Dana Davis Remembers Her Dog and Inspiration

Welcome, Fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi author Dana Davis. 

I asked Dana back to talk about the canine in her latest book Desert Magick: Phoenix Lights. Dana, Tell us about Perky!
 

Thank you for having me back, Amber. I’m excited to be here again.

Amber asked me if I would share a little about a particular character in my Desert Magick paranormal fantasy series and I’m happy to do so. He’s unlike any other characters in the series. He has no unusual powers and isn’t much good when it comes to fighting off evil, but he stole my heart the day he burst into the room as I was making notes and preparing to begin the very first book. I’m talking about Perky, Daisy’s little terrier mutt, a happy, scruffy little guy with brown fur, who is eager to please. Daisy’s husband Noah got him from a shelter when he was just a puppy and gave him to her for her birthday one year.  

Now, I’ve written dogs into some of my other novels but never as a pet for any of my main characters. As soon as Perky showed up, I realized this was going to be a challenge, since having a pet means the characters can’t just run off and forget about him. Probably why a lot of paranormal fantasy characters don’t have pets or kids. I tried writing the scenes without him but he always showed up again, always under foot and looking for attention. He refused to go away so I had no choice but to accept him as another character in the series. Besides, I just couldn’t resist that little face that popped into my head each time he came around.

My main inspiration for Perky’s personality came from my best friend when I was growing up. When I was eight years old, my mother took me to a neighbor’s house for a surprise. There, I saw the most precious sight - A litter of new pups. I was thrilled when my mom told me to pick one out. They were all very cute but I chose the runt, the only male in the litter. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him all curled up next to his mother, so tiny even to my eight-year-old hands. When he was old enough, he came to live with us.

He cried the first few nights but eventually became used to his new home. I was a bit of a loner child with few friends, so my dog became my confidant and my best friend, someone who didn’t judge me or laugh at me. He was always thrilled to see me and could hardly contain his excitement when I came home from school each day. Although he liked my younger siblings, he was most definitely my dog. I fed and bathed him and he always chose to be with me over anyone else.

We played chase in the backyard. A few times he dug his way out and waited for me in the front yard. When I would get close, he’d run several feet away and stop and look at me again. We would repeat this several times before I caught up with him. Good thing I was a fast kid and able to leash him before he got into real trouble. Some days he sat next to me with his head on my leg as I read books on the old metal glider my grandparents had given us. Other times, we would lie on the picnic table and watch the stars together. I told him my troubles and secrets and he always listened. Always.

My precious pup lived for thirteen years. The day he died, I was devastated. I grieved for many years and felt guilty for a very long time that I wasn’t home with him that day. I was in college by then and very busy. I didn’t have much time for a dog so my mother took care of him. He came into my dreams often during those years, always happy and frolicking around, and I would wake up crying, heartbroken all over again. He’s been gone a long time now and doesn’t come into my dreams that much anymore, but I still think about him often and am grateful for the love and understanding he gave to that misfit child.

In a way, I’ve immortalized part of my beloved dog in the character of Perky. The fictitious pup who stormed into my series also has stolen part of my heart, and he appears in several scenes throughout each book in the series. I hope readers will see the love and happiness I had with my own dog in the way Daisy and Noah treat little Perky and the comfort he gives them after a hard day of fighting paranormal baddies. I’ve written Perky-poo into four Desert Magick books so far and he’s now part of my family, as well as Daisy’s.
  

Dana Davis is an award-winning and bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction and a paranormal investigator. She once worked for Hollywood and Disney. Genealogy fascinates her, and her ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, Dutch, British, and Mohawk Indian. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and uses her varied background, along with family stories, to aid in her writing.

Dana's Contest

Enter for a chance to win a free PDF or ePub copy of the newly released Desert Magick: Phoenix Lights (Book 4). To enter, leave a comment and email addy (Use AT in place of @ to avoid spammers). Dana's family members not eligible.The winner will be chosen at random and must have an email address that accepts attachments in order to receive the prize.

Contest ends Saturday, August 18^th at midnight PST.

