Author Interview: C.S Lakin

Hey everyone! So sorry for not updating for such a long time. Missed you all! Over the past couple of weeks, I had the opportunity to interview talented author C.S Lakin, hope you enjoy! Don't forget to comment and tell me your thoughts on this post. :)

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When did you realize you wanted to be a writer and why?

I’m sure most authors say this, but I’ve written since I could hold a crayon. I even “published” a neighborhood magazine back when I was about eight called “The Stone Canyon Gazette.” It was in those ancient prehistoric days before copy machines and electric typewriters. I organized a handful of neighbor kids and we handwrote ten copies of each issue on construction paper, including drawing the same drawings ten times. We charged ten cents. The mothers complained I had too many entries in the magazine and didn’t feature the other kids enough. Already hogging the limelight! After that I helped my mother with her scripts, collating and offering ideas. I got my first rejection letter at age twelve from the producer of Woman from Uncle regarding my script idea.(I was raised in TV industry.)

 

Who is your favorite author and why?

 

Patricia A. McKillip is my favorite author. She is an amazing fantasy writer and is a master at wordsmithing. I try to write as well and as beautifully as she does but I’m sure I fail miserably. When you read her fairy tales, you feel shifted into a different dimension of time and space. I like a lot of writers, but not any as much as her.

 

What has been your greatest moment as a writer?

I actually had a most exciting experience that few ever had—my book was a finalist in a big contest—the Zondervan First Novel contest at Mount Hermon in 2009. I knew I was one of three finalists, but only learned I had won when my name and book were announced in front of an audience of 400. It was very thrilling. Although Someone to Blame won, it was not the first novel I’d written. In fact, it was my sixth. Shortly after that, I contracted with AMG Publishers for my fantasy series, the first three books I’d already completed. I’m hoping there will be many more to come!

 

What genres do you read and why?

I’m very picky. I’d make a terrible book reviewer as I tear things apart. Being a professional copy editor and writing coach makes it hard for me not to want to redline all the books I read. And I find mistakes in almost all books, even highly acclaimed releases. I mostly read NY Times best sellers, to study what makes them popular (since that’s what I’m aiming for with all my commercial mysteries). I also read a lot of literary fiction, international authors, classics. I don’t read Romance in any form—not my thing. Otherwise I like anything from historical (not romance) to sci-fi to westerns. I’m a big fan of Walter Moers (who draws really hilarious pictures in his books), and I’d say my favorite books I read in the last year are The Art of Racing in the Rain (Stein), The City of Dreaming Books (Moers), The Thirteenth Tale (Setterfield), This Body of Death (Elizabeth George) and The Shadow of the Wind (Zafon).

 

 

What genre do you like to write in and why?

 

I mostly write fantasy/sci-fi and intense psychological suspense. I suppose both genres bleed a bit into each other, since my fantasy plots always contain mysteries and intense relationships, and my contemporary suspense novels often use evocative language and metaphor. I think my leaning toward literary fiction and poetry seeps into everything I write.

 

What has been your greatest challenge as an independent author?

I think handling over twenty years of rejections and frustration over not getting published. Not really a writing problem. I had agents that loved my writing; they just couldn’t sell my novels. As far as the craft of writing goes, I always have minor roadblocks in trying to hone the craft and push myself to be a better writer. Mostly what has helped me is prayer and waiting on God. For example, I’m working on plotting book #11, intended for Harm, a modern-day story of Jacob in a dysfunctional family. Yet, as much as I want to start digging in and writing the book, there are some key elements missing to the themes and I know God is working with me on this. I’m waiting for him to help me finalize the last bits and get that aha moment of the pieces all fitting together. Like all my books, I know there is a reason I’m meant to write it and a message it means to impart. I could just start writing, but I send his hand holding me back. Wait, he says. Not ready yet. I am thinking there is something I’m going to see, some revelation, that is going to smack me in the face and then I’ll have my green light. Writing as a believer is way different than writing when in the world. It’s all about God and what he wants out there. We want to produce much fruit, but Jesus also says without me you can do nothing. Zilch.

 

How do you come up with your titles? Do you have your title first or the story first?

Most of the time I already have a title in mind, since I start with a basic plot idea and theme. Often I just have the title, and that inspires the entire book, as was the case with Conundrum, Someone to Blame, and Intended for Harm (which comes from the Bible: Genesis 50:20).

About the Author:

C. S. Lakin writes novels in numerous genres, focusing mostly on contemporary psychological mysteries and allegorical fantasy. Her novel, Someone to Blame (contemporary fiction), won the 2009 Zondervan First Novel competition 2009, with a publication date of October 2010 and soon to be followed by a prestigious Christy Award nomination.

Lakin’s three fantasy novels in the Gates of Heaven series have been contracted with AMG-Living Ink Publishers. The first book in the series, The Wolf of Tebron, released July 2010. The Map across Time (March 2011) and The Land of Darkness (September 2011) are the next installments to follow in this stand-alone series of fairy tales for adults.

Her contemporary mystery, Innocent Little Crimes, made the top one hundred finalists in the 2009 Amazon Breakout Novel Award contest, earning her a Publisher’s Weekly review that noted her book was “a page-turning thrill-ride that will have readers holding their breaths the whole way through.”

