Author Interview with Margo Bond Collins

Author Interviews

October 22, 2013

Author Interview with Margo Bond Collins

I’m interviewing Margo Bond Collins today, the author of paranormal mystery novel “Waking Up Dead”. Thank you for answering my questions, Margo!

Author Interview

1) When did you know you wanted to become an author?

I’ve always known, for as long as I can remember. The first story I remember actually writing down was basically fan-fiction of The Wizard of Oz. I wrote it in long-hand in a yellow legal pad. I’ve been writing ever since.

2) Where did you get the inspiration for Waking up Dead?

I wrote Waking Up Dead when I lived in Alabama for a few years. I remember driving to work one morning and seeing just a wisp of fog move across the statue in the middle of the town square. The statue was of some Civil War figure, and thought that it looked oddly ghostly. In between teaching classes that day, I started writing Callie’s story.

3) How long did it take you to write Waking up Dead from start to finish?

Six weeks. I tend to write very quickly and steadily anyway, and Waking Up Dead flowed fairly easily.

4) What is your editing process like?

I edit on the sentence level as I go, changing things around as necessary. But I also tend to write in scenes, and if a scene isn’t working, I will simply put a reminder in brackets—something like this: [FIX THIS SCENE]. Then I move on. So the first editing step is always to do a search for those brackets and do my best to address the issues. Once I’ve done that, I do a read-through for plot coherence. Then I do a final read-through for any other issues. And then I quit for a while so I can get some distance before I come back to it for a final proofreading session.

5) What was the most challenging part about writing Waking up Dead?

Making sure the mystery made sense! About halfway through I figured out that I was going to need to solve the mystery before the characters did! So at that point I decided where I was headed, generally—but the characters took me where I needed to go.

6) What are your writing goals for 2014?

Always keep writing! I have three works in progress that I plan to complete. And I also have two others that I want to get to. So I guess that means my goals are to finish five novels. (I’m suddenly realizing that I might be insane . . . )

7) Are you working on something right now? If so, can you tell us more about it?

I’m working on sequels to Waking Up Dead and to Legally Undead, the urban fantasy I have coming out from World Weaver Press in 2014. I’m also working on a contemporary romance novel. And I have the beginnings of two others—one’s a paranormal romance, and the other is what I’m calling my Regency Romance in Space . . .

Waking up Dead

Title: Waking Up Dead

Author: Margo Bond Collins

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead, she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex. Now she’s witnessed another murder, and she’s not about to let this one go. She’s determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake up in Alabama?

Author Bio

Margo Bond Collins lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, several spoiled cats, and a ridiculous turtle. She teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other monsters. Waking Up Dead is her first published novel. Her second novel, Legally Undead, is an urban fantasy, forthcoming in 2014 from World Weaver Press.