Thanks Claudine

Thanks for the introduction, Claudine, and I apologize for not posting earlier. My alter ego had a longggggggggggggg day at work, but I’ll be here all day tomorrow and Friday.

Anyway, I’m A.L.Debran and I typically write historicals of the western nature. I say usually because my newest release is a contemporary vampire novella. I grew up on a cattle ranch listening to Marty Robbins gunfighter ballads and reading Louis L’Amour westerns. The love of all things Old West is deep in my heart.

I like to tell people that I live in the far southeastern corner of Colorado where “we have a name for rain and wind and fire. The rain is Tess, the fire’s Joe, and they call the wind Mariah.”

EMAIL your answers to me at: aldebran1@live.com

I’ll choose a random winner from the all the correct emails I receive on Sunday, August 17 around 6 pm MOUNTAIN time (my time) and contact the winner. The prize you ask? Your choice of one of my books. Stop by my website >>> http://www.al-debran.com >>> to read blurbs and excerpts.

Now, to answer Claudine’s questions.

What brings out the muse in me? I fired my muses a couple of years ago because they were a couple of riverboat gamblers who ultimately wanted to play poker and smoke cigars more than they wanted to inspire me. So I’m on my own, however, I almost always have a movie going while I write. I need the visual inspiration that movies offer. For instance, when I’m in deep-scene writing, I put on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and just keep them going. The Last of the Mohicans, Phantom of the Opera, and Casablanca are also good mood-setters.

When I’m writing, do I have to have a lucky charm? Nope, I can write anywhere, at anytime, under any circumstances. I hand-write and type. I’m not temperamental at all. Napkin, notebook, computer keyboard, envelope, sidewalk chalk”¦it’s all the same to me.

I don’t know if these qualify as quirks, but I use a trifold board (science project type) to glue visuals of my story to -pictures and words- so I can see the characters, places, etc. My stories unfold in my head much as a movie unfolds on screen. I write in scenes rather than a beginning-middle-end/linear format and I stick the indivdual scenes in as the story plays out. Another quirk is until I have the exact name for each character and know that character’s personality, the story won’t flow at all.

I can go on and on, so I’ll take a breath here and let someone else say something.