Guest Author Trinity Faegen

 A warm welcome to Trinity Faegen!

Are there any other art forms that inspire you when you are writing? Do you listen to music, look at art pieces for ideas or watch dance and gymnastics? 

Hands down, music. Nothing makes me want to write more than music. I listen to it all the time, and most of my plots came to me on solitary road trips, speakers at volume 10.

What is your biggest and hardest to ignore distraction? How do you cope with it?

Had you asked me this question six months ago, I’d have said the Internet. Now, the answer is fine-tuned: reviews on the Internet. I almost couldn’t finish book 2 in this series because of a few extremely bad reviews of book 1. I’m not talking about critical reviews. Sure, I wish everyone would love my book, but that’s not realistic. If someone doesn’t like it and enumerates why in a civilized manner, I’m happy they gave it a go. But it’s very hard to live through the book/author bashing kind that are meant to be hurtful, all in the interest of being witty and clever. Writing book 2 with those people looking over my shoulder was paralyzing. Author friends managed to smack me upside the head enough times that I can now stay away from places where these ‘reviewers’ have their fun at authors’ expense. The muse seems a lot happier.

Is there one piece of advice you wish someone would have given you before you started writing? 

Don’t listen to advice. Learn the craft, educate yourself about the business, but don’t seek advice, because everyone’s journey is different. Make your own way, write the book only you can write, then wish for luck. It plays a much bigger role in publishing than anyone cares to admit. Right place, right time is true – just make sure you have a good book when that opportunity presents itself.

Do you write in or out of sequence? What part of your novel comes first? What comes last?

To me, writing a book is very similar to watching a movie. I start at the beginning and end at the end. Writing out of sequence would make me nuts.

How do you choose your main character? What about perspective? Do you tend to write in third or choose the character telling the story based off of part of your plot?

My adult fiction is in first person, which made it a no-brainer who would be the main character. The Mephisto books are in third, alternating between the hero and heroine. They both have story arcs and growth, so I’m not sure we could call either of them the main character. I’m working on a YA project right now that’s first person. It all depends on the story, I suppose.

When you are reading, what make a character compelling to you? Is it the same aspects that make a character you are writing compelling?

A character has to feel real, and they have to have what romance writers label GMC: Goal, Motivation, Conflict. Debra Dixon teaches GMC , and wrote a book about it. The character has to strive for something, needs a reason to pursue the goal, and the plot to the story, and their growth, are the roadblocks keeping them from what they need. Of course, a lot of times, the character realizes in the end that what began as their goal is no longer terribly important. Or perhaps it is. It’s the journey of that character that makes them compelling. If they feel real, if the author has done her job and made me care about them, I am flipping pages as fast as possible to see if she reaches her goal. I keep this in mind in anything I write. Without GMC, there’s no reason for a reader to keep reading.

Thank you to everyone reading and to Trinity for the interview!

(For what is it worth, I LOVED The Mephisto Covenant and can hardly wait for the sequel!)