Meghan Ciana Doidge -Interview and Giveaway with the Author

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Meghan Ciana Doidge-Interview and Giveaway with the Author


Interview-Gold

Meghan Ciana Doidge is an award-winning writer and independent filmmaker. She lives in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with her husband, Michael, three persian cats, one turtle and fishes. Meghan has a penchant for bloody love stories, superheroes, and the supernatural. And, she also have a bit of a thing for chocolate, potatoes, and sock yarn.;)

Meghan Doidge

 

TRC: Hi Meghan and welcome to The Reading Café.  Congratulations on the release of your new Young Adult storyline – TIME WALKER.

Meghan: Thanks for the guest post & interview invitation. What writer doesn’t like to go on and on about her books!!?

TRC: We would like to start with some background information.  Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Meghan: I was an actor for a long time before I transitioned into writing and directing independent films. I made a number of short films and was lucky enough to have some of them purchased by broadcasters and screened in international film festivals. I have the first half of the first season of a Sci-Fi web series up on YouTube – if anyone is interested – it’s called SiftingRealities.

TRC: Many authors develop their love of writing at an early age.  What was the catalyst that started you on the road to publication?

Meghan: While I did dabble with writing when I was in my late teens, I was more of a reader, and I still read voraciously. In 2011 an idea I was developing for a screenplay turned out to actually be a book. I never thought I would write a novel. I didn’t think I was that sort of writer – can you tell I put novelists up on a bit of a pedestal? That was my first book, After The Virus.

TRC: What difficulties or challenges have you faced getting your book to publication?

Meghan: Well, it was all new to me, so that is always a huge learning curve. However, I am exceedingly lucky that I have found an amazing cover artist, Irene Langholm, and a great editor, Scott Fitzgerald Gray. I think they help elevate and refine my ideas. I am also blessed to have access to great beta readers, from whom even the smallest note or feedback is welcomed and appreciated.

My greatest personal hurdle, and ongoing struggle, is with the comma, as I am sure you have noted.

Time WalkerTRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of TIME WALKER?

Click HERE for our review.

LINKS TO ORDER: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / KOBO/

Meghan: I came up with the idea for the Spirit Bound series while writing the first book in the Cascadian Chronicles, Spirit Binder. I loved the idea of exploring the world on a somewhat smaller scale where the stakes were personal and specific and not always about saving the world (necessarily).

Specifically, with Time Walker I was intrigued with this idea of being your own worst enemy, how that would segregate you from your life, and taint your perceptions. Then I decided [SPOILER ALERT] that Beth would (pretty literally) have to fight herself to save the ones she loves … hence the time walking.

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the series?

Meghan: At least three, Beth’s book, Time Walker, Ari’s book (next up) and Rose’s book, but you never know … Calla may get her own book, and there may be others.

TRC: Would you please tell us what you think are the differences between Young Adult storylines and the ‘New Adult’ storylines that have started to hit the publication market?

Meghan: I think Young Adult stories deal with the issues that we come across as we are trying to figure out who we are as people and where we fit in the world. This transition usually happens from the ages 15 – 19 or 20. While this period of our lives can seem so difficult and challenging, I personally found the next section – leaving high school, starting college, completing university, struggling with the difference between a job and a career– more complicated because of maturing relationships, such as, understanding my place within my family dynamic as an adult, at the same times as losing the structure of school, etc, etc. These struggles I would call “New Adult”.

While Time Walker is firmly in the young adult category, my novel, Spirit Binder tackles the issues that are now often called “New Adult’.

TRC: What do you believe is the biggest misconception about you?

Meghan: Hmm, that’s a difficult question to answer. I’ll have to think about it …

TRC: If you could change something about yourself personal or professional, what would it be and why?

Meghan: At this moment in time, I wouldn’t change a thing, but I’ve struggled to get to that point. Maybe a bit less of a struggle would have been nice, but then I don’t think I’d be me, and I like me.

TRC: Who or what has been the biggest influence in your life and why?

