Contemporary romance author VICTORIA MICHAELS is proud to have Omnific Publishing offering her first two novels, Boycotts & Barflies and Trust in Advertising. A favorite among Internet fiction lovers, Victoria honed her skills in the online writing community. She writes contemporary romance that will have you laughing at her characters’ hysterical antics and witty dialogue one minute and sighing at their romantic interludes in the next. Victoria has agreed share a little bit about her writing process with us.
Omnific: What is your writing process like? How long does it take you to write a book and where does it fit in your schedule?
I started writing Boycotts & Barflies a little over two years ago. I had written other pieces that were more comedy based and wanted to try something more romantic. From that, Boycotts & Barflies was born and completed in five month's time.
My writing process is somewhat erratic, with me fitting in time wherever and whenever I can, because my family keeps me very busy. Some days writing is done at my computer and some days it starts as chicken scratch in a notebook because I don’t have access to my laptop. (Deciphering my handwriting is always fun.)
How long it takes me to write a book depends on the amount of time I have and how much I can lose myself in the story. There are days when I can write over 10,000 words and other days when I am lucky to get out 200, so it really varies.
Omnific: What about editing? Boycotts & Barflies was previously posted online. How did you go about editing it into a novel?
My original plot of Boycotts & Barflies was previously posted online and editing it was an interesting process. In the original writing process, I felt more limited in the things I could have the characters do or say, but the editing process allowed me to develop my characters’ personalities, refine the dialogue to fit the new situation and really perfect my voice for the story.
Sadly, some scenes did not make the final cut, especially if I felt they were only there for a laugh but didn’t advance the plot. Editing allowed me to tighten everything up; it allowed my new characters to speak and grow into the structure of the plot.
Omnific: What made you decide to publish Boycotts & Barflies as a novel?
(sigh) Well, there is a rather long, involved story that led me to this point. Boycotts & Barflies was previously posted online. The how and why of what happened isn’t really important, but the result was that the story was illegally copyrighted, published, and sold under a different title in both ebook and printed format by someone who had no right to do so, for approximately eight months as best we can piece together.
Once that situation was dealt with, I needed to look at what my options were. When Omnific came along, I knew it was an excellent opportunity for me to put Boycotts & Barflies in the public eye the way I had always intended it to be published, not the way someone else envisioned it. Publishing it with Omnific was a great way to assure that my work remained mine and under my control.
I learned a hard lesson - posting your original ideas online leaves them vulnerable to theft.
Omnific: Tell us about the main characters in Boycotts & Barflies.
The main character is Grace Park, and she is in a rut with her life. She doesn’t take many chances, especially with her heart. She has two friends, Bianca and Meg, who are more self-assured and want Grace to see herself for the wonderful person she is.
The three women cross paths with Michael, a hard-working, self-assured man and his two friends, Jack and Ryan. Michael is at that point in his life when he is done playing the field and is contemplating settling down, but hasn’t met anyone he could see himself having a long term relationship with. When he meets Grace, his world gets turned upside down and sparks fly, not only between them, but between a few of their friends as well.
Too bad the girls all made that bet and swore off men….
Omnific: What is your best advice for an aspiring writer?
My best advice is – write it. Write what you love. Be unique and clever in what you write and make sure you love it first. If you love it, you will make your readers love it. Don’t be afraid to get it out of your head and written down, then edit, edit, edit.
The last and most important thing I can suggest is to surround yourself with people who will support you; ones who you can trust to bounce ideas off of and who love you enough to be frank and honest. The biggest disservice is to surround yourself with people who tell you everything you do is great. While it’s good for your ego, it doesn’t help you grow as a writer. I have been lucky enough to have wonderful friends do this for me, and I am a better writer because of their honesty.
Omnific: Your second book, Trust in Advertising, releases July 27 - Congratulations! Most authors take months or years to finish a novel the size of Trust in Advertising; how long did you work the manuscript before you felt it was ready for publication?
Trust in Advertising was a longer process than you would imagine. I wrote the first chapter months before I began to write the full manuscript. Not wanting to rush it, I let the idea simmer in my head, and as all of the pieces fell into place and all the scenes I wanted to write formulated, then I dove into it, and it took a good six months to write. As soon as I finished the editing on Boycotts & Barflies, I started the editing process on Trust to really polish it up.
Omnific: You’ve got some seriously dynamic characters and a heavy dose of antagonism in your new book, Trust in Advertising. What character(s) were the most fun to write and why?
Jade was hands down the most fun character I’ve ever written. She’s a person without a filter and for me, being someone who chooses her words very carefully when speaking to people, Jade was a total change from that. It was liberating writing her. She was every nasty thing I ever wanted to say to people… but didn’t. With her, for some reason the more over the top I made her as a character, the more it worked. Whenever I knew I had a Jade scene coming up, I couldn’t wait to get writing and see what happened next.
Omnific: Your trademark sense of humor and quick dialog makes your new book and Boycotts & Barflies such entertaining reads. Most authors find dialog really difficult and funny dialog almost impossible. How do you consistently write such natural dialog and how do you find the funny?
For me, I write like I talk. What you see is what you get with me as a person and as a writer. If I start chuckling while I’m writing something, I know I nailed the dialog in that scene. Honestly, ridiculous things just pop into my head all day – usually when I’m driving for some reason- and I write them down, and then when I get home, I drop them into place in the story. Plus, when you have as many kids as I do and a wonderful husband who loves to tease you, you have to have a sense of humor…
Omnific: What was the most important lesson you learned in working on Boycotts & Barflies that you were able to apply to your work and experience with Trust in Advertising?
Check, double-check, and then check again. The other big thing was be open to change. My editor on Trust really was amazing. She looked at what I wrote in twenty words and cut it to ten or twelve without losing what I was saying. And in doing so – taught me so much more about how to edit my own writing and be critical of myself. If I have to be wordy to get it on the page, fine. But now I can go back with a more critical eye and rephrase and cut certain things to make it concise and sharp. Losing material you’ve written isn’t a bad thing, if done the right way. (Plus you can save them in a little Word doc titled – ‘TiA things I cut_sniff_’ and give it a new home) In checking things over during final edits, I’ve read this manuscript so many times I can recite most of it from memory now. But in doing that, I have made the story the best that it can be, and I’m extremely proud of it.
Omnific: Do you have anything else up your creative sleeve? Can we hope for or expect anything new from Victoria Michaels in the future?
You know me, I always have something up my sleeve and it’s never what people think it’s going to be. I like to push myself as a writer and try new things--it helps me grow. I have a few things in the works but nothing I’m ready to say,“My next book is X.” Only time will tell what new and crazy direction I’ll go next… but stay tuned.
Omnific: Thank you so much for being so generous with your time, Victoria. Everyone is looking forward to reading your novels, Boycotts & Barflies and Trust in Advertising, available at www.omnificpublishing.com.
