Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Guest Post Today from Author Joyce Mangola!


Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog, KD. Today I've come to talk about my inspiration for Ghosts in the Mirror. It actually started with a small idea. What if a person's soul is so weak that the only way they can be in a waking state is if a wandering spirit latches onto their soul? I'm a big believer that the soul is the battery of the body, which is what sparked my muse into overdrive. I took that vague idea and wrote it in the little notebook I carry in my purse.

When November of 2009 rolled around and I had no concrete idea for National Writing Month AKA NaNo, I went with that little idea and no real direction. It's what we pantsers do. Dive into a vat and hope it's full of pudding instead of a sinister pit of coiling vipers. Like most NaNo pieces, it was a mess. I had enough point of views and characters that all I needed was a big top and creepy clowns to have a circus.

Over the course of the time span between then and when I finally submitted to Lycaon Press, I pulled out Ghosts several times only to cry. Until I wielded the red pen of doom, this manuscript was never going to be completed. I picked two main PoVs to work with—Jeremy's and his friend Romy's. From there it was a hack and slash fest. Whole scenes were culled. Instead of being ashamed of my deformed creation, I was actually (finally!) ready to submit. Lycaon Press offered me a contract and I never looked back. Heck, I loved the cover art so much, I added a scene to the end of the book to match something the character is wearing.

 


BLURB:

Sixteen-year-old Jeremy Riggs has lived his life in and out of the hospital. While the doctors are clueless as to why he lapses into comas, he is well aware of his unique ability to merge with a wandering spirit. With his own soul too weak to sustain life, it’s the only thing keeping him alive.

Waking up from a coma a year after being found at the county dump—next to the remains of the last spirit to inhabit him—Jeremy finds the newest spirit is nothing like the previous ones. It’s bent on revenge and has the will to take control over his body. With the police lining him up as a murder suspect and an ancient evil pursuing him, Jeremy must help the ghost hitching a ride in his body find eternal rest without seeing his own soul snuffed out.

Available for purchase at:


Where to find Joyce:

No comments:

Post a Comment