Read All About It! Melissa Shirley Interview

If you like your romances based in a small town where you get to know the locals, look no further than author Melissa Shirley and her two fantastic locations, 'Storybook Lake, Il.' and 'Battlecry, Tx.' 

I was lucky enough to grab some time with Missy to ask some questions about both places. 

• Firstly, can you give us a brief introduction to Storybook Lake and Battlecry, for those who may not have read your books?

Storybook lake is located in the heart of Illinois half way between Chicago and St. Louis, MO. Someone, right around the 1960s, came in and decided to make it a tourist attraction the likes of which had never been seen. Buildings were refurbished to look like the business mission statement. There is a giant pair of ballet slippers housing the dance studio, the library is an open book and the 'Little Shop of Hairs' beauty salon is a giant Venus Fly Trap. The town is dedicated to stories of the past with street names like Dr. Suess drive and Tolkien Trail. Visitors travel through fiction at the wheel of a motor vehicle. Storybook Lake originated with storytellers of the past and is home to an entire generation of people who find their happily ever after within its borders.

800 miles south we find Battlecry Texas, home of the Laugherty family. An old town that prides itself on its deep south roots and southern hospitality, Battlecry is sheriffed by the youngest Laugherty, and a woman at that.

• And where would you rather live - Storybook Lake, or Battlecry?

I would rather live in storybook lake because I love the people there. Mable's tea pretty much guarantees a good night every night. Simon is always good for a grin and with that much eye candy running around, no day is ever going to be boring.

Plus the people always seem to come together to help each other. I like that.

• If you had to be related to someone from either town, which family would you choose to be part of?

The Laughertys. They are all very close. They get along pretty well. There isn't a lot of drama inside the family.

• Who would you pick to be your best friend?

I think I would pick Simon as a Bestie because he went through something horrible and just bounced right back with a smile on his face. Plus, he's fun and funny. But he already has Keaton so I would have to split best friend time. So maybe, but only because Simon already had keaton, I think Becca because she has awesome clothes and shoes and loves fashion.

• Who is your favourite person we haven't seen a lot of yet?

Cody is my new book boyfriend but I have done others coming to Battlecry. They should arrive just in time for Christmas next year. This year, Cody gets a fairy tale. I can't say much but it's all reality tv and a wedding and he probably gets a happily ever after.

• Do you have anyone who is evil, or truly bad, to balance all the nice?

Kind of. I have a wicked flame from the past in Storybook Lake, an eccentric ex,  also in Storybook Lake. And a wicked pair of sisters in Battlecry. I can't say yet whether anyone finds redemption but if I had to guess I would say "maybe".

• Which other character, from book or film, would you most like to steal for Storybook Lake, if you could?

I would love to drop Shirlee Kenyon from the 1992 film "Straight Talk" into Storybook Lake. She was a radio talk host who dispensed real world down home advice and she would fit in with the quirkiness of the town, and she probably would not mind working inside a giant microphone every day.

• What would you do for your day job in Storybook Lake?

Hmm. I think I would like to work at the resort. I've heard that Keaton is pretty great to work for.

• Where would you best like to live in the town?

And I would definitely line in the fairy tale section of town where Danielle and Keaton live. There's going to be some action there. I can feel it.

• Have you got any new construction planned?

Hmm. I definitely think there will be a radio station, a giant microphone because I just thought of that this morning. And I think they need a regular soda shop for the kids so I need to build a giant milkshake in an old time cup with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

• What future stories have you got in the works?

There are probably at least 4 for Battlecry. Lily Laugherty has one due for sure. Then there is a new family coming to town for Christmas. Cody's story is yet to come. And definitely at least 3 for Storybook Lake. The evil Danielle will get redemption and a man. Kelly has a story that may or may not include love with Gatlin, or someone new. And there will be some Storybook Lake short stories on my blog in between the times the other books come out.

My thanks to Missy for her time - that all sounds very exciting, and it looks like I could end up having a very long TBR list next year!

