Questions and Answers Charlee is the author of over thirty books, the first nine of which are the WindLegend Saga which began with THE WINDKEEPER. Married 35 years to her high school sweetheart, Tom, she is the mother of two grown sons, Pete and Mike, and the proud grandmother of Preston Alexander and Victoria Ashley. She is the willing houseslave to six demanding felines who are holding her hostage in her home and only allowing her to leave in order to purchase food for them. A native of Sarasota, Florida, she grew up in Colquitt and Albany, Georgia and now lives in the Midwest. She is a proud member of the Authors' Guild, National Writers' Union, the Writer's Club Romance Group, Romance Writers of America, Romance Foretold, The HTML Writer's Guide, EPIC (the Electronically Published Internet Connection), Women for Literature, Ardeon, E-Authors, the Phenomenal Women of the Web, and the first author to be published by Twilight Times Books, now Dark Star Publications. What are you currently working on? I am half-way through a novel called BLACKWIND. It is a paranormal romance novel that utilizes two of my creature creations: a Reaper and a Nightwind. These two supernatural entities (shapeshifting vampires) are vying for the hand of a mortal woman. I am thoroughly enjoying writing this book and when I'm finished, I will be starting on another novel: a vampire western with time travel elements. I've made copious notes on this book which is tentively called Windraven Pass. Generally, I write two novels at once, but lately I've been so busy at my unreal job that I don't have time to juggle two seperate genres. Who or what has been a major influence on your writing and why? I think my love of drama has been the most telling influence on my writing. As a child, I never missed a Saturday matinee at our local theater. I would sit there soaking up all the trials and tribulations of my favorite cowboy stars like Lash LaRue, Audie Murphy, Roy Rogers and Bob Steele. I began to realize early on that it was when these actors were undergoing stressful moments on screen that I sat up a bit straighter in the seat and took more notice. As I grew older, I realized that it was the angst (I was a precocious child and the dictionary was one of my favorite companions.) that touched a chord within me. I was fascinated by the way the actors coped with adversity and would sit and study their reactions and think of ways I thought would improve the story. Sometimes I'd go home and re-write certain scenes that touched me, expanding on the darkness I felt coming from the situations. From there, it wasn't much of a leap to begin writing my own scenes. What are your favourite and least favourite words? My least favorite phrase is politically correct. Under the guise of not hurting anyone's feelings, not causing anyone any unhappiness, we've become a soceity of wussies. Our children are not tough enough to win any wars we may have in the future because the Political Correctness Police have been out there giving them time outs and sending them to shrinks when they manifest the first anti-social behavior. I doubt our enemies will allow time outs when Johnny stumps his toe on a land mine and goes boom. I don't think the other side will refrain from calling you by the N word or insulting your heritage simply because the Politically Correct Police had decreed it imperative to one's mental health and self-esteem. And I am pretty darn sure our foes aren't going to stop the war while we debate whether or not females should be in a combat unit. While our Political Correctness Police are out there making democracy safe from having its feelings hurt, we'll be sky-high and crisping nicely after the bomb is dropped....albeit on the proper day, at the proper time and while wearing the proper GAP clothing. My favorite word is thank you. It carries with it a wealth of respect, love and the realization that we are not alone in this rapidly-dissolving world. Thank you are two words every parent should teach their child, but unfortunatelly that might stymie their growth and make them subservient individuals. What a shame smple politeness is going the way of the dodo bird. Who (Fact or Fiction) would you most like to meet, and what would you ask them? I would love to meet the characters I've created, especially Kamerone Cree. I've written a few humor columns at Writer's Exchange where I've interacted with my heroes and heroines. My readers seemed to really like that and I found I could live vicariously through my own creations. What a trip it would be to talk to your 'other self', an entity you have crafted with care. As for a real, live human: I'd love to have a three-way conversation with John Sandford and Dean Koontz. These men are so exact in the fiction they create and I would love to pick their brains, delving into the whys and wherefores of the characters they have created. Is there a book or story you wish you had written? GREEN DARKNESS by Anya Seton comes readily to mind as does Rosemary Rogers' SWEET SAVAGE LOVE. I would have changed a few things and made SSL less about the heroine and more about the hero. I'm not particularly fond of the heroine characters in my books. I don't identify with them as some writers do. My books are written from the hero's point of view and his angst, his pain, his thoughts are more important to me than the female's. I like the interaction between male friends and you