Dana will notify the winner within one week of that date. Good luck!

For information on the entire bestselling 
Desert Magick series, please visit Dana’s website www.danadaviswriting.com

Dana’s Facebook pages  
https://www.facebook.com/DanaDavisbooks and https://www.facebook.com/DanaDavisAuthorPage

Dana’s Blah Blah blog http://danadaviswriting.blogspot.com/

Why I Write Fantasy - Dana Davis

Welcome Dana! 

I'm pleased to welcome back Dana Davis, bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction and paranormal investigator to Wordshaping. 

Amber: Tell me why do you write fantasy?

Dana: Thanks so much for having me back, Amber. It's great to be here again. Well, I write what I love to read, which is mainly for escapism. Fantasy worlds allow me to get all the crazy stuff out of my head and into a readable storyline. I was weaned on Mother Goose and Grimm’s fairytales. As a kid, I made up stories that barely resembled the real world and even got in trouble a few times for it. Coming from a family with NASA roots as well as paranormal stories, it just seemed inevitable that I would be attracted to the fantasy genre.

Amber: Thanks for sharing your video for Desert Magick: Day of the Dead. It's beautiful and scary and makes me want to read your new book.

Dana: I'm glad you enjoyed the video trailer, Amber. My latest book, Desert Magick: Day of the Dead is the third in the bestselling paranormal fantasy series, Desert Magick. Day of the Dead was just released in eBook format and is available for various reading devices. I have to admit, I really love the cover, too. The artist did a fantastic job with it. This series focuses on witches, magick, ghosts, mediums, telepaths, and the like. I’m a member of a local paranormal investigative team, so I tend to use those experiences in my work, and especially in Day of the Dead. Of course, I change and expand them to fit the plotline but many of the incidents get their start from my real life experiences.

Amber: What books do you read?

Dana: I like to read several books at once, depending on my mood, but I read mainly fantasy and sci-fi. I also read suspense and ghost stories, as well as all types of mythology. Right now, I’m reading the fourth book in the Legend of the Seeker series by Terry Goodkind, The Lost Symbol nookbook by Dan Brown, and the first nookbook in the Trylle series by Amanda Hocking. I have several others queued up on my nook reader, my phone, and on my paperback shelf.

Amber: What are you writing now?

Dana: I’m currently writing the fourth book in the Desert Magick series. I’m under contract for five books in this series. I’m also editing another fantasy novel and a sci-fi novel for future publication. 

Dana Davis is an award-winning and bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction and a paranormal investigator. She once worked for Hollywood and Disney. Genealogy fascinates her, and her ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, Dutch, British, and Mohawk Indian. Her great-great aunt is purported to have been a medium and a telekinetic. President Barack Obama is her seventh cousin once removed. And her grandfather was an engineer at NASA. She lives in the Arizona desert with her husband and uses her varied background, along with family stories, to aid in her writing.

Visit Dana at her Website: 

And her Blog 

Special promotion!

In honor of spring and Dana’s birthday month, 

SynergEbooks Publishing is offering 

all of her eBooks for just $2.99 

for the month of April, when purchased from their site.

Why I Write Fantasy - Dana Davis

Welcome Dana! 

I'm pleased to welcome back Dana Davis to Wordshaping to kick off my new series Why I Write Fantasy. 

Dana Davis is a ghost buster and award-winning speculative fiction writer who once worked for Hollywood and Disney. Her great-great aunt is purported to have been a mediums and a telekinetic back in the heyday of suffragettes, prohibition and Model Ts. She uses her varied background, along with odd family stories, to aid in her writing.
Amber: Why do you write fantasy?
Dana: Well, I've always had a very active imagination, and the inside of my head pretty much resembles the storage facility in the TV show Warehouse 13 after a tornado has hit. The kid who got in trouble for daydreaming in school - that was me. All that crazy stuff tends to work great in fantasy novels and is a wonderful outlet for me as a writer. Not to mention it's darn good therapy, too.
I was weaned on shows like Bewitched, Twilight Zone, The Addams Family, Star Trek and Night Gallery. Which probably explains a lot. And when I read, I usually want a total escape from reality, which is why I fell in love with the genre back in elementary school. My first favorite books were The Hobbit, a fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien and the Forgotten Door, A sci-fi by Alexander Key. I feel most at home writing in this genre.

