Ask the Author: Lisa M. Lilly
Answered Questions (11)
Lisa M. Lilly
I recently (as in yesterday!) released the first book in a new mystery series.
The Worried Man was inspired by authors like Sara Paretsky, Jonathan Kellerman, and Elly Griffiths. The main character is Q.C. (Quille) Davis, an attorney and former child stage actress. In The Worried Man, she finds the body of the man she loves dead in his Chicago apartment the night before the two planned to move in together.
I'm about 3/4 through with a first draft on the second book in the series.
Working title is The Charming Man.
It's set during a blizzard. Quille is trapped in River City, an aging serpentine apartment complex along the Chicago River. She went there to help find a missing young immigrant woman, but it turns out there is far more danger than she imagined.
I'm also spending a lot of time relistening to Pride & Prejudice. I recently broke my foot, and listening helps me relax as I learn how to get around with a cast that goes to my knees. (Turns out sleeping with a cast is a challenge, too.) Yikes.
The Worried Man was inspired by authors like Sara Paretsky, Jonathan Kellerman, and Elly Griffiths. The main character is Q.C. (Quille) Davis, an attorney and former child stage actress. In The Worried Man, she finds the body of the man she loves dead in his Chicago apartment the night before the two planned to move in together.
I'm about 3/4 through with a first draft on the second book in the series.
Working title is The Charming Man.
It's set during a blizzard. Quille is trapped in River City, an aging serpentine apartment complex along the Chicago River. She went there to help find a missing young immigrant woman, but it turns out there is far more danger than she imagined.
I'm also spending a lot of time relistening to Pride & Prejudice. I recently broke my foot, and listening helps me relax as I learn how to get around with a cast that goes to my knees. (Turns out sleeping with a cast is a challenge, too.) Yikes.
Lisa M. Lilly
It was great meeting you, too, and thanks for the book title. I haven't read that author and will check out the book. Yes, let's get together. I'll send you a GR message with my email address and some dates.
Lisa M. Lilly
I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed The Awakening! The Illumination, the fourth book, will be the last one in the Awakening series. The ebook editions will be out May 15. It's both sad and exciting to be done with Tara's story and the world of The Awakening. I recently released a standalone supernatural suspense novel When Darkness Falls, and I just started writing a new series set in Chicago. It'll be a mystery/thriller series featuring main character Q.C. Davis, a young woman lawyer and former child actress. Thanks for your question, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the books!
Lisa M. Lilly
Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy because they challenge each other and grow as a result. Also, both speak their minds. Though sometimes it might have been better to think more carefully about their words, neither hesitates to express how she or he feels and thinks. Finally, I like that their changes are gradual and believable. (On the other hand, reading Pride & Prejudice in college might have had a bad effect on me. I was convinced by it that if a relationship wasn't working, if only I said the right thing, that would fix it. Sadly, it usually didn't work.)
Lisa M. Lilly
If you have an idea for a novel and have written some scenes, but aren't sure where to go with it, choose your favorite book in the genre in which you are writing and reread it. Then do a plot outline. It doesn't need to be detailed, but write down how the novel opens, when we first see the main character, and what happens about one-quarter of the way through the book, at the midway point, at the three-quarter mark, and at the climax. This will give you an idea of the story structure. Think about why you were interested in the characters and in the story. Was there a question you wanted answered? If so, look at when the book first raised that question and how. Did you identify with one or more of the characters? Figure out what the character did or said or thought that triggered that reaction. Then look at how what you learned can be applied to the story you want to write. I did this with Stephen King's The Dead Zone, and it helped me plot out my first suspense novel.
Lisa M. Lilly
The Awakening series is a four-book series. The Conflagration, Book 3, was released May 17, 2016, in ebook format, and the trade paperback version will be available by early June. Books 1 and 2, The Awakening and The Unbelievers, are available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook editions. My goal is to release the fourth and final book, The Illumination, within a year.
Lisa M. Lilly
Great to hear The Unbelievers arrived and you're looking forward to it! I'm always happy to be friends with other readers and authors on Goodreads, and I'd be honored to be your friend here. I hope you enjoy the book. I'm working on final edits to The Conflagration, Book 3 of 4 in the series, this morning and just reviewed a draft of the cover, which I'm very excited about.
Lisa M. Lilly
I'm currently working on Book 3 in The Awakening series, which follows a young woman whose virgin pregnancy might bring the world a female messiah or trigger Armageddon. Why this premise? First, completely aside from religion, I’ve always been intrigued by world changing or world ending stories. A great example of this type of story is my favorite movie, The Terminator.
Second, the role of gender in myth and religion fascinates me. I'm particularly intrigued by how three major religions envisioning God as male affects the world. So when I began putting together my plot for The Awakening series, I considered not only what opposition and disbelief a pregnant virgin today would face, but how that might change once she revealed her child would be a girl.