Meghan: I think all storytellers have many, many influences, too many to list … but, quickly: writers: Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, Stephen King, Anne Rice, etc, etc. Filmmakers: The Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Stephen Spielberg, Wes Anderson. Specific movies/novels: Gone with the Wind, True Romance, Princess Bride, etc.

TRC: Who is the first person you think about when you need someone to talk with and why?

Meghan: My muse, my rock, without whom I would not be able to write the stories I do write, my husband, Michael.

TRC: What are some of the things would you like to accomplish in the next ten years?

Meghan: I’d like to bring out 3-4 novels a year … I have another two series I am starting this year. I’d like to see some of them on the big screen as well!!

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Meghan: I am currently writing the first draft of an urban fantasy called, Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic. I will probably quickly follow that up with a second book, and then work on the sequels to Spirit Binder and Time Walker.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: potatoes

Favorite Dessert: anything chocolate

Favorite TV Show: Shameless

Last Movie You Saw: Looper, which I quite liked.

Dark or Milk Chocolate: dark, pretty please.

Do you have any pets? Three Persian cats, a yellow belly turtle, and some tropical fish. The cats make frequent appearances on my blog as they attempt to thwart the writing.

TRC: Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.  We wish you all the best with your writing career.

Meghan: Thank you for the opportunity and best of luck in 2013! You can find sample pages and current giveaways on my blog at http://www.madebymeghan.ca. My books After The Virus, Spirit Binder, and Time Walker are available as ebooks and paperbacks on most online retailors such as, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, B&N, etc.

Follow Meghan: Goodreads / Website / Facebook / Twitter

Giveaway-Blue:Black

Meghan is offering an ebook copy of TIME WALKER to one lucky reader.

1. Please register using the log-in at the top of the page or by using one of our social log-ins.

2. If you are using a social log-in, please post your email address with your comments as Twitter etc does not allow for email information.

3. The giveaway is open internationally.

4. The giveaway runs from February 20-23, 2013

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30 thoughts on “Meghan Ciana Doidge -Interview and Giveaway with the Author”

  1. Another wonderful interview ladies. And POTATOES…wow…I love everything potatoes as well.

    Thanks for the interview and you were/are an actor. Would we recognize any of your films or TV roles?

  2. First, thanks for hosting an interview and giveaway – so fun, I love giveaways!!

    Second, in response to Alicia’s question, no, I mostly acted in theatre a LONG time ago – ha! My short films you may stumble upon as they some times play late at night on TV or you can find a few episodes of my web series in You Tube. But I don’t act in any of them. I wrote the scripts and then directed. Oddly, I think acting was the thing I had to give up to find my voice … playing other people all the time, wearing other masks hindered that sort of thing for me. Thanks for asking!!

  3. Hi Meghan. Thank you for stopping by. I love to meet the authors behind the books we read and review.

    I will have to check out the YouTube video.

    And I agree with Alicia and You..potatoes are amazing…and a comfort food although my body doesn’t need any more carbs… 😉

  4. Thank you for the great interview. I love coming to The Reading Cafe and finding new authors.

    Ah, potatoes. I found a new recipe for roast potatoes-potatoes, Italian seasoning, olive oil, onions, garlic and red/green peppers-to die for. Wow, I am hungry..lol

    • Fran – I am having a blast working on the 2nd draft right now. I am writing, for the first time, from first person POV and adore the lead character as she stumbles through this contemporary world of magic (witches, vampires, werewolves, etc). She’s strong but doesn’t think very highly of her own abilities as a witch. It’s funny, dark and sexy. This is NOT a young adult book – ha! It should be available by the end of April/beginning of May depending on my editor and beta readers. At some point in the nearish future I’ll get a New Releases Mailing List up and running…

  9. Ongoing struggle with the comma? Hilarious!

    New Adult is perfect to describe that transition period.

    Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic sounds awesome!!!

    Cats…I LOVE cats…have 2 inside and 6 outside (I’m an enabler, what can I say?). And you incorporate them into your writing? Where’s my Kindle…logging on to Amazon now!!! ;D Much success!!!

