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Post by ilonaandrews on Feb 27, 2009 16:24:59 GMT
@ bluetyson I own all of the Grimjack. The original print run too, in addition to the newly release graphic novels.
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Post by JM on Feb 27, 2009 19:17:03 GMT
These are ones I always like to know, as every author I have asked has different answers.
I know some novelists who set minimum amount of words per day and some who actually set maximum. Do you set yourself a specific amount of work per day in order to finish your novels or do the books just get finished when you get around to it?
Also, how many projects do you usually have going at one time and how do you manage to keep track of all the plot lines, characters...etc that keep the stories going?
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Post by ilonaandrews on Feb 27, 2009 19:28:25 GMT
@im "Do you set yourself a specific amount of work per day in order to finish your novels or do the books just get finished when you get around to it?" I don't really set any amount of words a day. I know the book has to be done by a certain deadline and I work as much as I can every day, basically until I reach the state of total stupidity. Sometimes that means 3K, sometimes 800 words. Depending on how stupid I feel on that particular day. "Also, how many projects do you usually have going at one time and how do you manage to keep track of all the plot lines, characters...etc that keep the stories going? " One. At the current rate, I'm doing two novels and 3-4 novella/short stories per year. But I only work on one story at a time. If I have to produce a 10K story in the middle of my novel draft, then I set my novel draft aside and come back to it when I am done. I'm not a big fan of simultaneous writing. Some authors can do it brilliantly, but I'm a woman of a very little brain and if you ask me to work on two projects at once, they will sound exactly the same.
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Post by ilonaandrews on Feb 27, 2009 21:17:37 GMT
You know, you guys are a somber crowd. Not a single question about what kind of underwear my characters wear ;P
I really don't take myself all that seriously.
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Post by marianne on Feb 27, 2009 22:25:48 GMT
Heh! Heh! Not sombre, Ilona. Just very well behaved And they know that I'm around to crack the whip ... Hello Nellie, nice of you to drop in. Can you tell us what future projects you have planned, Ilona? best MDP
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Post by Chirugal on Feb 27, 2009 23:18:56 GMT
Eeeeeeek! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Hi, Ilona - I'm Amy and I'm the admin here. *waves* I haven't read any of your work yet, but after reading little snippets here and there on your website, I'd very much like to! Hmmm, a comedic question... Okay! 1) Do you ever have a blindingly wonderful plot idea whilst in the shower, and then proceed rush to the computer and write for two hours in your dressing gown (hmm, that was a bit British, wasn't it? I mean, bathrobe) with your hair still wrapped in a towel? Or is that just me? ;D 2) How long does it take you to write a book, from outline to completion? 3) What was the first story you ever wrote, and how embarrassed do you feel about it now?
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Post by ilonaandrews on Feb 28, 2009 0:19:18 GMT
@ marianne
Heee!
"Can you tell us what future projects you have planned, Ilona?"
Well, we're under contract for 4 more Kate books, 2 books in the Edge series, the first of which comes out in October, and a few shorter projects, a novella with Samhain and another novella in an anthology, Must Love Hellhounds, with Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh and Meljean Brook. I think that's about it for immediate future.
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Post by ilonaandrews on Feb 28, 2009 0:24:46 GMT
@ Chirugal "1) Do you ever have a blindingly wonderful plot idea whilst in the shower, and then proceed rush to the computer and write for two hours in your dressing gown (hmm, that was a bit British, wasn't it? I mean, bathrobe) with your hair still wrapped in a towel? Or is that just me? ;D" I don't own a robe. If I did rush out naked, my husband would get an entirely wrong idea and then nobody would be writing for awhile. So the answer is probably no. On a serious note, I try to treat writing as a regular job, so I mostly do an eight hour day and then try to do something else. If the marvelous ideas do pop up while I am doing the dishes or showering, I file them away for later. "2) How long does it take you to write a book, from outline to completion?" Depends on a book. I'd say 6 months. "3) What was the first story you ever wrote, and how embarrassed do you feel about it now? " It was in Russian and I don't recall it that well, but I am grateful I don't have it, because I would surely die of embarrassment.
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Post by Sheyana on Feb 28, 2009 4:08:03 GMT
Hi Ilona! Sorry that I'm late too! Questions... Do you have a favourite character/s? If so, why? Which of your characters would you most like to be if your world was real? Again, why? What kind of books do you read for fun? And roughly how many do you read? Hmm, I think that's all for now... I'll have to think up some more fun questions...that wont cause Marianne to bring out the whip
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Post by JM on Feb 28, 2009 7:54:01 GMT
Okay, you wanted fun questions, I'm sure I can accomodate. I hid Marianne's whip.
If you could do anything to a single character (embarassing, painful, funny, just plain wrong) what would you do and who to?
