroines, while others (like me) would want heroines more capable of taking care of themselves and not needing to be constantly rescued or saved.

Good question, Gracen!

Dani said...

What is the one mistake/misstep writers make that annoys you the most when you are proofing a manuscript?

Pandem said...

Oh, wow, there's so many, it's hard to say which is the most annoying. *s* I can rattle off a few, though:

Misspelling "murmur" as "murmer." (Just kidding. Private joke.)

Rampant errant apostrophes. In chat conversation it's one thing, but in a manuscript that is supposed to have polished and checked over before submitting to a publisher, there's no reason for it. Seeing enough of it makes one feel that someone's idea of proofreading was just hitting Spellchecker and calling it good. . .which is lazy.

Pronouns with unclear or distant antecedents. I hate having to stop and backtrack to figure out exactly who in a scene is being referred to.

Actually, having listed those off, I just realized that there is one particular thing that annoys me the most: when someone is trying to be a Writer, instead of just writing a story.

I'll explain. the difference between a Writer and a writer, other than capitalization, is that a writer is someone that writes, be it a poem, story, what have you. A Writer, though. . .oh, a Writer is that lofty, verbose, literary type with a vocabulary larger than the national debt and a way with words so striking and breathtaking that all the world's problems could be ended in one fell swoop of the Writer's pen. . .The Writer is an ideal, the writer is the reality, and I would greatly prefer reading a writer, who writes in their own voice, their own words, their own way, even if the end result isn't perfect, than a Writer, someone trying to fulfill the pretentious ideal of the at-large image of a writer rather than just be themselves, who seeks to write a sweeping, stirring, grandiose epic of modern literature with every press of the keys instead of just telling me a story from their own head. That annoys me to no end, and so I have to credit that as being the mistake/misstep that annoys me the most in a manuscript. (By the way, I feel much the same way about poets and Poets.)

That was a much longer answer than I'd intended *s* Maybe I'm becoming a Writer unawares. . .

Pandem said...

Thank you for the question, Evia. . .much appreciated *s*