will always find male characters in my books far more interesting than the females. You will find a lot of humor and oneupsmanship between my male leads, of which I usually have two: the alpha and the beta. :) A reviewer once said that it seemed as though my females were secondary to the plot. I thought about that and realized that she was right. Apparently my readers like that as much as I do because I've had several tell me I write the kind of books they'd been searching for for years. That is a compliment I took to heart. If you could have one wish granted what would it be? This has absolutely nothing to do with my professional life, but my fondest wish in life is to live in a house that no one else has ever lived in before me. As the wife of a career military man, I've lived in base housing, apartments and rental houses most of my married life. We've owned a few houses but had to leave them after a year or two. The longest we've ever lived in any house is here in Iowa now that he's retired, but we are the fifth family to inhabit this old house. I would love to be able to build a Victorian farm house with a wrap-around porch on about 20 acres of land and have a nice garden and lush landscaped paths to walk down. I would like a large office with a bank of sunny windows overlooking the rolling hills. I've often layed awake at night imagining just how I would like that house to look. I know where I'd put every piece of furniture, every painting, every plant. It ain't ever gonna happen for me, but it's nice to dream and to have something you can sigh over. It's a sweet mirage waiting just this side of my dreams. Is writing your full time occupation, if not what is? I have what I call my unreal job as a full-time, 40+ hour a week office manager of our church. I love the job and have been able to make a difference in how the office is run. Before I went to work there, the place was not efficient nor was it praticularly productive. Now, should something happen to me, the next woman could walk right in and take over without too many problems. That was certainly not the case when I took over. I was making calls to the old secretary two and three times a week. I couldn't find anything and nothing was filed correctly...when I FOUND files. It was a challenge and a chore to organize the place, but now that it is an up-to-date, efficient workspace, things get done quicker and without much hassle. I found I was fairly good at organization and enjoyed it. Since I am Father's administrative assistant and responsible for the Sunday bulletin as well as the church's webpage (which I designed and created), I have my hands full at times. But there are still days when I can sit and read a page or two of the novels I keep on hand. I don't like to sit twiddling my thumbs although when it snows, it's nice to watch the flakes (both icy and from the local college) passing by my window. Who is you favourite author? John Sandford, hands down! The man is a marvel. His writing makes my own creative juices flow. I like the way he strings his thoughts together and his characters are superbly crafted. I could read his work day after day and not get bored. I've read all his fiction novels and eagerly await each new one. He is one of the few writers whose work I will buy in hardbound. David Wiltse has a similar writing style and he is another one whose books I look forward to. I have also read all his novels. If you could give one piece of advice to a would-be author, what would it be? Don't let your family or friends or co-workers discourage from writing. One of the hardest things there is about this profession is the criticism you get from fellow writers and reviewers. You don't need that kind of aggravation from people who are supposed to have your best interests at heart. I know they might tell you they DO have your best interest in mind when they try to downplay your hopes and dreams of becoming a published writer. Some of that is genuine concern for you in that they don't want you to get hurt, to have your hopes and dreams crushed. But a lot of it has to do with the envy of those people. You can do what they can't. They don't understand what drives you to write. They don't have imaginations that will allow them to craft thoughts into scenes and dialogue and plots. What they do have is an image of you as child, spouse, parent, friend, co-worker and that image does not fit into the one you have of yourself. Listen to what they have to say then let it slide from one ear and out the other. Don't take to heart the criticisms or the envy or the 'words of advice'. Do your thing and if the Muses of Literature have graced you with true talent, that talent will shine through for others to see. Just keep in mind the saying: Imagination is just intelligence having fun. Perhaps you are just a tad more sophisticated and smarter than your family, friends, and co-workers. Bide your time and have fun. When did you first decide that you wanted to be an author? When I began re-writing scenes in my mind when I read a book. I would sit there and think of ways I thought the story could have been improved, someimtes with just the re-wording of a sentence. Soon I was sitting down with paper and pen and scribbling alternate endings to books I'd read. After a few months of that, I began to realize I wasn't a half-bad writer and I could improve on the stories that had intrigued me. That's not to say that I