Do you ever write things that you just keep for you and your husband? Things that are too strange or just too personal to share with the world?
Oh yeah, and since you broached the subject. What sort of underwear do your characters wear? Feel free to indulge us with as much detail as possible.
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Post by ilonaandrews on Feb 28, 2009 12:59:00 GMT
Sheyana: "Do you have a favourite character/s? If so, why?" I like Jack and Georgie from my new series. I think it's because they are kids and they are terrible fun to write. "Which of your characters would you most like to be if your world was real? Again, why?" Hmmm. I don't know that I would be any of them. I think I'd have to make a special Mary Sue character just for myself. Some tall, thin, blonde, with magic superpowers. "What kind of books do you read for fun? And roughly how many do you read?" ::looks around:: Let's see, what I have around me: One Night, One Baby (Harlequin Presents), A Practical Guide to Monsters, Hannibal Rising, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth Magic, and Mysticism, At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost, Something by Robert Parker, can't see the title from here and since we own the whole series, it's likely some Spenser book, David Gemmel's Winter Warriors... That's probably an accurate picture. I read a lot, widely. A lot of times I will pick up HP (or rather Mills and Boone, hee.) Susan Napier is my favorite. I reach the point where I just loathe writing and loathe fiction, because I'm frustrated, and silly emotional drama romance novels are my saving grace. They let me recharge.
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Post by ilonaandrews on Feb 28, 2009 13:03:53 GMT
@im "If you could do anything to a single character (embarassing, painful, funny, just plain wrong) what would you do and who to?" What do you mean if? I can and I do. In Magic Burns I had one knucklehead dance naked on a snow-covered roof of a skyscraper in the middle of July. If I want to do it, I do it, and you can read it "Do you ever write things that you just keep for you and your husband? Things that are too strange or just too personal to share with the world?" No. Strange and personal stays between us in words, never on paper. "Oh yeah, and since you broached the subject. What sort of underwear do your characters wear? Feel free to indulge us with as much detail as possible." I untangled myself from the sheets. I really had to go to the bathroom. The question was: would my legs support me? Curran smiled. "What's so funny?" "Your panties have a bow," he said. I looked down. I was wearing a short tank top – not mine – and my blue panties with a narrow white strip of lace at the top and a tiny white bow. Would it have killed me to check what I was wearing before I pulled the blanket down? "What's wrong with bows?" "Nothing." He was grinning now. "I expected barbed wire. Or one of those steel chains." Wiseass. "I'm secure enough in myself to wear panties with bows on them. Besides, they are comfy and soft." "I bet." He almost purred. I gulped. Okay, I needed to either crawl back into bed and cover myself with the blanket or get the hell to the bathroom and back. Since I didn't fancy peeing on myself, the bathroom was my only option. "I don't suppose you'd mind giving me a bit of privacy for my trip?" "Not a chance," he said.
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Post by munkee on Feb 28, 2009 18:39:36 GMT
Hi Ilona and Gorden! hehe, I have more of a muse question.
you mentioned your hubby is ex navy...being a spouse fo current navy, there are a lot of scenes where a navy sense of humor seems to come to the forefront....are there instances of inspiration from stories he mentions?
anime for the kiddos? how did they get started on that???
will derek get himself a GF in kate's adopted neice? they seemed to mesh well in magic burns...
also, all us ladies at hurog say hi!
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Post by ilonaandrews on Mar 1, 2009 13:19:54 GMT
@ Munkee Hello!
"you mentioned your hubby is ex navy...being a spouse fo current navy, there are a lot of scenes where a navy sense of humor seems to come to the forefront....are there instances of inspiration from stories he mentions?"
Absolutely. Mostly it's the flavor of his humor that really comes through. I'm trying to think of something and drawing a blank at the moment... I'm sure it will come to me 5 seconds after I'm done.
"anime for the kiddos? how did they get started on that???" Gordon spent a year in Japan and I am an anime junkie. It was sort of a natural progression, but now my kids have reached scary level of expertise in anime.
" will derek get himself a GF in kate's adopted neice? they seemed to mesh well in magic burns..." Heee, you know I can't answer that! You'll have to read the books!
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Post by Chirugal on Mar 1, 2009 15:48:22 GMT
@ Chirugal "1) Do you ever have a blindingly wonderful plot idea whilst in the shower, and then proceed rush to the computer and write for two hours in your dressing gown (hmm, that was a bit British, wasn't it? I mean, bathrobe) with your hair still wrapped in a towel? Or is that just me? ;D" I don't own a robe. If I did rush out naked, my husband would get an entirely wrong idea and then nobody would be writing for awhile. *lol!* Classic! And not without its advantages... Hmm... there's an idea... " Become a Writer: Get More Sex! The new self-help book coming soon from Ilona Andrews..." Okay, new question! What's the most inspirational thing in your life right now?
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