Lakin currently works as a freelance copyeditor and writing mentor, specializing in helping authors prepare their books for publication. She is a member of The Christian PEN (Proofreaders and Editors Network), CEN (Christian Editor Network), San Francisco Editors Guild, CAN (Christian Authors Network—regular blogger), ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers), and two regional writers’ groups. She edits for individuals, small publishing companies, and literary agents, guest blogs of the craft of writing, and is an occasional contest judge.

She recently completed her ninth book: Conundrum (her fourth psychological mystery) and her tenth: The Unraveling of Wentwater, book four in the fantasy series. She has also written the first book in a Young Adult sci-fi adventure series: Time Sniffers. She is currently writing Intended for Harm, a contemporary take-off on the biblical story of Jacob and Joseph.

To learn more about C.S Lakin, visit her website at http://www.cslakin.com
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Hint: recently finished The House of Hades by Rick Riordan... hm... stay tuned for another epic book review!

- Ashlyn, Aspiring Author of Today

 

Guest Post: The New Beginning by Amanda Perry

Hey everyone!

Some of you may have noticed my previous post, that I will be taking a break from blogging until January 2014. However, I will occasionally be posting a few posts if I happen to be not so busy. Anyways, enjoy this guest post written by  Amanda Perry!

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The New Beginning

He sat there in the dark room drawing another vertical line adjacent to yesterday’s. Yesterday’s line was next to the one from the day before, and so on for the past four hundred and ten days. He tossed the piece of lead across the room; it made a ping against the steel walls. It had been four hundred ande leven days since the regime announced the imminent destruction of planet Earth.

It was the year 2043 when they made a worldwide proclamation about the meteor and how there was no feasible way it would missthe planet, our planet. That had been a crazy day; there had been few crazy days for Jakeand Alyssa since then. Everyone on Earth was distributed a pill, a tiny, harmless-looking, yellow pill. Swallowing it was the easiest way to end life. 

“You just fall asleep and don’t wake up,” the pharmacists would say as they passed them out. It was supposed to be a better way to go than suffering all of the things that were set to transpire post meteor. The news predicted everything from  radiation poisoning and tidal waves to catastrophic weather andworse. Sitting down at the table Alyssa placedone bowl of cold beans in front of herself andanother one in front of Jake. It was scarcely enough for two. They were starving. 

She had adjusted well enough to living underground with limited resources in the old bomb shelter. Her twelfth birthday had been weeks ago if Jake had been counting correctly. He let her have the last Twinkie. They had no real cake. She thought about how wonderful it was that there was a sweet that never expired. It wasn't the best of times in that stagnant shelter, but they got by, until now that is. They were out of food now and they were dangerously low on their water supply. Jake still kept the two yellow pills on a shelf near the ceiling of their makeshift home, just in case.They’d be lucky to have enough water to swallow them down with as it was.

He had to make a choice, the hardest decision he had made since dragging his baby sister below ground. If he said to take the pill, she would listen. They would go to sleep and their struggle would finally come to a halt. If he chose to go up… well there was no way to know what would happen.

“We’re about out of supplies. I have to go up. The Earth has to be there; we’re still living and breathing underground.”

“Maybe the destruction wasn’t that bad.” He told Alyssa as he watched her eyes begin toslowly fill with tears. Of course she was scared. What little girl wouldn’t be? Jake wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They walked up the steps together and Jake unlatched and shoved the metal door. With a groan and a crack it gave way, swinging open. Jake looked around. Everything looked well…the same mostly. They were deep in the woods, after all. Who knew what the citieslooked like now? But here it was as if nothing had happened.

“There was no meteor, no earthquakes, no tsunami. The atmosphere is still perfectly intact as far as I can tell." he told his sister, disbelief heavy in his words, but he forced a smile in her direction.

“Nothing happened?" she whispered, covering her mouth, “Where are the people?"

“There are no people Lis, they took the pill."Jake replied “Everyone died for nothing."  Both were silent a moment.

  Alyssa came out letting the screen door slambehind her. She set a bowl of water down onthe porch as four scruffy kittens ran around herfeet eager to drink. Her blond hair was pulledback in a neat braid and her face was clean. She hardly resembled the girl she was just a short time ago living underground. Eight weeks had gone by since they had stepped out oftheir storm shelter and back into the sunlight. Jake still boiled all their water before they drank, but so far neither had not gotten sick from it or any of the fish or vegetables they ate.Jake always tried new foods first. Sometimes he would make Alyssa wait days before she was allowed to have it, but they were no longer starving. They were finally getting a sort of routine life together. 

They were the last two people on Earth, and so far it wasn’t that bad. They had acquired what little items they had by scouringabandoned 

homes they had passed by as they searched the area surrounding their little underground shelter. Jake decided early on that they wouldnot drift too far from it. One could never know when they may need to hide out again. This time if the world were going to end there would be no forewarning. There was no one to report these sorts of things anymore.They moved everything that they did not store in the shelter into this home, their new home: a small white house they stumbled upon while they were outcollecting berries one day. Jake had checked it out. There were no bodies inside like the otherhomes. 

The two walked east toward the bay. It was Monday, that meant fishing day. The bay was quite a distance from their home, so fishing day had become somewhat of an adventure. Alyssa liked to make picnic lunches for her and Jake to share . They had been walking for hours when the sky began to rumble overhead.

Startled, Alyssa shouted “Look!" pointing upward, in time for Jake to catch a glimpse of the large airplane soaring across the sky.

Check out Amanda's blog at http://beingperry.blogspot.com

Bye for now!

- Ashlyn, Aspiring Author of Today