Sumiko Saulson

I would like to thank Elisabeth D. Rosa for nominating me for the Liebster Awards. This is the first time I have been nominated. This award is for blogs with 200 or fewer followers. I’m going to be nominating 11 other blogs after this in accordance with these rules:

I have made a video with the 11 Factoids about Moi, and the other stuffs, the answers to the questions from my nominee, will be below it in interview format. Last, will be my nominees and their questions.

11 Factoids about Moi

My Answers to Elisabeth’s Questions

Q.What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I’m not sure “failure to understand commas” counts as a writing quirk. I hate commas, they are evil and are totally out to get me. Other than that, I think I’ve noticed an inordinately large number of stories I’ve written are about fertility, infertility, and pregnancy gone wrong – I’m starting to think this might reflect some deep seated issues I have about my fertility problems.

Q. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your own books?

Before I finally got the courage to write my own books, I noticed a typo in a book by a mainstream publisher. I was so excited, I decided I could just write novels, and they would not have to be grammatically perfect or anything. I was surprised to learn that no matter how many times I proof them, or get other people to proof them, they still have more typos than the mainstream published kind. I think the mainstream publishers probably have staffs with dozens of editors and proofreaders going over the texts multiple times – not just three of their lit-chick friends, and that one dude who is the editor on a state university student paper.

Q. Where do you get the ideas for your books?

From my nightmares, and my deeply wounded psyche. When it comes to the science fiction I also get a lot of inspiration from the world of politics and today’s headlines. Even there, I find that a lot of the storylines seem to come from my own bizarre thoughts and dreams. I had to stop writing fanfic because it was all deeply disturbed, and I figured that I should just take personal responsibility for all of the scary, twisted things that hang out in my mind. When I say “today’s headlines” I don’t just mean politics. A lot of the pseudo-science in “Warmth” was inspired by stories coming across my Facebook feed about insects and fungi that take over and zombify other lifeforms, like bees. Reality is filled with endless examples of disturbing ideas for horror and dystopic or apocalyptic science-fiction. “Solitude” was influenced by people freaking out about the so-called Mayan prophecy and endless episodes of the program “Life After People.”

Q. What do you think makes a good story?

Strong characters matter. If the characters aren’t interesting, it’s harder to keep the reader engaged. This means both sympathetic heroes and hate-inspiring villains, and sometimes hate-inspiring heroes and sympathetic villains – it depends on the story. I like to use a lot of descriptive language. I love to include some kind of major twists and turns and surprises because I am one of those peoples who can always guess what is going to happen in a movie. I like to use that mental gift to come up with new and exciting ways to keep people guessing, because I always figure that the best way to write things my readers will like is to think of what would excite me as a reader.

Q. Who are some of your favorite authors?

Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Toni Morrison, Peter Straub, Michael Criton, Clive Barker, Susan Cooper, C.S. Lewis, Alice Walker – although, mostly she writes poetry – Dean Koontz, well you get the picture – I’m really into commercial suspense and horror, with a side of sci-fi.

Q. If you could pick one actor to play a character in your book in the movie version, who would it be?

Amandla Stenberg, that little girl who played Rue in the “Hunger Games”, could play Tisha Gordon in “The Moon Cried Blood.” I loved her in Colombiana. Of course, she will be too old for the role before a movie is ever made. If a movie is ever made, which is really highly unlikely since nobody knows or cares who I am right now. But maybe we could get Quvenzhané Wallis, she’ll be old enough to play Leticia Gordon in three or four years. And maybe by then, more than 200 people will have read my book.

Q. What song best describes your book, and why?

Fun. Let’s see… for “Solitude” we can have “One is the Loneliest Number” by Three Dog Night, because I think that’s funny, mostly. It’s a story about everyone disappearing and the few people remaining thinking they are the last person left. Yea. I better quit while I’m ahead.

Q. If you had one piece of advice for an aspiring author, what would it be?

Don’t let any of your critical friends read it until you’re done with a first draft, because you might get too discouraged to finish. Don’t let your internal critic speak while you are in the middle of a first draft, either. You can’t write and do re-writes at the same time. Write first, do re-writes second. I wish someone had told me that when I was younger, I would have probably finished my first novel fifteen years ago if I wasn’t busy trying to edit it in the middle of writing it.

Q. What kind of sweet things do you like to eat?

They just told me my blood sugar was a little high and to cut back on sweets, so the only sweet things I have left are breakfast cereal and sugar free Popsicles and Jello. I really miss eating soft serve. I like soft serve. I know – it’s not even real ice cream – but still.

Q. What’s your guilty pleasure that you can’t miss on TV?

I don’t feel guilty about any of the TV shows I follow, so, not sure if I can say guilty pleasure but I loved Spartacus and I miss that. I also like Game of Thrones, Vikings, Supernatural, Grimm, Supernatural, Lost Girl and Defiance. Oh and The Borgias.

Q. What funny memories do you have of your childhood? Name one.

My mom used to keep me in two ponytails as a child. I remember one time when I was five or six I decided that it would be a good idea to put one of my father’s sweat socks over each pony tail so I could walk around on all fours and pretend to be a dog with big, floppy ears. I don’t think my parents found this as amusing as I did, though, since all of their stories of my childhood seemed to be really embarrassing and involve poop.

My Nominees

1. The Secret Chicken
2. Gothic Genie
3. Myriads of Thoughts
4. Textual Fury
5. A Poets Progress
6. Light Bearer
7. Kitty Muse and Me
8. Come Selaway with Me
9. Year in the Life of an Opera Singer
10. No Pants
11. Wench Writer

My Questions for My Nominees

1. What inspired you to start blogging?
2. How long have you been blogging?
3. Out of the blog posts you’ve written, which is your favorite or the one you feel the best about?
4. What advice would you give to other bloggers?
5. Do you prefer video, audio, or written blogs, or some combination of the three?
6. Do you think that blogging is bring new voices to the worlds of art, literature, fashion, entertainment and politics in a way we hadn’t experienced before the internet?
7. How do you think print columns compare to blogs?
8. If you could interview anyone for your blog, who would it be?
9. How did you come up with the name for your blog?
10. Random acts of kindness – what was the last one you witnessed that brightened your day?
11. What was the best thing that happened to you this year?

 

~ by Sumiko Saulson on May 7, 2013.

Posted in Announcements, Everything Else
Tags: Leibster Blog Award