An Interview with Lisa Emme

Welcome, Lisa Emme. Thanks for joining us today.
Lisa: Hey, no problem. Happy to be here.

So, let’s start off with an easy one. Who are your favorite authors?
Lisa: Easy? I don’t know if I’d agree with that. I think that’s a tough one because there are so many authors I enjoy and so many different genres I read. I would definitely have to start with Karen Marie Moning, Kim Harrison, Keri Arthur, and Chloe Neill in the Urban Fantasy/PNR category. Others include Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris and Kelley Armstrong. Oh! And I can’t forget Anne Bishop’s Others series. I love that one. For Adventure/Thriller, I’d have to say that James Rollins, Steve Berry, and Matt Reilly are definitely on my auto-buy list. And then there’s Janet Evanovich and JD Robb, also auto-buys for me because I’m hooked on their series and characters.

Wow! That’s a lot. Is there a book or story in particular that had a lasting impact on you?
Lisa: Oh definitely. The first book I can remember that really had an impact on me was David Eddings’s Pawn of Prophecy. It was the first book in his Belgariad. My aunt gave me the first three books when I was about ten years old and I just devoured them. They were unlike anything I had read before. I remember getting to the end of the third book and discovering that the story wasn’t finished and I scoured the bookstores looking for the next book only to be told that it wasn’t even published yet! Oh the horror! Since I was hooked, I decided to try other books in the same genre (Fantasy) to bide the time. That’s when I started to discover Tolkien, Aspirin, Anthony, Wrede, Brooks, Yolen, McKillip,….the list goes on and on. I’ve been addicted to reading ever since.

So, you are a big fantasy fan then? What else do you read for pleasure?
Lisa: I’d have to say that fantasy, urban fantasy and paranormal romance are my go-to genres, but I read action adventure, suspense, horror, even general fiction. I won’t say no to a steamy romance/erotica either. I’m a bit of a (okay, a really big) book addict and I admit to preferring a physical book over an ebook. I love to peruse the bargain table for whatever catches my fancy so I have a lot of hardcovers in my collection (how can you say no to a HC for $4.99?)

Tell us about your current project.
Lisa: I’m currently working on getting the second book of The Harry Russo Diaries trilogy, Tooth and Claw, ready for publication. Then it will be on to getting book three ready for launch. There’s also another possible stand-alone story in Harry’s universe that seems to be itching to be told, so we shall see.

What is your writing process?
Lisa: My writing process is sort of a mix between organized and seat of your pants. First there has to be the idea. Once that pops into my head, I’ll find myself thinking about it, fleshing it out. When inspiration hits, I’ll probably jot down some notes and then I save them in a file. When the idea has grown enough that it starts bugging me that there is a story there to be told, I start to think about the characters and individual scenes and how they fit into the overall story, and try and scope out a rough outline. All I may have to start is a character and what I eventually want to happen. As I create more and more scenes in my head and get them jotted down in point form on paper (and eventually transferred to my computer), I start to see the story growing. There seems to be a creative tipping point that I can’t quantify here when I feel that I have to start writing. This is where the seat of my pants part comes in. I may think I have it all outlined but as I write, the characters might change or what happens to them ends up being totally different than what I originally imagined. I think it helps to be flexible and not hold too tightly onto some ideas because sometimes, they just aren’t meant to be.

That’s great. Finally, one last question. What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
Lisa: Inspires? Hmm… I’d have to say that the fact that I have a life to live is what gets me out of bed, as much as I’d wish to be able to sleep in instead, or say something like ‘the idea of changing the world and making it a better place’ is what inspires me every day. The reality is that the school bus arrives at 8:20 a.m. and my kid needs to be on it. That’s what really inspires me to get out of bed (on time) on weekdays at least.

Lisa Emme has been a storyteller from practically the day she was born. Known to have told a tall tale or two as a child, she has always had an active imagination. A voracious reader, Lisa has been preparing for this adventure in writing since she first became hooked on Fantasy novels at the age of ten. After reading hundreds, if not thousands of books, she finally felt it was time to put her thoughts on paper. The Harry Russo Diaries is one of the first ideas to battle its way out of the deep dark crevices of her mind.