Who Are You, and What
Have You Done With…Me?
My daughter labels me as “weird”. My Dad’s friends know me as “the vampire
daughter”. People tell me I scare them.
Where did this come from?
Not too many years ago, I considered myself very much a “plain-Jane”
person. T-shirts, jeans, school mom,
working mom, all the things you expect from someone with two grown kids and a
couple of college tuitions to pay. The
paranormal never really entered into my world.
I read regular mysteries, human interest stories, the newspaper for
heaven’s sake…
Then I had the nightmare, which spawned my first book.
Over the next year or so, as I wrote and re-wrote, edited,
found a publisher (publish-on-demand—not the best deal to go with, by the way),
and started to get some interest started in my “baby”, I found myself changing
in ways that I still don’t understand.
Maybe I never will. But they are
not bad changes. Just…different.
The T-shirts and jeans:
Well, the jeans are still worn when I can fit into them, but the shirts
have become tops with lots of frill and flounce to them. The lacier the better, which is what my
daughter has called “weird”. And
dresses! Skirts! Me, who could be counted on to wear a dress
on Easter Sunday and maybe to a wedding.
My “style”, if you will, tends toward a Stevie Nicks/Mina
Harker-meets-Edward-Gorey kind of mix—Edwardian with a funereal flair, with a
lot of lace. Edwardian Goth without the
attitude—of either. I love a low-cut but
long-sleeved dress draped in beads and folds.
Almost 1920s, but not quite. It’s
the way I think proper female vampires should look.
Which is weird, because I am terrified of the concept of
vampires. It makes me shudder to write
the word. Would it surprise you to know
that I can’t even read my first book?
Yet this is what is coming to the forefront of my personality.
When at a restaurant, and the server asks me what doneness I
want in my dinner, I suggest that he/she bring the beastie out and let me chase
it down. There seems to be a lot of
cannibalistic/blood-oriented references in my language. Not that I’d go that direction! Too many blood-borne illnesses. Just get me a bat or something...
Whoops, there I go again.
I can’t get enough of vampire stories. When I learned that “Dark Shadows” was being made into a movie, I counted down the more-than-365 days until it was released to the theatres. Novels by Hannah Jayne and the like have joined the rest of the books on my shelf. I still pass over the more bloody passages with one eye closed (don’t look—look—oh no don’t look).
I’m known as the “vampire daughter” because my dad has spent
a lot of time and money passing my book out to his friends and
acquaintances. He’s been my number-one
support. It was kind of funny to be
addressed that way. Fifteen seconds of
fame. But every little positive encouragement
gives me more reason to keep writing.
I’m “scary” because of the way I talk about how I would
handle anyone who got up in my face.
Blood and tears ain’t the half of it.
I know I would become fairly rabid if this sort of thing happened. And I don’t mind being graphic.
And this was not the way I was all that long ago. As I finish my second book, it will be interesting
to see how much further I evolve. Will
it be good? Will people run away? Time will tell.
Have you written anything that has changed you? How’d that turn out? I’m open to answers to these questions, plus
questions from anyone out there who has stopped by to read. Thanks to Pamela for the chance to blog, and
thank you for taking the time to visit.
K.R. Morrison
Author, Be Not Afraid and Resurgence: The Rise of Judas
Second book available,
hopefully, towards the end of 2012
1 comment:
Trying to post again.
Nice interview!
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