Interview with Mary DeSantis

Welcome back bloggerverse! I have a special interview today with Mary DeSantis, a friend and fellow writer.

Well let’s start with the basics. First, thanks for taking the time to come speak with us today. 

No problem. Thanks for having me.

1 – Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? 
Sure. I’m twenty-four glorious years old, and I lived the first twenty-three and a half years in a very small city approximately 15 miles north of Boston, MA. I now live in Wilmington, NC, which is hopefully a temporary arrangement. I like autumn a bit too much to live down here permanently. I’m starting my third semester in Seton Hill University’s MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program and got my B.A. in Psychology from Merrimack College. When I’m not writing or thinking about writing because I have writer’s block, I’m reading, hanging out with friends, or singing. It’s a pretty good life.

2- What do you write? 
Fantasy—at least that’s what I’m writing according to Seton Hill. And it’s partially true. I love bringing the impossible to life, but my fantasy sometimes gets mixed up with mystery. Interesting children there.

3 – Tell us about your current WIP. 
I’ve got a few, but I’ll focus on the one I’m hoping to get an agent for after New Years *fingers crossed.* My working title for this project is “By the Fight of the Silvery Moon,” and revolves around MIA (not Missing in Action), the Magical Investigation Agency. It embodies that fantasy/mystery overlap I mentioned above. The main character is Vern Sumac—a dryad transplanted (not literally) to New York City. Ten years ago, she cut the bond with her tree (a Poison Sumac) for health reasons and now works at MIA for her best friend Warren Gazeban (the hottest guy alive). I’m supposed to be working on my elevator pitch, so here goes.

Vern Sumac’s night up-state was supposed to be no-stress. But when she witnesses the murder of the Times reporter she met with that morning (who can apparently turn into a giant wolf), it’s back to the day job and a major downhill stress week. Can she help her boss and the MIA team figure out who did it?

4 – When did you get started writing? 
My typical answer to this is “I got started writing when I was about seven. I got started writing well when I enrolled in Seton Hill’s program a year ago.” The first story I can remember writing was about a little girl who was imprisoned for something involving dragons. I recall very little about the actual writing aside from the following line: “And then she sang a little song about dragons.” I grew up watching Disney. Can you tell? Lol.

5 – What’s your idea of a perfect character? 
Oh, geez. Let’s see. Let’s make this person at least twenty-five—old enough to be more or less done with the whiny teenage phase. Beyond that, his/her personality should be a healthy combination of humorous and serious in whatever forms those appear. Said character’s past should be properly shrouded in mystery and be traumatic enough to make for a deep character but not so traumatic that the past gets in the way of telling the present story. Oh, and he/she should (pretty please) not be a vampire.

6 – Do you have any quick writing tips to share with us? 
The way this question is worded, I could get away with simply saying “No.” Lol.
I won’t do that. Neither will I spew a laundry list of catchy advice, such as “show, don’t tell.” I think the best thing I can say is make sure writing is what you want to do. Contrary to popular belief, it’s a lot of work. When I wrote “The End” on my WIP, it was the most amazing feeling, but I knew there was still a ton of work to be done. So make sure you want to write.

7 – What do you like to read? 
I have a soft spot for urban fantasy. I too have a soft spot for young adult urban and contemporary fantasy. I know a lot of adults who stick their nose up at books filed as “young adult,” but murder mysteries and adult fantasy don’t make for good bedtime reading sometimes. That said, I love adult fantasy too.

8 – What’s your favorite book and why? 
Only one? Crap. Lol.
I’m not sure if it’s my favorite, but I read “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline for my genre readings class last semester. That book impacted me in a big way, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction and doesn’t mind being bombarded by the 80s.

9 – Do you think we’ll ever fully convert you to write romance? 
Lol. Doubt it, and I say that because I’m terrible at writing romance. I will leave that to the professionals. Will say, though, that I had a romance writer tell me that my thesis novel for Seton Hill was adult romantic fantasy. Take that however you will.

10 – What’s your favorite holiday and why? 
That’s a toss-up between Christmas and Halloween. I love Christmas because it has pretty lights and music, and I love Halloween because I love getting dressed up.

