This weeks author of the week is the delightful Michelle D. Farrow, we find out about what Michelle has been up to and what is next for this author dubbed the Lady of Suspense. Hi Michelle, welcome to your interview, let's start with learning about the books you've released. Hi Elizabeth, I've released The Melody Green Series, which comprise of the following books, Melody Green: Merciful Shock Melody Green: Narcissistic Trance Melody Green: Firefly’s Reprisal Ava Rose: Phantasmagoria Thanks, Michelle, tell me a little about yourself! My name is Michelle D Farrell, but please call me Chelle. I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, the hometown of Muhammad Ali, home of The Kentucky Derby and place where all of the Louisville Slugger bats are born. I have four children ages 24, 20, 17 and 3. I may or may not be single...see, that is where the mystery writer in me comes into play...you will have to figure it out with clues ;-) My hobbies include: collecting anything unicorn related and eating it (have you tried unicorn ice cream with the glittery sparkles? mmm). I don’t tell too many people but, I like to cross-stitch in my downtime. Well...I guess a lot of people know now...so…..I LOVE CROSS STITCHING! Finally, I love going out of my way to make people laugh. I am a bubbly, go-lucky type of person even though I do tend to write about dark situations. I have learned that intrigues a lot of people! A reader kindly suggested that I be called The Lady of Suspense and I love it and it stuck! I'll remember that Chelle! The Lady of Suspense is a great moniker, what got you into writing? My grandmother got me into writing. When I was a little girl many moons ago. when my grandmother would babysit me, my sisters and cousins, she would sit in this big armchair and sit us down at her feet and tell these fascinating stories. She would tell us the normal cautionary tales with her own twists to them, but the way she wove the words, I could see, and in a weird way, sometimes feel how the characters felt. That was pure storytelling talent, and I could see that, even in my young eyes. When I was 8 years old, I began to write and that is where my writing journey began. I wonder if you've ever considered writing your grandmother's stories down? What’s the main thing you love and hate about writing? Things I love about writing- being able to transport a reader into a different land, a different time and to help the reader view what the character they are reading about sees and feels. Things I hate about writing- that my fingers can not type fast enough to keep up with my thoughts! Who is the worst villain you’ve ever written, and why? I love all of my characters, even the bad guys! The Life Clipper is very evil and does nasty and appalling things but at the same time, after The Life Clipper is revealed, you kind of have a moment of heartstring-tugging action...but then you remember what all The Life Clipper did and you kind of don’t feel bad anymore. The Life Clipper was the worst villain I ever wrote because of the deeds. He sounds dreadful but you're right, every villain has a back story. What is next on your list to write/publish? I am currently wrapping up the first draft of Book 5 of The Melody Green Series called Ava Rose: Aquaphobic Flashback. I am also in the throes of converting books 1-3 into a screenplay format and truly excited about that. I am also going to start on the production of Ava Rose: Phantasmagoria’s audiobook. I create songs with my handy dandy PC and software for background music for each chapter of my audiobooks as well. Now THAT is super fun! Incredibly talented Chelle! Who is your favourite author, and why? I have several favourites! I love Stephen King, Clive Barker, William P Blatty, John Saul, James Patterson, Sue Grafton and finally and definitely not least, Ashley Greathouse, John Hathaway and Kenneth J Matthews That's a wide variety of authors. Who encouraged you the most to write? As a whole, since I started writing when I was very young, I would have to say it was myself. However, two years ago, Iran into an old high school friend one day and she asked me if I was still writing. I admitted that I had not written in over twenty or so years and she was shocked. She told me that she thought that I would be some kind of famous author by now because when I was a teen, I wrote crazy stories and friends would actually pay me to write short horror stories for their Halloween parties and haunted hayrides. So when I got home. I sat on my porch and sipped on my southern sweet tea and pondered. Nothing was keeping me from writing anymore as three of my children are grown so I didn’t have little ones to chase after. After leaning heavily towards picking up the pen again, a man doing his