Megan Powell lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband Larry, two cats and 4.5 computers. She has sold short fiction to various magazines and anthologies, including Underworlds, Aoife's Kiss, Kinships, Rogue Worlds, Ideomancer and The Night the Lights Went Out in Arkham. She is the editor of the speculative fiction webzine Fables (www.fables.org), and her fantasy novel Vocation is currently available from Double Dragon eBooks. Questions and Answers What are you currently working on? I've got a few short stories that I need to write. If I go for too long without finishing something, I start to go nuts. Novel-wise, I'm doing a final (hah!) edit on an urban fantasy/paranormal romance, Waxing, and finishing the first draft of a sequel. I've written a sizable chunk of another fantasy novel, Ambassador to Fire, and a couple other projects are sitting on the back burner. If you could give one piece of advice to a would-be author, what would it be? Writing is a craft that can be improved with practice. Don't worry if you're embarrassed by what you wrote three years ago--worry if you're not embarrassed by it. When did you first decide that you wanted to be an author? I can't remember not thinking about it. I read a lot as a child, and made up stories in my head. In second grade I started narrating my life as I went along, imagining I was Laura Ingalls Wilder. So I never really thought "I am going to be a full-time professional author" (which is probably a good thing), but I always intended to write. When did you first feel that you were an author? I first felt like an author when I started seriously submitting stories to people I didn't know, with a reasonable expectation of getting published (a.k.a. 1999). I'd previously shown work to friends, been published in the high school literary magazine, made some extreme long-shot submissions and published stories in Fables. But once I started writing stories with the intent to finish them and submit them elsewhere, then I felt like I'd made the jump from writer (one who writes) to author (one whose writing is published). Are you for or against e-books? I like e-books. They're a logical solution to some of the problems with publishing (cost of materials, shipping, warehousing) and they facilitate the release of traditionally unmarketable books (cross-genre, awkward length, new or niche authors). I'm not a convert to e-book readers--I prefer big monitors--but digital presentation doesn't detract from the experience of the story. I tend to read e-books or webzines over lunch, and print books or magazines in bed. Are you a music fan? If so, what? I don't listen to music as deliberately/critically/widely as I read. So I do a lot of singing along to whatever's on the radio when I'm in the car (I'm a station-flipper in need of a new tape deck) or wearing holes in currently-favored CDs. Brompton's Cocktail, Tori Amos, Crash Test Dummies, Indigo Girls, Sarah McLaughlan, Counting Crows, Queen and Alanis Morisette have all had their CDs so treated. I still do a little Scottish Country Dancing, and celtic-themed music (live or recorded) appeals to me: Broadside Electric, Loreena McKennit, Boys of the Lough, Alastair Fraser, Skyedance, Elke Baker and Overland East. What influences the names of people and places in your work? If I'm writing something with a real-world, contemporary setting, I often try to pick innocuous names devoid of symbolic meaning. Spec fic readers are suspending enough disbelief; I don't want anyone jarred out of a story because of a pointlessly outlandish character name. Period names are fairly easy to find online. I'll use those if I'm doing a real-world period piece, and often default to them (or some variant) even if it's not a real-world setting. Eponym (www.eponym.org) lists a lot of useful naming sites, though some cultures/periods are covered better than others. I personally miss John Kasab's Ars Magica names page, but there are still a lot of good ones out there. SCAdians can be good sources of information, and more anal when it comes to origin/period than your average baby name book or site. Short story, single novel or novel series - which do you think is the best medium for Fantasy? It depends on what the author wants to do (and what the reader is in the mood for at any given moment). Anyone who claims that fat fantasy series are automatically crap needs to read George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire; anyone who claims that fantasies require multiple volumes needs to read Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. Do you use myths and ancient religions for inspiration? Definitely. Sometimes it's deliberate, with the source still fairly recognizable. What book are you reading at the moment? I'm reading Giant Bones by Peter S. Beagle; as expected, it's delightful. I'm also reading Braudel. From time to time I like to read nonfiction. Do You Always know a Story's Ending When You Begin Writing? Not always. I've usually got some idea for short stories, simply because they're short enough that if you don't know what's going to happen you don't know much. There are exceptions, of course, and if I've got a strong enough concept I'll start writing even if I haven't sketched out the development. Sometimes stories mutate while I'm writing. I've found that these mutations usually improve the story; my subconscious is often a couple steps ahead of me. In the case of Vocation and Ambassador to Fire, I initially thought I had shorter works. Substantial portions emerged as I was writing. In order to get from point A to point B, I had to pass through point C; and having arrived at point B, it made sense to continue on to point D.... I actually did a chapter-by-chapter outline of Waxing. That made it easier to gauge my progress and balance my narration (it was the longest work I'd done using alternating points of view). I find the organic method of writing a lot of fun, and somewhat comforting. But for works of more substantial length, I am becoming an outline convert. Especially since outlines can always be changed. What's the most memorable thing said in a review of your work? One reader e-mailed and said a story stuck to his mind "like a peanut butter sandwich without a glass of milk," which is a great turn of phrase. I was referred to as "the always-entertaining Megan Powell" in a Baryon review, and I like the implication that I'm attaining fixture status. Plug away - what do you have coming out? Vocation is available now from Double Dragon eBooks (www.double-dragon-ebooks.com), and I have stories in the current issues of Dark Dungeon and Moonlicht Nicht. Other stories are slated for upcoming issues of Aoife's Kiss, Ideomancer and Underworlds. I keep my homepage (www.meganpowell.net) updated with news of sales and publications, and I've also got links to previously published work. Updating my site is the happy dance I do when I get an acceptance. Many Thanks, Megan! Relevant Links Megan Powell Main Bibliography Megan Powell's Web Site