If you haven't yet read anything set in Storybook Lake or Battlecry, I urge you to get started with Decadent Publishing's  "For the love of... Geese" (part of the Beyond Fairytales line) as more stories will be hitting the shelves soon.

Connect with Missy on her Facebook page and through her Twitter profile.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder - Right?

So, I've been gone a little while, child wrangling and writing and all that good stuff. And it's Christmas tomorrow, so even better, but probably a good idea if we don't discuss present wrapping. I'm not finished yet and am deeply traumatised by something taking me so long to do that will be UNdone in mere seconds.

But, in other news, I received a contract for the Decadent Publishing story I mentioned back in July, so that has been an amazing early Christmas present for me.

Once I have myself in gear and send a completed contract back (it now needs to wait until AFTER the chaos *sob*), I will allow myself to go into full celebratory mode. Christmas is positioned very badly for me, this year. :-D

Oh, but one thing I have done, and I found very exciting, is put a Pinterest inspiration board together for the story. I guess the title is subject to change, still, depending on how it fits with the Beyond Fairytales' line, but I've been calling it "Last Dance of the Doll Maker". You can find the Pinterest board here if you feel like having a look at what I wrote about:

Last Dance of the Doll Maker Pinterest Inspiration Board

I might still rearrange the board it, although part of me loves seeing that picture of chocolate cake first.

I've also set myself a Facebook page - feel free to drop in and say hello. I'm always happy to meet people and to chat - I have a very high quota of words to get through in any given day, so chatting is sort of my thing. I'm on Twitter, too, but that confuses me a little - am I supposed to try to keep up, or just jump back in where people got to while I was away? :-) I sort of do a bit of both.

Anyway, I just wanted to do drop by and share my news. I've got quite a bit of paperwork to fill in now, instead of just hiding out from the rest of the family. Wish me luck.

Lastly, have a fantastic day tomorrow, and I hope you manage to finish all of your wrapping without bodily and emotional trauma.

My Foray into #pitmad

I had a wonderful time and would totally take part in #pitmad again. Reading all of the other pitches was great, and strangely addictive. Makes me quite thankful not to be an agent... or jealous. I'm not quite sure which.

The Very Bad Beginning

I must live with my head under a rock because I have only just discovered that it is bad form to start your story when somebody wakes up. Instinctively I have always started my story where I believe it starts - I do not start the writing before I start the actual story, as far as I can tell. I am lazy in that respect, and that wouldn't gel with my skeletal first draft style, anyway.

What You Wish For starts when Maggie, the main character wakes up.  This is bad, apparently. But less than half way down the page, while she is still in bed, the action starts. Is it still bad, now? I have scoured my first chapter, looking for a better starting point, and I couldn't find one. Anything less, or midway through, doesn't set the scene at all, and there needs to be a tiny bit of introduction, surely? Just enough for anyone reading it to find their feet - a couple of paragraphs. I set Maggie's expectations for the day... and then take them away.

I have considered starting the previous evening, but why? Surely this would contradict the advice to start the story where it starts... I could literally be adding useless padding for the sake of simply not starting when Maggie wakes up.

And, let me be clear she does not wake up, yawn and stretch, make her cereal - with skimmed milk as she doesn't like cream, jump on the tube to work - making sure to sit as close to the door as possible, take the stairs up to her office - to get her daily steps in, and arrive to a giant dog eating her desk. I do not use five pages of scene setting. So am I still wrong?

I like to flatter myself that I sort of know how to write a story. Ask me about any kind of arcs, or plot and pinch points and I will give you a very confused look, but the telling of the story is what I enjoy.  I have works in progress that start in places other than the protagonists bed because I have started where the story begins... hopefully.

It may be worth noting that I have further impounded my literary faux pas by having Maggie question if it was all a dream at the end of the first chapter. Again, this was a deliberate choice, and all is soon revealed.

