Wa-hooo!  It’s the first GCC tour of the new year, and today I get to interview the fabulous Lucienne Diver, whose new book Fangtabulous is now out and ready to be loved at first bite.

To celebrate this occasion, I sat down with Lucienne (meaning she and I each sat down at our respective computers nowhere near one another) and gave her my official CGG interview questions, complete with… oh yes, you know it’s coming… the HAIKU!

If you had no other responsibilities and could take off on a retreat to your dream place to write, where would that be, and what would your dream daily schedule be like? 

LD: Oh, I flippin’ love this question.  So different than the norm!  I’d love to be on the ocean with my own private cabana in which to write (first thing in the morning, before it gets too hot).  Then I’d snorkel, read, nap, write some more, have a cabana boy bring me a tropical drink and watch the sun set.  Ah, heaven!

Is there a character you thought would be in the book, but who landed on the cutting room floor?  Conversely, is there a character you never expected to appear, but turned out to be intrinsic to the story?  If so, tell us about him/her.

LD: I think it would break my heart to have a character end up on the cutting room floor.  That’s never happened to me, but characters taking over…I’m all about that.  Actually, my protagonist for the Vamped series (Gina Covello, fashionista of the fanged) was only supposed to have a short story…a vignette really.  But she just wouldn’t shut up, and eventually I had to give her a whole novel, then a series!  Once the series got underway, the two characters who really surprised me were Alistaire, the creepy “bad” guy from Vamped and Revamped and Ulric, the cocky goth guy who appears in Revamped and makes a triumphant return in Fangtabulous, the latest book.  (Don’t know why I put Alistaire’s “bad” in parentheses.  He’s definitely that, but there’s just something about him…readers and my editor wanted him back for an encore and he insisted.)  Some characters simply refuse their cues to leave the stage.  They’re the most fun.

Writing rituals: do you have any?  If so, what are they?  If you don’t follow them, do you find it harder to write?

I don’t have any particular rituals, except that I have to write everything out by hand.  I’ve been known to use napkins and the back of checkbooks when inspiration struck and I didn’t have a notebook to hand.  The important part is the freehanding.  I can’t work creatively on a computer.

Ever gotten a piece of fan mail, or had an experience with a reader that really stands out in your mind?  Tell us about it!

My very favorite fan mail ever was from a girl who took the time to send me a physical letter, a full page about why Vamped resonated with her (the strong female character who takes rescues into her own hands).  I want to frame it for those days that I doubt myself…every day ending in “y.”

Let’s reach back to school and describe your book in a single… HAIKU!  Three lines, five syllables-seven syllables-five syllables.  Ready?  Go! 

Ack, okay, you know how much I loved that first question?  Well….  Here goes:

Vamp girl is haunted

Ghost of killers past stalking

Stopped with fangs and flare

Thanks, Lucienne!  I totally want to share your ideal writing place, and I’m blown away by the freehand thing, since I can’t read my own writing and am surgically attached to my computer.

So excited for the new book — congratulations on its release!

Want to know a little more about Fantabulous?  Say no more!

Gina Covello and her band of federal fugitives are on the run after taking down a secret (and sinister) government facility. Strapped without cash or credit cards—a fate worse than death for Gina—the rebels must find a place to lay low. They roll into Salem, Massachusetts, the most haunted town in America and the only place they have friends flying under the radar. But within a day, Gina and her gang are embroiled in a murder mystery of the supernatural kind.

Someone—or something—is strangling young women, and it’s rumored to be the ghost of Sheriff Corwin, late of the Salem Witch trials.  Is it the ghostly Sheriff or is someone on this side of the veil using the famous story as a cover up? Gina is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, and she needs to do it before a paranormal reporter on the scene exposes them for what they are…fanged federal fugitives.

The post My FANGTABULOUS Visit With Lucienne Diver! appeared first on Elise Allen.