Well- it’s officially fall, finally.  It’s near freezing here, and I’m more than ready for it.  Today’s author has a precise understanding of why she’d be the first to die in a horror movie.  Too bad the people in the horror movies aren’t that self-aware. Welcome Deby Fredericks!

You’re home alone, but you’re hear footsteps in your house – What do you do?

This actually happened to me. It was my first night in a new house, my husband had gone back for a second load from the old place, and I heard what sounded like footsteps in the upstairs room. I went to look and no one was there. But it was windy, so perhaps the house shifted in the direction of the wind.

You’re in a horror movie. Are you the final person, the first to die, the comic relief, the skeptic, the smart one, or the killer?

First to die. I would stand there flat-footed and be stabbed. Also, as demonstrated above, I would hear a strange noise and go look for the cause instead of running.

Are you superstitious?

Not really. I believe supernatural things can happen, but I don’t spend much time worrying that they will happen to me.

How do you develop your plots and characters?

I am a panster rather than a plotter, but I do look for interesting angles, especially on characters. How I get there is to start writing ideas down. The first idea will be really obvious and boring. The second idea will also be obvious. By the third and fourth attempts, I’m coming to more interesting concepts.

What I end up using will be some combination of the obvious with the less-obvious. Because there are those readers (like my husband, who always beta reads) who like to start guessing right away about who the bad guy is, etc. The obvious things there are to fake them out. Then I surprise them with something beyond what they expected.

Who or what has influenced your writing, and in what way?

Role-playing games taught me a lot about plotting and motivation. You have to design characters that will work in session after session, and play is more satisfying when the characters are involved in more than a “go get the gold” way. I especially like Champions, an older super-hero game where you literally have disadvantages to balance your powers.

What are you working on now?

My latest project is a dystopian/swords and sorcery fantasy novella called “The Tower in the Mist.” By the time your readers see this, I will be deciding how to market it.

Madeline — cursed by her former lover to live as a wild beast, yet driven to rescue their son from a legacy of evil. Thomas — so obsessed with werewolves that he was ordered to retire, now the only hope for a desperate village. Charlie — forced to choose between his father’s power and his mother’s love. These three must battle through a maze of lies, where demons may be the only true victors. 

Purchase Links:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Biography

Deby Fredericks has been a writer all her life, but thought of it as just a fun hobby until the late 1990s. She made her first sale, a children’s poem, in 2000.

Fredericks has six fantasy novels out through two small presses. The latest is The Grimhold Wolf, released by Sky Warrior in 2015. Her children’s stories and poems have appeared in magazines such as Boys’ Life, Babybug, Ladybug, and a few anthologies. In the past, she served as Regional Advisor for the Inland Northwest Region of the Society of  Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, International  (SCBWI).

Fredericks also has a blog called Wyrmflight (wyrmflight.wordpress.com) that focuses on dragons. She has self-published a few of her fantasy novelettes and a collection from the blog.

Social Media:

Website:                     http://www.debyfredericks.com
Facebook:                  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDebyFredericks/
Blog:                           https://wyrmflight.wordpress.com
Draft 2 Digital:         https://www.books2read.com/ap/nzkBJ8/Deby-Fredericks