Mercedes Fox, an independent author of werewolf novels, specializes in all things scary and gory. She currently resides in Colorado with her husband and puppies. I chatted recently with Mercedes about writing and her life as a published author.
So, what is the best thing about being a writer? It’s a solo job. I don’t have to sit in a cubby being careful about what I saw or how loud I type. And I get to write stories to entertain people.
Do you maintain a journal? I don’t. When I was a teen I did. Is this something writers do? Perhaps I should…
What is your writing schedule? Twitter in the morning, then author interviews on my blog and then on to writing. Sometimes I write around noon, others afternoon, or even till 3am.
Among all the books you have written, which is your favorite? Vengeance of the Werewolf book one. It’s the one I’ve taken the most hits on, but it’s also the one where I held nothing back. I let my graphic, dirty and mean imagination run wild.
What are the best things in your book? Shock factor and I kept the reader guessing up until the end about who was who.What are the obstacles you faced while writing? Self doubt. Being told it was ‘a waste of time. All you do is sit on your butt all day long.’ Yeah those types of things from someone really close are hard to get around.How do you take negative critique? In the beginning it hurt and I was really sensitive to negative comments. Took everything personally. Now it doesn’t bother me. My philosophy is, if you don’t like it 20 pages in nobody is forcing you to finish reading the whole book. Chuck it and move on.If you were a reviewer reviewing your own book, what are some of the negative qualities you would point out? For Vengeance of the Werewolf it would be the editing. Not the story but editing is horrid. This is what I’ve been told. I didn’t have an editor when I pushed it out and it shows. But my wonderful editor is working on it as we speak. When she’s done making me not look so stupid VOW will be a shined up diamond.If you were given a chance to rewrite your books, how would you change them? The only thing I would have changed was getting a professional editor on VOW. But I’m fixing that now, so nothing in the writing. The only other thing I would change is, I got sucked into one of the vanity publishers, AuthorHouse. And after paying them a couple thousand I finally realized I was getting screwed. A fellow author, G.E. Swanson pointed me towards Createspace and he helped me through it all, from submitting my manuscript to creating the cover.Would you like your books to one day turn into a movie/show? You bet.
Waking Writer 