    • Ha! HA! Carmen – I don’t think my proof readers find my comma issues so hilarious!!

      I am seriously enjoying working on CT&ODM, not that I didn’t enjoy writing Time Walker, but I love setting magical worlds alongside our everyday world, perhaps it is more accessible for me as I write the first draft. Time Walker is set in a future (universe?) and the language/world/characters are more refined (for lack of a better world). CT&ODM is edgier and darker than TW, not YA at all. Closer to my novel, After The Virus, but completely different, of course.

      And the cats, yes, the cats … two of them are on my desk right now. One is using the handwritten draft of CT&ODM as a pillow even as I try to work off it and write the 2nd draft. They haven’t become characters in my stories yet (just on the blog), though … maybe that’s the issue? They want recognition and then they’d let me write in peace? I jest, I absolutely adore them, and feel privileged that they want to spent any time with me at all. Of course, I’d never get away with having eight. When the third one came home, Michael said,” … three is fin, but four, might as well ten, and then you are the crazy cat lady.”

  11. Hi Meghan, thanks for coming. That’s a very nice picture of you. Will add your book to my TBR list. I’m love anything Sci Fi so I will check out your video on YouTube.

    • Hi! My husband, Michael, snapped that shot of me at Point No Point (on Vancouver Island). It’s one of those once in a life time photos and I adore it, My hair is twice as long now, of course, but I think the shot suits my writing so I use it as my author picture. Let me know what you think of SiftngRealities … its a slow build and we did it on zero budget but I’m a big of fan of the lead actress …. I think she totally got the character I wrote.

  12. Great interview. And I have a thing for yarn too, just not specifically sock yarn. Recently found a wool that didn’t irritate my skin while I worked with it. That was a joy as I love crocheting in natural fibers. Acrylic is great, but not very versatile. Time Walker sounds right up my reading alley, and your other titles, particularly After the Virus, peak my interest. And I’m sure editors would LOVE my comma use as well. *giggles* And, I believe, it is true that you have to drop the masks before you can find your true path. I’m still in the phase of dropping and searching. I know there are stories tucked away in me, but not sure how to tap into them to set them free. Oh well. It is late and I babble. Thanks again.

    • Ooh, and thanks to your blog, I now know what Yarn Bombing is… and now my mind is ticking away. 🙂
      Tried to watch “Baking with the Director”, but YouTube is not liking me at the moment. I look forward to catching it and Sifting Realities when the internet is being friendlier in general.

      • Ah, baking with the director is just a fun thing we did for the series, I had planned on more but got caught up in the series itself, which we never finished … there are 7 more episodes in the first season alone. I’ll have to turn them into short stories some day. Also I think that flower yarn bomb (on my blog) might be crocheted!! I adore crochet flowers and have no idea how to make them or crochet at all really.

    • Barbara … we envolve – if we allow ourselves – in interesting ways, I think. It took me a long time to find the writing and even longer to make the transition from screenplay to novel (as I did with After The Virus) and now I am a happy camper clicking away on my keyboard and letting all the stories in my head free, free! I hope I keep evolving as a storyteller, indeed there are so many stories in all of us. My advice, if you will have it, is just to write without editing yourself – that is my biggest hurdle, judging the writing. I not saying you shouldn’t hone a piece of writing in multiple drafts, just that at some level a story is what it wants to be and if you try to manipulate it too much it falls flat or feels unreal … does that make sense??

      On a less personal, but still as deadly serious, note, I love all yarn really … the more expensive the more I love it – ha! Anything cashmere has my heart from first touch and anything silk/cashmere or silk/merino – SWOON!!

      • Thanks for the reply. I just found out I won an ebook copy of Time Walker! I’m so excited to delve into it.
        It is really awesome to have someone with whom to chat yarn. Amazing how much folks from opposite sides of a continent have in common. I suppose that is why certain story themes appeal to such a wide audience, we all have some common interests.
        Much love to you from Kentucky.

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