Sparks tells the story of Lark, a young
man from a desperate life who has somehow managed to be able to read minds and
sense emotions. The trouble is that he has no control over whose thoughts he
can read and when those thoughts come crashing into his mind. Lark ends up at a
school that trains students in their abilities, or ‘sparks’, but his mentor is
determined to see him fail and he struggles to progress despite his rare
ability. Currently, Sparks is a
standalone novel but I hope to have the sequel Spirits out next year.
Do you have a favorite character?
Oh yea.
Avis mentors Lark at school, but hates him and loves him at the same time. He’s
mysterious and moody but somehow still brutally honest. In my mind he’s also
devastatingly handsome.
Have you ever had a minor character
evolve into a major one? Did that change the direction of the novel at all?
Yes and
yes! When I wrote Sparks I knew I wanted to introduce Micha, a character who
was essentially the opposite of the main character Lark. Micha grew up without
struggle; he wanted success to keep his family honor rather than for survival.
Somehow I fell in love with Micha despite his easy life and he wriggled his way
into the rest of the book.
Did you try the traditional route to
publishing, i.e. querying agents/publishers?
Only for a
day or two and then I thought better of it. I sent out two query letters to
agents after doing massive amounts of research. While researching how to put
together the perfect query letter, I came across a lot of information comparing
trade publishing and self-publishing. In the end, I decided self-publishing was
the better route for me, and I haven’t looked back.
What factors influenced your decision
to self-publish your book?
My friends
and family will tell you that I am a totally nutty hyper-organized control
freak, so I think self-publishing suits my personality. I wanted to have
complete control over the cover art, content, marketing plan, publication date
and all the other little things that publishers might try to change. I’m way
too stubborn to let someone else tell me how I need to write or what I should
write about it.
Do you belong to a critique group?
Have they helped improve your writing?
I
participate in critique groups and forums, specifically Writer’s Beat, Mythic
Scribes and Scribophile. Overall, the forums and critiques provided invaluable
feedback about inconsistencies and weaknesses in my writing style, which helped
to strengthen my writing style and voice. I even met a few people who became
important to the progress of Sparks, including the editor JK Loveless.
What have you’ve learned during your
self-publishing journey?
Amazingly,
this process is not impossible. Even more unbelievable is the fact that I can
do it. I did do it! A year ago,
publishing a book would have seemed like an insurmountable task, something for
the Stephen Kings and JK Rowlings of the world. A lot of time, research and hard
work have gone into it, but publishing and marketing a book is completely
possible and a lot more fun than I would have ever expected!
What kinds of marketing [twitter,
facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for promoting your book?
I started out
with just the Big Fish Blog to document my journey from total inexperience to
self-publication, and hopefully pass along my hard earned lessons to the next
authors looking to try it. The forums came in somewhere and are a lot of fun to
participate in. Mythic Scribes caters to fantasy writers, and those guys have
some wild ideas! More recently I have opened up a Facebook page, Twitter and
Tumblr to connect with other authors and bloggers. And what girl doesn’t love
Pinterest? Getting to know everyone has been a really great experience!
Besides writing, do you have any
other passions?
No. Ha! Joking… I will always love science, specifically the life sciences. Animals are a big part of my life. I love baking despite my husband’s disinterest in anything sweet. And I love being a mom! My kids are addicted to anything with books, fish, trains, dinosaurs or music and we spend a lot of time catering to their interests. I can’t wait until they are old enough to appreciate the Natural History Museum!
No. Ha! Joking… I will always love science, specifically the life sciences. Animals are a big part of my life. I love baking despite my husband’s disinterest in anything sweet. And I love being a mom! My kids are addicted to anything with books, fish, trains, dinosaurs or music and we spend a lot of time catering to their interests. I can’t wait until they are old enough to appreciate the Natural History Museum!
What’s next for you?
The sequel
of Sparks! Lark still has a lot to
learn and some unresolved issues with certain villainous types. Hopefully Spirits will be released sometime in
2014. I’m so excited!
Contact
Links:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rs.mccoy.3
Twitter https://twitter.com/RSMcCoy1
Blogger http://rsmccoy.blogspot.com
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/RSMcCoy
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