Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Interview with Misha Gerrick

Please give a warm welcome to my guest, Misha Gerrick!

First Line Quote Trivia

My favorite quote: “He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.”

From: Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini



Interview

1. What movies/shows/books have influenced your writing or writing ideas? How/why?

This is hard and easy at the same time. I’ve read so many books in my lifetime, and I’d like to think every one of them had some sort of impact on me as a person. Even if I did not agree, the knowledge that I disagreed with something in a book taught me something about myself.

(Tyrean's inserted comment): I know how you feel. I've read plenty of writing books and even the ones I didn't like helped me in some way.

That said, there are five books that proved instrumental in me writing the book that would become The Vanished Knight and The Heir’s Choice. (And they might surprise the people who’ve read one or both of them.)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was my first ever fantasy book, (unless you count Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory, which did, in some form, find its somewhat subtle way into my The War of Six Crowns’s world.)

Then I went on to Chronicles of Narnia just as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe came out. And it was re-reading Prince Caspian that Darrion appeared in my head to distract me, with his tale of another world where people can in fact travel both ways.

Except he snorted a bit at Narnia in Prince Caspian and said: “Those kids would never have made it if they ended up here.”

Needless to say, I was hooked.

The problem was that I was ill-prepared for the huge scope of my series. The Right to Write by Julia Cameron was what got me to 1) Blog (for accountability) and 2) Finish my book.

Finishing is so important! 

2. How do goals help you see projects through to the finish?

My goals, and specifically blogging about them, keep me accountable to my writing. I sometimes don’t finish the concepts I work on, but instead, I set them aside for later so I can incubate them a bit more.

Furthermore, I’m also not all that strict about my draft deadlines. I set goals, and aim for the general vicinity of those deadlines, but the point really isn’t to finish on time. It’s just to finish. And having something to aim for helps me do that.

As do goals like “write something every weekday.”

One of my favorite parts of your blog is reading your writing goals, Misha - they inspire me!

What's your favorite part of writing?

When I’m rough drafting, I love that beginning excitement when I start out. I also love picking the beautiful notebook I’m going to draft in.

Rewrites are awesome because it’s like a rough draft, but I’m typing out a better version of it with much less of a struggle.

I possibly love edits the most because as I work, I see something resembling the book I had in my head all along come out. Drafting just can’t do that.

Yes, the first draft, although fun for me, never matches the image in my head. And notebook choice, ah yes, I love beautiful notebooks. :)

Thanks so much for having me over!

Thank you for visiting, Misha!



The Vanished Knight

The entity living inside Callan’s soul orphaned her at age eleven. By the time she’s sixteen, it’s ensured her being shunted from one foster family to another.

Her thirteenth foster assignment should be routine. Except... it's not. A psycho in medieval armor kidnaps her and she ends up in a magical world. There, she accidentally discovers a secret her parents had kept until the day they died.

Both actually came from this magical world, but left before Callan was born. To cover their tracks, they’d lied about everything. Even who they really were.

Driven to find out where she comes from, Callan’s trapped in a race for life and death. Walking away isn’t an option, but if she stays too long, the entity will find its next victim.

In this world where secrets are sacrosanct and grudges are remembered, finding the truth will be near impossible. Especially when Callan has her own homicidal little secret to deal with.

One with a taste for destroying her life.




The Heir’s Choice

After discovering her parents had kept a whole world secret, Callan races to discover her past. Not easy to do with an increasingly agitated entity living in her soul.

Going to her long-lost elvish roots should answer all her questions. Instead, she ends up in the middle of a nightmare.

The elves are on the verge of an apocalyptic war. Their enemy, King Aurek of Icaimerith, will only be appeased if Callan marries his heir. It’s either her life getting messed up, or an entire country’s lives lost. Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

Because when the entity wants the elves blotted out of existence, saving them gets taken to a whole new level of complicated.




Bio

Misha Gerrick has been creating stories long before she could write and is currently going after her dream of making a living as a writer.

If you’d like to see how that’s going, you can visit her on her blog (http://Sylmion.blogspot.com), where she also discusses all things related to writing and publishing.

Or, if you’d just like to know what she’s reading and get updates on what she’ll be publishing next (Sorry, no newsletter just yet.):

You can follow her Tumblr (http://mishagerrick.tumblr.com)
You can follow her on Twitter: @MGerrick1
And you can circle her on Google Plus: +MGerrick



35 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I like edits the best as well!
Cool that the Narnia books were an inspiration.
Congratulations the the re-release of your books, Misha.

Misha Gerrick said...

Thanks, Alex. :-)

Christine Rains said...

Fantastic interview. The Harry Potter books have been a big influence on me over the years. I love excitement of the first draft too. Congratulations!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Narnia inspired me in childhood, and the Harry Potter series inspired me as an adult. They're both great book series.
Thanks for stopping by, Christine!

