Writer Wednesday - Emma Michaels

This week we're visited by Emma Michaels, author of The Thirteenth Chime and Anasazi and founder of The Writers Voice.

Thank you Kristie for letting me take over for a post! *maniacal laughter* JUST KIDDING! Okay, maybe only kind of kidding.

Some of you may know that I am part of a multi-author blog with Kristie over at The Writers Voice: http://OurBooksOurVoice.Blogspot.com  where we post our thoughts, opinions, career updates and all kinds of crazy fun. For one of our tour stops the question asked was “Which came first for you: the characters, setting or plot?” and when I wrote out my answer I realized that I had never really thought about it before.

I get the strangest ideas from the strangest places and eventually they expand into entire novels. A series I am working on currently was inspired by feathers, The Thirteenth Chime was inspired by a grandfather clock on a very stormy night and Anasazi was inspired by a tribal mask. I get an item stuck in my head and then everything grows from there until you would hardly be able to guess the item, with the exception of the grandfather clock.

I know it sounds strange but it is actually kind of wonderful to experience. I look at the world as though every item were a possibility and every once in a while an item gives me a good enough idea for a story that I decide to write it down. Which is why I have SOOO many plots saved on my computer and much fewer finished novels. The day that I had the idea for The Thirteenth Chime is was stormy outside and the power was out so we went to our neighbor’s house. I am from Los Angeles and you aren’t very likely to see a grandfather clock so when the lights were out and the lightning kept making the walls flash from black to white and back every few moments I was already freaked out.

Then is started to chime. Yeah, FREAKED ME OUT! It echoed through the house and just my luck that I had been standing RIGHT by it when it went off. I reached out for my fiancé’s hand but he wasn’t there and that eerie moment was the inspiration behind T.T.C. Reaching out for something you can’t have while something is coming for you. In the case of The Thirteenth Chime they happened to also be walking into a 50 year old trap that had been waiting for someone to fall prey to it and was starting to get impatient. You will have to read the novel to find out the rest!  :-p

Thank you so much for reading and to Kristie for letting me take over for a post! Remembering that night still gives me the creeps! It may have been a small moment but it expanded into so much more!

Wishing you tons of delightful reads! <3

Sincerely,

Emma Michaels

   

More information about Emma can be found on her bio page at The Writers Voice.