writing – Page 9 – Kristin Houlihan, Writer

Prepare to be haunted! Check out “Please Disappear” by M.K. Shivakoti, read my interview with him, and buy the book! Available for PREORDER NOW, Releases March 25

Last year at some point I had the great privilege of beta reading M.K. Shivakoti’s debut novel, Please Disappear. It was a truly rewarding experience because the book is fantastic, and because it led to an engaging dialogue about the book and the characters and where he might go with a sequel (yay!). I am so excited now to tell you that Please Disappear is releasing March 25th, and is available for preorder NOW on Amazon.

If you read my blog often, then I presume you trust or at least are interested in my opinions on books – so you should read it just because I said it’s worth your time, haha! But in truth, Shivakoti weaves a complex mystery, revealing bits of information at a time and keeping the reader guessing. Here are some of the comments I made to him in my beta reader feedback:

You do a phenomenal job with the dark-and-twisted stuff!

I looked forward to picking up the book every night, had a hard time putting it down at bedtime, and was disappointed when it ended.

I would buy your sequel!

In case you’re not sold by my praises, and if you’re a visual as well as literary person, you can check out the book trailer Shivakoti put together to promote the book. This whole book trailer realm is new/foreign to me, kind of like book-tubing… but that’s just me. So, if this is your thing – then enjoy!

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An NOW, here’s an interview with M.K. Shivakoti himself!

M.K. Shivakoti The Edifying Word (EDW): Tell us a little about yourself!

M.K. Shivakoti: My name is M.K. Shivakoti. I was born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, but have spent most of my adult life in the United States. I’m also a debut author of a suspense thriller, Please Disappear, which is releasing on March 25, 2019.

My story is perhaps not that unique. I’m an immigrant who is regularly questioned about my Nepalese versus American identity. Many ultimately conclude that I don’t truly belong to either. To the nativists, I don’t have enough pride, enough loyalty, enough faith, enough whatever it takes to be called one or the other.

But from my vantage point, being part of the two cultures has been a tremendous blessing. As a writer, I’m able to draw similarities and differences and use it in my fiction. My characters are multi-cultural and are free to express themselves however they would like; they are not bound by religion, national origin, faith or dogma. I’m able to tell human stories, without being shackled to the continent I grew up in or the continent I live in. And it’s all because I have had the privilege to be part of two beautiful yet distinct cultures.

EDW: Writing is hard work – why do you write?

MK: My parents and friends tell me that I’ve always been a writer, that I enjoyed writing even at a young age. It all seems a little hazy to me now since there was a period when I didn’t write at all. What I now know is that creativity needs a certain environment to flourish and I didn’t have that space until my late twenties.

Anyhow, I write because I have to. It’s part of who I am. It’s always been that way, even though I had to re-discover this in my life. To non-writers, this may be difficult to understand, but writing to me is akin to eating, drinking, or using the bathroom. Of course, I’m not going to die if I don’t write for a week or two. Nevertheless, my point is that if we’re devoid of these basic needs, our bodies would complain. Why eat? Why drink? Why go to the bathroom? These are not questions we bother ourselves with. These are facts of life. These are things we do. These are things we must do.

EDW: I’m so excited for your book release! What can readers look forward to when they pick up Please Disappear?

MK: My debut novel, Please Disappear, took four years to write and a few additional years to get published. I have a lot of emotions attached to this book. It’s upcoming release, and associated anticipation, anxiety, and whole array of emotion is second only to the birth of my son.

My hope is that readers will quickly find themselves engrossed in the thrilling suspense. As a reader, I gravitate toward books that grab you from the first page and won’t let you go until the end. As a writer, I have attempted to create something similar. I hope people enjoy reading what I thoroughly enjoyed writing.

They can read more about the book here: https://mkshivakoti.com/

If anyone’s interested in reading sample chapters, I’m sending that for free. They can find more information at: https://mkshivakoti.com/contact-us/

EDW: If Please Disappear were made into a movie, who would you hope would play your lead character?

MK: Wouldn’t that be great!! If something crazy like this were to happen, I would love to see Jared Leto as Gabriel and Priyanka Chopra as Sara Sardana. Katie and Arun are tough for me to imagine. Maybe Dev Patel would be great as Arun, but then he’s a little too tall and his English a little too native to pull off an immigrant from Nepal. Although a comic, Kumail Nanjiani, maybe a better fit. Given an opportunity, I’m confident he can do justice to gritty roles. 😊

EDW: Do you have a favorite writer, or someone who influences your work?

MK: One author in particular stands out for me—Stephen King.

I read ‘The Shining’ when I was a grown man. One day I was sitting outside on a lounge chair, overlooking our community swimming pool. It was a bright sunny day, and I was reading ‘The Shining.’ When that woman stepped out of the bath tub, I had to close the book and look around just to double check. There was another family across from me, eating hot dogs and burgers. One kid was about to canon ball into the pool and a couple had found a sweet corner to canoodle. The hideous woman from the book was nowhere to be found and I was just glad she didn’t jump out of the pool. Yet, my heart was going boom, boom, boom.

Stephen King not only creates fictional worlds, but he possesses the magical ability to transmit real palpable emotions through his writing.

EDW: When you are not writing, what’s your favorite way to spend time?

MK: I have a full-time job and daddy duties most days of the week. So, if I have any free time, my favorite things to do are to read and write.