could make them better than the original author did, but that...in my own mind...I could fit them better to my reading pleasure. Within the year, I was writing something totally different, unlike anything else I'd ever read and I began to think that I might have it in me to actually write a real novel. I sat down at the typewriter and the first line of The Keeper of the Wind came thundering out. From there, no one could have stopped me from carrying it one step further and finishing the novel. Pretty soon, the manuscript was over three feet tall and I realized I might better whittle it down to a few books rather than one giant tome that was the size of War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, Gone with the Wind, and nine more hefty volumes. When I realized I could break the manuscript into six volumes I thought about giving them a cliffhanger ending to lead into the next and voila! the rest is the proverbial history. When did you first feel that you were an author? The first time I held one of my paperbacks in my trembling hand and stroked the cover with my name on it. I held that book for a long, long time. It was a divining moment for me. I realized that all the years of struggling to have free time to write and all the months of searching for publishers and crying over form rejection letters had culminated in a rare and precious flicker in time that had seen my dreams to fruition. I slept with that book under my pillow that evening and dreamed of the ones that would follow. Are you for or against e-books? Totally, completely, thoroughly, unshakeably, staunchly behind e-books 100%. Without e-books, I wouldn't be answering these questions. I have managed to have twelve of my novels released in e-book and all twelve of them are being brought out in print, as well, because the e-books were selling so well. Will they replace print books? I sincerely doubt it. Will they gain in popularity? Certainly. But until a reasonably-priced and well-built e-reader is produced they will not be the household appliance that a vcr or dvd player is. Will they stay around? You betcha sweet bippy they will. There will be no putting the genie back in the bottle. I think the print publisher realize that and that is one of the reasons they are screwing around with their authors' contracts, striving to snatch up the electronic rights while they still can. I will forever be grateful that my books came out first as e-books and that some print publisher didn't rope me into signing away all my rights to them. As it stands now, I have the option to sell each and every one of my rights over and above the electronic ones to whatever publisher comes to call. That means my foreign, movie, hardbound, condensed book, whatever is available. I don't have to sit here and wonder if my publisher is going to attempt to sell those rights out from under me. I can negotiate them myself and have. I like being in charge of my career without an agent or a strong-armed publisher breathing down my neck. That is the MAIN reason authors turn to e-publishing and why so many of us are becoming successes in the field. Are you a music fan? If so, what? I love Celtic and New Age music because those two forms touch some wild core deep within me. I love the soaring skirl of pipes and tin whistles and the seductive beat of a drum. I thrill to the melodies that ripple through my soul and leave behind a calmness and tranquility no other music ever has. Jim Brickman and Loreena McKennitt are my favorite artists and I have all their compositions. When I do love scenes, I put on one of their CDs and the scene writes itself. I've been blessed with a very vivid imagination and music bring pictures to me. I can 'see' an entire novel while I am listening. SF, Skiffy or Sci-Fi? What is the correct shortening of Science Fiction and does it matter? When I write about it, I use sci-fi. BLOODWIND is a sci-fi/futuristic. I don't think it matters. SF is just as acceptable as sci-fi, but I've never heard it called skiffy. Do you have a favourite place to write? I have an 8 x 10 bedroom that I turned into an office. I painted it myself. There are two windows that overlook the den that was built on before we bought the place. My husband hung a quilt on the den side to cover the windows so I am effectively 'boxed' in and it also helps to soundproof the room. I don't have a television or telephone so I get very little distraction. I usually write every evening and all day on Saturday and Sunday. My family knows when the door's closed, Mom is at her real job and not to be distrubed. The room is comfortable and I've often likened it to a Creative Womb from which my thoughts are born. Do you enjoy book signings/conventions? Yes and no. I love meeting my readers and talking to them but I am very uncomfortable sitting at a signing. I've always felt like something up for grabs at a yard sale during such things. People behave very similarly at book signings as they do at garage sales: they walk by, pick something up, look at it, then put it down and walk on. There are some people who go to garage sales and will insult the seller, telling him/her the price is too high or the item isn't worth the asking price. These same people will stop by a booksigning table and bascially do the same thing to an author by rejecting the author's work, sometimes in very loud voices. I suppose that sort of behavior makes them feel good about themselves