MEGAN SYBIL BAKER

Welcome to our spotlight of Megan Sybil Baker.

Anita: Hello, Megan. Thanks for joining me and for being my first fantasy spotlight author. For our readers, what genres do you write?

Greetings, Anita! Pull over a chair and let me pour you a glass of (cyber) wine. I write in the genre of speculative fiction and the sub genre of speculative fiction romance, or what's more commonly called Science Fiction and Fantasy. My first novel, WINTERTIDE, is fantasy, with a romantic subplot. FINDERS KEEPERS, which I wrote under my real name of Linnea Sinclair (well, almost my real name, married name not included), is science fiction romance. I've also published short stories and novellas in the SF Romance field and the paranormal detective genre.

How old were you when you started writing?

This is the honest truth. I wrote my first book at 4 years old, and illustrated it with my crayons. It was called "La Petite Chat" and yes, it was written in English, but I looked up the French word for 'cat' in a multi-lingual dictionary and just decided to use that. I don't know if the novel was any good but my mother liked it.

So how old were you when you made your first sale?

Age? Older than 4. [grin] Umm let's see (counts on fingers and toes.)My first published works were when I was in college - I was a news reporter. So I've had by-lines since I was 20 years old . I sold WINTERTIDE, my first fiction full length novel, in 2000.

Did you take any writing classes when you were just starting out?

Writing classes- I did major in journalism as an undergrad in college. After graduate school, for fun, I took a creative writing course. Since then I've taken a few creative writing courses now and then at local community colleges, mostly to hob nob with other writerly types. The internet now, though, provides much of the writerly companionship I was seeking from those courses.

Do you read a lot?

I'm an avid reader. Always have been.

What genres do you read?

Mystery (no surprise being a retired PI), romance, SFF and autobiography. I also love spiritual books. I recently finished a fascinating auto-biography of a English Buddhist nun.

How much time of your day is devoted to writing? Do you write every day?

I write every day, life permitting. I usually get to the computer around 9AM, go through emails, start writing around 10AM and write, pop into the internet, write some more, until 10PM.


Was there a mentor who helped you get into writing?

If you want to go way back, I had an English teacher in high school (Mr. Quinn) who was very encouraging in regards to my fiction. So that rather stayed with me. I majored in journalism feeling it was the 'profitable' end of fiction. Then after I'd finished grad school and gotten married, I took a night course in creative writing. The professor there, Dr. Carl Calendar, was extremely supportive. The first draft of WINTERTIDE was written because of his class. As for mentors- I've been blessed with the friendship of a former Silhouette author who now writes mysteries: Nancy Gramm aka Kate Maguire. She's been a superb taskmistress, as has my crit partner, Darlene Palenik -- an avid reader.

What life experiences do you have that help you in creating your stories?

Oh, I have an incredibly over-active imagination that sees stories in everything. I'm an only child and I developed the ability at a young age to create a constant running 'movie' in my head to entertain myself. Most of my stories are born from a 'what if' , a 'visual scene' and a feeling of intense emotion tied to that scene. As for life experiences... I've been a news reporter and a private detective. I love to travel and enjoy other cultures. This all fits in to what I write. I'm also a cancer survivor. That also gives one a different perspective.

I'd like to know more about you writing method. In what order do you write? For example: do you write from the beginning of the story to the end,write scenes in random order, or have a development cycle of some sort?

What order do I write?... Well, as I said, my stories or novels start with a visual scene that holds a very powerful emotion. That's usually either the opening scene of a book, or somewhere very, very close to the opener. I'm a leap frog outliner -- not a true outliner at all. I write 3 or so chapters, stop, freelwrite/outline the next 3 and so on. I pretty much have a general idea of where a book is headed, but rarely do I have the specifics when I start. freelwrite - that's a combo of free and feel and write. I just invented the word.

Oh, I like it. Freel-I'm going to remember that. What exactly is 'leapfrog' plotting?

Leapfrog plotting isn't my term and I apologize that I don't remember exactly where I read about it. I believe it was an author named Larry?? whose last name escapes me. Anyway, I read his explanation and advice on a net site and it resonated with me, because I'd balked at straight outlining before. Basically leapfrog outlining is to write a small spate of chapters, usually 3, then outline the next three, then write them. So it's write, outline, write, outline... you're NOT outlining chapter 45 when you're writing chapter 4. So you're not locking yourself in with a final destination. It works well, I think, with character driven stories like mine.