EDW: Finally, is there anything else we should know about you?

MK: No, I think we’ve covered quite a bit here. I want to thank Kristin for giving me this opportunity. I also want to thank you all for reading this post. There are million other things online to watch and read, I’m truly grateful you chose to read this instead.

EDW: You’re welcome, and thanks for being my first author interview here at The Edifying Word. Okay everyone, now go buy Please Disappear!

You can connect with M.K. Shivakoti the following ways:

Email: contact@mkshivakoti.com

Website: https://mkshivakoti.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.mkshivakoti

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mk_shivakoti

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/mk_shivakoti

Let’s talk about homophones

First, let’s define “homophone” so we’re all clear on what we’re talking about. According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, “homophone” is defined as:

one of two or more words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling (such as the words to, too, and two)

There are LOTS of these in the English language, and they’re really, really easy for writers to mix up; they’re also really, really easy to miss at the editing phase, especially the self-editing phase. (This is why my husband and sister are invaluable in editing my blog posts…though usually after I’ve published. So I look stupid for a day or two until one of them points it out and then I fix it. Imperfect system, I know).

Here are some common sets of homophones:

Two, to, and too (as mentioned above)
Ate and eight
Ant and aunt
There, they’re, and their
Bare and bear
Night and knight
Tale and tail
Through and threw
Its and it’s (this one is mixed up SO often)
Etc….

While I was thinking about this, I had a momentary mental block and did some googling – there are so many of these (usually pairs) that I hadn’t even thought of! I stumbled upon this really interesting site that has a bunch of worksheets for teaching kids how to choose the right (write? hehe) homophone, check it out!

Not on my short list above and probably not often taught to children is the following set, which also happens to be the one that has prompted my current rant about homophones:

Peek, peak, and pique

Now, most people are probably taught the difference between “peek” and “peak,” but I’m going to venture a guess that “pique” is not commonly taught – because I rarely ever see it used correctly; typically I see “peak” used in its place. However, I just read a novel in which I’m honestly not sure any of the three homophones was used correctly even once (eek)! So, I’m going to try to clear up the confusion with some definitions and sentence examples – and then make a plea for authors to utilize the services of a good copyeditor!

For starters, definitions (all from Merriam-Webster online):

Peek (also peeked; peeking; peeks): 1a: to look furtively (A little girl peeked around the corner of the chair at him.); b: to peer through a crack or hole or from a place of concealment —often used with in or out (peeked in through the window; peeked out at us from behind the curtains; 2: to take a brief look: glance (peeked ahead to the next chapter to see what would happen)

Peak: 1: a pointed or projecting part of a garment; especially: the visor of a cap or hat (The cap’s peak shades his eyes.); 2: promontory (a steep rocky peak); 3: a sharp or pointed end (the peak of a roof); 4a(1) : the top of a hill or mountain ending in a point (the fog hung … heavily on the peak of the hill), (2): a prominent mountain usually having a well-defined summit; b: something resembling a mountain peak (Beat the cream until it forms stiff peaks.); 5a: the upper aftermost corner of a fore-and-aft sail; b: the narrow part of a ship’s bow or stern or the part of the hold in it; 6a: the highest level or greatest degree (a singer at the peak of her popularity); b: a high point in a course of development especially as represented on a graph (The graph shows that murders in the city reached a peak two years ago.); 7: widow’s peak

Pique (also piqued; piquing): 1a: to excite or arouse especially by a provocation, challenge, or rebuff (sly remarks to pique their curiosity); b: pride (he piques himself on his skill as a cook); 2: to arouse anger or resentment in: irritate (what piques linguistic conservatives)

So, here are some ways you can NOT use the above words:

A collared shirt cannot “peak” out from inside a sweater. (Correction: “peek”)
A subject cannot “peak” the interest of a character (Correction: “pique”)
One cannot reach the “peek” of anything – be it a mountain, a social hierarchy or anything else. (Correction: “peak”)

And now my plea: Writers – PLEASE find yourself a good copyeditor to ensure your work is free from such easily preventable errors – this could be a friend, spouse, parent, etc. It doesn’t have to cost you money but WILL bolster your reputation as an author.

Is editing ruining my pleasure reading?

Sometimes I wonder if editing is ruining my ability to read for fun. There are some books I struggle to get through because I notice so many errors, or so many ways to just make it better. But then I read an awesome book (most recently, The Martian – SO GOOD) and realize – no, editing is NOT ruining my pleasure reading, I am just sometimes choosing books that aren’t particularly well done.

I have two thoughts/feelings about that.

One: sadness! I read one book recently in particular that had a great storyline and some really relatable characters. I was invested – but it suffered from a lack of adequate copy editing and proofreading. I just can’t read the rest of the books in the series now, nor can I recommend the book to others. Sad – because there’s so much potential.
Two: awe! The more I edit and beta read, the more I appreciate the effort that goes into writing a good book. The author needs to have ideas and a talent for storytelling, yes. But what sets the really good books apart, I think, probably comes down to the crazy amount of tedious effort it takes for authors and editors to work together and thoroughly edit — and then proofread — the text. ESPECIALLY for super long books.

Anyways, these are some of my random musings. I have a lot more, of course, but this is enough for today.

I’d love to hear what others think about this! Please, chime in via comments!