at the author's expense. It's a sad thing, but it happens all too often and some author's have been scarred by it. I've done over 40 booksignings and I have dreaded each one. As for conventions: I've been to so many of them with my husband when he held state offices in the Jaycees and Optimists. I've been to Knights of Columbus state and national conventions with him. I've attended conventions put on by his employers on a state and national level and I have been bored out of my mind at every one of them. He talks 'shop' and I'm let to stand there and smile graciously, pretending interest when I would rather be curled up in bed reading or lying beside the pool and watching the buff young men prissing by. He's been with me to two writing conventions and he's never left out as I am at his. Writers are a different breed and they make everyone feel welcome. They go out of their way to include him in the conversation. Everyone reads--whether book, newspaper or cereal box--so there is always something in common with someone at a writing convention. You don't see wallflower sitting around at writer's conventions wishing they were in bed reading or lying at the pool watching hunky men...well, maybe that isn't true of all of us! Why do you like SF/F/H? I like the darkness of the writing. I like being able to create my own worlds and inhabit them with creatures I have dreamed into life. I like being able to rearrange history or events that might change the way we live. The mystery, the unease, the terror that comes with a good tale told with expertise is thrilling to me. I like the unknown and not knowing what may be lurking behind the next corner. That isn't to say I'd want that in real life, but in my writing world the unexpected is to be cherished. I enjoy reading about new worlds and contemplating the unusual. I was one of those children who didn't fit into the pristine molds soceity tried to stuff us into in the 50s and 60s. I marched to an offbeat drummer who only I could hear and I continue to do that. I don't want to be like Pink Floyd's faceless children marching to The Wall. I want my readers to grabble with the strange new concepts and worlds I've crafted and come away with the same sense of wonder that I had when I was creating them. What book are you reading at the moment? I am struggling through Jude Devereaux's HIGH TIDE. It is a real chore. The book isn't that good, but I've never started a book I didn't finish out of respect for the author. The book before this one was Devereaux's THE BLESSING and it was very good. Just goes to show that you can't be at the top of your game every time. Do you enjoy collaborating? I've only done one book with other authors (other than having short stories in some charity anthologies) and there was no real collagoration between us. We each (Patricia A. Rasey and Kate Hill and myself) wrote our own stories and they were put into the TWILIGHT OBSESSIONS anthology from Dark Star Publications. Pat Rasey, Trace Edward Zaber and I have talked about doing a book together, but we've each been too busy to ever really get down to brass tacks about it. It would be fun. Pat would write the female part; I'd write the male; and Trace would do his dastardly best as our reprobate villan. How does your approach to the editing role differ from that of writing? After I've written my novel, I will go through it at least three times before I turn it in to my publisher. I look for inconsistencies, time jumbles, character constancy, dialogue appropriateness and plot deficiencies. After that, there will be one final read-through while the book is at the editor's. When she sends me the galleys, I'll compare what she suggests with what I know is the integrity of the storyline and we take it from there. I value her judgment and she's usually right when she suggests adding to or detracting from a certain scene. She's often asked me to think about adding additional scenes to better explain a POV or plotline and she's always been right about that. Editing is something I don't like doing but it is a necessity. That is especially so if you are an e-book author because the stigma that has become attached to some of the less-professional e-publishers who have turned out poorly edited books has smeared all of us with its ugly brush. E-authors have to be precise in the product they turn out because there will always be the naysayers who are sitting on ready waiting to pounce on this fledgling industry and insult it. For them to be able to point to e-books as poorly-edited, unprofessional works of undisciplied hobby writers is one of the reasons some major websites will not review these books. I can think of one romance-oriented site that feels that way and one biased listserv that takes great delight in pointing out the inadequacies of ALL e-books based on the reading of one or two. Editing is vital and professional editing is an absolute must! So spending time going over your book several times, trimming it down to the best it can be, and shaping it into a professional work of art will help to allay the fears of those who think e-books are unworthy. Do You Always know a Story's Ending When You Begin Writing? Never. I think my muse takes over and carries me through the tale. My novels are known for the whiplash twists and turns that have become my trademark. I really don't want to plan the novel out chapter by chapter. It looses so much if you are