So you don’t revise your work?

Ah, define revise. I write pretty much 'in a heat.' But as I go, if something feels really wrong, I'll hold on to it and ponder and play with it awhile. But mostly, no, I write first draft - at least a chapter if not 2 - and then go back, re-read and 'tweak'. I rarely actually rewrite. I tweak. You saw my FINDERS KEEPERS-that was pretty much first draft. I did some minor tweaking and my editor had me add one scene. But there's not all that much difference (typos and grammar and the dreaded pluperfect notwithstanding).

WINTERTIDE is your fantasy novel released last year by LTDBooks and coming out in paperback in August. Since you write both SF and fantasy, could you describe for me the difference between the two?

The difference between fantasy and science fiction? Greater minds than mine have tackled that definition. Fantasy to me is a sub-genre of science fiction, or speculative fiction, if you will. However, I recognize many people see fantasy as its own genre. I'm comfortable with that. Both genres involve worldbuilding. Both genres involve the creation by the author, and the acceptance by the reader, of things not normally found in our daily lives.

Fantasy usually involves the 'magical' more than the technical, and is set in what we see as a 'medieval' background. Social and political structures are more akin to medieval, Arthurian or based on ancient Greece or Rome. In fantasy, you're more likely to find horses than hovercars.

Science Fiction opts for the technical, but can include magic. My far-future sequel to Wintertide, The Reluctant Goddess, contains both high-tech and magic intertwined. 'Hardware' is certainly more prevalent in SF than horses.

In a simplistic form, you'd find elves in fantasy and aliens in science fiction, yet they may appear exactly alike. I often wonder if you can differentiate between the two based on woman's skirt lengths [big grin]. In fantasy novels, the woman most often wear floor length skirts. In SF, they're apt to be in short skirts or jumpsuits/coveralls. Obviously, I'm teasing somewhat. But my point is, or at least my personal belief is, that the lines between SF and Fantasy often blur. I don't think either genre can be pigeon-holed, which is why I just lump them together under Spec Fic.

Let's talk about about FINDERS KEEPERS, your next release, coming from NovelBooks,Inc. in October.

Due out Oct.1 - my wedding anniversary.

How long did it take you to develop the story? Was it fully developed before you started writing, or did it 'come to you' as you wrote it?

FINDERS had one small previous life as a short novella. The opening scene was the same: Trilby, dumped and destitute with a rattle-trap starfreighter, looking to salvage her life through reward monies for rescuing Rhis. It sat for about 3 years and after I finished WINTERTIDE, it called to me. I wrote it in about 4 months, the novella forming the first 3 chapters, which yes, had expanded tweaks tweaked in. After that, it was all 'freel write' with minor leapfrog plotting. Let me explain also that I do a lot of mind-plotting. I actually do work on conflict and logic, but I do it while folding laundry or running on the treadmill. Only after I've 'experienced' a scene or a chapter will I write it. Now... if I get stuck, if I feel the story's not moving as it should, I will sit down and start to 'interview' myself and my characters. I will literally sit at the computer and type: "Trilby is angry because..." and then let it flow. I eventually end up getting something useful and valid.

You know that I love Finders Keepers- in what genre do you classify it? SF romance? SF adventure?

Space Opera Romance. I fear flack from the serious SF readers who might not like that lack of 110% scientific accuracy. It flows right in there with Star Wars and Star Trek, which I feel is very good company indeed!

Describe some more of your writing process for me-which comes first-character or plot?

Character! No, no. Plot! No, No. Character. ;-)... well,I think character but let's qualify that and say character with his or her fanny caught in a bear trap (and I nod to Jacqueline L. in S~G for that quote). It's character with an issue and a flaw and a goal. I sometimes use a basic character sheet (name, age, race, sex, favorite ice cream) but I don't rely on them. I tend to create a file in my story folder that has mini bio paragraphs, which may contain factual data, but also contain emotional reactions. Kind of a 'Dear Diary'.

Where did you get the idea for WINTERTIDE? Was it a character first story or an idea first story?

