The Write Place Journal

#Hangout with Angela Merlo

Hey Gang! How's the week been so far? Ikr, y'all keep it in there..Tomorrow's Friday!! XD

Today we'll be hosting The_Night_Shift winners of the Opening Scene Contest. Really brilliant writers if you asked me so everyone sit tight, Popcorn's on its way.

The show's about to begin.

Thursday #Hangout with Angela Merlo

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(@light-in-darkness, interesting name)Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm a giant woman with vampire fangs (well my canines are pointy) and a baby face. Most people guess I'm ten years younger than I am, but I'm actually 35. And yeah, I say I'm a giant because I'm pretty much 6 ft tall (5'11" and a quarter without shoes).

I live in Wisconsin with my husband and 5-year-old daughter, and work part-time ease dropping on people's private phone conversations. LOL. Actually, I caption telephone calls for the hearing impaired. Some people go on to ask me if I'm referring to TTY, but TTY is actually an older and slower service. And yeah, our family is non-conventional (or maybe we're ultra-traditional) as I've chosen to work part-time since having my daughter rather than sending her off to daycare.

I joined Wattpad in the fall of 2014 for multiple reasons, but one was that I recognized I needed something to motivate me to finish the novel I'd already spent 2 years writing. It still took me a full year to finish the draft (I posted the last chapter in September of 2015), and I'm currently revising it. Ha! [insert image of snail here] (No, I'm not requesting anyone to actually google a snail image to insert it there)

So recently you won The Night Shift's Opening Scene Contest, what was it like?

Well, I won third place. Let's not forget that @RowenaBlack and @miss-gatsby also won, and I'm really happy for them. There was overall a lot of good competition, plenty of submissions. It was fun.

To be honest, I don't think my emotions know what to do. A lot has been happening. I'm still "recovering" from reaching number #3 in Paranormal on the 6th. Success has always scared me, especially when it's a milestone I haven't reached before. You climb to the top, enjoy the view and accomplishment and then look down and get are like "Oh crap!" It's like climbing down from a high cliff that's shaken you up a bit and somewhere in your journey down, someone tells you "Hey come over here and take a look at this view." A part of me is like "Do I really want to look down the edge of a cliff again?" Another part of me is like "Hey, it's not that high. It's just another contest. Oh now, but this attitude will come across as being full of yourself! Quick! Change your attitude!"

Which of your book won you your spot? Tell us about it?

Devil's Lake is a Paranormal Romance about a young woman struggling with severe anxiety disorders. After attempting to take her own life, she meets a young man with a strange but alluring power. He can compel her anxiety away, if only for so long as she is in his company. The question remains throughout the story over what he is and whether he can be trusted, but the themes go deeper than mere romance. It is set in the real life location of Devil's Lake Wisconsin.

If you were a judge in that competition, in no particular order, what books would you say deserved to be recognized?

I'll be honest, I didn't read a lot of the entries. I'm a super slow reader with a very low attention span. I'm also overly critical. But I do know there were several talented writers who offered submission. @h_coyle and @SallyMason1 come to mind

What inspired you to write the book? What was the hardest part?

Devil's Lake evolved from an idea I came up with when I was 15 while on vacation with my family. As I looked out at the waters of Lake Namakagon, I let my imagination wonder and imagined a young man standing out on a dock some yards away. He turned, smiled at me, and gestured me to follow. And yeah, I went on this hike through the woods while pretending to follow someone who wasn't there.

I started writing a version of the story when I was 17, but shortly after hitting a "writer's block", I had an accident with the notebook I was writing in. In the meantime, I lived my life and lost interest in writing fiction for years. The story, though, would haunt me especially whenever I'd visit a lake.

In 2009, I visited the real Devil's Lake for the first time. What a name! I thought, "I have to set it here." But the idea of writing a story in a real location frightened me, so I STILL didn't write it. The real motivation was realizing Alison would likely suffer from an anxiety disorder after some of the events she'd gone through in childhood. And realizing that was scary because if I gave her an anxiety disorder, I'd be giving her a very personal part of myself. But as I started developing her character arc around that disorder, I realized I HAD to write it. That was toward the end of 2012.

What was the hardest part?

I can't "just write." At least not yet. It's a miracle I finally finished the draft. But seeing the evolution of drafts from talented writers on this site, is a huge lesson for me.

Have you taken part in any other competitions? What do you look out for before signing up for a contest?

To be honest, I usually just hear about contests from other authors I follow. With this one, I was asked to promote the contest to my followers and was told I was welcomed to enter as well, so that's what I did. The amount of time and effort it costs me to compete are the biggest things I consider.

Tell us a bit about your typical writing process. Much of a Pantser or Planner?

I'm a planner. I keep what call a running outline, but it's a pretty disorganized mess. It's not some neat system with Roman numerals, letters, numbers and wonderfully margined spaces. But when I was young, I was a pantser. I think everyone starts that way. Some, like Stephen King, stay pantsers for life.

Before we round up, how about a tip for the waiter? Oops, emerging writers.

There's a lot you learn through trial and error that you can't learn from instruction. Don't beat yourself up for the flaws in your writing. When you first try to show rather than tell, it's almost inevitable that you'll slip into purple prose. Don't restrict your mistakes. You have to make them so you can learn from them. No other author's journey can give you a short cut around it.

Also, Stein on Writing is an excellent book.

What should your readers be expecting from you in the future?

I am currently editing and formatting Devil's Lake for paperback. Once it's out, I'll be purchasing a few copies myself, registering one on bookcrossing.com and setting it free somewhere around Devil's Lake. (I'm praying someone doesn't just dump it in the trash!) It'll have a sticker with a BCID number. Anyone who finds it can search for the book online, and update it's location. I might do this with more than one book and give mail out a couple freebies to people with the understanding that the goal is to make the book travel.

I'm also going to be blogging more, but in terms of another book, I don't anticipate having the time. I'll be homeschooling my daughter next year, and so my focus will be shifting away from writing to her education.

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That's it folks. Got a question for our guest? Drop your comments below, the author would be replying. Be sure to Follow this great author.

Till next Thursday, stay scheming.