“I sold my NaNoWriMo novel!” A Q&A with Alayna Williams
It’s time for another segment of “I sold my NaNoWriMo novel!” For this Q&A, I chatted with Alayna Williams, whose 2008 NaNo-novel Dark Oracle was published by Juno-Pocket Books last spring. Congratulations, Alayna!
So, Dark Oracle is an urban fantasy that combines the ancient Greek cult of oracles and Tarot mysticism with the world of modern-day criminal justice. Sounds awesome! Would you care to expand on that description and maybe tell us a little about what, in your mind, brought those elements together?
Thanks! Balancing science and the paranormal is pretty intriguing to me—they’re both mysterious elements, in their own way. In Dark Oracle, Tara Sheridan swore off criminal profiling after narrowly escaping a serial killer who left her scarred for life. By combining Tarot card divination with her own intuition, she must help an intense federal agent find a missing scientist who has unlocked the destructive secrets of dark energy.
I’d been wanting to write a story about a heroine who uses Tarot cards for years. I wrote the book with a deck of cards in hand as story prompts, which was a lot of fun. Whenever I needed information about a character, or when I got stuck… I drew some cards.
The Delphic Oracle is probably the most famous oracle of the ancient world. The priestess of the Temple of Apollo, the Pythia, wielded a great deal of political influence over leaders who sought her advice and the priestesses who served the temple. I was intrigued by the idea of an order of women exerting subtle and powerful influence over the ancient world. I wondered what would happen if that order of priestesses went underground and survived to the modern day. What would their role in world events be? How would a modern-day oracle like Tara find a way to contribute to the world?
I love doing research, and was also fascinated by what I’d read about the possibility of particle accelerators opening black holes for a fractional period of time in out world. It’s also intriguing to think that most of the matter and energy that we can experience—“light matter”—is a vanishingly small percentage of what really exists in the universe. I followed that research down a rabbit hole of nerdy goodness.
Add equal dollops of magic, science, stir… What came out of the mix was really exciting to me.
You’ve written another novel, Embers, under your real name, Laura Bickle, outside of NaNoWriMo. How did the writing processes differ for you?
In Embers, Anya Kalinczyk spends her days as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department, and her nights pursuing malicious spirits with a team of eccentric ghost hunters. Anya—who is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern—suspects a supernatural arsonist is setting blazes to summon an ancient entity that will burn the city to cinders. By Devil’s Night, the spell will be complete, unless Anya—with the help of the ghost hunters and her fire salamander familiar, Sparky—can stop it.
Actually, Dark Oracle was written before Embers. I just happened to sell it after I sold Embers. I used the same NaNoWriMo techniques I used for Dark Oracle on Embers… Just keep building momentum and moving forward with a daily word count.
That process was really a breakthrough for my writing. Before, it would take me years to finish a book. Now, I know that I can finish a book in a short period of time and say “yes” to tight deadlines without anxiety.
Are you a plotter or a pantser? That is, in your writing do you tend to plan things out or fly by the seat of your pants?
I’m a plotter. I keep a notebook of outlines, scenes, and miscellaneous notes. I know the general story arc as I go in, and the details of scenes three or four scenes in advance. That’s not to say that there aren’t some surprises along the way—there are. But I like having the framework in place. For me, the process is kind of like adding flesh to a skeleton.
How much did you draw from your own experience in criminal justice to create these characters and to write about their investigations, and how much of it was research? Do you also have a background in Greek mythology and Tarot cards?
I did pull from some of my own experiences, but also did a lot of research for these books. Particle physics, for example, was entirely new to me. I’ve been reading Greek mythology since I was a kid, and reading Tarot cards since I was a teenager. I love learning new things, and writing new stories always leads me down a rabbit hole of the familiar and the unfamiliar.
How complete was Dark Oracle after it won NaNoWriMo in 2008?
I had about 50,000 words at that time, and the story had a beginning, middle, and end. My publisher, Juno-Pocket, requires novels of at least 80,000 words in length, so I added subplots and additional material after NaNoWriMo, and it was accepted. But the story arc was still the same.
So, Tarot reading. Does it really work?
I’ve never used it to try and solve crimes. Just for my own personal amusement! For myself, it seems to hit the mark more often than not.
Any advice for your fellow Wrimos?
The NaNoWriMo process is invaluable in learning how to complete a manuscript. That’s the most important skill that a writer can pick up: finishing. For me, this process really boosted my confidence and taught me how to manage deadlines and work writing into my daily life. I can’t say enough good things about NaNoWriMo… It really put me on the path to becoming a published author. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
-Tavi
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