S.A. Larsenッ said...

It was great getting to know you better, Misha! I totally agree with you about disagreements with a book teaching us things/lessons. I think in those situations we're forced to look within. Exercises like that only make us better writers ... and people. :) Hmm... editing verses creating ... Honestly, I think it depends what mood I'm in for which I like better. Right now, I've been editing ... 4-ever! So yesterday, I wrote a brand new mini scene and am totally in love with the new writing. Guess I need to change it up now and again. Congratulations!

Misha Gerrick said...

Thanks Christine. :-) It's nice to see I have shared writing influences with you ladies.

Misha Gerrick said...

Thanks Sheri! Yeah I think just the act of thinking to explain something about writing helps us become better writers, because it helps us understand how we write.

As for writing and editing, I take breaks from drafts and rewrites by editing and vice versa. :-)

Natalie Aguirre said...

I like the edits best as well. And it's awesome that blogging has helped you write more.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Misha's goal posts are such an inspiration and I'm glad that blogging has helped her writer more, too. :)

Misha Gerrick said...

The accountability makes a huge difference.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I laughed how Misha seems to have a favorite thing about each part of the process. I used to love first drafts best but now I love the second draft best. Congrats to Misha.
Susan Says

L. Diane Wolfe said...

You can always change the date of your goal because finishing is more important than when you finish.

Congrats, Misha!

Murees Dupè said...

Great interview. I love how your brain works, Misha. Everything is so organized. Finishing what one writes is so important and I agree with Tyrean. Reading about you setting goals and then achieving them is very inspiring. Harry Potter is always great inspiration:)

Laurel Garver said...

I love the idea that finishing is more important than WHEN you finish. Love that. My perfectionist self tends to get super discouraged when I miss self-imposed deadlines, and all the self-reprimand does is take away energy for the work.

I love revisions, giving shape, adding details, deepening, tightening the slow bits. Drafting is sooo slow for me (see perfectionist comment above, LOL).

Tyrean Martinson said...

I always love the excitement of the first two pages, and then revisions. :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

So true!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Thanks for stopping by, Murees!

Yolanda Renée said...

I enjoy the edits too, especially when the editor I'm working with is genius! And goals setting has been the key to my life's successes.

Love, love, love the covers!

SpacerGuy said...

Many writers now can sell their work on their own website or arrange deals with online booksellers. Congratulations Misha

Nick Wilford said...

Great interview. I think I still like the wild ride of drafting best (although with occasional slow stretches), but I appreciate Misha's attitude of editing bringing her closer to the book she imagined all along. It sounds more appealing put like that!

Misha Gerrick said...

It's a coping strategy, Susan. If I didn't like something in every stage of producing a book, I'd be miserable, because I go through all the stages a lot in just a year.

Misha Gerrick said...

Absolutely. I actually set high goals purposefully (including my five year goal) because even if I fall short, I still get further than if I hadn't challenged myself.

Misha Gerrick said...

Haha it's only when it comes to my writing plans. In my life, I'm not organized at all. Neither am I organized in how I go about my goals. Like... I set specific goals to remind myself of what I want to achieve, but within that, I really just do what I feel like at that moment.

Misha Gerrick said...

I'm also a perfectionist when I write. So I rough draft by hand, which slows me down a bit, but less than having access to a delete button while drafting would have. ;-)

As for goal setting, I've taught myself to set huge goals and be happy when I land in the ballpark.

Misha Gerrick said...

It is fun to work with an awesome editor.

Glad you like my covers. :-)

Misha Gerrick said...

Thanks!

Misha Gerrick said...

I like the excitement, but drafting this series specifically can be stressful, because way more goes into it than anything else I'm writing.

Denise Covey said...

I think editing is when you really get into the story and deepen what's important and cut what's not. Great interview ladies! :-)

Maurice Mitchell said...

It's so true that when we disagree with something we can learn about ourselves Misha. It's a good reminder.

Anonymous said...

I'm so bad at sticking to deadlines, but you're right! Just finishing is an accomplishment. And of course editing is the fun part, you really get to know the world that you created. Great interview! :)

Misha Gerrick said...

Thanks Denise. Completely agree with you. :-)

Misha Gerrick said...

Thanks for stopping by, Maurice. :-)

Misha Gerrick said...

I'm actually pretty bad at deadlines too. Sticking to Amazon's publishing deadline gave me an ulcer. :-P

Anonymous said...

Blogging about my goals makes it more likely that I'll reach them. Before I did that, I drafted much slower. Callan sounds like she has a lot going on in Misha's book. :)

Misha Gerrick said...

Same here. I never finished a book until I started my blog. (Which is why it was once called My First Book.)

Oh yeah, Callan's got a full plate. :-P