INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR SERESSIA GLASS

I’m chatting with author Seressia Glass about her new paranormal series. As a high school junior, Seressia won the first Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday “Living the Dream” essay contest. Since then, she has become an award-winning author of comtemporary and paranormal romances, including the Vegas Bites series and Dream of Shadows. A story in the anthology Carnivale Diabolique (October 2009) and Shadow Blade: Shadowchasers, Book One (January 2010) are her first urban fantasies. But romance fans, don’t worry. Read on.

SUSAN: Carnivale Diabolique, an anthology with two other authors, is your debut in urban fantasy. Would you tell us a little about your story and how it fits in with the other two?

SERESSIA: Carnivale Diabolique is about these metaphysical carnivals–at least one on each continent–that are charged with keeping various demon portals sealed. Each of the stories follows a member of the North American carnival. My story, “The Sharpest Edge,” features Anaru, a Maori warrior whose moko can become weapons, and Camryn, a woman who’s been running from demons literally and figuratively her entire life. Set in the real town of Elberton, Georgia, my story also features a local mysterious landmark called the Georgia Guidestones. With the gate weakened after the death of its keeper, Camryn has to choose between taking a stand or running–and both choices have deadly consequences.

SUSAN: Then in January 2010, your new urban fantasy series begins with Shadow Blade. Your heroine, Kira, is a Shadowchaser. Just what sort of threat are these Shadows she must kill?

SERESSIA: In Shadow Blade, there exists a Universal Balance between Light and Shadow, Order and Chaos. Long ago some children of Chaos fell through the fabric of time to our existence, losing corporeal form in the process. These Fallen inhabit human Avatars in order to foment Chaos. Shadowchasers are an elite group of magically and psychically gifted humans trained to keep the Fallen from gaining a foothold. Kira, gifted with the ability to “read” people and objects with just a touch is also cursed in that her magic drains the energy of any living thing. Through training and discipline she’s tried to make a place for herself by becoming an antiquities expert, but Shadowchasing is truly what she’s good at.

SUSAN: With Khefar, a near-immortal Nubian warrior and a very fine specimen of manhood, I’m wondering if you’ve injected more romance in your urban fantasy than most authors of that genre do. Please talk a little about that aspect of the story.

SERESSIA: I think the story has romantic elements–that’s just part of my DNA! Even when I tried my attempt at high fantasy back in my teens there was an underlying love story, and that’s before I really read much in the way of romance. I just try to make my characters as human as possible, and that means exploring their emotions and inner conflict as well as the outer conflict of their story. Kira and Khefar both have very good reasons for avoiding emotional entanglements, yet they are uniquely suited to each other and their relationship will follow a natural progression over the series.

SUSAN: What in your opinion is the hardest part of writing paranormal and fantasy stories? What is the easiest?

SERESSIA: The easiest part is the world-building. The hardest part–the world-building!

SUSAN: Your first answer threw me off but I see the world-building can be both. I can’t imagine all the details you have to create, remember, and manage.

You’re ready to begin a new project. What’s the first thing you do? Character bios? Plot and plan? Or just jump in and let the muse take you? How do you keep track of your story–note cards, lists, outline, etc?

SERESSIA:I start with a blurb. I pretty much know the start and sometimes the end of the story, just not what goes on in the middle. I am a panster who is trying to train herself to be a plotter. I use storyboards in my day job, so I’m going to adapt that process to my fiction writing as well. The outline certainly helps. I think even a panster needs some structure to play around with.

SUSAN: Would you share your journey to publication?

SERESSIA: I’ve been writing since I was a child–plays for PTA meetings, short stories for extra credit. It remained a hobby until I et a group of romane writers having a signing in the bookstore I worked for part time. They invited me to a meeting, I joined RWA. This was 1997. I finished my first manuscript in 1998 and sold it in 1999. Got the call from my then boyfriend as I was driving from South Carolina back into Georgia–an envelope had come from the publisher, so I asked him to open it and read it after quesitoning him on whta type of envelope it was. The envelope actually contained a congrats letter–and a contract!

SUSAN: What was the best piece of advice you got from another writer? From an agent or editor?

SERESSIA:A fellow writer once told me, “Vomit up the story. You can always clean it up later.” Meaning, get the story out, then go back and tidy it up. I haven’t always followed that advice–I mostly find myself editing as I write–that advice has stuck with me for years. It’s a boon for tight deadlines, that’s for sure!

SUSAN: I edit as I write, too, so I can totally relate to that. What advice can you offer to writers who are working toward publication?

SERESSIA:Read in the genre you’re wanting to write in. All writer start as readers, and if you haven’t picked up a book in a while, or even finished one, you’re going to have a hard time convincing people you know how to produce a publishable manucript. Also joining an orgaization like RWA is instrumental in learning the craft of writing.

SUSAN: Please tell us a little about the other books in your Shadowchasers series.

SERESSIA: Shadow Chase takes place right after Shadow Blade ends. Kira and Khefar have to go to London to take care of personal business. While there, Kira discovers that the Chaser assigned to London has gone missing. So has the Vessel of Nun, a myticla amphora that keeps the Nile in check. Without in bein gin place, Nun could cover the world in an eternal flood. Kira and Khefar race to return the vessel and in doing so learn more about the Eternal Battle between Light and Shadow and the gray place in between.The third book has the working title Shadow Fall. Revelations in the second story drives Kira to get answers anyway she can. This puts her very soul in jeopardy, and Khefar struggles with the very real possibility that he may have to destroy his lover in order to save her.

SUSAN: And lastly, the blog fairy is granting you three wishes. If you could have anything or do anything you wanted, what would they be?

SERESSIA: A cook, a maid, and the money to pay for them!

SUSAN: Hmm, how did you know those are my wishes, too? Seressia, thanks for a terrific interview. I know your descriptions of the adventures of the Shadow Chasers have intrigued readers. Everyone will be waiting eagerly for the stories. In the meantime, visit Seressia Glass at http://seressia.com.