In Which THE MASKED SONGBIRD Starts Its Tour!

Woo! Today is the Tour Kickoff day for Emmie Mears and her book THE MASKED SONGBIRD!

 

 

I luuurve this cover

 

 

Emmie and I met on QueryTracker Forum so I'm happy to have her here today on my blog.

Take it away Emmie!

 

 

 

 

Writing is Cheaper Than Therapy

...But sometimes I think it might cause me to need a shrink.

When I wrote the first draft of THE MASKED SONGBIRD, I didn’t realize how cathartic it would be.

The initial idea came to me in a flurry of inspirational indignation when I saw that the still-warm Spider-Man franchise was getting rebooted. I wanted to write a novel with a female superhero. I always loved the messy ones, the Logans who had people issues, the Peters who grew from being stomped on, the Rogues who struggled to combat things they didn’t understand.

A lot came out in that first draft, which I wrote in a measly six weeks. It was the fastest book I ever wrote. Some things (like Gwen’s spandex-y tutu) survived to the final product. Others (like a scene I wrote while processing my own recovery from sexual assault) did not, and for good reason. Yet other things I’m only noticing now as possible manifestations of my own subconscious.

It wasn’t until the final readthrough of the manuscript that I started realizing how much writing the book had allowed me to work through some of my own issues. Writing (and creative endeavors in general) has always been a cathartic process for me, whether it be journaling or fiction. While I didn’t base Gwen Maule on myself, she does have some traits with which I empathize. My whole life, I’ve struggled to assert myself, and Gwen, at the outset of THE MASKED SONGBIRD, is very much treated like a doormat.

In some ways, writing Gwen’s character helped me realize my own assertiveness and confidence. If she, a nobody from a croft in Sutherland, could become a hero, maybe I could at least manage to get through the next year -- and maybe others who struggled with fighting a learned tendency to let things slide would learn to stand up for themselves too.

How does writing (or reading) teach you things about yourself? Which characters have you read or written who have brought out latent traits in you?



You can preorder THE MASKED SONGBIRD here (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JD7TWZK)! Released in a box set, you get four great paranormal and urban fantasy books for less than $4!

Follow Emmie on Twitter @EmmieMears and join her on Facebook!