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Thursday, June 26, 2014

Stellar Cloud

Today Charity is taking some time from her summer vacation with the kids to tell us about her story collection. And she's agreed to answer the usual questions...

1. Where did the initial idea for Stellar Cloud come from?
All the short stories in Stellar Cloud started as blog fest pieces over the last few years. These are the ones that I really liked. The ones that took root in my mind and begged to be looked at a little deeper. After getting my first novel published I was curious how self-pubbing would be different and this pile of shorts was a great opportunity to try my hand at it.

2. Which part of the publishing process was most surprising?
I was surprised at how easy it was through Amazon. The hardest part was getting the formatting to work. It would show one thing on the screen, but when I ordered a print copy it was different. I think I "tweaked" for at least a week until things looked the way I wanted. I loved that if someone reported a mistake I could go in and fix it.

3. If you could give yourself any piece of advice before you started writing, what would it be?
Stop worrying what everyone else will think and just write the story in your heart. I worry too much what family or friends will think about certain elements in my stories. Sometimes it stifles me to the point of not writing at all.

4. Plotter or panster?
Panster! However, I'm learning how to plot on a macro level to help shorten my processing time. I found that if I plotted on the micro level I lost the desire to write. There was nothing left to discover.

5. Quiet room or noisy room when you're writing? How quiet do you need it? What sort of noise?
It really depends. Sometimes I need quiet, but other times I can slip into the zone and it doesn't matter what's going on around me. I love those moments. During the summer I love to sit in the shade at the pool and write. The sound of splashing and laughing kids is somehow comforting and doesn't bother me at all.

6. Your writing area/desk: a place for everything and everything in it's place or if anyone ever straightened it you'd never find a thing?
I like it clear of clutter. The only thing I want with me is a water bottle, a box of Junior Mints and my reference books.

7. What is your current pop culture obsession (book, TV show, movie, webcomic...)? What are the rest of us missing?
Summer has most of my shows on break, but I LOVE So You Think You Can Dance and Master Chef. Those are the only two I care about in the summer. I do however love Netflix. This summer I'm re-watching all of the X-Files in preparation for next year's A to Z Challenge. :)

Stellar Cloud
A soldier struggles with the emptiness left behind by amnesia until he learns he is more than the world would have him remember. The earth is desolate, and only one ship of humans remains. An assassin plays god, dealing out justice and mercy as he sees fit.

Explore the outer reaches of the imagination through these and other short stories. From brainwashed clones to winged aliens of destruction, the stories in Stellar Cloud will pull in any lover of science fiction and fantasy.

Links
Amazon 
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3 comments:

M.J. Fifield said...

"Stop worrying what everyone else will think and just write the story in your heart." <---This. Such important advice.

Oh, and I am completely obsessed with Masterchef and So You Think You Can Dance too! I love summer just so I can watch those shows.

Charity Bradford said...

Thanks M.J. I can't wait until we get into the actual SYTYCD shows. It's so hard to tell who is going to be amazing during the tryouts and so forth. I love that they are ALL great dancers though.

As for Masterchef, I love to cook but the pressure there would do me in.

Charity Bradford said...

The Winner is Jeff Chapman! I'll send you an email momentarily.