About ML Guida:
M.L. Guida loves the paranormal. Even when she was four years old, she would watch the soap opera, Dark Shadows, and fell in love with vampires! Who wouldn’t want a bite on the neck? Currently, she has two series with vampires: the Legends of the Soaring Phoenix and Vampires on Holiday. But she didn’t stop there. Witches, dragons, angels, and demons are sprinkled throughout her books.
Today, she continues to love the preternatural and watches Supernatural, Paranormal Survivor, and A Haunting. Like Dean Winchester, she loves to write alpha males who aren’t afraid to face the forces of evil.
What inspires you to write?
Movies, or stories on the internet have inspired me to write. For my historical paranormal books, I fell in love with the Pirates of the Caribbean, but wanted to write an unique story—so I came up with vampire pirates. However, my pirates turn into vampires during the full moon. For my angels of death books, I came up with the story based on a ceiling painting of smokers that were looking up at funeral. It was one of those 3-D paintings on the internet. I thought what if the angel of death appeared to you and said change or die? What would you do? These two questions formed a rough outline of the Angels of Death series.
Tell us about your writing process.
I am a reformed pantser. After I interview my characters, I follow the W Plot which plots out the goal, motivation, and conflict of my characters which I use as a rough outline. Sometimes when I’m writing the story it takes me in a different direction. I actually see a movie in my head on what the characters are doing. I also use a story structure outline to make sure I’m hitting the tropes. I have a writing buddy who helps me with my plots. I use a program called Scrivener, and this is where I have my character interviews, character descriptions, and setting.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I interview my characters. When I ask them a question, I answer as the character. This helps me go deeper into my character. Some the questions I ask include: what are you most ashamed of? and what are the three things you value most? These type of questions help me flesh out the characters’ flaws and their goals, motivations, and conflicts.
What advice would you give other writers?
I’ve learned that you always need to keep your finger on the pulse of the industry. It changes all the time including trends, marketing techniques, writing tools, etc… I encouraged writers to belong to a writers group which would help you keep tabs on the industry and also gave a support system. This is a tough business. Writers need support for the lows and the highs. If you’re a romance writer, I highly recommend joining Romance Writers of America and your local chapter.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I started out writing for a small press and learned the process of how to work with an editor and a cover artist. After a couple of years, I decided to self-publish. I recently received all my rights back from the small press and self-published. At this point, I’ve decided to self-publish, but this does not mean I’ve closed the door on traditional publishing.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think self-publishing and traditional publishers will remain strong. I think it will be harder for the smaller presses to keep up since they do not have the benefits of the other two. I make more now than I did with a small press and I know I’m not the only author who has experienced this. There are benefits with a small press such as not having to pay for editing or a cover artist, but small presses usually do not have the marketing budget to promote their authors.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?: historical paranormal, contemporary paranormal
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
ML Guida Home Page Link
Link To ML Guida Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
