Blog Tour: Under My Skin by Judith Graves

I am so very lucky to be hosting author Judith Graves today, whose debut novel Under My Skin releases in just three short days on March 27th, 2010!

Judith was kind enough to offer insight into how she came up with UMS!

The idea:

I don’t know where the inspiration to write truly comes from - where the characters live before they hang out with me, so to speak. They arrive in my coil notebooks or on my laptop screen as fairly fleshed out beings. They have likes and hates, loves and losses, agendas and secrets. Sure, I discover things about them on the way…but how do they appear in the first place? (shrugs) I dunno.

Under My Skin (UMS) came from a “what if” question: What if paranorms from different parts of the world duked it out over the last bit of unclaimed territory? Beyond that…the characters, the town, the conflict – just happened.

The process:

I was a musician/singer-songwriter for many years but never devoted much time to my dabbling in fiction. Between band stuff, my day job, teaching guitar lessons, etc., I picked away at the UMS “what if” question mentioned above. I did some research on wolf behaviour and observed teens “in the wild.” Let’s face it – I’m an old lady (thirty-something, if you must know), and I needed to be around older teens to make sure my writing fit. My husband is a high school teacher and basketball coach. I went on basketball tourney with his team on a small 16-seater bus – to observe, take notes on how kids interacted – like Jane Goodall and her chimps. But never again! There is such a thing as too much research. The farts they ripped…whew! For folklore, I invested in lots of books on mythology/occult/wicca, etc., because UMS encompasses a lot of the paranormal realms.

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So there you have it, the idea and process behind Under My Skin. I unfortunately haven't had the chance to read UMS yet but I am very much looking forward to it!

To learn more about Judith and Under My Skin go check out her webpage! And don't forget to stop by her twitter on Saturday to wish her a happy book birthday!! (@judithgraves)

Thanks so much for stopping by Judith!! :)

                                                 Sherry <3