How long have you been writing for?
Since my Master’s in screenwriting, about 8 years ago. It started with scripts, obviously, but then I wrote a short story and preferred to hold the complete control over the finished piece. Oh, and then I started writing novels and I was gone for good. No more making films for me, no sir.
How many rejections did you receive before you first became published and how did you stay motivated?
So many I’ve lost count – and I mean it. I’ve been trying to land an agent for my screenplays and then my novels for years before the publishing world took one sharp turn and things changed drastically. But it’s the dream, you know: you walk into a store and see your book right there in the hardcover section… That might be what kept me going. Now, it’s just this want and need to tell a good story.
Favorite Author and book when you were a child?
As a tiny girl, I loved ‘Un Conte pour Chaque Soir’ from Jean Karel – each night a different story with cute drawings and a penchant for darkness. So yeah, I did grow up knowing there was always something hiding under the bed, and sometimes they smile back.
What music do you listen to when you write?
Depending on the story. For Girls & Aliens, VAST played throughout. Don’t ask me why, it’s not remotedly ufo-ish sounding, but the beats were just right. For Girls & Ghosts, I’m planing some Skinny Puppy-Sisters of Mercy-Bauhaus-Nine Inch Nails mix. I’ll probably throw in a little The Cure, too.
Any superstitious rituals that you go through when beginning a new story?
Besides outlining, I sacrifice a virgin on a full moon, drink the blood while dancing naked under the stars.
Favorite book released in the last year?
Toughie… Micheal Grant’s GONE amazingly disturbing series ends in Light, which was pretty amazing and sad and creepy and lovely – as every book should be.
Favorite book released in the last 10 years?
It’s a tie: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and Let the Rigth One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Equally entralling and dark, both have the perfect amount of spook and realism without falling into the predictable. I would die without those books, I read them every year, they are my friends.
Favorite quote from a book that is not your own?
Elizabeth Bennet, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen: “The more I see of the world, the less inclined I am to think well of it.”
Favorite quote from one of your own works?
It’s more of a moment, at the end of ‘Misery of Me’ published in Tatterred Souls volume 2 by Cutting Block Press: “Her eternal flame died in a single, brilliant burst of light, with which she blinded him for one last time, if only for a second or two.”
Advice for new writers who are struggling with character creation?
Do the exact opposite of what people expect you to do: with you characters, your stories, your twists and endings.
E-Reader or Physical copy?
Both, I’m not e-racist.
What first inspired you to become a writer?
I just fell in love: the pounding of the keyboard, the voices in my head, the stories taking live before me… everything about it makes me want to write more. Like right now, I’m thinking about it. Oh yes, baby, one more chapter.
Tell us your favorite joke.
Dracula walks into a bar and sees the Twilight ‘vampires’. He kills them all. The end.
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Anne Michaud is the author of Girls and Monsters, you can also find her work in “Flesh and Bone: Rise of the Necromancers”, “City of Hell Chronicles vol 1”, “The ePocalypse: E-mails at the end” and “Tattered Souls 2”.
Her goodreads profile can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3011844.Anne_Michaud
You can find her on twitter through @annemichaud