Vicki Pettersson is an up and coming star of the urban fantasy and paranormal romance fields, where not all is what it seems, women wear leather and kick butt by wielding stilettos, and the line between good and evil blurs to a shadowy gray.
Vicki’s third book, A Touch of Twilight, spent a couple of weeks on the New York Times extended bestseller list. It only took two books for her third to be a huge success. Her fan base grows by the day. I have no doubt this beautiful and talented writer from Las Vegas will keep delivering great stories and better sales!
And, as a web designer, I love her website!
Below is Five Questions with Vicki Pettersson. Enjoy!
Suvudu: When did you start writing? Why do you write?
Vicki Pettersson: I started actively writing fiction when I was twenty-six. Prior to that I dabbled. Afterward, I was obsessed.
I write because it keeps me sane. Other people do yoga or journal or buy really expensive shoes. I tell stories. And as hard as it can be, I love the day to day process of being a working writer — the repetition of getting to the page every day. The discipline. The schedule. Maybe because it’s something I can control, and there’s really so little in this life that one can. But it’s creative, I get to do what I want, and the sense of accomplishment is enormous. So many people think of seeing their name on the bookstore shelf when they think of being an author, but anyone who does this can tell you it’s not about being an author, it’s about being a writer. And writers write. Every day.
S: Describe your writing day? How many words/pages do you write a day on average? Breaks? How much time do you spend editing and how do you go about it?
VP: I'm up around 4:30 every morning, I read the Times, catch up on email, and then do some work in my "working journal." This is a device that allows me to hear my own voice, first thing in the morning, and above any and all others. I get twitchy if I only approach the page in my protagonist's voice. It's important to know what I think first. Fortunately, as it's a working journal, I begin riffing informally to myself about what's going on with the work, where I am in the book, and after about a page and a half I'll often find myself writing dialogue and story, and I can dump a good half day's work right there on the page. There's something non-threatening about the working journal. From there, when I'm actively writing, I'll set a goal of two thousand words a day. I break in the morning to get my kidlet off to school, again for a workout and lunch, and then in the afternoons so I have good face time with my toddler. I'll stop after that, spend time cooking, hanging with the family, reading or watching a movie. Of course, this is ideal. If I'm behind on deadline or I didn't make my goal, I'll go back to work at night, then rinse and repeat the next day.
As for editing, I work in drafts. The first draft is the story draft -- just get it out on the page. Just finish. The second draft is for filling holes and really delineating the story and world. The third is to pretty up the language. There are usually more than three drafts, but that's as far as I can see at the beginning of any book.
S: How many books did you write before you signed your first book contract? How did you get that contract? Via agent? Industry friend? Writer's retreat? Slushpile? Other?
VP: I worked on three different books, finishing only one -- none of which will ever see publication. I gained an agent out of the slushpile after cold querying her, and she was the one who got my book into the right hands.
S: What advice would you give beginning writers? What is the best way to break into the industry?
VP: Some of the best advice I ever received about writing fiction was that you have to produce a good million words before your craft catches up to your ambition, and you can get out of your own way (and head) long enough to produce something that interests others. Ironically, I got the advice from a university professor on the first day of class, so I promptly dropped the class and headed off to write my million words.
The best way to break into the industry is to actually finish a book. Have a group of critique partners whom you trust. Hone the craft. Make the book as good as it can possibly be. Target an agent. Do your homework. Be a professional. I truly believe good work will always find a home. And remember that nothing is ever wasted. Even the words that never reach print serve a purpose by making you a stronger author than you would have been otherwise.
S: What are you currently working on? When can we expect it?
VP: I've just finished the fourth book in my Signs of the Zodiac series, called City of Souls. It will hit the shelves in July of '09, and will be followed the next month by a related short story in the anthology, Unbound.
Visit Vicki's website at www.VickiPettersson.com! And find out more about her series and about her writing!
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