Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Interview with M. Pax, PRECIPICE


Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?
Precipice opens with the galaxy on the brink of war. My characters scramble to insure the survival of the their homes, the Backworlds. They face bad and worse choices. The tagline is the theme of the book: Salvation comes at a price. Precipice is the sixth book in the Backworlds series.

Do you have a favorite character?
Pauder is an old man and a veteran from a previous war. He’s paranoid and not quite right in the head. He adds a lot of humor to the stories. The Backworlds wouldn’t be the same without him.

Have you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the direction of the novel at all?
My main character is a bartender with dreams of grandeur named Craze. He had several sidekicks in the first book, The Backworlds. Many fans wrote telling me how much they loved his friends Talos and Lepsi. As a consequence, their roles in the sequels were expanded. I love writing for Lepsi and Talos, so was happy to do it.

Captain Talos dreams of a trade route to honor his mother, who died from a plague. He wears a badge that says, ‘Carry On.’

Lepsi was kidnapped and enslaved by the enemy now threatening the Backworlds with annihilation. He makes up songs to torment a brother who made Lepsi’s childhood agony.

If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the creative process for your cover?
Erin Dameron-Hill is my graphic artist. She was recommended to me by another author (recommendations are the best way to hire people). I send her a completed questionnaire to get a new cover, but leave a lot up to her. She’s the design/book cover expert and does a fantastic job. On Precipice’s cover I only made one change - the color of the tagline.

Do you belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?
Every three weeks I meet with the Word Herd (so we dubbed ourselves). We send our work ahead of time to be read and marked up. They catch things I never would and make suggestions I would never think of. For example, Mike is forever harping on me to pull the camera out for a wider view.

I rely on my critique partners to help me make better beginnings, stronger characters, and more exciting plots. Best of all, we have a good time and laugh a lot. There are five of us in the WH.

Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
My outlining is evolving. I always had a loose one in my head: a beginning, the major plot points, and where I wanted to end up. Getting from point to point was fluid. From there I progressed to writing the tagline, blurb, and character arcs before starting. Now I do a full outline. I may not stick to it, but I do it.

Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
I can’t get out of my own head to see what I missed or what I said 500 times. My editor is an essential part of my team (my cover artist the other). Kelly Schaub has edited my past five novels. She’s fabulous to work with.

Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?
B&N / iBook / Googleplay / Smashwords / Kobo / inktera / Scribd

Besides writing, do you have any other passions?
My husband and two cats for starters. They keep me sane. I work as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory every summer. I love looking at the stars and learning from my fellow astronomy buffs. I also love exploring the quiet corners of Oregon and taking a lot of photos... a whole lot.

What’s next for you?
I write another series called The Rifters. The third book, The Reader, is next. After that, book 7 of the Backworlds, Free Fall is on the schedule.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:
M. Pax is author of the space adventure series The Backworlds and the contemporary science fiction series The Rifters, plus other novels and short stories. Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons  to her, and she blames Oregon, a source of endless inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers as a star guide, has a cat with a crush on Mr. Spock, and is slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. Learn more at:



See what inspires The Backworlds on Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/mpaxauthor/

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

 


a Rafflecopter giveaway
 




No comments:

Post a Comment

Your post will be published after administrator approval.