Vampires! As readers, movie goers or television watchers, we can't ever seem to get enough of them. Just when we think audiences are tired of them, they come back from the dead--again! Readers, TV viewers and movie goers love them and, let's face it, writers love to write about them. Lucky for us, today's guest in My Writing Corner, Mickey Flagg, is one of those writers.
Tell us about it, Mickey!
As an avid reader, the realm of paranormal fiction appears to be the perfect landing point for Mickey. After a successful career as a music teacher and an urban school administrator, she says she retired in 2020 and now continues to spin stories of passion, love and redemption. She has been a contributor in a book on urban music education and has also authored an article for Still Standing, a web-magazine about loss and healing. Named a Distinguished Music Educator at the 2010 Yale Music Symposium, Mickey is a life-long New Jersey resident, a member of Liberty States Fiction Writers, and a Professor in Residence with a local university.
Whenever life issues happen, it’s a real challenge to write. I don’t write every day like many authors. I have to take a step away until I find that peaceful place again. But when I get there, story ideas are like a giant waterfall. And then there’s the necessity of promotion, which can take my focus off of writing.
Desperate for something different and creative, my son said I should write a book. So I decided to redeem a vampire. I mean, it was far out there, but why not? It intrigued me so that it took my mind off the difficult things. Sentence by sentence, my first book was born and the query process began. In late 2006, I signed with The Wild Rose Press and published three books between 2008 and 2011.
I retired as Covid hit. It took another year for creativity to resurface. On a whim, I took a minor female character from my first novel and slowly built a story around her. Midway, I hit a snag, which brought Lukas, my vampire’s human son, to mind. Hmm…. They were the same age, and now fifteen years later, Martine and Lukas were in their thirties.
If this was to properly work, worldbuilding in the first three novels had to be tweaked. I revamped the books with the hopes of putting them out there again. Now, Lukas and Martine’s love story took on a whole new dynamic that expanded my paranormal world. Luckily, my editor, Callie Lynn Wolfe was still with TWRP, so I queried Night of the Crescent Moon. Now, fifteen years later, after years of not writing one creative sentence, I have four books coming out. My paranormal series begins again with three revised books now entitled: The Vampire’s Retribution, Mystical Consequences, and His Soul to Keep. Night of the Crescent Moon will follow them.
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Today we will feature Mickey's latest book, The Vampire's Retribution. Let's get a burb:
What do you find is the most challenging part of being an author?
Whenever life issues happen, it’s a real challenge to write. I don’t write every day like many authors. I have to take a step away until I find that peaceful place again. But when I get there, story ideas are like a giant waterfall. And then there’s the necessity of promotion, which can take my focus off of writing.
Tell us about your road to publication.
In 2005 while in my mid-fifties, I completed another master’s degree in educational leadership, an intense two-years that required a tremendous amount of deeper thinking about educational practices. I wrote multiple papers each week. My writings were used as models for others to follow, and the professor’s background was in writing and literature. My background was in music and theater. Never thought myself a writer, although I loved to read. At the same time, there were other major life issues, like we need another dozen balls to juggle.
Desperate for something different and creative, my son said I should write a book. So I decided to redeem a vampire. I mean, it was far out there, but why not? It intrigued me so that it took my mind off the difficult things. Sentence by sentence, my first book was born and the query process began. In late 2006, I signed with The Wild Rose Press and published three books between 2008 and 2011.
Oddly enough just before book 3 released, I left the classroom to become an educational administrator in a large urban district. Goodbye vampires and hello academic reports, observations and evaluations, parent conferences and student protocols. There were barely enough hours in the week to do everything justice.
I retired as Covid hit. It took another year for creativity to resurface. On a whim, I took a minor female character from my first novel and slowly built a story around her. Midway, I hit a snag, which brought Lukas, my vampire’s human son, to mind. Hmm…. They were the same age, and now fifteen years later, Martine and Lukas were in their thirties.
I’m quite comfortable in this paranormal world full of vampires, mystical warriors, sorcerers and witches. And there are so many more stories of romance and redemption to tell. This past year, I’ve written four additional novels in my paranormal series.
