1. Name:
Lynne Murray
2. The Title of Your Work or Group:
Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone
3. Where are you from? Does not have to be the name of the place exactly. You can say Hick-ville Florida, for example if you are more comfortable with that.
I grew up traveling a lot due to a father's work for the military and then in aerospace. We lived in Southern California, Texas and Alaska. I moved to San Francisco to go to college and have never left since.
4. In what genre do you write?
All my books feature humorous elements. I'm concentrating on science fiction and fantasy now Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone is about aliens stranded on earth. But I've also written vampire fantasy (the Falstaff Vampire Files), romantic comedy (Bride of the Living Dead) and four books in the Josephine Fuller murder mystery series about a sleuth of size who doesn't apologize.
5.In your own words, what is your book about? If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book you just read to a friend, what would you say about it?
Gravitas is about a woman from Planet Valkyrie who is carrying an overdose of an aphrodisiac when she gets stranded on earth, which has been declared a Forbidden Zone.
6. What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens.
Following rules is hard for me. I naturally rebel at instructions, so I've learned that I have to follow my own quirks in order to finish a story. Whenever I try outlining or using planning software, I end up writing scenes in the margins and throwing the outline out to go back to the manuscript.
For me writing a novel is like making a bunch of puzzle pieces and putting them together different ways to see which ones make a better picture.
The only way I can do it is to keep coming back to just picking up my manuscript every day and pulling the story along like a spider weaving a web. Oddly enough, my brain seems to be thinking ahead without my noticing, because when I get near the end the action starts clicking like a row of dominoes dropping!
As you might imagine I do a lot of editing and re-writing, but that's the only way that works for me.
7. Have you ever written anything and thought; "The world has got to see this!"
I feel that way about Gravitas, because the ideas in it have percolated around my brain for a long, long time, and I finally found a story about a planet where the sex roles are completely reversed (women are expected to have as many husbands as they can support) and the major export was an aphrodisiac. I imagined a woman from that culture stranded on Earth with no easy exit.
8. Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself?
I was fortunate enough to have editorially skilled friends to read Gravitas and suggest changes that vastly improved it.
I fell in love with a pre-made cover from David at GoOnWrite.com who has amazing covers at a price I could afford.
9. Who is your favorite author. Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy.
I can't remember not wanting to write books, even before I could read. But Jo March was such a role model in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Little Men ad Jo's Boys that I just knew it was what I was meant to do.
10. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Fight scenes and love scenes are pretty scary. I just do the best I can and hope to get better as I do more.
11. Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?
I'm constantly finding out new things about my characters. I try not to stand in their way when they reveal themselves.
12. Do you ever write yourself into the characters?
I try to imagine what my characters are going through in physical actions, sensory impressions, and words. They do and say things I never could, but they don't have my limits. So I live through them in a way.
13. Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak.
So far I've had to find other methods of supporting myself than writing. Sometimes I've made enough money to put back into the writing (e.g., buy a new computer, etc.). But stopping has never been an option. It's kind of an obsession and I live in hope that it will pay off more as I go along.
14. If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be?
I've practiced Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism since 1968, so I would want to meet the founder of our sect Nichiren (1222-1282). I'd have to bring along someone who speaks classical Japanese to communicate, and it might take me some years (a few lifetimes?) to process the encounter.
15. There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre?
Gravitas provides drama, laughs and an explanation for UFO sightings that hasn't been aired before. Fun is a word many reviewers have used including Frannie Zellman who said, More fun than eating chocolate while sipping wine."
16. In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?
I'm still experimenting and looking for resources. Every day I look for new places to share my books or find reviewers. I've met some great authors at the Facebook and Twitter #Awethors and #IndieBooksBeSeen groups and pooling our ideas has been helpful and encouraging.
Now give me your links so we can get people to your book sites!
Twitter: @lynnemurray
Website: http://www.lmurray.com
Goodreads page : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25055762-gravitas
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