I'd like to welcome Karin Welss and Marian Gibbons, the talented ladies who make up the psuedonym Michaela August. Hello ladies, thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions.

Karin and Marian: Thanks for having us!

I'd like to start by asking, how did you guys meet?

Karin: How we met is actually a pretty funny story. In days before wide-spread Internet access and fan Web pages and bulletin boards for certain TV shows, I started taping a late-night vampire TV show called "Forever Knight" and loaned out the tapes to my friends and co-workers. All of us liked the show, but no one wanted to stay awake until 2am to watch it real-time.

One of my co-workers went to a conference one weekend, and when she returned, she told me that she'd met the *nicest* lady there, who wanted to be a television screenwriter and who desperately wanted to see episodes of this vampire show that she'd heard about but missed the early episodes of.

"...so I gave her your phone number and told her you had the videotapes!" concluded my co-worker, cheerfully. Needless to say, I was appalled.

"You gave my phone number to a stranger you met at a conference?" I howled.

Little did I know! ::laughs::

In any case, Marian phoned me a week later, we started talking about writing, and we really hit it off. I ended up promising to mail her the videotapes if she sent me a copy of the script she was writing. Then she asked to read a half-finished historical romance novel I was working on, and things sort of developed from there. This was, in, um, November. We met in person about four months later (we live a good ninety-minute drive away from each other), and started brainstorming the draft of what eventually became Glass Souls about five months after that. And we've been working together as co-authors ever since.

Where did you come up with the name Michaela August?

It's a combination of Marian's husband's middle [confirmation] name (Michael) and Karin's Dad's middle name (August).

How do you come up with your ideas?

We spend a lot of time talking on the phone (and the phone company adores us...and our long distance bills), and brainstorming. Once we have an idea that we both like, then comes the hard part--deciding whether the idea is big enough to carry an entire book or series. If so, we do more brainstorming, and develop a detailed outline...a scene-by-scene map through the entire story. And then, we start writing. Having the outline means that each of us can be working on a different part of the book at the same time.

Does one take a front seat on one story and the other on the next?

Not really. Once we've agreed on an outline, we tend to adopt one or more characters as our own, and write those scenes that take place in that character's point-of-view. For the House of the Rose series, generally speaking, Karin writes the first draft of Michel, Dominic, Tirgit, and Mathilde's scenes, while Marian writes the first drafts of Roland, Sharibet, Blanche, and also Dominic's scenes.

Then we swap Microsoft Word files and rewrite each other's work until our styles have properly blended.

Exactly how do you write?

We'll call dibs on a scene during a phone conversation, then sit down and write it. Once the first draft of a scene is completed, it's emailed to whichever of us is the keeper of the master manuscript copy, and plunked down at the correct place, as indicated in the outline. In the first draft, all of our scenes are numbered, so that we can track our progress on our deadlines, and also so that we put the scenes in the correct places in the manuscript outline.

Our actual writing methods are complete opposites. Karin is a non-linear writer--she may start at the beginning of the scene, or the end, or somewhere in the middle, then she will jump around, filling in gaps and writing paragraphs out of order, until the scene is done. She'll 'hear' a bit of dialogue, and go from there.

Marian, on the other hand, starts at the beginning, goes on until the end, and then stops--not necessarily knowing how any of it will go, but just writing word by word. She'll have the vague idea of what needs to happen in that scene, but no clue as to how it will happen, except by 'watching' what the characters do. And when the Muse is kind, Marian takes dictation.

Can you please tell us a bit about yourselves?

Marian: I'm a native of Northern California, although I spent some years in LA and in Portland, Oregon. Currently I live in the heart of the wine country, with my wonderful husband, Dave (he's a keeper). I'm a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Spellbinders, Inc., a local science fiction writing group, and Romance Writers of America.

Books, bookcases, and blue bowls tend to collect in my house for some reason, and I hunt obscure historical facts. My favorite vacation spot: the library.

I'm active in my church, Scientology, and I have firsthand experience with real-life reincarnation (versus the fantasy version in our book. Although it is standard writing advice: write what you know...) If anybody has any questions, they're welcome to write me at mariangibb@sonic.net

Karin: I'm a technical writer at a high-tech company by day, so I can honestly say that I earn my living by my pen (or keyboard, as the case may be). I'm single, and I love to travel when I'm not writing. I've lived in England and Australia, and I've traveled through most of Europe, a large part of Southeast Asia, and most recently, Japan.

How did you get started?

Karin: I've been writing ever since I can remember. I completed my first story when I was in the second grade--it was a 5-page homage to Jack London, titled Alek, the Lone Wolf. My mom saved it, and I still have it in my files somewhere, in pencil and illustrated with crayon. I wrote all throughout high school and part of college--mostly science fiction and fantasy short stories--and actually finished a few stories and sent them off to magazines, thus starting what has since grown to be my other hobby: collecting rejection notices. I won some college contests for my poetry but didn't really start finishing stories on a consistent basis until I started working with Marian; I've learned a lot about the craft of story structure and plotting from her.

Marian: I didn't start writing until I was 8 years old, but I was 'playing' stories about magic horses at recess before then. My first written-down effort was going to be a genre-bender: Terra Tawna, about a telepathic alien princess who crash-lands in the jungles of Africa and is brought up by apes... A.E. Van Vogt meets Edgar Rice Burroughs, yes indeed. I didn't finish it although I'm still fond of the concept and think somebody should write it. That was one of my reasons for wanting to write: I loved what I was reading, but wasn't seeing everything that I wanted to read. I started many other projects, collaborated on a humorous piece with two local writers, and collected a few rejections myself, before I met Karin. Suddenly it became possible to conceive and write LONG COMPLETE books. Having a partner is the best thing that ever happened to my writing.
(And she's a wonderful human being, too!)

