Meet Vincent Morrone.

Hey all. We're being visited by Entranced Publishing's only male writer today. That's right. Meet Vincent, he's man enough to hang with us girls. :)

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

First off, writing is a form of communication. And like any form of communication, it takes practice. So if you want to write, then write. Write short stories, novels, poetry, songs. Whatever.

Second off, read. Don’t just read things like what you want to write. And don’t just read one writer. See how different writers handle things, like dialog, or introducing characters or action scenes.

Another thing, when you’ve got your story planned out, don’t get hung up a one part that you feel isn’t quite right. That’s why God gave us revisions. In my upcoming book Vision of Shadows, there’s a very important scene with the Main Character and her grandfather where he tells her a story. It’s needed, not only for the book itself, but for the series as a whole. First time I wrote it, I felt it was kind of dry, but I got it out and moved on. When I went back in, I added another character that gave it what I felt it was missing. (You’ll have to read the book to see what!)

Also, whatever your process, outlining or no, don’t tell too many people about what you’re writing. You’re writing it because it’s a story that needs to be told. If you go and tell it, you may not have that need to finish it.

And lastly, become part of a writing community. I’m on Absolute Write Water Cooler, which is a great way to meet, interact and learn from other writers. You can share you work, get help on query letters and you can even knock around ideas.  There are many groups out there to look at.

Concerts can be very expensive, who do you think would be worth the plunge?

When I was little, on October 28^th, 1978 to be exact, my mom had someone coming over and she wanted me out of her hair. So she sat me in front of the TV to watch a movie that was coming on that was about 4 superheroes who also happened to be in a rock band. The band was KISS and that night an obsession was born. I’ve seen them a bunch of times and they always put on a great show! I like it when things go boom.

How do you choose your character names? Do you ever change their names mid-process?

Coming up with the names for Vision of Shadows was fun and a challenge. You’ve got a longstanding feud between two families. One family tends to normal names. Mark, Simon, Greg… etc. The other family has very strong and unique names, such as Archer, Varick, Blaise and my personal favorite Payne. I got many of the names by looking at baby sites and doing searches for unique baby names. That’s actually how I found the name Payne. I saw it on a baby name site while trolling for names. A woman said that she loved the name for her son because it was so unique and one of a kind. I remember she said she would call him “her little Payne.”

I usually need the name before I can write the character and I rarely change the first name. I did recently change the last name of a character in another book of a character, but not the first. 

When writing, do you share chapters with friends or beta readers as you go or do you keep your projects secret until they are complete? 

 With the Vision books, my two daughters who are 14 as I write this are my beta readers. I usually get them to read anything that I have that’s not too steamy.

For Vision of Shadows, after I finished it, I did have a beta reader that I found though my writers group. His name was Matt Young and he was a big help. 

Do you have any special talents?

I’m not a bad cook. I make great Chicken Masala, Chicken Francaise, Beef Stew in wine sauce, spaghetti and meatballs and many other dishes.

I’m also musical. I used to play in a band in High School. I play Guitar and recently started to play drums, although I don’t play very often anymore. 

What was your favorite subject at school?

Does lunch count? If not, then I’d say English where we were reading or writing. Definitely not math. I hate math. I still use my fingers to count to ten. My toes to get to twenty. Don’t ask me to count to twenty one. Math and I are not friends.

On a side note, my wife is a teacher. She teaches Math. 

Please share a favorite line from your newest novel.

From Vision of Shadows:  “So any day now, I’d about to literally meet the boy of my dreams. Then I get to see if he’s going to be the love of my life, or the end of it. Funny thing is, I’m not sure which idea scares the crap out of me more.”

I always liked that one.

You can follow Vincent on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vince524

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Morrrone 

Or view his website here: http://vincentmorrone.com/

Vincent Morrone's debut novel, Vision of Shadows, comes out from Entranced Publishing later this year.

         

Blurb for Vision of Shadows

“So I imagine any day now I’m about meet the literal boy of my dreams. Then I get to see if he’s going to fall in love with me, or murder me.”

Seventeen-year-old Bristol Blackburn has never had a problem with the ghosts that float in and out of her life. Sure, they can be a bit trying at times, like one that couldn’t move on until he got the words to Copacabana right, or the lady that couldn’t stop talking about her beloved 50 cats, but Bristol has never been afraid of ghosts. She’s never worried that they’d look at her like a freak. It’s all the people with a pulse that Bristol has no idea what to do with.

Take Payne McKnight. The town’s reckless bad boy, Payne has the face of an angel and the devils grin. Bristol had never laid eyes on Payne, but she’s seen him hundreds of times in her dreams.

And in every dream, Payne takes her breath away. Sometimes with his love, other times in brutal violence.

Payne McKnight is destined to either be the love of her life, or the end of it.

And Bristol has no idea which possibility scares her more.

Bio for Vincent Morrone Author of Vision of Shadows

Born and raised in Brooklyn NY, Vincent Morrone now resides in Upstate NY with his wife. (Although he can still speak fluent Brooklynese.) His twin daughters remain not only his biggest fans, but usually are the first to read all of his work. Their home is run and operated for the comfort and convenience of their dogs.

Vincent has been writing fiction, poetry and song lyrics for as long as he can remember, most of which involve magical misfits, paranormal prodigies and even on occasion superheroes and their sidekicks.

As they say in Brooklyn: Yo, you got something to say to Vincent? Check out http://vincentmorrone.com/ where you can learn about Vincent and leave him a comment.