Amber: Tell me about your books.

Dana: I recently signed multiple book contracts with SynergEbooks Publishing. I write sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal fantasy novels with horror and mystery elements. I also have a few books for young adults, including a sci-fi audio book that is scheduled for release this year. My most current series for adults is called Desert Magick and takes place in the here and now in Arizona. In this series, readers will come across witches, shape-shifters, sirens, medium, and a multitude of other paranormals. I weave Celtic, Native American and Greek mythologies together with elements of mystery and horror. And, of course, there is always some sex in the books.

Amber: What books do you read?

Dana: For fun, I read mainly fantasy and sci-fi, with a smattering of ancient studies and science. Some of my favorite fiction authors include Manda Scott, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Jasper Fforde, Orson Scott Card, Anne Rice, Kim Harrison, Robert Jordan, and Alastair Reynolds. I recently got a Barnes and Noble Nook, so I’ve been downloading a lot of eBooks and am finding that I prefer electronic to paper.

Amber: What are you writing now?

Dana: I’m currently writing the third book in my Desert Magick series, which should be available as an eBook by the end of this year. The first book Desert Magick: Superstitions is available in trade paperback and coming soon to electronic format with SynergEbooks Publishing. The second book Desert Magick: Dream Catcher will be released shortly after that.

I have been doing a lot of fun research for the Desert Magick series and recent trips to Salem, Greece, and Ireland have fueled my imagination. And I currently participate in local paranormal investigations. Yep, I’m a ghost buster!
 

Dana Davis is four time award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy. Current and upcoming book releases include, the Teadai Prophecies fantasy trilogy - Deadly Fate, Sage Truth and City of Gods, the Desert Magick paranormal series, and her young adult novels Breach of Worlds, The Mask of Tamirella and Quest for Freedom. Dana had the good fortune to study with Nebula Award-winner and science fiction author Sheila Finch and received her creative writing degree from California State University, Long Beach.


When she's not writing, she loves to read and travel. Just try to keep her away from ruins and old cemeteries. Dana lives in the Arizona desert with her husband and two insane birds, where she is currently writing another book. She invites readers to visit her website at  and her publisher’s website

Dana's Contest!

Go to Dana Davis' homepage 

and email her from the cactus email icon in the left column 

• a copy of Desert Magick: Superstitions  trade paperback
• or a copy of Deadly Fate: Book One of the Teadai Prophecies        eBook on CD (PDF format) 
• U.S. entrants only. Winning items will be sent by media mail.

Contest ends March 5, 2010 at 12 AM MST
Contest Closed
Congratulations James!

How Authors Can Use Audio for Promotion & Publishing

My guest this week is Dana Davis, award-winning author of speculative fiction for teens and adults.

Welcome Dana! I confess to being an audio addict and creating an audio interview for my first book. The project was a huge amount of work and fun.

Thank you for having me, Amber. Yes, creating audio files is a time-consuming process. But I also love doing it. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.

In what ways can authors use audio?
There's really no limit to what authors can do with audio. I think it's just a matter of what you can come up with in your imagination and making time to do it. We've become such a fast-paced society, I think creating audio files can only enhance written work. I have made audio book commercials, as well as entire audio books. And once I got the bug, I even started doing my own video book trailers. I also plan to create audio interviews to help promote future books. Right now, it's just a matter of finding the time to get them done.

What types of fiction adapt best to the audio format?
All types of fiction can be turned into audio books, and they can be as simple or elaborate as budgets allow. Think of the old books-on-tape. Many genres were put onto tapes and CDs for the audience's listening pleasure and are still sold in bookstores today. Not only are they great for workouts or long car trips, but they are also wonderful for the visually challenged. This is a boon for the writer, as well, to get the work to those who otherwise might not have access to it.

