First, I’d like to say thanks to Gary for having me as his guest blogger. I’ve been fortunate enough to have read several of his books and enjoyed each one!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Cutting her Fangs...Author G.L. GILES BLOGS...
First, I’d like to say thanks to Gary for having me as his guest blogger. I’ve been fortunate enough to have read several of his books and enjoyed each one!
Second, as part of the requirements for my Honors in English program, I had to write a Bachelor’s Essay on a well-known author. At the time, I was fascinated with the American Romantics, so I chose Nathaniel Hawthorne. While I admired his writing a great deal, I was at the same time slightly sickened by the end of my veneration of him and his writing knowing that he didn’t exactly favor strong female characters. Had I fully realized this from the get-go, I might have chosen someone like Margaret Fuller to write my Bachelor’s Essay on and venerate. Anyway, I ended up titling my 73-page Bachelor’s Essay Hawthorne and His Problem with Strong-Willed Women. Basically, the problem to me was that he oftentimes either killed them off, or they ended up living less-than-desirable lives. Long story short, I vowed to create many strong-willed heroines who thrived, more or less, by contrast. And, lived to tell about it most of the time. Well, more accurately, I made lots of my dark heroines, oftentimes female vampyres, thrive as best as they could in an undead existence kind of way.
Third, I used to think in my many jobs over the years, apart from writing, that I’d incorporate as many real-life circumstances and observations as I could into my fiction one day for a greater feeling of verisimilitude in a kind of truth of the human heart way, even though I knew I’d be writing fiction---at least at first. So my many jobs from Counter Manager for Chanel Cosmetics, Counter Manager for Lancôme Cosmetics, brief stints working in the Markets of Downtown Charleston, South Carolina, etc. proved to not only provide great backdrops for my The Vampire Vignettes Series but also so many interactions with other people proved invaluable in creating many of my composite characters. For example, I remember thinking one time early on in my cosmetic career, working for a different company than the aforementioned, that because we were on commission, we often swooped down on customers in our dark flowing dresses much like vamps swoop down on their prey.
Forth, it really has to be said at this point I feel that you shouldn’t waste your time or money on my first attempts at writing fiction. I loved cutting my teeth (fangs?) on them, so they were useful for that, but I’d never had any creative writing classes, and it showed! Fortunately, my first attempt titled THE VAMPIRE VIGNETTES is now out-of-print, and though my other two books titled V2:B4 and V3 are still available, they were revamped into my first traditionally published book titled V XXX: SPECIAL EDITION COMPENDIUM. V XXX: SPECIAL EDITION COMPENDIUM came out in 2009 and was a reworked version of my first three attempts. I tell everyone to start with V XXX (which you may have guessed from the title is an adult read). Even though it’s definitely adult, there were graphic-novel-like adaptations included for fun as Books Two and Three within V XXX. Book One of V XXX contains the main storyline.
Fifth, even though I was elated to be traditionally published with V XXX (through Alexandrian Archives), I have to admit that my personal favorite of my vamp books is a nontraditionally published one: V4: WATER VAMPS (A YOUNG ADULT NOVELLA). It fits thematically with my other vampire books, but it’s also a stand-alone read. I like it best for several reasons; I like the way my young female heroine turned out.
Sixth, realizing that my own creative writing could use some polishing, etc., I decided to start self-teaching myself the craft in a sense by really studying and reviewing other fine writers’ works. To me, it was the perfect win/win situation, as not only did I hopefully end up honing my own craft more, but as a fan girl at heart in many ways, I got to read some really great books and write for some really wonderful publications like Target Audience Magazine, Infernal Dreams, MetaCreative Magazine, Autoeroticasphyxium, P.T.I., etc.
In closing, it’s been a pleasure to share my journey here, and anyone that would like to read the PDF of my V4: WATER VAMPS (A YOUNG ADULT NOVELLA) for free is welcome to contact me at christophe526@hotmail.com and I’ll e-mail you a copy of it.
Yours in dark delight,
G.L. Giles
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