that restricted. I don't want to know how it will turn out or what the characters are going to do from page one to page 300. I think it's the same thing as knowing the sex of your baby beforehand: it takes all the mystery, the surprise, and fascination out of the birth process. Are you a member of any writing groups? I belong to EPIC, the Writer's Union, Author's Guild, E-Authors, EPPRO, E-Guild, and several other writing organizations. I also am a member of a Writer's Round Robin with 6 very talented authors who support one another's efforts. We don't do critique. Each of us has a bad taste for that word. What we do is suggest. There's a big difference. My one experience with a critique group showed me if I listened to others take apart what I'd written, I ignored the 'voice' of my muse. He didn't like that and I learned that he knew more than the critique group did about what readers wanted to read so I stopped allowing my work to be critiques. What's the most memorable thing said in a review of your work? "No one does tortured heroes better than Charlotte Boyett-Compo." That was a compliment that had me swinging from the rafters. I've received well over 100 reviews of my ten published novels but that one phrase will stay with me forever. I am thinking of adding it to my stationary!! :) Have you won any awards for your writing? I don't enter competitions as a rule. Although I belong to an organization that has an annual award, I have never entered the contest. A couple of my novels have been nominated by readers for awards. WINDFALL and TWILIGHT OBSESSIONS were up for a P.E.A.R.L. (Parnormal Excellence Award for Romantic Literature) award in their categories. NIGHTWIND was nominated for the Dream Realm award and finaled in the horror competition. It didn't win but I got a really nice certificate. IN THE HEART OF THE WIND was up for the Dorothy Parker Award of Excellence through the Reviewers International Orgainization. It, too, finaled by didn't win. BLOODWIND was chosen one of the Best Books of 1999 at eBook Connections and IN THE WIND'S EYE was chosen as one of the Best Books of 1999 at both eBook Connections and Inscriptions. IN THE HEART OF THE WIND was named as the only ebook of 2000 from Inscriptions for eBook Connections best of 2000. WINDWEEPER was chosen as a Gatemaster's Choice from Sime~Gen. I am naturally very proud of each of these books and thrilled when readers and reviewers nominate me. To me, that is more important than entering a contest myself. Anyone can put their book up for an award, but to have people who have actually read your work think enough of it to do so is very humbling and complementary. What's your main ambition? I would like to see my novels translated to the big screen. I think that is the dream of most authors, especially e-authors. My novels are character driven and I have been told cinemagraphic. I'm not sure I understand exactly what that means, but I believe it means they would translate well to being made into movies. Since my characters are patterned after actors and actresses whose work I admire and have enjoyed over the years, it would be easy--in my mind, anyway--to cast the movie. I'm not talking about megastars like Pitt, Bulloch or Cruise in the major roles, but rather superb character actors whose work is often overlooked. I tend to follow the performance of the actors and actresses who make the vehicle worth watching instead of the ones who have brought the audience there to see the flick. I love to watch Richard Lynch, Eric McCormack, Gabriel Byrne and Patrick Bergan work. Come to think of it, Irishmen make the best angst-driven characters on film! Perhaps that's why I follow their work so closely. Is there something you are particularly proud of? Professionally: I am especially fond of having been awarded the Engraver Award for Favorite E-Author of 2000. This was an award given out by Inscriptions Magazine (one of the toughest, but fairest review sites on the 'Net) and was an award voted on by the members of that e-zine's listserv of over 5000 strong. To have won this award was an absolute thrill. It told me there were readers out there who truly liked my work enough to vote for me. It validated my writing. I am also proud of having been profiled in Writer's Digest's Publishing Success magazine. Those two accomplishments will forever be a source of great pride for me. Personally: My husband, Tom, and my two sons, Pete and Mike are the joy of my life and the greatest source of inspiration. They are my heart. Plug away - what do you have coming out? THE WINDHEALER, the fourth novel in the ten-volume WindLegends Saga series will be out in a few weeks. In November, DARKWIND, the long-awaited first of two sequels to my bestselling BLOODWIND, will be released. After that, I have the next six novels in the WindLegends Saga as well as EVILWIND, the third sequel to BLOODWIND; WINDBORN, the sequel to WINDFALL; and IN THE ARMS OF THE WIND. Also, there are two sequels to NIGHTWIND: DEMONWIND and HELLWIND. And as of today, I have learned I have three novels being released in German translation from Krispan Books: BLOODWIND, NIGHTWIND, and IN THE HEART OF THE WIND. Eight of my novels are also being recorded for audio release through The Fiction Works. I don't know when they are scheduled for release, though. Many Thanks, Charlee Relevant Links Charlotte Boyett-Compo Main Bibliography Charlotte Boyett-Compo's Web Site