WINTERTIDE was a character story. The character of Khamsin intrigued me: a young woman unaware of her heritage and power. She is the average person called upon to do great things. That premise could be challenged by saying that Khamsin was born with the powers of a sorceress. Yes, but she was unaware of those powers, so they were for the most part, dormant.

My analogy here is that I believe we are all born innately wonderful, innately great. We all have undiscovered and untapped potential. Like Khamsin, we often don't discover just what we can do until we're faced with critical choices. The character of Khamsin drove the story for me; her growth, her loss of innocence, her fears, her challenges and finally, her acceptance of herself.

I have my original manuscript of WINTERTIDE. It's dated 1985 and was 49,000 words. (When I submitted it to LTDBOOKS in early 2000, it had been fleshed out to 70,000 words.) Since it was initially written more than 15 years ago, I can't exactly tell you how it came about. Other than the character of Khamsin, and my desire to explore her growth through her story.

How do you research a story-what tools do you use?

I have no formal background in science other than the usual college and graduate school required courses. My majors were journalism and criminology, so hard science was pretty much out. I do use the internet a lot, but I also use two excellent SF writer's reference books: Lawrence Krauss's THE PHYSICS OF STAR TREK and Dr. Jeanne Cavelos's THE SCIENCE OF STAR WARS. Ben Bova has an excellent guide out as well that I have but it's not in front of me at the moment so I can't give the exact title. What these books do is outline what a SF writer (or SF-lite as we're called) can do in pushing the scientific envelope. In fact, some of what we do is called 'science fantasy' because we don't adhere to strict science logic. So these books are terrific in helping me avoid major blunders. The other thing I do is read a lot of SF from top notch writers, like C.J. Cherryh and Lisanne Norman and David Weber. I also love Peter David's TREK books. Combining the more serious stuff from Cherryh with the whimsy and fun science of TREK and David is my goal.

Do you have any favorite writing resources you'd like to suggest to aspiring authors? Look out Swain, here she comes.

Oooh, Swain. I swoon for Swain! ;-) And of course, his sidekick, Jack Bickham. I tell everyone, as you well know, Anita, that if you can buy only one book on writing, buy Swain's TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER. Also excellent is Browne & King's SELF EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS and Lawrence Block's books. And James Frey. But Swain and Bickham -- those two will teach you 90% of what you need to know in a simple, direct and in depth way. IMHO.

What do you consider your strongest writing skill? Your weakest?

Oooh, a toughie. I really am the worst analyzer of my own work. I feel I do good characters. I can create characters that can pull on a reader. I feel I can do good dialogue - I love word play and am a devotee of the old Spencer Tracy- Katherine Hepburn tete-a-tetes. My weakpoint TO ME is my difficulty in ending a book- in tying up the final conflict. I can write the first 35 chapters in two months and the last two chapters can take me six months.

What do you think is the most important thing for you to do to continue to improve as a writer?

Discipline, really. I do have to get off the internet and wean myself of email. And now that I'm doing illustrations and bookcovers, my writing time is splintered again. I also have to have more faith in my writing. I'm constantly shocked when people like it, when the reviews come in and they're so good. I'm like... whose book did you read? You see, I write to entertain myself. I have a damn good time writing, I chortle, I snicker, I hop around the office, I give myself chills. All those things. I mean, I'm having too much fun to take this seriously. And then someone goes and says how well I do this-that-or-the other thing. Do you know I didn't know until almost a week after the EPPIEs that I'd won? I was out of town - and in the middle of moving -- and I finally got to the congrats emails and I'm going... huh? When I realized I'd won, I cried. I actually sobbed. That's not like me at all. I was in total shock. So I think to continue to improve, I have to have more faith in what I do.

That was my next question, since it seems to plague writers in general. Do you ever write something that you look at, first time, and think, 'Wow, that's good!' or does it all look terrible?

Well, if it makes me chortle or if it gives me chills, I know I'm on the right track. But the issue with writing is that any one scene taken out of context may be lovely, but in the book can be wrong. Overall, I know when I'm pleased with what I've produced and I know when I've done a section that I will have to go back to and tweak. Or 'dream' on to obtain the right emotion to portray.

Besides FINDERS KEEPERS, do you have any other pending releases?

