Blog Hop!

I’m participating in a Blog Hop! I hope you’ll follow the links at the end of this post and HOP on over to other bloggers in this “Getting to Know You” Blog Hop.

Hello, and welcome to the Getting to Know You Blog Hop. We have an eclectic choice of bloggers for this hop and it will run from January 29, 2013 to February 1, 2013. I’d like to thank Vicki M. Taylor. She’s the author and blogger who created this hop and made it happen for all of us.

Let’s get started on getting to know me — Candy Korman of Candy’s Monsters…

Where are you from?
I’m from New York City.

When and why did you begin writing?
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer. Back before I knew how to read, I entertained my friends by making up stories.

What books have most influenced your life?
There are simply too many to mention, but I’ll try. “A Fatal Inversion” by Barbara Vine (AKA Ruth Rendell), “Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie and “Despair” by Vladimir Nabokov, jump immediately to mind, but there are so many more, including history books and biographies.

What is your favorite book from childhood?
My father read out loud to us every night. I remember “The Secret Garden” was a repeat favorite — one chapter at a time every night.

Are the names of the characters in your novels important?
My character names are very important. Sometimes I agonize over names and sometimes I develop a system. In “Bram Stoker’s Summer Sublet” virtually all the character names are drawn from “Dracula.” The dog, the parrot, even the apartment building’s name is from Bram Stoker’s original. In POED all but one name is drawn from Poe’s stories or his life. I donated the right to that outlier name to one of my not-for-profit client’s annual fundraising auction. Names are important and worthy of serious consideration.

What’s your favorite fruit?
Apples. Is that a writer’s fruit? I’m eating one right now.

Do you ever wish you had an entirely uncreative job?
Never! In my long and somewhat wacky career, I’ve managed to morph “non-creative” positions into something approximating a creative job. Demonstrating espresso makers was a challenge, but it became a character study opportunity. An old lady in the house wares department of Zabars started to attack me for demonstrating a coffee maker made by Krups. “Krups!” she said in a heavy Viennese accent. “Krups made the gas chambers!” “Isn’t it great that they now make coffee makers?” I asked in reply. A few minutes later, I was making her a cappuccino and she was giving me her strudel recipe. Characters and stories are everywhere — you just have to be ready to see them. This approach transforms “non” creative experiences into fiction fodder.
What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?
Discipline is critical. If you are too self-indulgent, you will simply never get anything done. This goes for my freelance writing as well as my fiction.

What was the greatest thing you learned at school?
I was a history major at NYU and I learned how to create a narrative out of the bits and pieces gleaned from historical research. I also learned to question the perspective of the storyteller. Whether it’s a history book, a memoir, or fiction of any genre — the storyteller’s point-of-view guides the narrative and it is not necessarily reliable. This had a tremendous impact on the way I read and the way I write.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
I’d really like to sit down with P. D. James and pick her astute and remarkable brain! But there are many storytellers of various stripes in my real life — including both my parents and many of my friends. I like to listen to someone tell me the same story they’ve told many times before to see how it changes or doesn’t.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?
I’m always working on several projects at once. Right now, I’m in the middle of the first draft of the fourth in my Candy’s Monsters series. It’s my version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. As with the others in the series, the classic horror story is my inspiration. I’m also planning to serialize — on this blog — a mystery novella entitled “Waltzing in the Snow” (Starting in February). And I’m collaborating on a Green Marketing ebook with an expert on the subject. It’s very interesting and will offer businesses practical strategies.

Having contributed a science fiction story to the Time Yarns collection entitled “Cat’s Cradle” and seven stories to Unexpected Tales from the Ends of the Earth, an international collection from the British writers collective Mardibooks, I’m looking for collections where I can place my short stories. In the meantime, I post a new one every month on my freelance writing blog: http://www.sweetcopy.com/ (Go to the SweetFiction page).

Do you have any advice for other writers?
WRITE! Less talking about it and more writing gets things done. Also, coffee is my friend. Maybe it’s your friend too?
Thank you for reading a bit about me and I’d like to introduce you to other authors along this hop. Their links are below:

http://vickimtaylor.blogspot.com
http://tenthchild.com/wordpress/
http://sfemespiral.com/ego/
http://candacegauger.wordpress.com/
http://traceeford.wordpress.com/
http://pacificrimpressblog.wordpress.com/
http://www.notanotherbookreview.blogspot.com/
http://ninjananny.wordpress.com/
http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com/
http://simplifyandsave.weebly.com/blog-save–simplify.html