This blog is a meeting place for authors and others in the arts .... each week as others are directed to our door or just stumble on by, they come and leave us information about themselves so they can tell about their new books or drawings or photos or to tell us about their new blogs. ****PLEASE be sure your comments are appearing on the latest most timely blog insuring your inclusion in the sending off to Google plus land at the end of the week.*****
Here is the link to Gwen’s site: http://www.indieauthornetwork.weebly.com/index.html G.D. Steel's blog is free promoting of your arts. As I am wont to say {as does Facebook} our site is free to comment and share and always will be free.
For the rest of the month of January and possibly into February of 2012,we will be interviewing new and seasoned authors, first at Gwen's and then over here.
Today,January 22nd, Patrick Sean Lee is here with us. Patrick has fantastic short stories posted on Amazon that I would advise you to gobble up while they are still at low prices. One such, I am bouncing with pride, is SANDCASTLES, a collection on social injustice, in which both he and I along with five other award winning authors from Serious Writers on BookRix.com are featured. His short story in the collection, Sandcastles, is called Printer's Square. Now here is Patrick ~
What inspired you to write?
I must think about that…it was so many, many years ago when I first began…
I think a combination of reading comic books, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, Mad Magazine, but most importantly, a wonderful, kind, grammar-crazy nun by the name of Sister Mary Dolorine. My fifth grade teacher. Most recently, 1998 (I’d stopped writing to paint for several years), it was an innocent (honestly) dream I had that inspired me to begin writing seriously; that and a book I’d read and re-read. When my muse tapped me, I thought, “I want to make this dream real in a real book…half as beautiful as Mark Helprin’s, “Winter’s Tale.” And so I was off and running.
Do you have anyone you show manuscripts to and get advice from or are you a loner doing it all yourself?
Very few of us can effectively work in a vacuum. Yes, I have close friends (and brutal critics) who are members of a group at Bookrix.com. I like to send them whatever I’m working on to get honest feedback. My wonderful wife is a great sounding board, too. I’m also a member of a very small writing group near my home. But really, until I have a chapter or story completed, I work like a hermit in a cave, in prayer and meditation (figuratively speaking).
What genre do you normally write in? Also, is there a genre you've always wanted to write in, but don't feel you could pull it off?
I write in two genres, depending on the assigned theme, my muse tapping me, or a mood of elation.
Fantasy/romance…most of my works fall into this genre.
Humor. I look at myself and laugh. Humor. “Seriously? You did THAT?” Yep, I certainly did.
I’d like to combine a mystery with a high romantic element, much like Carlos Zafon’s masterpiece, The Shadow of the Wind. I’m not sure I’m there yet. I shall try it one of these days soon, though. Writing effective mystery seems as though it would be VERY difficult to pull off realistically.
Do you ever base your characters on people you know?
Absolutely. Many of my characters are combinations, really, of people I know or have known. Attorneys and politicians, lol. They’re great fodder. Neighbors. That guy at Starbucks I was chatting with two weeks ago who has a plan to build a real time machine. What do they say? Reality is stranger than fiction? Real people are stranger than imagined characters! All I need to do is give them a name and thrown them into a crucible.
What advice would you give to someone who was just starting off in writing?
Three things.
Read widely and a lot. Expand your universe.
Study grammar. Master it.
Write. It is the act of writing, the constant devotion to the written word, that enables each of us to attain journeyman status. I’ve heard it said that to get to even that status it takes a writer a million words! I hope that includes all the words I’ve deleted :) I should be at about ten million, if that’s the case, lol.
Do your stories tend to have morals, or special messages, included within them?
Some do. Certainly Dear Diary, a Journal From Hell…which started off as a humor piece with no real message…has, I think, deep philosophical, if not spiritual, leanings. But really, what special message can there be in a romance? Love conquers every obstacle? True love never dies or falters?
This question was posed by a fellow author and I loved it so much I decided to throw it into the mix ~ Oh no! One of your characters has escaped. Luckily, I have caught them! I will interrogate them with the help of a lie detector. Welcome!Take a seat, make yourself comfortable. You will be returning to your book once this is over. What's your name, where are you from and what is your role in the book?
I am Marvin Quenton Fuster, my dear. I’m from Globeville, Colorado originally (until I ran away, after having burned the orphanage my father stuck me into clear to the ground). I moved down to Denver, and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I met an angel there. My role in the book? Crap, I dunno’. I guess I’m the drunk who got tapped on the shoulder by his guardian angel. Bonked on the head, to be more preciser. Met Maribeth and the governor. Sheesh. It was a wild journey to reverse my age! I ain’t gonna’ tell you any more about me or my role in the book that guy wrote about me, though. You’ll have to go get it and read for yourself. There!
Tell us why we would enjoy reading your books?
I think I write clearly and well. That is the first thing. Maybe more importantly, I write from my soul. That sounds high fallutin’, but those of you who have the real passion to “tell stories” know exactly what I mean. Beyond that, I write characters and scene that enable readers to suspend disbelief. At least I hope that I do.
Ben Bova said it all, though. Paraphrased: “You can have the voice and vocabulary of an angel, but if you don’t have a dynamic plot, forget it.” I live by that in my writing.
To find Patrick Sean Lee, here are his latest info and links
http://patrickseanlee.blogspot.com
Patrick Lee at Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002019883136
http://patrickseanlee.blogspot.com/
http://www.wix.com/thegoodnamesarestill/patrick-sean-lee-author/my-books#!
Amazon.com Patrick Sean Lee (not Patrick Lee; he’s another Patrick Lee :)
Felixthecat at Bookrix.com
thegoodnamesarestilloutthere@gmail.com (I’m dreadfully sorry I picked that name. Forgive me!)
Do remember there are two Patrick Lees but only one Patrick Sean Lee for these fabulous stories from this author’s pen
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