To promote my June 28th release of The Spider Inside Her, I’m participating in a blog chain with a bunch of other authors from Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. Our theme was to have one of our characters interview us. For my interviewer, I’ve chosen my heroine Loreal Ingram from TSIH…which is probably not very smart on my part. She’s a tad pissed and trying to hold back. Who can blame her, considering I’m the one who’s really responsible for her arachnid curse? Of course, it could be worse. She could have buck tooth fangs.
Ugh. I just had a flashback of panel at ConCarolinas that pretty much left me red-faced.
Oh, for heaven’s sake, let’s just get on with the roasting.
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Loreal: So, what made you do it?
Marcia: Do what?
Loreal: Curse me with a spider spirit? You know. Similar to an animal one? The hellish bane of my existence, only you have me crawling on walls and spitting webs? And what’s up with the alabaster skin and garden spider markings that look more like tattoos?
Marcia: Oh. That. Yeah, well, I was trying to come up with something that hadn’t been done before and I realized I hadn’t read about anyone shifting into an insect.
Loreal: So, I was your guinea pig. You plucked me out of my mundane existence to curse me to turn into a spider whenever I get the urge for vengeance. Or rather, whenever she gets the urge for vengeance.
Marcia: Good lord, woman, would you lighten up? It’s just a story.
Loreal (takes a deep breath): So why the vengeance angle? Not that I’m arguing that bad people deserve to die. Some do. But why that particular one? You could’ve done anything like her being hungry and needing some food or needing to procreate. Why vengeance?
Marcia: Well, first, needing food wasn’t a big enough reason to kill people. For those writing vampires of the evil kind, it might be. As for sex, that would imply writing something that was either an erotica or a paranormal romance. Sorry, but I’m not feeling the romance genre right now. Haven’t for a while, in fact. Revenge came into play one night when I was watching Conan the Barbarian on TV and thought about how powerful it must be for a man to spend his life looking for the ones who had killed his people. He’s like a musclebound Captain Ahab.
Loreal: And the domestic abuse angle?
Marcia: That’s something near and dear to my heart. Even though I have never been in an abusive relationship, I know others who have. Members of my own family, for that matter. It’s enough to make me hope that karma bites the hell of abusers and sucks them dry. Of course, that’s putting it mildly. Also, there’s another reason that has to do with the dedication in my book. All I’ll say about that is his story still haunts me to this day.
Loreal (pause): Okay. So…am I going to die? Yeah, I know that has spoiler potential, but I need to know. For heaven’s sake, you have to the cops after me, grim reapers, and everyone in the supernatural world fearing for their lives. Oh, and a crazy ***big-time spoiler alert*** is after me? Are you insane? As if the Oni Warriors weren’t enough.
Marcia: No, I’m not crazy–that I know of. And no, you’re not going to die.
Loreal: Am I going to have a sequel?
Marcia: Yes and no.
Loreal (eyes bleeding black and a second pair opening up on her cheekbones)
Marcia (squirming in my seat): Now, hold up, sister. No need to go all spider on me. Chillax. Chillaxxxx. You’re going to make a pivotal appearance in Deadlier by the Dozen, which is due out late July. But, you’re not the lead character in this book. In fact that book was written before The Spider Inside Her was. I wrote TSIH because I had fallen in love with your badass self. Girlfriend, if the Terminator was a paranormal, you’d be it. (pounds chest gangsta style) I’ve got nothin’ but love for you, girl. Honest.
Loreal (transformation reverts and is human again): An appearance, huh. What about the third book?
Marcia: I haven’t gotten that far,yet. Basically, my Dark Encounters series is about humans who have first-time brushes with the supernatural world. Though I want each story to be standalone, I also want them to be interconnected. So that means, you might make an appearance in that one, too.
Loreal: But no chance of being cured.
Marcia: I haven’t decided yet.
Loreal: And what kind of name is Loreal?
Marcia: I got it from that fancy makeup commercial. I think it’s kind of cute. Besides, it could be worse. I could’ve named you Cover Girl Ingram.
Loreal (snorts and folds her arms): You sure watch a lot of TV.
Marcia: More like a lot of Nick Jr. You’ll find out one of these days.
Loreal: Holy crap! Does that mean Nathan and I will have a kid? Please tell me he or she won’t have eight legs.
Marcia: Would you stop? You don’t even have eight legs. Well…not yet, anyway.
Loreal: Uh huh. Oh, by the way. Am I going to go all black-widow on Nathan? Because he’s kinda cute. At least that was one thing you did right by me.
Marcia (reaching for the camera lens): Okay, enough. This interview is over. One more word out of your mouth and I’ll be pirating my own work. Just be thankful webs only shoot out of one orifice and not the other. 😡
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So if you liked that embarrassing display, here are some more. 😆 Just kidding. About the embarrassing part, that is. Check out my other fellow HCRW authors who have been–or will be–brought to their knees by their characters.
6/6: Aimee Laine : http://www.aimeelaine.com/blog
6/8: Lyla Dune : http://lyladune.com/blog.html
6/10: Carol Strickland : http://carolastrickland.blogspot.com/
6/12: Amy Corwin : http://amycorwin.blogspot.com/
6/14: Lilly Gayle : http://www.lillygayleromance.blogspot.com/
6/16: Rebekkah Niles : http://juturnafaerthing.blogspot.com/
6/18: Laura Browning : http://www.laurabrowningbooks.blogspot.com/
6/20: Andris Bear : http://andrisbear.wordpress.com/
6/22: Marcia Colette : https://marciacolette.wordpress.com/ *waving hello* 😀
6/24: Nancy Badger : http://www.nancylennea-inlove.blogspot.com
6/26: Sarah Mäkelä : http://blog.sarahmakela.com
6/28: Jennifer Harrington : http://www.romanceadventures.blogspot.com/
6/30: Scott Berger : http://romanticadventurestories.wordpress.com/
Marcia Colette 
LOVE the cover!
(Now go update it to Goodreads also! :D)
Ugh. Thanks for the reminder. 😆
What a fun interview! I really enjoyed this. Loreal is a great character.
“Just be thankful webs only shoot out of one orifice and not the other.”
OMG. I nearly spit out my drink. Haaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha. That was awesome. Your character sounds immensely interesting, too. 🙂 🙂 Where’s a link so i can add it to my TBR list?? 🙂 🙂
Love the orfice comment! Actually, loved the whole interview. And your story sounds intriguing. Kind of Spiderwoman instead of Spiderman. Love it!
Great interview, Marcia! Love the attitude from your character and the chest bumps from you! lmbo!
Fun interview, Marcia! To me it shows how much power we have as authors to control our worlds and decide the fates of our characters (“You don’t even have eight legs. Well…not yet, anyway.”) Of course, that doesn’t mean they don’t step forward and offer their own opinions on the subject quite loudly! Loreal’s story sounds like it’s going to be VERY interesting.
Love your cover! Wow, great interview, and what a terrific story concept. Though being a bit of an arachnophobe, not a curse I’d want to get, either!
Marcia, that was tooo funny! I picture you in some remote corner of your home acting out this interview until you were satisfied. That would have been the only thing funnier. Say, what about the outtakes? 🙂
Can’t wait for the book!
Beautiful cover. The interview cracked me up. Great post.