J. F. Lewis: Staked

 

Title: Staked
Author: J.F. Lewis (http://writethefantastic.blogspot.com)
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Pocket
ISBN: 978-1416547808

1. First off, congratulations on the big novel sale! Give us the elevator pitch. What’s your book about?

STAKED is a great book for people who hate vampire novels and an even better one for those that love them. Eric, the protagonist, is an angry vampire with memory problems. He can’t remember who he ate for dinner yesterday much less how he became a vampire in the first place, but he knows someone is out to get him. It’s heavy on the action and the witty repartee whether Eric is fighting werewolves on ice, dealing with his human girlfriend who wants to join him in undeath, or coping with her sexy little sister who just wants to join him in bed.

2. Most new novelists have an interesting story to tell about their journey to publication. What’s yours? Did you use an agent? Make sure to tell us about the day you found out you’d sold a book.

For the insanely detailed version of the story, you can check out my blog at http://writethefantastic.blogspot.com, but I went the traditional route. I wrote the book, then joined Writers’ Market and researched compatible agents. I sent a few query letters before Shawna McCarthy requested a pretty substantial rewrite, which I somehow managed. She agreed to be my agent (I spilled grape soda all over my keyboard), we signed some papers, and she sent the novel out to her contacts. When I got the news that Jennifer Heddle over at Pocket Books was going to buy it, I was walking around my backyard carrying the portable phone and when I saw that the call was coming from Rumson NJ, I nearly fainted.

3. Do you have another book in the pipeline? What are you working on now?

I just sent the proposed sequel to STAKED over to my agent. Currently, I’m working on book three as well as two other novels also set in Void City: one involving the Mage Guild and the other involving demons. I plan to be prolific.

4. What’s your process like? Morning writer, night writer, or something in between?

I write every night after I tuck in my sons, read them their bedtime stories and sing lullabies. My most creative time is actually mid-mornings, but my day job renders that time unavailable. Generally I write from about eight-thirty to twelve-thirty each night. As far as process goes, I usually start with a character, a central problem for the character, and a basic idea of where I want to go. I follow the Roger Zelazny rule of inserting things that I feel I ought to include whether I know why or not in hopes that I’ll understand the “why” later. Sometimes it works and other times I cut and paste that section into a different file for later cannibalization.

5. There seems to be an unusually high percentage of writers who own cats.  Here at The First Book, we’re doing a study to find out if there’s a direct  relationship between writing success and cat ownership. Do you own a cat?  If so, tell us about him or her. If not, tell us what you have against  cats.

What do I have against cats? Dogs. Actually, my wife and my sons are highly allergic to cats, so we have become dog people. Our current dog is an Akita named Ryoko. She is thirteen years old and in very good health for her age, but extremely ornery. We also have a venus flytrap named Yoshi. There’s a cat in the book, though, so maybe that counts.