Where do you hail from and what do you love most about your hometown?Growing up in White Rock, BC, the most impressive thing was the ocean. Whether walking on the beach with the water washing up over your toes or digging for clams, swimming and overturning rocks to find baby crabs, it’s the most impacting influence of my childhood. The beach is lots of fun, there’s always something to do there and it took me a few years before I stopped wishing I were beside it again.
Tell us about your latest book.
The Mountain City Bronzes is a short story published by MuseItUp Publishing. It’s a horror, about a child and a locked door. I won’t say anything more as I don’t want to ruin the ending for anyone.
Do you have anything new in the works and can you tell us a bit about it?
I’m working on a 15,000 word story right now. My main character is a 17 year old girl who is being led astray by a stronger personality. The story hinges on how she goes about recovering her self esteem. It is not a horror story.
Who is your favorite author and why?
I think the first author who impressed me was Emily Bronte whose Wuthering Heights was a book so poetic that I had to read it again and again. Moving to the modern times, I like Harry Thompson. I just loved This Thing Of Darkness and hovered over every word, every phrase, again, it was the poetics of the prose that I loved. Unfortunately he had passed away so I’ll never get to read anything else. But really, there are so many good and competent authors that it’s just hard to choose.
How do you deal with rejection letters?
Always hard but it depends on how it’s written. Rejection letters can be instructive or some are written so nicely that it’s not a slap in the face. You just have to go on because you love words and know that someone’s opinion isn’t the end of the road.
What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?
Thesaurus. Dictionary. Computer. Other books for fuel.
The Mountain City Bronzes at MuseItUp
The Mountain City Bronzes at amazon
My blog, Madeleine’s World
Madeleine McLaughlin
