Friday, September 18, 2009

Jess L. Cochran -

Author of "Amethyst Circle: A Vampire Willows Novel, Book 1

What inspired you to write your book?
I've always wanted to write a novel but never had a good enough story in my head. One day I sat down to write and I was suddenly inspired. I decided to draw upon bad dreams I had years ago. I combined them with a bit of reality as well as things I knew about and the rest of the story just flowed from that. It sort of took on a life of its own.

What inspired you to start writing, period? How old were you?
My first story was written in the 4th grade. I decided to take my homework, to write sentences using spelling and vocabulary words, and I turned it into a story. The teacher liked it so much that she had me read it to the whole class. It was a mystery about a haunted house I think. After that I started writing a lot, mostly poetry. Most of the stories I had were based on play (my friends and I would make up stories and then act them out).

How did you develop your characters? Which one is your favorite, least favorite … Why?
In Amethyst Circle the main characters are based loosely off of people I was friends with a long time ago. When I started writing the story I sort of used these people as a template. As the story progressed they were less like the people I once knew and more their own person/character. I don't know which is my favorite. Obviously I like the main character, Jenny. She's strong and sure of herself most of the time. She'll do whatever she can to make a bad situation right again. The least favorite of mine is Christi because she's just really messed up. She wants to be a part of a society that won't accept her because she's not willing to do things right. She looks for the easy way and often makes mistakes that cause a lot of havoc, for others as well as for herself. Not the kind of person I would hang around with (and also not based off of anyone I know/knew).

How much time do you spend writing? Do you have a set routine?
I don't really have any sort of routine. I write when I have a free moment. As a stay at home mom to two kids, it's not easy. For some reason I do my best writing at night. Sometimes I have to get out of bed to write. I tend to think up stories just as I'm about to fall asleep. The most I wrote at one time was 20,000 words in a week. Most of the time, however, I write maybe 1,000 words a day. Sometimes more and sometimes less.

What do you when you get a dose of writer’s block? Do you have any special ways of breaking through the barrier?
Right now I'm working on 3 novels (and have another that's brewing in the back of my head). When I get writer's block with one I just switch to another for a bit. When writer's block is really bad then I do automatic writing. I'll just sit there and write without really thinking about what I'm writing. It helps to loosen up whatever is causing the block. Otherwise I wait it out. I won't write for a few days and then I try to go back to it.

How do you feel about negative reviews?
It depends on how it's worded. A negative review can sometimes be enlightening. You find areas of your work that you might need help with. I prefer people to be honest. However, that doesn't mean that they have to be nasty about it. Reviews where the person is just plain mean are uncalled for I think. I also know that you can't please everyone. Even the best authors get bad reviews.

If given the opportunity, would you become a commercially published author? What are your thoughts on self-publishing?
I don't know if I would want to use traditional publishing. At first I did. However the more I hear about it the less I like it. I choose to self-publish because I want full control over my work. I don't want someone to tell me that my story has to follow a specific format. Nor do I want someone to tell me that I NEED to change this or that. I will take advice if given, but I want to be the one with the final say. The more I learn about self-publishing the more I like it. Sure it's a bit harder to get my novels into stores (OK...a lot harder). I want people to read my books of course and I'm learning to market myself. I feel that if I work really hard at getting my name out there then I'll be at least a little successful.

What are you goals as far as your published work?
My goal is to try and get my name out there at the moment. When I'm not writing or taking care of the house and the kids then I'm learning about different marketing techniques. I want people to read my work. I want them to ENJOY reading my work. I guess that most writers feel that way (some only want themselves or a select few to read what they write).

Would you ever sell the rights to your book/s?
No, never. I want to hold all rights. I work hard on my stories. I won't just give them to someone else.What are your future plans with writing?I like to write my stories as a series. I have 2 in mind. The Vampire Willows Novels, of which Amethyst Circle is the first of, and another series based on the RPG RIFTS which will be free on my site eventually. I have two other novels in mind which may or may not become series themselves. For them I'm going to sort of play it by ear.

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Write. Don't worry about who will read your story or how you're going to publish it. Just write it. After it's written then you can work on editing and whatnot. But in the beginning just sit down at a computer or grab a piece of paper and write. The rest will follow. Also read other stories in the same genre as what you write. You can learn a lot about different writing styles that way. You will discover what techniques work for you and what doesn't. Eventually you develop your own style. Also, for your first story pick a subject that you know well and start from there. If you don't want to do that then pick a subject you're willing to read a lot about. A story is more believable if there's some reality to it, even in fantasy.

Do you imagine your book being on screen (movie, television, etc.)? Who would you see playing your main characters?
I've thought about that on and off since before I started writing the story in Feb 2006. I'm not sure how it would work if it was turned into a movie or TV show. It might make a good show but I'm not sure how they would show the use of the third eye and whatnot. As for who would play the characters? Not sure. If I were in charge of casting I probably would put talented unknowns as the characters. I'm always a sucker for unknowns making it big.

Give us a brief synopsis of your book.
Whenever anyone asks what the novel is about I tend to not know what to say. The plot is a bit complicated because there are sub plots that add twists and whatnot. The best way I can describe it is that it's about a young woman who finds out she is a psychic vampire. The difference between this type of vampire and the traditional blood suckers is that psychic vampires are mortals who draw in energy from those around them. About the time she finds this out a creature is released from a hellish dimension. Jenny, the vampire, and her friends must find a way to destroy the creature before it releases more of its kind and devours all of the energy of the world.This is the first in a series and there is an underlying plot that will take a few novels to fully come out. Hints are dropped here and there. If I tell you that plot, however, it'll sort of ruin the ending of Amethyst Circle and much of the third book which is where I plan to have everything come to fruition.

How many times did you read/edit before you were satisfied?
Oh I lost count! It took me a week to write out the main story (20,000 words originally). It took nearly 2 years for me to get the story to just the way I like it. I read it so much that I got sick of it. I had to stop working on it every so often. I would skip a month of two just so I can read it with fresh eyes.

Any future titles in the works?
Working on Amethyst Circle has taught me a lot. I found that I love writing more than I did when I was younger. There's the sequel to AC which is my main project right now. There will be at least 3 novels to the series. I also have another fantasy piece about an elf who discovers she is the daughter of the Goddess of Magic called Moyra's Daughter.. There is a fanfic of the roll playing game RIFTS that will be free on my site when finished. It's called Rift Gone Wrong. There are so many stories in my head that want to come out. I'm also going to work on short stories that compliment the novels. So far there is one written. It involves two of the characters from Amethyst Circle and takes place before the novel starts.

For more information about Jess L. Cochran, you can visit her author website at http://jesslcochran.tripod.com/


all the best
The Visionchild
http://www.dansvisionproductions.com/

1 comment:

  1. Now I loved Christi. She was the comic relief. Sure, she was immature, but that's what made her so fun. Of course, something really bad happens to her. I'm still waiting for the second book to find out if she ever recovers from that or not. (hint to Jess)

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