Author Introduction
Marilynn Vicente was born with dyslexia but was gifted with her overactive imagination combined with her love of writing stories and reading.
In 2024, her debut novel Annaecy was released. She hopes to publish more books in the future.
AT: So you are about to become a newly minted author! How are you feeling?
MV: I am feeling somewhat nervous! A little afraid but I want to know what people think about my novel. Even if it’s bad! But that is not going to stop me from writing more stories.
AT: It is a normal feeling with new writers. And also good you plan to keep writing after publishing your first book.
MV: That does make sense! I’m definitely working on three works in progress.
AT: Also very cool! Can you give us some hints of what those three works are about before we continue?
MV: Without giving too much away, one of them is psychological horror/dark fantasy. It’s more psychological and with a hint of blood and guts. There are witches in there so if anyone is a witch fan, this might be for you.
The next one is a New Adult (NA) fantasy and science fiction and where the main character is an adult rather than a teenager like in Annaecy. The main character is still deciding what he should do in his life and it may sound like a real life story but this is a main character in a fantasy story.
And the third one is a murder mystery and it’s something to do with fashion and it’s something that I don’t know anything about as I have no fashion sense! But even I want to live in this story, ha ha.
AT: Psychological horror is one of my personal favorite genres. And what is your upcoming book about?
MV: Artificial military enforcements haven taken over the planet of Annaecy. They have created an environment of their own, and with their advanced technology and strict set of rules, they soon build a regime of intelligent AI species.
It is now the year CR-90. Crimson, a young AI, has failed her military training despite doing exceedingly well on her human studies. Little does she know, a real human named Dexter will soon crash land on her planet. Crimson’s new mission is to return Dexter back home. On their journey, they both get sucked into another planet, throwing them well into the past. Crimson soon discovers the dark secrets her family has been hiding.
AT: It sounds like the machine—and her journey—is about learning to become human.
MV: Pretty much!
AT: How would you describe your writing process?
MV: If it’s a new story I let the story play out scene by scene. When it’s ready, then I start writing. That process alone could take weeks, months and even up to a year. Even though it’s a long process at times. It’s great to know that I could start writing from where I left off.
Normally when it’s a story that’s been dormant for years, it comes back around. Almost like reminding me it exists
AT: Sounds like you keep stories in a vault until ready to be used, which is valid. So would you say you’re doing a mixture of plotting and planning?
MV: Planning without an outline. For Annaecy, it was written differently than the other stories. It had many versions of different scenes but without an ending. You can’t really have a story without an ending if you do then it would be considered a cliffhanger. Writing this story was a learning lesson for me. For every story I am able to see every small detail that I don’t add to my stories or else it will be a long story. I want the reader to pick up enough to know what I am showing, at least I hope so.
I might also add Annaecy had a four year writers block after I added the science fiction part due to writing lots of versions for it. But in the end I’m happy how this version came out even though it does have some dark elements to it.
AT: What should readers expect from your first book?
MV: First of all, my story is written in third person omniscient POV as most of my stories will be written in that way. It’s also a story about friendship, with adventures the characters from the other worlds discover new worlds and meet the characters that live there. The reader will see how each character grows including the villians. There’re a few metaphors in there and reading this story will feel almost like a real life dynamic between the young and the old.
AT: Who or what were some of your writing influences?
MV: The author who inspired me to write/publish one day as a kid was Chris Wooding and he wrote Kerosene. I did take a liking to my older brother’s Stephen King and Goosebumps book collection. Sure, I did read books as a kid but I don’t remember much of what I read. It was until I was in junior high school that I wasn’t allowed to read certain novels while in school.
Because I had to take special education classes. I had to listen to “Old McDonald Had A Farm” on cassette tape on repeat as you can tell I didn’t have the best time. By the time I got to high school, the special education became worse and I didn’t learn much. When I was allowed to read, I was excited about getting to read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. The War of the Worlds, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and the first five chapters of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein then I wasn’t allowed to read leaving me wanting to know what happens next.
AT: Goosebumps was also an influence of mine.
MV: I also forgot about Animorphs. I don’t read much now as an adult until I have finished what I have written. I don’t want my writing to be influenced by what I am reading. I did purchase two books when I was still working on my debut novel so I can read once it’s published.
AT: Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?
MV: First {is about} learning how to have patience. Publishing can and is a slow, long process and it took me a year just for my debut novel to be edited.
The most important thing to keep in mind is even editors, cover designers, and formatters all have an other things to do besides looking over your novel. They too need breaks, have hobbies, want to be on their social media and no need to get angry if you see them posting.
Readers can check out Ms. Vicente’s web site.
– Auctor
One Page of Misery 