Saturday, January 7, 2012

Ten question for Cornell Deville

Welcome YA Musa author Cornell Deville! He has a book trailer on YouTube. Pretty cool and something I need to learn more about. He and I use similar techniques for naming characters.

Ten Questions for Authors:
 
1)  A short paragraph on what you write about and the genre, please? (don't forget your web page address!) I write middle grade and young adult fiction. I primarily focus on urban fantasy, a little paranormal, and a bit of thriller for the younger readers. My website is www.cornelldeville.com. I also have a mini website devoted to my new release, Lost in the Bayou. You can also find a book trailer on YouTube if you google the title.

2)  What is a typical writing session like, in 300 characters or fewer?
I typical writing session for me usually begins by reading the last paragraph I wrote during the previous session and doing some editing on it. I'm one of those writers who edits as they go. It saves me tons of time at the end when I actually start on the real "editing" portion. I sometimes connect with Pandora and find some music that inspires me, depending on what I'm writing at the time.

3)  Men: boxers or briefs? Women: underwire or banded? (apparently people want to know this!)
It depends on my mood that day.

4)  If you use a pen name, why?  If you don't, do you worry about stalkers?
I do use a pen name. I wanted something unique, and I learned there are several famous people with my name running around out there. 

5)  What is the oddest thing about your writing or the way you write?
It may not be exceptionally odd, but I usually picture the screenplay in my mind as I'm writing. I even select the actors to play the various roles and keep them in mind as I write the action and the dialogue.

6)  Give us a glimpse into how you choose the names of your chracters, please?
Naming characters is a hard activity. I visit the baby name sites, but I usually just wait until something pops into my head that sounds right. My innocent heroines typically have what I would consider a "soft" name constructed with soft sounds like "ch" "sh". Villains can take a harder consonant like a "K" or a hard "C" or "Qu". It just has to sound right for the character before I use it.

7)  Any thoughts on staying healthy while pursuing such a sedentary career?
I quit smoking a year and a half ago. That was a huge help. Other than that, just take a break every couple of hours and get some exercise and fresh air. And put the dark chocolate in the other room so you have to burn a few calories to get to it.

8)  Dogs or cats, and why? (don't say "neither" because even if you don't have one, choosing is informative!) Both, actually. We have a bichon-poodle (poobie) named Hannah and a white Himalayan Persian cat named Billy (Sir William if you please.)

9)  If you research, what's your method?  If you don't, how do you get away with that?
Googling is my weapon of choice for research. Then making certain to verify everything before incorporating it. Wikipedia is also a good source.

10)  What is the most interesting or outrageous comment you've heard/read about your writing?
One reviewer recently floored me when she said my writing in Lost in the Bayou reminded her of Stephen King and he'd better watch out. It made my day.

1 comment:

Eleni Konstantine said...

Great interview.

Nice to learn about you, Cornell. I found the 'sound' of your character names fascinating.

Good luck with your latest release.