 Author:
Anne Marsh - http://www.huntersmate.com
by: Tammie King
Date: 7/2009
Hello Anne,
Thanks for joining me today on Night Owl Romance.
Tammie King of NOR: To get us started can you please start by telling us a little about what you are working on or have coming out?
Anne Marsh: THE HUNT, my debut novel, is a Sept.
29, 2009 release from Dorchester.
Tammie King of NOR: Could you please tell us a little about yourself?
Anne Marsh: I'm a professional technical writer living in
California's Bay Area, which means I spend an inordinate amount of daylight
hours with engineers. I write online helps, software manuals, federal grants
applications-- those sorts of things. Technical writing actually turned out to
be an ideal background for writing paranormal romance-- receiving and responding
to editorial feedback was hardly a new concept. I've also had the obligatory
dot-com/start-up experience (worked in a now-defunct hardware start-up that had
a crystal disco ball hanging from the ceiling and unlimited Dagoba chocolate in
the kitchen). My kids are not convinced that I ever separate myself from my
laptop but, I swear, I do. When I'm not writing or channeling my inner homemaker
(who routinely refuses to come out to clean and make dinner), you can usually
find me digging holes in the garden for more daylilies and bulbs or out for a
little run with the kids (I bribe them with slurpies if they get Mommy out to
run-- it's cheaper than a gym membership).
Tammie King of NOR: If you could be one of the characters from this book – Who would you be? And why?
Anne Marsh: I'd be Amun Ra. He's still insisting on
being mysterious, but I have a feeling he's going to have one sexy story to
tell. He's the alpha in charge of the Guardians and he knows what he wants-- and
how to get it. Joining him on a collision course with an independent female who
knows what she wants and how to get it would be a delicious ride to share.
Tammie King of NOR: Who or what influenced you when you wrote this book? Did you have a CD, Songs, environment, etc?
Anne Marsh: I did have a soundtrack running through
my head and constantly on loop in my iTunes library-- music from the Pirates of
the Caribbean.
Tammie King of NOR: Can you please give us a sneak peek into the book?
Anne Marsh: THE HUNT is a sexy paranormal romance
set in a fantasy world with Egyptian overtones. The virgins who enter the
twisting tunnels of the Guardians have little hope-- or wish-- to escape. But
Miu has her own reason for participating in the Hunt, and she has no intention
of being caught... until she meets the darkly sensual predator who's on her
trail.
Tammie King of NOR: Please tell us what you have planned next?
Anne Marsh: I'm working on the second book in the
Hunter's Mate series (Hebon and Aura's story), as well as the first book in a
new series about fallen angels, tentatively titled BOND WITH ME.
Tammie King of NOR: What kind of research did you do for this book? Did you enjoy the research process?
Anne Marsh: Research? Absolutely not! One of the
most liberating aspects of writing paranormal romance for me, personally, has
been getting to Make It All Up. I've done lots of reading about the craft
aspects of writing, but for HUNT I stuck to a fantasy world that I invented.
Technical writing demands accuracy (engineers are such sticklers!) and my
academic background was even worse-- everything had to be footnoted in
triplicate. I love sitting down to write and thinking "What should this place
look like?" and knowing that the answer is "Whatever you want it to look like."
Tammie King of NOR: Do you belong to a critique group? If so, how does this help or hinder you?
Anne Marsh: I don't currently belong to a critique
group, although I just started looking. One of the (many) things I learned from
working with Alicia Condon and Dorchester on HUNT was how to read from an
editor's perspective. I now know what questions it would be useful (for me,
personally, at any rate, given my own writing style) to ask of a critique group
or beta reader. I wasn't ready to take that step before (the curse of the shy
person-- but we really like to know what we're doing before we put ourselves out
there!)
Tammie King of NOR: What would be the best way for readers contact you? Do you have a website? Email address? MySpace site? Blog? Message Board? Group?
Anne Marsh: Email always works for me: annemarsh at
ymail dot com. I also have an author website where readers can join my Yahoo
group (http://www.huntersmate.com)
and am on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/people/Anne-Marsh/1363565502).
Tammie King of NOR: When did you first decide to submit your work? Please, tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?
Anne Marsh: Inadvertently, the HR department at
Pixar encouraged me to start submitting my work. I was working my dream job as a
technical writer for Pixar: I wrote software manuals explaining to all their
oh-so-brilliant technical directors how to use their very, very complicated
software. It was a blast-- I could spend days animating superheroes and
translating those instructions into printed text. Unfortunately for me, I got
laid off (ouch-- bad Pixar!) and so I went home one afternoon, cried madly, and
then decided that I would do what all those Good Housekeeping magazines my
mother had been giving me said to do: figure out what I REALLY wanted to do and
use my layoff as a stepping stone to something else. I started writing that
afternoon. Those pages became an entry in the San Francisco Area RWA's 2007
Heart-to-Heart contest. Hilary Sares at Kensington asked to see the full of THE
GOBLIN, I gulped ('cause it sure wasn't done yet), and got to work. After that
high, I had the bug. I had to keep submitting. I think I'm going to send Pixar
HR a copy when the book comes out...
Tammie King of NOR: What was your first published work and when was it published?
Anne Marsh: Other than some published academic
articles (Nadezhda Durova, anyone?), THE HUNT is my first published work. HUNT
will be released by Dorchester Love Spell on Sept. 29, 2009. I'm still trying to
figure out if I should be ecstatic or crying madly because I'm releasing the
same day J.R. Ward launches her new series about fallen angels.
Tammie King of NOR: What is the best and worst advice you have ever received?
Anne Marsh: Best advice was from reading an
interview with Kresley Cole. She said she had a rule of 25: always have 25 irons
in the fire-- submissions, contest entries, queries to agents, whatever. When
one comes back with a "No," send another one right out. It certainly helped me
manage the ups and downs of writing-- there are lots and lots (and lots) of "no"
answers. I felt like I had a little bit more control when I created lots of
possibilities for "yes" answers. And "they" are right: it only takes one yes.
Worst... I don't know. Probably all those well-meaning folks who pointed out the
publishing statistics, implying that I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell
of getting published by NYC. And should stick with the technical writing.
Obviously, I ignored them.
Tammie King of NOR: Do you outline your books or just start writing?
Anne Marsh: For HUNT, I just started writing with a
very, very loose outline. For the next book in the series, however, I'm starting
with a much more detailed outline. While I love the lifestyle of the panster
writer, I have fewer revisions with a more plotter-ly approach. Plus, I'm really
not trying to torture my editor ;)
Tammie King of NOR: Who is your perfect hero? And why?
Anne Marsh: Am I allowed to say Captain Jack
Sparrow? I have a horrible weakness for strong, determined bad boys who are also
intelligent and in possession of a sense of humor. We're not even going to
mention how many times I've watched his final confrontation with the Kraken.
I've tried desperately to fall in love with Will Turner, but he's just too good.
I'll let Elizabeth keep him and move Captain Jack in, thanks ever so much.
Tammie King of NOR: Is there a genre of book you would like to write but haven't yet?
Anne Marsh: There are so many genres that I would
love to explore! In addition to the obvious choice of urban fantasy (who doesn't
love kick-ass,feisty heroines?), I'm chewing on ideas for both a YA series and
historical fiction a la Susan Carroll. My background is in Russian literature
and there are some fabulous heroines lurking there that I'd love to introduce to
readers.
Thank you for this opportunity!
Interviewed by: Tammie King
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