Interview with Christine Verstraete on Community Fridays

Welcome to Community Fridays!

During Community Fridays, I interview authors, editors, publishers, and pretty much anyone else who I can get my hands on from the writing and publishing community. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to suggest new participants. Check out current and past interviews here. Only have a minute? Click here for interviews at a glance.

Today I've interviewed Christine Verstraete, along with some of the characters in her book. Hope you enjoy! Also, scroll down to my previous post for more information on how you can win prizes in Christine's scavenger hunt. Happy hunting!

Sam, her bff Lita, and Petey the Dachshund were thrilled (well, as much as a dog can be thrilled anyway) to be asked to stop by Emma's blog as part of the Spooky Blog Tour for Searching For A Starry Night and The Witch Tree by author Christine Verstraete. The two books...Oh, wait, the girls had something to say...

"Awww, c'mon, Sam."

"Lita, what're you moaning about?"

"Sam, not fair! You didn't say anything about that."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "About what?"

Lita moved closer and lowered her voice, "You know. Spooky stuff and a Witch Tree. Ugh. Nothin' I want to be hearin' about. Count me out."

"Lita, wait." Sam tried to keep her friend from walking off. "It's nothing to be scared of. Just a little tour around the 'net to talk about our book and the spooky ebook. You'll be fine. Trust me."

Lita snorted. "Huh. Last time I trusted you I ended up getting scared out of my head. You always seem to find the creepiest stuff. You just can't ever leave it alone."

"Lita, honest, this time..."

Q: Okay, girls, this is the author. Let me interrupt. The blog tour is pretty harmless. Just a way to let everyone know about Searching For A Starry Night and The Witch Tree. How about you answer some questions?

"Well, okay. Only if Sam agrees to forget all that ghost stuff. Creeps me out."

"Woof."

"See? Petey thinks so, too."

Q: All right, now, girls, you both learned a lot about detective work during your adventures. Do you see yourselves doing that as a career someday, or do you have something else in mind?"

Sam scrunched up her face as she thought. "Hmm, that could be fun. You get to sneak around and look in people's houses when they don't know about it."

"Yeah, Sam, and then you get arrested for being a Peepin' Tom. Way too dangerous."

"Guess, Lita's right this time," Sam said. "But Nancy Drew always seemed to do okay. And she got to ride all over in that cool little car."

"Sam, that wasn't real, it was a movie."

"Oh, you forget we're fiction, too, right?"

Grrr.

"It's okay, Petey," Lita said. "If Sam wants to think she's not real, she can do that. Alone."

Q: Now Lita, tell us a little about working with your friend, Sam. I hear the two of you had some problems.

"Well... we weren't doin' too bad, then Sam started talkin' about old Grandpa Sylvester, and ghosts, and Petey was diggin' up all kinds of weird things. Whew. I've got goosebumps just thinkin' about it. I told Sam she needs to be more considerate and stuff."

Q: Sam? Did you and Lita have any problems?

"I told her I was sorry. Really. I never ever want to lose her as a friend. We've been pals since we were little kids. But we figured it out. We're okay. We solved the mystery, too and found the missing miniature painting. I think we're a good team, right?"

"Right!" Lita said and gave Sam a high-five.

Petey leaped up on his hind legs, not wanting to be left out. "Woof!"

"You too, Petey," Sam said. "You, too."

"Yeah, even if you do dig up trouble," Lita said and laughed.

Q: Now back to the author. Let's ask her a "writer" question. What kinds of things DON'T get your creative juices flowing?

Numbers. Financial non-fiction. Yawn. I write for newspapers, but I've always preferred features. I have written on some "heavier" topics in the past, but I'd rather not anymore. But I do enjoy a straight news story once in a while.

Q: What do you enjoy most about writing fiction?

You get to lie.

("You can do that?" Sam asked.)

Kidding. Seriously, it's fun to be able to make up a whole story and see where it will go. It's even more fun to get an idea, flesh it out and find that it works. Nothing better.

Q: What's your best writing advice?

Have fun with it. Sometimes you can get too serious, then you get bogged down in all the things you "should" do. You can always delete and tighten later. I have to remind myself to keep writing, even if something isn't working. I can go back to it. I outline, but I do let myself deviate from it. Sometimes, you get better ideas to add in if you let the ideas come to you as you're writing.

Q: Okay, the kids are gone. Now we can ask, what is The Witch Tree?

My short ebook, "The Witch Tree," was fun to write and won a contest at Echelon Press. Jimmy Grayson thinks he's found utopia - a new house, a nice porch to relax on... and then THEY came....

Day by day, they arrive by the dozens, the hundreds, their beady eyes, watching, waiting. Jimmy fears for his sanity.

How will it end?

Who will survive?

Will it be him-or them?

Q: Anything else you'd like to say to our readers?

Visit my blog, Candid Canine this week for details on how to follow my Spooky Scavenger Hunt.

Scavenger Hunt Clue 3:
Stop at the witch tree and try to break a spell
But don't stay long if you want to be well!

About the Author

Visit Christine's website and her blog. Yesterday's stop on her blog book tour has Straight from Hel. Tomorrow's stop will be Joyce Anthony's blog.



© Emma Larkins and Christine Verstraete