Mechanized Masterpieces 2 Interview: Megan Oliphant (Winged Hope)

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 23, 2015

Mechanized Masterpieces 2: An American Anthology is an upcoming anthology of steampunk short stories coming out on the last day of February – this Saturday! I’m so excited for you all to see it. I’ll be focusing a bit on it all week. We’re starting the week out with a bang, though – an interview with one of the other authors, Megan Oliphant. Plus, there’s a really cool contest at the end for free stuff, so… read on!

Megan Oliphant
An editor at The X, Megan Oliphant has studied creative writing since college, taking classes from the founder of LTUE, Marion K. “Doc” Smith at Brigham Young University, and attended Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp in June of 2014. Her primary interests are in fantasy, ranging from dark urban to high epic, but she’s a sucker for a good mystery that she can’t guess the ending to before she gets there. She divides her time between reading, writing, and “familying” with her husband and five children in North Carolina.

1. Please share how you came up with the concept for your story?
Winged Hope came out desperation. I had been struggling with a steampunk version of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, but got nowhere. For months. It was my desperate search for new inspiration that led me back to one of my favorite poets, Emily Dickinson. I’ve always loved her spare, punctuationally challenging poetry. Who knew you could read so much into a dash? I think some of that desperation leached into the story and Bea’s search for salvation for both her and her daughter.

2. Please name some of your other published works?
This is my first published work!

3. What is your preferred writing genre?
Modern day fairy tales, where unexplainable magic changes the course of ordinary lives. Not necessarily rewritten fairy tales, though I do have some of those in a drawer somewhere, but that moment when a life becomes…more.

4. And preferred reading genre?
Fantasy, mystery, thrillers, sci-fi, epic family sagas, romance…um…do I have to name them all? If a story blurb sounds interesting, I’ll pick it up.

5. What are your top 3 favorite books?
That’s a tough question, because I’m not sure which direction to go to find the answer. I have books that are my favorite for “rereadability”, ones that I’ve read several times and will probably read again. Then there are those that change me profoundly, but I know I could never go voluntarily into that world again. But off the top of my head, I would have to say anything by Robin McKinley. Her Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, not to mention Beauty (both versions of it) were some of the most lyrical prose I have ever read. So there you go. Three books by one author, lol.

6. Do you have any particular writing habits?
I don’t think so. My chair has to be comfy. Does that count?

7. Do you have a playlist that you created while writing your story?
I’ve run through a lot of types of music, but most recently I’ve settled on a Pandora station based off Rachel Portman, the film music composer. I’ve found I really love the stories film scores tell without words. They help flesh out the world I’m trying to get on paper.

8. Panster or plotter?
I’m a light plotter. I can envision the big scenes, but I need to plan out those connecting scenes that will help build tension and take the story to the next level.

9. Advice for writers?
Be brave. Write the hard thing, the thing that makes you question your ability to tackle it. And it may be too hard for you right now. If it is, put it away and write other things for a while. Then when you come back to the project you thought you could never write, you’ll have developed a new set of tools that will help you write the hard stuff.

10. What’s up next for you?
I’m currently working on one of those modern day fairy tales, set in Paris. It’s a story somewhere between “Sabrina” and “Chocolat”, if you’re familiar with those movies.

We’re gonna be having a big release party Saturday evening on Facebook. There will be free prizes and Q&A with the authors. Please come and visit. In the meantime, you can pre-order the eBook on Amazon here:

Mechanized Masterpieces 2: An American Anthology

The paperback will also be available on Saturday, if you prefer that (I kinda do, personally, as much as I love being able to store a ton of books on my tablet…)

I promised you a contest. Here it is!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As always, have fun!

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