I am, however, entirely open to another point of view and, should someone come along who can see a better away, let's discuss it. Please. Show me the error of my ways... :-)

When can an accepted 'rule' be broken?  Have I created something entirely unreadable by twisting old cliche's/tropes/stereotypes/bad writing to suit my own ends?

Have you ever broken a rule? How did it work out for you?

What You Wish For

Yay!  My book writing friend and critique partner, Missy Shirley took my #pitchFURY post, some lines from my story and created a lovely trailer for me.

What You Wish For is the story of Maggie Forrester and what happens when she wakes up in an alternate version of her life. She switches back and forth between both lives and two husbands while trying maintain a degree of normality behind secrets and lies, and work out the difference between 'love' and 'in love'.

Missy is a contracted author (writing as Melissa Shirley) who writes the excellent Storybook Lake series. Storybook Lake is an amazing small American town where the men are gorgeous, practically have to take a kissing exam to live there, and falling in love is a daily event.

Check out Missy on the web: http://melissashirley2.wix.com/melissashirleyauthor
or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissashirleyauthor
or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/missyshirley2

That's Great, but What is It?

I should be able to answer that, right? Given that I wrote the thing. Approx 73 000 words and it still doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up.

I've gone with the really general term "Women's Fiction" because it doesn't seem to be straight-forward genre anything. There is a wide thread of romance running through it, but it may touch a romance-genre taboo, there is a little flavour of magical realism, but I'm not sure I've gone in from that angle enough to classify it absolutely 'magical realism'. It isn't sci-fi, and not really fantasy. The setting is contemporary.

It isn't literary, but is it commercial? Would anyone buy it, because surely that is the real meaning of commercial - that it has wide sales appeal?

And because I'm not sure what it is, who will want it? I've combed all sorts of submission requirements trying to decide if it is a good fit for someone.

I've brought myself (and anyone who will listen) a bit of stress the past few days by trying to classify what I've written, and it almost changed how I view it. It nearly went from being an affectionately regarded child to being assigned all the chores and sleeping under the stairs. But then I realised I still like it. I didn't write it with a market in mind, I wrote to be true to the story.

And, besides, I can't devote all of my thinking power to what I've already written when I need to direct at least some of my thoughts to the next group of people trying to find a way out of my head. (I'm not sure there are any lights up there, to be honest.)

So it is what it is, really. And if no one else wants it, it'll have to be that child who lives with me forever.

A Question of Balance?

With 3 children aged 6 and under, a house to keep clean and tidy, and week 3 of the summer break starting, things here are moving veeeeeeery slowly, here.

Well, that's not entirely true.  My house is not at all clean and tidy because I have very demanding characters who keep distracting me and seeking my attention. And my children have started behaving like barbarians. But that probably isn't related to the writing.

So how do I balance everything? No, really - how do I? This isn't a how-to guide, it's a desperate plea of a question because I don't have the heart or stomach to cut myself in two.

I keep a notebook to jot things down as they occur to me and I attempt to capture my flashes of inspiration there but, by the time bedtime has been and gone and I have have wrestled three very unwilling children into submission, I am tired.  Tired, and only worthy of slumping onto the sofa in defeat. At that point, most desire to write has left me and it's a slog.

I've tried writing when the inspiration occurs, and my story builds in little fits and starts all day but the danger there is that I become entirely carried away and the children could take my house apart around me, brick by brick (because 6 yr old is a bit obsessed with Lego, and - recently - Jenga), and I wouldn't even notice.  My husband would, though, when he arrived home to a house that no longer existed.  Just a group of barbarian children playing in a large pile of a rubble and a wild woman typing up a firestorm on a laptop fast running out of charge.

Where do I find my balance?  Does a good wife and mother wait until the housework is done, the children are dressed and fed (they are never full.  I've tried.) and sufficiently entertained before she turns her attention to writing?  Or does a good writer ride that wave of inspiration, throwing the ideas on the page while the baby eats dirt in the garden and the two oldest attempt to build an extension upstairs (I have no idea what that banging could be, otherwise)?

Where does the balance lie? Is there any such thing?