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Dreams are often hidden desires… even if they are terrifying. Michael, a mystically enhanced vampire, destroys immortal sorcerers in an unprecedented battle. Poisoned, captured, he is exsanguinated, left to rot in a cell beneath the city. Guided by Helena, a heavenly entity, he spins a fantasy full of devotion to the one woman he treasures and his mystically-human, troubled son. His fading mind races through twists and unexpected turns, passionate highs and very realistic lows. Is this deliverance or the end to his immortal existence? His reasons for the singular battle are noble. One is retribution. The other is love.
Want to know more? How about an excerpt?
Was it the history, both bad and good between them? The temptation to only be a breath away? To reboot a romance, which ended years ago on such a terrifying note? Love for one another was a given. They both knew it to be true. But history is history. It doesn’t change. Michael was vulnerable now. So was she. Maybe more than one type of healing had a second chance…
His finger tapped the mattress. “You want me to sit next to you?”
“Yes,” came from his pale lips, a whispered rasp. Was his rich baritone voice gone forever as well?
“You know why I can’t do that.”
His brows knit, turning the glare into a glower. “Say it, my Guardian.”
She sighed, long and slow, as her body sank deeper into the chair. “Where do I begin? And why relive what can never be changed?”
“Say it.”
“If this is a test of wills, I win this round.”
“You held me… in your arms last night.”
“You were unconscious, Michael.”
“And now?”
“It’s not right.”
“Why?”
“Because you are awake,” she stated, unwilling to give anymore.
“I love you.”
She closed her eyes, letting those three words sink deep into her soul. The memory of that terrible September night, almost seven years ago…
“Do not ignore me,” he added, with an attempt to muster the old, peppered arrogance he often wore.
“Close your eyes,” she said in a tender tone to deescalate the situation, “You need rest.”
His hand brushed the bed covers. “No, Alana. I… want you…here.”
“It’s a dangerous demand, Michael. Those last years in the city, I controlled every deep, gnawing desire to talk to you, to come to you. To make things right between us.”
Could she keep control now? His bloodshot eyes closed as if he had taken an arrow to the heart, and she sighed. Things were different now. He had nothing left. No strength, no ability to fend for himself.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, pulling herself out of the chair to settle on the edge of the bed. She studied his beaten face, recalling every handsome feature, every plane of his face that had often taken her very breath away. He was here. The immortal being she would always love.
A thin smile came at her. His features appeared to relax as if her nearness eased his pain. “So much… to tell you,” he whispered with a rasp.
“Shhh…later.”
Michael nodded once, and as if by divine intervention, she stretched out on the bed. They lay face to face. Even so wounded he was still the commanding being she fell in love with over a decade ago. A mystically enhanced vampire who saved her so many times in the field fighting demons. He had her heart.
She moved her face close enough to kiss him, and his dark, espresso eyes found hers. As if two magnets of opposing poles drew together, her body responded. She kissed his lips so gray and cool like a fine brush, slight of pressure. She eased back and traced his eye brows, ran a careful hand down his bruised cheek. God, she wanted him.
I don’t know whether I develop them or they finally show themselves, like they’re peeking out at me from behind a curtain. I can see them, understand their motivation. If I’m not at my laptop, he or she stays in mind until I can get it down. Then, the way they carry themselves, how they speak, their belief system and/or motive usually unfolds as I write. Sometimes, I go one way and they go another. But I have the story resolution in my head and that doesn’t change.
What’s your next project?
I’ve always wanted to write a prequel about Michael, my mystically enhanced vampire. I chose the setting of 1928 Manhattan. With the ability to control his beast-within, he will step out of his solitary existence and experience love. The novella is entitled Awakening His Soul.
His finger tapped the mattress. “You want me to sit next to you?”
“Yes,” came from his pale lips, a whispered rasp. Was his rich baritone voice gone forever as well?
“You know why I can’t do that.”
His brows knit, turning the glare into a glower. “Say it, my Guardian.”
She sighed, long and slow, as her body sank deeper into the chair. “Where do I begin? And why relive what can never be changed?”
“Say it.”
“If this is a test of wills, I win this round.”
“You held me… in your arms last night.”
“You were unconscious, Michael.”
“And now?”
“It’s not right.”
“Why?”
