Please welcome Penny Ehrenkranz, author extraordinaire!

What parts of you and your background feed your imagination? My stories and articles come from a variety of places.  When I’m writing non-fiction, I tend to look to my own life for ideas.  I have done a lot of volunteering over the years and most of my articles are related to my volunteer activities.  I volunteered as a crisis line counselor at a women’s center, and many of my teen self-help and parenting articles came from the training I got as an advocate. I also offer writing tips to other writers, based upon my own knowledge and interviews with other writers.

When it comes to fiction, I often get kernels of ideas when I’m reading a magazine or a newspaper article. For example, I wrote a horror story about ants taking over after I saw an ad for a product to eliminate ants around your home.  Another story about cloning came from an article in a science magazine.  A series of fantasy stories developed after I read a National Geographic article about the nomads who live on the steppes. My book, Ghost for Rent, came from a discussion with a friend who told me the rental house she’d moved into was haunted.  The sequel, Ghost for Lunch, is based on a newspaper article about a local restaurant which is reputed to be haunted.

Tell us a little about the very first story you remember writing? While I don’t remember my very first story, I do have a copy of a story I wrote and illustrated when I was eleven.  Strangely, the story is “Patty and the Country Ghost.” I find it amusing that my first published novel is about an eleven year old girl who moves to the country and finds her rental house is haunted.

Creative people are often creative in other ways, besides writing what else does the muse encourage you to do? I have a lot of creative activities which I enjoy.  I do a lot of crocheting.  I tend to make things mostly for my granddaughter these days – toys, clothes, etc.  I usually make small holiday gifts for my friends as well.  I also enjoy sewing, although I don’t do that as much as crochet. Recently, I decided to learn how to knit and have been making practice squares until I am comfortable with my stitches.  I’ve dabbled a bit with drawing, too.  My other creative love is gardening.  In years past, I stuck to vegetables, but since I’ve retired, I’ve found flowers.  I love getting out into my garden and playing in the dirt.

What genre(s) do you like to write? My adult stories are generally fantasy and soft science fiction, with a touch of romance.  My middle grade novel is a paranormal mystery.  My young adult illustrated chapbook is fantasy. My other children’s stories are contemporary. I tend to write what I enjoy reading.

Tell us a little about your novel, its plot and the main character(s). Ghost for Rent is a middle grade, paranormal, story aimed at youth in grades four to six. The story begins when eleven year old Wendy Wiles learns her parents are planning to get divorced.  Wendy is devastated when the pending divorce forces Mom, her brother, and her to leave her beloved city home for a cheaper country place.

On move-in day, Wendy meets a neighbor girl who tells her their quaint country home is haunted.  Events proceed quickly as Wendy, her new friend, Jennifer, and Wendy’s brother, Mike, see ghostly figures dancing in the woods.  Despite Mom’s claims that “there’s no such thing as ghosts,” paranormal events continue to occur in the Wiles’ home. Meanwhile her brother Mike, arch-tease, continues to torment Wendy, claiming he’s causing the unusual happenings.

Wendy searches through library records to get to the bottom of the mystery.  Finally with Jennifer’s help, Wendy begins to unravel the truth. At last even Mike can no longer disbelieve and decides to aid Wendy in her search.  By the end of the story, the three young sleuths have uncovered an accidental death, a suicide and a murder.

Are any of the characters like you and if so in what way? Characters always have a little piece of the author, I think.  Wendy, from Ghost for Rent, likes to write poetry and read Edgar Allan Poe, both things I liked to do when I was a kid.  She’s determined and resourceful, and I like to think I am like that, too.  Other characters in my short stories also reflect some of my beliefs or attack problems the way that I might.  None of them are completely patterned after me, however.  I can also see parts of my children, my husband, my friends, or my family in some of my characters.  I think it would be difficult not to use the people you know best as models for the people we write about.

What genre(s) or author(s) do you like to read? I love fantasy above all else.  I used to prefer high fantasy (Tolkien, Eddings, Brooks), but lately I’ve been more into wizards and witches (Harrison, Butcher, Monk).  I also belong to a book group, which encourages me to read outside my usual genre.  I’ve enjoyed work by Kingsolver, Kidd, and other contemporary writers.  I will sometimes pick up a King book and loved his Dark Tower series.  The one genre I don’t read is romance.

Where and when do you find the best ideas or inspiration for your stories? Where I find my inspiration is my world and the people who inhabit it with me.  Sitting in my hot tub one misty, clouded night, was the start of my horror story, Metamorphosis. My neighbor chatting about her haunted house was the start of Ghost for Rent.

When I find my ideas varies.  Sometimes it’s when I’m sitting alone, other times when talking to others, or just reading something someone else has written.  The worst time is the middle of the night because I’m not very good about turning on the light to jot down that idea.

If there was a message you could share with other writers what would it be? I believe it’s important to enjoy what you’re doing.  If you’re writing about something you don’t like, it’s not going to be a good piece of writing.  In that respect, it’s also important to read the genre you want to write.  You need to know what’s already been written and how it was written before you can get published.  When you do finish a manuscript research the markets, read publisher’s guidelines, and don’t give up.

Where can readers go to learn more about you and your work?

http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.yolasite.com
http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/pennyehrenkranz
http://www.facebook.com/penny.ehrenkranz

Ghost for Rent – a middle grade paranormal novel

http://www.hardshell.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=0759910057http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-for-Rent-ebook/dp/B000FCKHD8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1272671385&sr=1-1

Dragon Sight – a young adult illustrated chapbook

http://www.genremall.com/fictionr.htm#dragonsight

I am also on Filed By, Jacket Flap, LinkedIn, and Author’s Den.