Thanks Mary! It was great to have you here today and I’m glad we got to know a little bit more about you and your work. 

~Rach

Romance According to Rachell: Guest Blog with Mary DeSantis

Hello everyone! I’m so happy to announce that we have a special guest here with us today. A good friend and fellow SHUer, Mary DeSantis is a fantasy writer who is here today to talk about writing romance when you’re not a romance writer. You can find Mary on the web at www.outofthelockbox.blogspot.com. And now I’ll let her take it away…

I’m a fantasy writer—urban, young adult, epic—you name it. However, I also grew up watching Disney movies. If there’s one thing that’s unavoidable in most of those movies, it’s the romance. Prince+Princess=happily ever after. Needless to say, that influenced me quite a bit.

Despite all that, though, I don’t write romance. I’m actually terrible at straight-up romance. I have a fundamental problem bringing two characters together as a main storyline in a believable way. This doesn’t change the influence of the Disney romance, though.

One thing I did notice in all of the Disney Princess movies was the magical intervention. As I got older, I wondered if I could keep the romance true but still incorporate the magic. Then, I got older, started reading real fantasy books, and answered my question—yes, people do it all the time. And, I fell in love with “romance-on-the-side.” Think of it as the other woman/genre…never mind.

So, when I’m writing something where there is a hero and heroine whom I want to end up together, they do. It’s not that simple, though. It’s never the main plotline, and, more importantly, there’s always a long and sometimes bloody battle before they get there. Eye on the prize, I tell myself because there are those times where I find myself wanting to stay in those romantic moments and expand on them until they’re my story. All those years of Disney movies, I guess.

I keep on task, though. I’ve worked out three steps to take to make sure I don’t turn my fantasy novel into a romance one—mainly because I have very little confidence in my ability to write romance novels. So, before I list my three steps, I want to tip my hat to all romance writers. There’s a stigma that romance is “so easy—anyone can write that.” No, no, no—I’ve tried. I fail. It’s not easy, and anyone who agrees with the stigma has obviously never tried.

But, back on that track I was so proud of not straying from. Three ways to write romance into fantasy but keep the book fantasy.

-Interrupt the romance

When I find myself pulled into one of those moments, I ruin the moment. (I know. I’m sorry, characters.) They’re about to kiss or spill their hearts and they are attacked. Or, someone screams. Heck—or the heroin’s ancient ability that she can’t control yet turns her into a chimera. That puts a damper on the romance. It also creates a beautiful segue into an epic battle or adventure scene.

-Make the romance contingent on the fantastic elements

Maybe that heroin with the chimera problem is forced into an alliance with the handsome hero. And, maybe he thinks she’s a freak because she turns into a giant, three-headed monster. And, maybe she wants to bite his head off while she’s a giant, three-headed monster. And then—there’s the battle or the adventure. I know it’s been done and done again, but the following is true. Having characters save/protect one another brings them together. The epic journey and battles breech the gap. But, she still turns into a giant three-headed monster. Romance could be a problem. So, the clearly fantasy-genre problem needs to be fixed before the romance can happen.

-Spread out the romance

Fantasy novels, particularly epic fantasy novels, tend to run longer than romance, mystery, young adult, or most other genres. So, that leaves a lot more time for the hero and heroine to get to know one another. They may start out hating each other, or they might start out as friends who grow together. Or, they might start out in love, break apart, and the heroin might fall for a chimera (unlikely, unless she turns into a chimera, but hey). The key thing here is time. Spread out the romantic moments. Put the battles, the adventures, the serious conversations about the deteriorated state of the world between them. Make it so that, with everything else going on, there isn’t a lot of time for romance. I even sometimes make it so that the romantic moments are—literally—on the fly. Example: a kiss for luck. Small but can be built on later between the army of dragons and the bottomless pit.

There it is. At least, that’s how I do it. It works for me, but, as I say whenever I prescribe a method for anything, it’s not universal. If it works for you, great. If not, pass it along, it may help someone else.

Thank you, Rachell, for letting me guest post. It’s been a pleasure, and I had a lot of fun writing this.