I also wanted to explore many potential causes for such an event. My protagonist, Tara Spencer, is not religious, though her parents are, which adds to her confusion and makes the issue more complex. The event that starts the story--her pregnancy though she's never had sex--could have been caused by some sort of god, an adversary to god (such as Satan), a different supernatural being or force altogether, a scheming scientist, evolution…the possibilities are endless. All these causes remain on the table for most of the series, so the answer to the other question often asked of me, which is whether the series is a Christian one, is no.
I chose to go beyond one thriller and into a four-book series in part due to my original thought that the Biblical character of Mary gets short shrift. In the end, her value is mainly as a Mother with a capital M. Likewise, in stories that flip the narrative and portray a supernatural pregnancy that is a danger to the world, such as Rosemary’s Baby (one of my favorite books), the woman’s role also is primarily as a mother/victim/woman in peril. In contrast, I wanted to explore Tara Spencer, my protagonist, as a person who is a force in the world and has her own goals, powers, and challenges. Her own friends and enemies. In short, her own life. The Awakening series is primarily about Tara as a person, not as a pregnant woman.
Book 3, The Conflagration, will be released in the first half of 2016, though I don't have an exact release date set yet. I'm hoping to get the fourth and final book finished and released within a year after The Conflagration is published.
Second, the role of gender in myth and religion fascinates me. I'm particularly intrigued by how three major religions envisioning God as male affects the world. So when I began putting together my plot for The Awakening series, I considered not only what opposition and disbelief a pregnant virgin today would face, but how that might change once she revealed her child would be a girl.
I also wanted to explore many potential causes for such an event. My protagonist, Tara Spencer, is not religious, though her parents are, which adds to her confusion and makes the issue more complex. The event that starts the story--her pregnancy though she's never had sex--could have been caused by some sort of god, an adversary to god (such as Satan), a different supernatural being or force altogether, a scheming scientist, evolution…the possibilities are endless. All these causes remain on the table for most of the series, so the answer to the other question often asked of me, which is whether the series is a Christian one, is no.
I chose to go beyond one thriller and into a four-book series in part due to my original thought that the Biblical character of Mary gets short shrift. In the end, her value is mainly as a Mother with a capital M. Likewise, in stories that flip the narrative and portray a supernatural pregnancy that is a danger to the world, such as Rosemary’s Baby (one of my favorite books), the woman’s role also is primarily as a mother/victim/woman in peril. In contrast, I wanted to explore Tara Spencer, my protagonist, as a person who is a force in the world and has her own goals, powers, and challenges. Her own friends and enemies. In short, her own life. The Awakening series is primarily about Tara as a person, not as a pregnant woman.
Book 3, The Conflagration, will be released in the first half of 2016, though I don't have an exact release date set yet. I'm hoping to get the fourth and final book finished and released within a year after The Conflagration is published.
Lisa M. Lilly
I love that it engages all parts of my mind and spirit. I love the free flow of imagination and emotion that goes with exploring ideas, creating characters, and writing a first draft. I love the puzzle-like analytical aspect of working through a plot while outlining and revising. And I love parsing through every word and line in later edits in a very detail-oriented way. I also like the business side of writing. When I started my own law firm years ago, I discovered I enjoyed running my own business. Now, with the option to independently publish my work, I can run my own writing business as well.
Lisa M. Lilly
During high school and college, I made spending money by singing and playing guitar. (This relates to writing, it really does.) I quickly learned that if I hadn't practiced every day during the week before I got up on stage, I made mistakes even on songs that I’d known for years. I also felt sick to my stomach. So I learned to practice at least an hour every day whether I felt like it or not.
When I started writing seriously, I took the same approach. I figured out which times during the week I could write and when those times came, whether I felt like it or not, I sat down and wrote. If I didn’t know what to write, I typed, “I don’t know what to write. Maybe I’ll write about…” That’s still how I work today, though it’s rare I don’t know what to write, unless I’m at the early outlining stage for a book. Then I start by asking questions that begin with “What if….” and answer them. For my current book, one such question was “What if there was an auction where people could buy children with supernatural abilities?” (Turns out it’s in Paris and my protagonist will be traveling there.)
When I started writing seriously, I took the same approach. I figured out which times during the week I could write and when those times came, whether I felt like it or not, I sat down and wrote. If I didn’t know what to write, I typed, “I don’t know what to write. Maybe I’ll write about…” That’s still how I work today, though it’s rare I don’t know what to write, unless I’m at the early outlining stage for a book. Then I start by asking questions that begin with “What if….” and answer them. For my current book, one such question was “What if there was an auction where people could buy children with supernatural abilities?” (Turns out it’s in Paris and my protagonist will be traveling there.)
Lisa M. Lilly
Hi, Marta, thanks for saying hello. It's wonderful to hear from you, and I'm sorry to be so long in answering. I need to check my author dashboard more often! I remember talking with you at the station while waiting for the train to Chicago and again on the train. That was a fun trip. The sequel to The Awakening (The Unbelievers) is what I was writing on my laptop at the time and now at last it's done. I hope you enjoy it. If you have not already gotten it, you may want to enter the Goodreads giveaway at https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh... There are five copies available.
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