nightly jog on my street passed and the idea for Merciful Shock’s intro was born. So, Tiffany Sizemore, my buddy for life, encouraged me the most to write. It is often the mundane that inspires us, are you as avid a reader as a writer? I hate to admit this but, lately, I am not as an avid reader as I had been up to two years ago. My writing plate is pretty full and there are only 24 hours in a day, and since I am human, I have to grab some zzzz. However, when I was not writing manuscripts, producing audiobooks or formatting a screenplay, I had built quite an impressive library of horror and mystery novels by most of the authors I had mentioned above! What’s your favourite genre? I have two favourite genres! Mystery and Horror! These two genres are what influence my writing as The Melody Green Series is a hybrid of Mystery/Thriller and Suspense with a taste of horror! Someone once said to me, we write what we read, do you listen to music when you write? Actually I do! Remember earlier when I mentioned that I create music for all of my audiobook chapters? Well, I listen to those while I type. The music is mostly of the score genre but sometimes I pull up my music app and listen to my “Writing Playlist” that consist of Hip Hop, Metal and Pop. Tell me a secret that none of your fans know! I type with my eyes closed. Now hear me out, there is a method behind that madness! I am a sensory writer and most of the time I have to see what I am writing about. I close my eyes and I instantly see myself in Tamisville and can smell the heat from the summer sun and can clearly see Melody and what she is doing and seeing. Now writing this way does have its drawbacks...sometimes my fingers are on the wrong keys and when I open my eyes to see what I had written, it looks like this: “ghkx ix shzg ig ix lik d go gypd on ghd sfonb kdyx” and then I have to decipher what I wrote. In this case “this is what it is like to type on the wrong keys” Oh, my word, Chelle lol! Tell me what your main character would say about you! Melody Nicole Green would tell everyone that she likes me and she sees me as a big sister as I have guided her through some nasty situations and yet able to keep her interesting and likeable. But she may be a little upset at me for making her out to be of short stature (she’s only 5’2”....like me!) Finally, any words of advice? If you are starting out and at the point of getting your story together in your head, do not give up and do not stop! Write your story down, get it all out. Do not become discouraged if someone whispers discouraging things in your ear. Not everyone is going to like what you write, but that does not mean that no one will. There is an audience for all stories. You just have to find that audience. All of these things do not happen overnight. It takes a great deal of time between the idea in your head to your work sitting on a bookshelf. Patience is key. With that said, don’t be afraid to take a day or two...maybe three to rest and clear your mind. Do not drive yourself crazy with word counts. When your story feels complete to you, it is complete. Do not be concerned about how many pages a chapter should have. Some of my chapters are 10 pages long, I even have a chapter that is 4 pages long. When you feel that your chapter is done...it is done and move on to the next chapter. Of course, we all want reviews and it is awesome to have them, however, when you get a bad review (which happens to everyone!) don’t take it to heart. Do not respond. If it is constructive, take heed and bear it in mind. If it is not constructive, let it be water off of a duck’s back and move on. Do research on the administrative part of writing. Get your work registered! It is a quick process to begin and affordable. You put in a lot of work into your work, make it yours! Do book signings! This is a great way of not only selling your work, but a wonderful opportunity to meet real-life people who appreciate your hard work! If I could do a book signing every day, I would! Knowing that someone purposely got up one day and stood in line to meet you, is a wonderful feeling! Thank you, Chelle, for talking with me today, I hope everyone enjoyed the interview as much as I did, now if you want more Chelle, find her at: Author Website: https://www.authormichelledfarrell.com Author Email: michelle@authormichelledfarrell.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/accidentalsleuth Instagram: www.instagram.com/mercifulshock Twitter: www.twitter.com/farrellauthor Disclaimer. The opinions and views expressed in the article are the interviewees and may differ from the interviewer/general public. The works and images published here may be subject to the Authors copyright, please do not copy the images or claim them as your own.