Author’s Choice with Amber Foxx

Please welcome Amber to Author’s Choice.

Dear readers, here’s where you get to play along. The author will tell us two truths and one lie (ed comment –I randomized the order). At the end of the questions, we’ll reveal what really happened. Remember, we write crime fiction, so lying is in our nature . . .

Two Truths, One Lie

Truth or Lie?: I once had a job as a “secret shopper.”

Truth or Lie?: I danced in a music video.

Truth or Lie?: I spent most of my working years as a college professor in the field of exercise science.

Eight Quick Questions

Now for some fun insight into today’s author. Here are eight forced choice questions.

1.         Plotter, pantser, or plantser (that chaotic middle ground)? Pantser evolving into plantser.

2.         Editing as you go, or vomit draft first and fix it later? I sort of vomit the first half of a first draft and then review it to see if it’s viable. It usually isn’t, so I recycle the parts that deserve to live and “plantser” my way through a complete first draft. Or is it the second draft?

3.         Writing snack: sweet, salty, or "I forget to eat"? None of the above. I write late into the night after dinner and drink herbal tea.

4.         Character names: meticulously researched, stolen from real life, or whatever sounds right? Sometimes I hear a name in my head that feels right, but I also use old commencement programs from the last college where I taught and mix and match interesting first and last names. I also collect sources of good Hispanic names and names that are authentic for New Mexico’s tribes and Pueblos.

5.        Writer's block: push through, step away, or "it's not real"? It’s not real. It’s like running in less than perfect weather. Thinking about it is harder than actually doing it. Inspiration shows up midway through the effort, if not sooner.

6.         Social media for authors: necessary evil, genuine fun, or absolutely not? I use Facebook to stay connected with fellow authors, and that’s genuine fun. I run ads there, a necessary evil. I’m not sure how other social media works for writers or if it even does.

7.         Reading your own work aloud: love it, tolerate it, or would rather eat glass? I love the read-aloud process. I find that reading it as if I were an audiobook narrator and getting into character for each person is one of the most effective revision tools I have. If I can’t read it and make it work, I stop and change it until I can act it with ease and conviction.

8.         Happy ending, bittersweet, or gut-punch finale? I can enjoy all three as a reader and I’ve done all three in books, too.

About the Book

Enough about you, let’s turn to three questions about your book.

Q: If your main character in this novel showed up at your door right now, what would be the first thing they'd say to you (and would it be a complaint)?

A. Actually, I find the idea of my protagonist stepping out of the book and being aware of the author so disorienting I can’t imagine this scenario, even though her house in Truth or Consequences is on the next block. So, if this could happen, she could show up. I think Mae Martin would say “Hey, how are you?” and make small talk. We have a collaborative relationship. In a way, Mae actually writes the books.

Q: What's one thing you hope readers take away from this book?

A. What readers have taken away from the first book in the series is an interest in energy healing. I didn’t plan that, but it’s happened enough that I understand this to be a real effect. What I hope they take away is an experience of self-discovery and courage.

Q: What question did you want me to ask, and what is your answer? 

A. How did you decide to write mysteries without murder? I attempted a book with an amateur sleuth solving a murder, and it was so terrible it never got past chapter three. I didn’t enjoy writing about murder. But there are other ways in which people wrong each other. There are other kinds of secrets that need to be uncovered which are better suited to a psychic sleuth. This approach gives me variety in the nature of each mystery.

The Big Reveal

Now let’s see how good a sleuth (or guesser) our readers are. Please reveal all.

The lie is the secret shopper job, though I think I would have been good at it. The professor of exercise science job has helped me write about my protagonist going to college in that field. I taught the least popular course in my department, the required freshman health class, and the most popular—yoga. I’d see students their first year in the health course, and four years later they’d shown up in yoga, which had such long waitlists only seniors ever got into it.

Before I went into academia, I worked in theater and dance, and I still know how to move. I danced in a music video filmed about six years ago in Truth or Consequences. That’s me in the purple tank top and pink skirt and sunglasses—and silver hair. All the performers were local folks.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhLMrSZbRwQ

Here’s a blurb for and some links where you can find Amber's first in the series:

Book Blurb

Obeying her mother’s warning, Mae Martin-Ridley has spent years hiding her gift of “the sight.” When concern for a missing hunter compels her to use it again, her peaceful life in a small Southern town begins to fall apart. New friends push her to explore her unusual talents, but as she does, she discovers the shadow side of her visions— access to secrets she could regret uncovering.

Gift or curse? When an extraordinary ability intrudes on an ordinary life, nothing can be the same again.

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Want to know more?

For more information about Amber https://amberfoxxmysteries.com/