I have some almost pending. I have a tentative acceptance from LTDBooks (WINTERTIDE's publisher) for GABRIEL'S GHOST, which is a very intense shapeshifter/SF romance. LTDB liked it so well that they will take it ONLY if I produce the sequel - like NOW. So I have to rewrite the ending of GABRIEL'S (actually it was an ending I'd considered before) and I had to plot out the sequel. I've sent that to LTDB and am awaiting their OK. When it's an OK, it'll be my first 2-book deal. I'm also working on COMMAND PERFORMANCE, a space opera romance for NovelBooks,Inc. (FINDERS KEEPERS publisher). COMMAND is VERY space opera, very much a romp and involves a TREK like setting, a pirate, a cyborg, a pub-crawling starship captain, two telepathic cats, time-travel and [shudder] EVIL ALIENS! When all THOSE are done, I have two more novels plotted and screaming for my attention.

I can't wait. Aside from writing, what subjects are you passionate about? Do you try to work these passions into your writing?

I think most people know I'm owned by five cats, so often I work a pet into my stories or novels. I also - admittedly - have certain pet peeves. Prejudice is one, and I'll weave that into a story line (it's big in GABRIEL'S). Another is self-acceptance and being proud of what you are -- this comes from my cancer survival days. Being true to yourself. Those things as themes will underly some of my work. I also like to write strong female protagonists and that is a passion for me. I hope that someday some woman will read my books and think well, gee, if Trilby could be so sassy and survive, if Khamsin could be so gutsy and survive, so could I.

Do you have any advice for the aspiring writers in our audience? Would you do anything differently if you were just starting out?

I certainly would have started writing fiction SERIOUSLY earlier. But at that time, I had young stepchildren and admittedly, no internet. Resources and encouragement for writers, like Sime~Gen's great site, didn't exist. I'm talking 1979 and on. Today's aspiring writers don't have that excuse. They have the resources; they can talk to published authors, they can understand correct MS format, etc. So it comes down to a matter of BELIEF. I'm also a list moderator (for REALITY'S EDGE, a SF and Fantasy writer community) and that's the one thing I see with newbie writers: they don't believe they can write a novel and get it published. Or a short story. I have to laugh because it's SO much easier for them, now. Back in 1979, when WINTERTIDE was first written, I had no CLUE how to submit a novel and the only market info was WRITERS DIGEST in print, which meant the info was out of date by the time I received it. had no idea how to meet other writers or even if a published writer would talk to me. So for aspiring writers, I'd say 'BIC-HOK'- Butt in Chair Hands on Keyboard. Do it. Write it. Get on a writer list and ask for crit help. READ SWAIN. (then read Swain again.)

A lot of writer wannabes frown on it, but I know you spent a lot of time writing fanfic. Do you have anything to say about that?

I LOVED writing fanfic and I think it's a superb way for a newbie writer to learn character and conflict. It won't teach them MS format, but they will learn plot and flow. I don't agree that writing someone else's character stunts a writer. It's still your imagination doing it.

You've started designing book covers for your own books as well as others. How did you get into that?

Book covers - I've always doodled. Actually, I can draw anything I'm looking at fairly accurately. I've no training, but I have a good sense of color and design. I do all my own decorating at home and people constantly think it's been done professionally. I got into doing covers by doing my own banners, then by doing banners for other LTDBooks authors. I enjoyed that so much I invested in a 3D art program called POSER4, which makes people and other things. I also used Ulead PhotoImpact6, which is similar to Photoshop. I learn by trial and error, but I also haunt the 3D art sites, like 3DCommune and Renderosity -- both super sites with wonderful artists willing to teach newbies all they want to learn. I've already sold a couple of bookcovers and have been contracted for more. So I gather I can do fairly well.

I know you mentor writers sometimes, so you must think that's important?

I think mentoring newbies and doing crit work is very important. For one thing, I learn most about writing when I'm forced to explain it to someone else. It makes me think about how and why I do something. But also, one has to pass the kindness one's been given on to others. That's karma. Joy spreads exponentially.

Linnea, thanks so much for your time and great answers, and for writing the kind of books I love to read. I have such a hard time finding good Fantasy/SF romance, I'm really looking forward to your upcoming releases.

You're very welcome, Anita. I love talking about fiction and the worlds I've created in my books. I write in hopes I can take my readers out of their daily lives for a little while and on an exciting adventure with wizards as companions or intergalactic starships as their method of travel.

Other works by Baker/Sinclair

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