Please welcome Somer Canon to The Qwillery. Vicki Beautiful, Somer's debut novella, was published on April 26th by Samhain Publishing.
TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery. When and why did you start writing?
Somer: I’ve been writing fiction since I was in high school. I was a blogger for several years but I came back around to fiction about three years ago and started really trying to pursue it as a career.
TQ: Are you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?
Somer: Pantser all the way! I maybe make a few vague notes, but even I usually don’t know much about the story until I get to writing it.
TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?
Somer: Finding the time is a challenge, but I struggle most with Imposter Syndrome. I have a hard time talking about my writing to people and not feeling like I’m just a poser. Actually writing the story is much easier than telling people that it was I who wrote it.
TQ: What has influenced / influences your writing?
Somer: Stephen King is a big one, of course. I love the ease of reading with King’s work. I love how you can become so very attached to his characters and really feel for them when they experience the good ol’ Stephen King horrors. Charlaine Harris and Kim Harrison are big ones for me as well because they write these beautifully complicated characters and I can really relate to them as women.
TQ: Describe Vicki Beautiful in 140 characters or less.
Somer: If your best friend wanted you to fulfill their last wishes, would you really do anything for them?
TQ: Tell us something about Vicki Beautiful that is not found in the novella description.
Somer: A free cooking lesson! I strongly advise against using it, but you’ll learn something new!
TQ: What inspired you to write Vicki Beautiful? What appeals to you about writing horror?
Somer: I had a dream that inspired the writing of Vicki Beautiful! It was one of those bizarre dreams that just won’t leave you and I had to sit down and try to make it as real as I could through story.
Writing horror comes, first of all, from a lifelong love of horror. My mother and my grandmother were both horror fans and I was raised with it always in my life. When my love of writing came into my life in elementary school, it was only a matter of time until I got the desire to give others the same kind of rush reading horror that I got. I love writing horror because every now and then I surprise myself with how deep I can go. I walk this life as a vaguely normal person, so seeing some of the things I’ve put to paper makes me pleased that that lifelong fandom of horror has rubbed off in fantastic ways.
TQ: What sort of research did you do for Vicki Beautiful?
Somer: I did very little research, actually. Types of cancers and ideal cooking temperatures were the extent.
TQ: Who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?
Somer: Vicki was the easiest character for me to write. I know a Vicki in my personal life and it’s someone that I love very much, so making that person a character was a piece of cake. The hardest character I think was the main character, Sasha. She has a lot of internal conflict as well as the conflicts with Ken and Brynn. The story is from her point of view and it’s on her to really pull off Vicki’s final wishes, something she does not want to do. It was hard for me to talk her into it.
TQ: Which question about Vicki Beautiful do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!
Somer: “Would you do it?” Honest answer: I’m not sure. Not a definite yes not a definite no.
TQ: Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Vicki Beautiful.
Somer:
“I can see why Vicki trusted you with this,” he said. “This will be beautiful, just like she wanted.” Then he turned and started walking back toward the house.
TQ: What's next?
Somer: I’m still working and hoping for more published works, all horror. I’m still submitting and waiting for replies. So far, there are no certainties for me, but I am hopeful.
TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.
Somer: Thank you so much for having me!
Somer: I’ve been writing fiction since I was in high school. I was a blogger for several years but I came back around to fiction about three years ago and started really trying to pursue it as a career.
TQ: Are you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?
Somer: Pantser all the way! I maybe make a few vague notes, but even I usually don’t know much about the story until I get to writing it.
TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?
Somer: Finding the time is a challenge, but I struggle most with Imposter Syndrome. I have a hard time talking about my writing to people and not feeling like I’m just a poser. Actually writing the story is much easier than telling people that it was I who wrote it.
TQ: What has influenced / influences your writing?
Somer: Stephen King is a big one, of course. I love the ease of reading with King’s work. I love how you can become so very attached to his characters and really feel for them when they experience the good ol’ Stephen King horrors. Charlaine Harris and Kim Harrison are big ones for me as well because they write these beautifully complicated characters and I can really relate to them as women.
TQ: Describe Vicki Beautiful in 140 characters or less.
Somer: If your best friend wanted you to fulfill their last wishes, would you really do anything for them?
TQ: Tell us something about Vicki Beautiful that is not found in the novella description.
Somer: A free cooking lesson! I strongly advise against using it, but you’ll learn something new!
TQ: What inspired you to write Vicki Beautiful? What appeals to you about writing horror?
Somer: I had a dream that inspired the writing of Vicki Beautiful! It was one of those bizarre dreams that just won’t leave you and I had to sit down and try to make it as real as I could through story.
Writing horror comes, first of all, from a lifelong love of horror. My mother and my grandmother were both horror fans and I was raised with it always in my life. When my love of writing came into my life in elementary school, it was only a matter of time until I got the desire to give others the same kind of rush reading horror that I got. I love writing horror because every now and then I surprise myself with how deep I can go. I walk this life as a vaguely normal person, so seeing some of the things I’ve put to paper makes me pleased that that lifelong fandom of horror has rubbed off in fantastic ways.
TQ: What sort of research did you do for Vicki Beautiful?
Somer: I did very little research, actually. Types of cancers and ideal cooking temperatures were the extent.
TQ: Who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?
Somer: Vicki was the easiest character for me to write. I know a Vicki in my personal life and it’s someone that I love very much, so making that person a character was a piece of cake. The hardest character I think was the main character, Sasha. She has a lot of internal conflict as well as the conflicts with Ken and Brynn. The story is from her point of view and it’s on her to really pull off Vicki’s final wishes, something she does not want to do. It was hard for me to talk her into it.
TQ: Which question about Vicki Beautiful do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!
Somer: “Would you do it?” Honest answer: I’m not sure. Not a definite yes not a definite no.
TQ: Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Vicki Beautiful.
Somer:
“I can see why Vicki trusted you with this,” he said. “This will be beautiful, just like she wanted.” Then he turned and started walking back toward the house.
TQ: What's next?
Somer: I’m still working and hoping for more published works, all horror. I’m still submitting and waiting for replies. So far, there are no certainties for me, but I am hopeful.
TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.
Somer: Thank you so much for having me!
Vicki Beautiful
Samhain Publishing, April 26, 2016
eNovella, 68 pages
Samhain Publishing, April 26, 2016
eNovella, 68 pages
One last taste of perfection…
Sasha and Brynn descend upon the showplace home of their girlhood friend, Vicki, planning to celebrate her surviving cancer to reach her fortieth birthday. As they gather around Vicki’s perfectly set dinner table, though, her husband shares devastating news. The cancer is back, and she doesn’t have long to live.
Her life is cut even shorter than Sasha and Brynn expect—the next morning, their friend is found dead, her flawless skin slit at the wrists. But a tub full of blood is only the beginning. Before the weekend is through, they are forced to question how far they’re willing to go to fulfill Vicki’s last wish.
A very specific, very detailed recipe that only the truest of friends could stomach…
About Somer
Somer Canon is a minivan revving suburban mother who avoids her neighbors for fear of
being found out as a weirdo. When she’s not peering out of her windows, she’s consuming books, movies, and video games that sate her need for blood, gore, and things that disturb her mother.
Vicki Beautiful is her debut novella.
Find out more about Somer and her upcoming works at her website http://www.somercanon.com. You can also connect with Somer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SomerM.
being found out as a weirdo. When she’s not peering out of her windows, she’s consuming books, movies, and video games that sate her need for blood, gore, and things that disturb her mother.
Vicki Beautiful is her debut novella.
Find out more about Somer and her upcoming works at her website http://www.somercanon.com. You can also connect with Somer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SomerM.
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