My mother is visually impaired, so she really appreciates audio books. In fact, she goes through mine faster than I can make them and is always on me to create more. Guess I better get to work on the next one.

Please share how your acting career in stage, television and film helped with recording, editing, and the overall creation of your audio books?

It's nice to see all those acting lessons finally paying off. Seriously though, I spent the majority of my youth in the theater, television and film industries, so I have a lot of experience with vocal work. My basic knowledge with stage sound equipment prompted me to set up a mini sound studio in my office. It was just a matter of researching what kind of equipment I needed in today's computer market.

And most of all, my days in the entertainment industry helped me learn patience with technology. Setting up film shots takes a lot of waiting on the actor's part. If you record in a home office, like I do, you'll have to consider those pesky planes, air conditioners, phones, kids, animals, and other noises that will cause you to have to re-record sections of your work. You don't need experience to create audio files, but you do need practice.

What advice to you have for the author considering audio publishing?
Production suggestions? Equipment? Software?
If you have a decent voice and basic computer knowledge, you can create your own audio files. The equipment I used was fairly simple. Rather than spend a lot of time and money purchasing separate pieces, I bought a Behringer Podcastudio kit from an online music store. It contained everything I needed to get started, a microphone with desktop stand, sound mixer, headphones and audio interface. The USB version costs about $100. Since I was planning to spend long stretches recording, I also bought a set of Bose headphones to use in place of the ones that came with my kit. But that's a personal choice.

Some authors use only a microphone or digital recorder to do their files. While this may be fine for commercials or interviews, I suggest spending a little more on equipment if you plan to do entire books. And I also suggest either buying or creating a pop filter to soften those popping p, k, t and s sounds. This will save you headaches when it comes time to edit. I made mine out of an embroidery hoop, a clamp and pantyhose for about $8. There's a great video on youtube that shows you exactly how to create one.

As for software, I still use Audacity to record and edit my audio, and it came free with my computer. I downloaded free Levelator software to level the sound quality. And finally, I used free iTunes software to convert the audacity files to the formats I wanted and put tags in for the various audio devices people would be using to listen to the books. I suggest creating a sample audio file as a way of teaching yourself these basics.

What about music and/or sound effects to enhance the reading? Can authors use any music they like?
No. Music, like books, is copyrighted and you must have permission to use it.
The best way is to go with royalty-free pieces. For a one-time payment, royalty-free music can be used for audio books, videos, commercials, and just about any other media. Be sure and read the terms of agreement before making purchases, but there are many companies who create royalty-free music for the entertainment industry, so you can find a lot of it out there.

I was able to listen to samples on websites to help me decide which music to purchase. I paid $40 for two CDs from opuzz.com and $5 for a single music download from an independent artist. As an extra thanks, I always give credit to the artist or studio, whether or not they require it.

Any final tips for authors wanting to try their hand at audio?
Yes. Audio production is time-consuming, but in today's techno-society, it’s a great media tool for writers and a way to reach those who otherwise might not pay attention to your work. And most of all, it's fun! So, relax, warm up that voice, and give it a try.

Thanks, Dana, for visiting and sharing.

Special Note to Authors: Explore Dana's website for some great ideas. Like a list of places where she has donated books.

Dana Davis is the award-winning author of the paranormal fantasy Desert Magick: Superstitions and the teen novel The Mask of Tamirella.Her fantasy novels Breach of Worlds and Deadly Fate: Book One of the Teadai Prophecies are due out soon from SynergEbooks.

Her audio book Quest for Freedom is currently being revamped for future release with another publisher.Dana lives in the Arizona desert with her husband and two crazy parakeets, where she is writing another novel. She invites readers to visit her website

Dana's Contest

Win a free signed copy of Desert Magick: Superstitions, a 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist. Simply go to Dana's website homepage at www.danadaviswriting.com, click on the email icon in the left column, and send your name and email address. All who enter will go into a drawing for the prize and a winner will be chosen at random. The winner will be notified to send his/her mailing address to receive the prize. One email per person, please. Good luck!
Contest ends August 10, 2009
Contest Closed. Winner Notified.
Thanks to all who entered.