Facebook Links:
http://www.facebook.com/DanaMarton
http://www.facebook.com/mvsfans
Now onto the Q&A. Dana and I both attended Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction Masters program. If you've been paying attention to this blog, you know I've featured a couple other SHU alumnus that have published their fantasy books (Sabrina Benulis and Melanie Card). But there are a number of other talented alumnus that have published in other genres as well. Yes - I'm shamelessly promoting the SHU program :) And I'll mention the SHU writer's workshop weekend/retreat for those who want a taste of the program. It's open to all writers. For more info go here: https://alumni.setonhill.edu/page.aspx?pid=673
THE THIRD SCROLL comes out on May 1st - and the e-book will be offered at a special price of 0.99 for one day only (May 1st). Here's a link to the e-book: http://www.amazon.com/Third-Scroll-Hardstorm-Saga-ebook/dp/B007YWXDEW 
Cover blurb: Sold into slavery, Tera, a budding healer, is thrust into the savage realm of barbarian warlords, the same realm which claimed her mother years ago. She must avoid the displeasure of her warrior lord and survive the cruelties of the concubines, even as war threatens on the horizon.
Yet a greater danger looms when she catches the eye of the most powerful lord of the land and he takes her for his Pleasure Hall. Tera struggles to escape, while searching for the secret behind her mother’s death. But what she discovers challenges everything she believes in. A path set long ago beckons. A path that could lead to triumph, or the destruction of her world.
TAKE 10 with DANA MARTON:
1.) You’re known for your romantic suspense and intrigue plots – why the switch to fantasy?
Because everybody knows that the easiest way to build readership is to stick with the same genre. Easy? Who needs that when I can do things the hard way?
Okay, seriously, it’s not really as new a direction for me as it seems. I wrote THE THIRD SCROLL at the same time as I wrote my first romantic suspense, close to 10 years ago. Both were requested by editors. The suspense manuscript was bought and published. But by the time I sent THE THIRD SCROLL, the editor who originally requested it left. I tried to place the book with other publishers, but my suspense career took off at one point and the fantasy was put aside. But never forgotten! I always knew that someday, somehow, I would get this book to readers.
2.) Where did you get the idea for THE THIRD SCROLL?
As strange as it sounds, there wasn’t an all-encompassing idea. I had no plot for the book. I finished the suspense I worked on before this, and suddenly this woman started talking in my head, telling her story. She had such a distinct voice. I just followed along. I wasn’t sure I could write fantasy. I have never tried before. I often didn’t know what was going to happen next until I wrote it. I finished the first draft in about six months, which is not bad for a story that ran to nearly 500 pages.
I hate it when Stephen Kings says that when he writes, it’s as if he left the room and someone else came in and put the story on paper. It’s kind of spooky and seems way too easy, but just this once, it was almost like that. If not someone else writing, but almost like taking dictation. Just listening to that hushed voice telling her story and me writing it down.
3.) Which authors inspire you? Has that changed over time?
I love a long, epic story with a woman at its center, and I’m drawn to healers. Jean Auel’s The Clan of the Cave Bear is one of my favorite books of all times. So is Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Series. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see that your latest book, TOUCH OF POWER has a heroine who is a healer. I absolutely LOVE that book! [Thanks, Dana - you're so sweet]
4.) So dish about Seton Hill University’s Writing Program– do you think your time in the program helped with your fabulous writing career?
Well, I wasn’t published when I went in, and I was published when I came out. :) I love that program. Wish I could go back for a refresher. And the people I met there (such as super talented author Maria V. Snyder) [now you're embarrassing me ;>] alone were worth the price of admission. There’s a time to play around with writing, and a time to get serious about writing. Seton Hill represents the moment when I made the full commitment and the sacrifices and said, okay, let’s do this and get it done. I will see my books on the shelves at the stores, or else.
5.) What do you find most interesting about Tera? Do you think healers might become the next vampires as far as popularity?
Oh, how I wish! I think that’s an excellent idea. I mean, dead people? Really? Wouldn’t the living be a little more fun? [I agree!]
I like that Tera is just an ordinary person, struggling with loss and life and trying to figure her life out, hoping she’s more than meets the eye, hoping she has some talent. I like it that when she gets knocked down, over and over again, she gets up every time. She’s not a warrior queen, she’s not a sorceress, but she has amazing inner strength. She works with what she has.
6.) What else do you enjoy doing besides writing? Interests? Hobbies?
What? There are things outside of writing? Why haven’t I heard of this before? [LOL - I hear ya sistah!]
7.) How did you become a writer? Is this what you saw yourself growing up to be? Or did it take you by surprise?
Always wanted to be a writer. When I was young, I thought everybody wanted to be a writer, but then they took other occupations when they couldn’t make it as a writer. Never realized someone actually started out as wanting to be a doctor or manager or something like that. I wrote a poem as soon as we learned the alphabet in school. Showed it to my mom. She thought I copied it from somewhere and grounded me for lying about writing it myself. So I was introduced early to the hardships of a writing life and the injustice writers face sometimes. Not that it deterred me. :)
8.) Do you have a writing routine? Talk process for a moment, how do the words get on the page?
I start writing right after I get up in the morning and write until I fall off the chair. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but pretty close to my day, actually. I break for major meals. And once the family can’t stand having to be quiet and turns on the TV in the evening, I usually quit for the day. I’ve never had writer’s block. But I’m sure I will now, just for saying that. I’ve been known to say things over the weekend like, “I can’t wait until Monday so I can get back to writing.” What can I say? When I’m obsessed with something, I don’t do it halfway. But I never write on Sunday, and will only write on Saturday if it’s a matter of life and death. And I don’t take a laptop on vacation. When I write, I write. When I play, I play. I think that’s important.
9.) Office? Closet? Corner of the living room? Do you have a set place to write? A favorite?
In the apartment we previously rented, my desk was wedged between the fridge and the staircase. There was a lot of snacking going on in between writing scenes. I could reach into the bottom freezer for popsicles right from my chair. I was not made to withstand that kind of temptation. I swore that at the new house I’ll have an office. I do. I never go in there. I have a small desk wedged behind the sofa in the living room, separating the living room from the kitchen. The fridge is still too close, but at least I have to get up to reach it. Truth is, I like to be in the middle off all the activity.
10.) What are you writing now? What's coming out next?
I’m going to have a busy summer. THE THIRD SCROLL comes out on May 1st, then SPY HARD, an international romantic thriller, comes out on June 1st, then THE SPY WORE SPURS, a romantic thriller set in Texas, comes out on July 1st. Then I’ll be probably led away gently to some institution for mental recovery. Some people can pace themselves. I’m not one of them. I might have another thriller in the fall via Kindle direct publishing, before my final story for the year. I will be in a Christmas Cowboy anthology with the talented Julie Miller and Paula Graves in December. [I'm exhausted just reading this!]
For more info on Dana and her books go to:
website: http://www.danamarton.com
blog: http://danamarton.blogspot.com/
book website: http://www.thethirdscroll.com
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