Eric, The Jesus Injection is bold writing! Please share its genesis with us.
I wanted to write a parody of something meshing two genres that would normally not be mixed -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer was already written, and so I settled on a story about a secret agent that was gay. My partner and I were feeling very giddy and started coming up with names of characters. 'Agent Buck 98' was first, and then came Noxia von Tussell, and eventually Dr. Raven Evangelista. Everything snowballed from there.
The
funniest thing is the title itself -- The Jesus Injection. I’ve gotten quite the uproar
because people have assumed that somehow it’s going to be
sacrilegious material. One person accused me of taking [his] ‘Lord’s name in
vain just to sell my book’. He knew nothing about it except the title. I was
hoping that having “A Buck 98 Adventure” on the book’s cover would discourage
such thoughts. It’s truly a case of NOT judging a book by its title.
Personally, I think Bold Strokes Books did an incredibly wonderful job with the
cover!
Take us into your writing lair -- tell us what your creative space is like.
We
have a loft outside of the master bedroom in our townhouse, and that’s where I
do my writing. I have my desk set up with my computer and printers
etc., bookshelves behind me, and inspirational pictures around. It’s an open
space so I feel very relaxed there and have a plethora of resources at my
fingertips.
How did you come to the Muse? Did you write stories when you were growing up?
I
started writing as soon as I could hold a pen. I remember writing my first
piece in second grade and it got published in the school paper. As for
my Muse (aside from my husband), it’s the Great God Pan! I started having dreams
of Pan when I was three. They continued up until I was seven. Then he appeared and
said, ‘you’re going to follow me the rest of your life’. I agreed in a
heartbeat and he’s been an important part of my life ever since. I’m very
particular about my Pan artwork, but I have many pieces and several of them are
displayed in my work space.
Do
you write longhand or compose on the computer. How many drafts? In
other words, please share some insight into your creative process.
I
almost always write on the computer. My brain goes too fast (I’m a Gemini) for
my hands to keep up with if I write longhand. I taught myself to type when I
was ten, and so can do that much faster. I never have a set number of drafts that I
want to complete. For me, a story is complete when I’m satisfied with it. I’ll
get an idea and mull it over in my mind for a while. When I’m ready, I’ll sit
down and start writing. I usually don’t storyboard because I’m used to writing
short stories. When I started my novel, I found it
helpful to make outlines of what I wanted to happen and where in the story they
were to occur.
If you could cast Buck in the movie version, he'd be played
by...
Now
this I’ve often thought about as its one of the fun parts of writing. I think
someone like Ewen McGregor could play Buck. He’s metrosexual enough to pull off
both masculine and feminine aspects of being a gay man. He’s already proven
that he has a decent singing voice, and since he’s already done [what are
considered] gay films, I don’t think it’ll be an issue. His movies usually include
a nude scene, so that won’t be bad, either!
I love your book reviews. They're great in helping rebuild my collection. (I'm still kind of upset over the loss of my books; Allen and I cleaned out the Gilsum Public Library of all of the hard cover Danielle Steel books last summer when they had their book sale. I *almost* had the whole hard cover collection of her books.) I'll add this one to my continually growing list. Please keep them coming!
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