“Because you are awake,” she stated, unwilling to give anymore.
“I love you.”
She closed her eyes, letting those three words sink deep into her soul. The memory of that terrible September night, almost seven years ago…
“Do not ignore me,” he added, with an attempt to muster the old, peppered arrogance he often wore.
“Close your eyes,” she said in a tender tone to deescalate the situation, “You need rest.”
His hand brushed the bed covers. “No, Alana. I… want you…here.”
“It’s a dangerous demand, Michael. Those last years in the city, I controlled every deep, gnawing desire to talk to you, to come to you. To make things right between us.”
Could she keep control now? His bloodshot eyes closed as if he had taken an arrow to the heart, and she sighed. Things were different now. He had nothing left. No strength, no ability to fend for himself.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, pulling herself out of the chair to settle on the edge of the bed. She studied his beaten face, recalling every handsome feature, every plane of his face that had often taken her very breath away. He was here. The immortal being she would always love.
A thin smile came at her. His features appeared to relax as if her nearness eased his pain. “So much… to tell you,” he whispered with a rasp.
“Shhh…later.”
Michael nodded once, and as if by divine intervention, she stretched out on the bed. They lay face to face. Even so wounded he was still the commanding being she fell in love with over a decade ago. A mystically enhanced vampire who saved her so many times in the field fighting demons. He had her heart.
She moved her face close enough to kiss him, and his dark, espresso eyes found hers. As if two magnets of opposing poles drew together, her body responded. She kissed his lips so gray and cool like a fine brush, slight of pressure. She eased back and traced his eye brows, ran a careful hand down his bruised cheek. God, she wanted him.
I don’t know whether I develop them or they finally show themselves, like they’re peeking out at me from behind a curtain. I can see them, understand their motivation. If I’m not at my laptop, he or she stays in mind until I can get it down. Then, the way they carry themselves, how they speak, their belief system and/or motive usually unfolds as I write. Sometimes, I go one way and they go another. But I have the story resolution in my head and that doesn’t change.
What’s your next project?
I’ve always wanted to write a prequel about Michael, my mystically enhanced vampire. I chose the setting of 1928 Manhattan. With the ability to control his beast-within, he will step out of his solitary existence and experience love. The novella is entitled Awakening His Soul.
What advice do you have for beginning writers?
Write from your heart but edit with your head. Get everything down first, but keep in mind the word count. Go back to add details or to delete what doesn’t drive the plot. My editor told me years ago to read my manuscript in different fonts of different sizes. You’d be amazed what you catch. Use the read-aloud program in word on each chapter. It helps to hear it. Check for repetition or passive voice.
It may take months to write your first novel, yet many more months to make it shine. I use two beta readers and value their input. But never let critique sway your determination to write. You know the story you want to tell. When you’re ready to query, step back and read the novel again with fresh eyes. And above all, always remember that you’re never too old to start writing that book.
Write from your heart but edit with your head. Get everything down first, but keep in mind the word count. Go back to add details or to delete what doesn’t drive the plot. My editor told me years ago to read my manuscript in different fonts of different sizes. You’d be amazed what you catch. Use the read-aloud program in word on each chapter. It helps to hear it. Check for repetition or passive voice.
It may take months to write your first novel, yet many more months to make it shine. I use two beta readers and value their input. But never let critique sway your determination to write. You know the story you want to tell. When you’re ready to query, step back and read the novel again with fresh eyes. And above all, always remember that you’re never too old to start writing that book.
Thank you for being my guest today Mickey. Here are the buy links ad Mickey's social contact information.
Buy links:
Amazon:
Amazon.com: The Vampire's Retribution (The Champion Chronicles Book 1) eBook : Flagg, M.: Books
Barnes & Nobles:
The Vampire's Retribution by M. Flagg, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
Website info: http://mflagg-author.com
Social Media links:
Facebook: (1) M. Flagg | Facebook
Twitter: Michele Flagg (@flagg_michele) / Twitter https://twitter.com/flagg_michele
Instagram: Mickey Flagg (@mickeyflagg) • Instagram photos and videos https://www.instagram.com/mickeyflagg
Any comments or questions for Mickey?
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Thanks for having me here, Rebecca!
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