Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Talking with Author Nicole Fuentes



Tell us about your latest release. What inspired it?


"Keeping Her in the Light" is a story of captor and captive, dominance and submission. It begins with a young woman coming into consciousness and realizing she's in a room full of dead bodies. "All women, all murdered, all dead." She meets her captor, a deranged madman whose psychological sickness has a special twist, and she is suddenly hurled into a world of endless confusion. Living with a killer sums it all up.

I suppose what inspired all this was my fascination with psychology. I've always wanted to write a story like this. It's just that I never really had the courage to do so...to explore the darker recesses of the human mind. Hearing about a certain Stockholm Syndrome pushed me to write a story revolving around this concept. Without psychology and Stockholm Syndrome, this story would not have existed.

James Joyce's "Araby" influenced my writing too, with the whole concept of "stream of consciousness" and all. I derived from "Araby" a whole new concept of light and darkness--a concept that was not cliche--and I incorporated this said concept into my story.

Who are your literary heroes and why?

I really admire Thomas Harris as the creator of the infamous Hannibal Lecter. What comes out in his books are as far as I can tell of his imagination and his mind, since he's one who, I suppose, likes to keep himself secret. His methods of writing are extraordinary. He says, "To write a novel, you must begin with what you can see and then you add what came before and what came after." I tried this method out with "Keeping Her in the Light", and it was very surprising, very different, very thrilling.

Tell us five random things about yourself.

I take karate.

I am a fan of Suzanne Vega's songs.

I am entranced by almost every Edward Hopper painting I see.

I turn hyper when I'm stressed.

Coffee makes me sleep.

What type of writer are you—the one who experiences before writing, like Hemingway, or the one who mostly daydreams and fantasizes?

I think I'm, strangely, a mixture of the two. I experience what I write through my dreams. I came up with the captor's name through a dream, as well as the architectural design of his home. Encounters with criminals appear in my dreams too, but the persona is never myself. It's just like watching T.V when it comes to my dreams; it's your dream...your experience, but you're never really fully in it. Most of the time, I don't even have to fantasize or daydream about the next scene in my story. The ideas just randomly hit me, and I'd rather take the hit than not to get any ideas at all. I piece one idea with another and a scene is born. Add another scene with a few more scenes and you have a plot. "Keeping Her in the Light" is basically a collection of my dreams and ideas.

When it comes to writing, are you an early bird, or a night owl?

Night owl. I have no idea if it's purely psychological, but the full moon helps a lot. I'll know when a full moon is approaching when I've written a lot, nonstop. Usually, I lie awake at night, the lights off and the moon shining through my window. An idea hits me, but I'm too lazy to get off the bed. Another idea hits, and still I'm too lazy. A hundred ideas later, after deciding they won't stop hitting me until I write them down, I get up, turn on the lights, grab the nearest notebook and pen, and start writing. Other times, I leave the lights off and write in the dark, with nothing but the moon to guide me.

How was your experience in looking for a publisher? What words of advice would you offer those novice authors who are in search of one?

I found looking for a publisher very tedious. There was a huge amount of research to be done, and I'm not exactly one who loves to research. I sent query letters to various publishers and agents. Most big time publishers don't accept unsolicited manuscripts, and most agents don't get unpublished authors, so there's a really huge problem there.

What book are you reading now? Who are some of your favorite authors?

I'm too busy at this moment to read, but in the near future, I'm going to read a book by our Philippine national hero, Jose Rizal, entitled "El Filibusterismo".

Besides Thomas Harris, other favorites are Mitch Albom, Markus Zusak, and Gaston Leroux.

The holidays are here. Is there a family tradition you do each year that you would like to share with us?

Christmas is like one big family reunion. We all meet in my grandmother's house, bring food, and eat out in her garden. The pros of living in a tropical country...

If your muse were to talk behind your back, what secrets would he/she tell?

She's a procrastinator, and yet everything falls into place with her. She has mastered the art of cramming and yet she still gets the job done. It's like she doesn't even have to try.

You have to ask a fictional character out on a date—who would you ask and what would you do together?

Do I have to be the one who'll ask this fictional character out? Very well.

Hannibal Lecter. But not for the reasons you think. I just want to talk. I want to try to figure him out, even if he'll probably have me all figured out by the time we greet each other.

Where can readers find you on the web?

To buy an e-book of "Keeping Her in the Light", they can find it here:
http://www.eternalpress.ca/keepingherinthelight.html

To take a peek at my blog, they can visit: http://keepingherinthelight.wordpress.com/

4 comments:

Maggie Dove said...

Hi Nicole and Dawn. Great interview! Nicole, my sister and brother in law lived in the Philippines during the 70's and 80's. They have many fond memories and loved every minute there. Through them, I met many of their friends and I have to say, delightful people!

Maggie

www.maggiedove.net

Unknown said...

Hi :)
Thank you for introducing me to Nicole. Thanks to Nicole for sharing. Keeping Her In The Light sounds like a great read & I've added it to my ToBeRead list. I really enjoyed learning about Nicole and her writing.
All the best,
RKCharron
PS - Nicole's on Twitter! She's @DrySpring

Nicole Fuentes said...

Hey Maggie. Thanks for the comment! Yes, the Philippines is a lovely country. Very happy too. Even with the recent Ondoy typhoon destruction, we Filipinos still somehow have some reason to smile.

Cate Masters said...

Great interview, Dawn and Nicole. Congrats on your release, Nicole. Sounds like a fantastic psychological thriller. Wishing you many sales!

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