I read Glass Souls and really enjoyed it, could you give us a rundown of your books and their storylines?

Thank you! Glass Souls was truly the book of our hearts, and we're thrilled that it's been getting such a favorable reception from readers and reviewers. It's our second published book, and the first in a four-book fantasy series called "The House of the Rose." Here, in order, are the current and forthcoming titles in the House of the Rose series:

- Glass Souls: House of the Rose, Book One (May 2005, Awe-Struck eBooks) A besieged city, an emergency evacuation from the threat of anti-heretic Crusaders--it's an ordinary day in the life of the vampire Protectors of the House of the Rose. Except, this time, everything goes horribly wrong...

One Protector, wounded and broken in spirit in the ensuing massacre, spends decades searching desperately for the reincarnations of his loved ones. But his Seer's Eyes have been blinded, so he cannot recognize their auras. He meets a Crusader in Egypt who might be his reincarnated wife. To be certain, he must taste the young knight's blood to read his past-life memories. However, this act uncovers a deadly secret that rocks the foundations of his world...

- House of Memory: House of the Rose, Book Two (May 2006, Awe-Struck eBooks)
As events threaten to spin out of control in Europe, Lady Cecilia makes a fateful decision to use her powers to conceal the truth.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Mediterranean, another lost Protector has been found...once again among the enemy. Can a young Mongol warrior adapt to life in the House of the Rose, or will the intrigues of the ambitious Seer Nadira lead to ruin for both of them?

- Queen of Heaven: House of the Rose, Book Three (Spring 2007, Awe-Struck eBooks)
Inanna, the long-banished Queen of Heaven, Goddess of Love and War, has returned to the House, raising questions long-suppressed and dividing the loyalties of the vampire Protectors. Truth and lies, love and hatred, and an ancient secret all come to light like long-buried buildings in a drowned city.

- The Shattered Crown: House of the Rose, Book Four (Spring 2008, Awe-Struck eBooks)
In the conclusion to the series, the mortal sons and daughters of the House find themselves caught in the middle between their warring former Protectors. Inanna's dark sister Ereshkigal stands ready to move heaven and earth once more against her ancient rival, while Michel and Dominic search their memories for the truth, gather allies, and hope that love can prove as strong a force as hatred.

In addition to the House of the Rose series, we also have an award-winning historical romance, Sweeter Than Wine, which is set in a Sonoma, California vineyard on the eve of Prohibition. War-widow Alice has to find a vintner so that she can get a contract to make sacramental wine. She's blackmailed into marrying her late husband's cousin, who, as it turns out, fought for the other side during World War One.

And Karin has a solo historical romance coming out some time next year, titled Twist of Honor, which is set in seventeenth-century London, at the decadent court of King Charles II. A disabled mercenary soldier is forced to swallow his honor for the sake of his young daughter, and accepts an assignment to kidnap a wealthy countess. His mission is complicated when he falls in love with his intended victim, and he's forced to choose between securing his daughter's future and an impossible love.

How can you write such different genres? Do you find one easier than the other?

We think of ourselves as historical fiction writers, whether our current work-in-progress is historical romance or historical fantasy. We both love history, and researching the time periods for our books is nearly as much fun as writing them. In the past few years, we've learned about Prohibition, early twentieth century winemaking techniques, court politics in the 13th-century Egyptian Sultanate, Venetian shipbuilding factories, the medieval Flemish cloth trade, Sumerian religion, and what Mongols were really like.

What interests us most as writers are the periods of transition in history...when did the great shifts in thinking, technology, or social culture occur? Sweeter Than Wine takes place right after World War I, during the real beginning of the twentieth century--women's rights, the shift from states' rights to federal regulation, the effect of the automobile on popular culture. Our House of the Rose books take place in the mid-thirteenth century, and deal with the end of the Crusades and the beginning of the end of feudalism in Europe. Although we touch lightly on these issues in our books, we're fascinated by the effects of huge transitions on the people who have to live through them.

You have an impressive website. I really enjoyed the tours through your 'worlds'. Does it make it easier to use an actual place than to create your own?

Thank you! We did a major overhaul and redesign of the site earlier this year.

As for whether it's easier to use an actual place as the setting for our books...yes and no. There's less brainstorming involved in using a real place or historical period, but a LOT more research! And you can't just make things up if you get stuck. For made-up settings, you have more freedom to invent languages, foods, clothing styles, social mores, etc. as long as you remain consistent with the world-building. For historical settings, you can spend *weeks* trying to track down how much a loaf of bread cost in 13th century Syria, or exactly what was going on at the English Court in the autumn of 1260... it can be frustrating, but it's also a lot of fun.

What books do you have in the works? Can you please give us a synopsis?

We're currently in the middle of writing the rest of the House of the Rose of series described above--the sequel to Glass Souls, titled House of Memory, is due to our publisher in mid-October, so we're currently deep in the editing and rewriting process. And we have quite a few chapters of volume three, titled Queen of Heaven, already written in draft format though we probably won't be able to give that book full attention until November. We have a notebook full of other ideas, too.


Thanks for being willing to interview us, Serena!

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions. If you're interested in reading more about Michaela August, you can check out their website at:
http://www.michaela-august.com/index.html. You can purchase their books at:
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/MichaelaAugusteBooks.htm

Thanks again!

Interviewed by: Serena