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Urban Reviews: Tell our readers about Reflections.
Vermel Kinmon: Reflections at first, seems to be just another love story, but with
the passing of each page, all of the characters are forced to face
their inner pain and desires, starting with Tiana and Darrell. An
average platonic friendship, with no tension and no expectations...yeah right.
Not according to Tracy, she can clearly see that her friend Tiana
has feelings for Darrell, but is refusing to acknowledge them. Tracy
thoughts could be on the right track because Tiana’s relationship is
lacking that sensual spark with her boyfriend, the very handsome
Marcus Brown. Darrell’s girlfriend, Dr. Ashley Jones, can also sense
a detachment from Darrell, but is determined to keep her man by her
side.
With each turn of the page, secrets, lies, and deception will force
everyone to face the person and emotions that stares back at them in
the mirror.
Urban Reviews: Where did the idea for this novel come from?
Vermel Kinmon: At the time, when I decided that I was going to write a book, it
seemed like everyone around, including me, was having relationship
problems. So I said hey, why not write about something that plagues
every woman and man at some point in their life. After establishing
character names, the story line basically came from me imaging I was
at a movie and predicting how I wanted the next scenes to occur.
Urban Reviews: What made you want to write a novel?
Vermel Kinmon: My imagination is pretty wild, so when the woman that was supposed
to go to medical school straight after college, ended up getting a
job that paid only $7.50, a sista had to have an outlet, and
Reflections was it.. To maintain sanity, I would open up a notebook
or my laptop and write and edit different scenes that were playing
out in my head and arrange them into a comprehensive story.
Urban Reviews: What things did you do to help prepare yourself
for the book business?
Vermel Kinmon: Every year a new edition of the
Writer’s Market is published and it
has everything in it that an aspiring author needs to know. From
query letters to which publishing company is accepting submissions,
the
Writer’s Market has it. I also read
The Writer’s Legal Guide, An
Authors Guild Desk Reference by Tad Crawford and Kay Murray. This
book provided information on the financial aspect of writing as far
as royalties, contracts, and taxes are concerned.
Urban Reviews: What obstacles have you been face with
regarding the promotion of your book?
Vermel Kinmon: The five letter word that hunts our pockets after every two weeks...MONEY! Since I self published Reflections, promotion of it has
been hard since I’m still in school. No product of any kind is going
to sell without consumers being aware of it, so promotion is very
important, but for now I can only afford ad campaigns every now and
then. I’m relying on old school word of mouth, book borrowing, and
book clubs.
Urban Reviews: What was the most challenging part about
writing a novel?
Vermel Kinmon: Staying focused and not giving up. Taking thought from your mind and
expressing it on paper is a very time consuming hobby. When other
areas of your life start to require more of your attention, the
drive to want to finish the novel starts to fall. Not to mention
trying to handle the negative energy from people who don’t want you
to finish. Being my own editor was a bit tiring too, because when
reading I would often hear in my head what was not really on the
page. That caused me to have to re-read the same passages over and
over again.
Urban Reviews: Are you working on any upcoming projects?
Vermel Kinmon: Oh, most definitely. Reflections is actually the first installment
of a four part series. The next installment, Divas in Distress, is
almost finished and hopefully will be published by Fall 2009. An
excerpt of this novel can be found at the end of Reflections.
Urban Reviews: Do you have any favorite authors or books that
you enjoy reading?
Vermel Kinmon: Two authors that dominate my bookshelf would be Kathleen Woodiwiss
and Eric Jerome Dickey. I like a variety of writers, so if a title
catches my eye or attention, I’ll usually give it a try. Currently I
am enjoying T.D. Jakes' book He-motions and Eric Jerome Dickey’s Gideon
series.
Urban Reviews: Name one thing that you would have done
differently in regards to your work?
Vermel Kinmon: I’m actually happy with the progress that I took with this piece.
I’m constantly learning more about the book business as a whole
through the mistakes and pace that I’m taking. So if I change the
past, my next novel could suffer because of it.
Urban Reviews: What else would you like to share with us about yourself or
your novels?
Vermel Kinmon: Vermel Kinmon is a pen name conjured from my parents names. I love
who Shannon King is, but the use of a pen name allows me to keep
life and dreams separate until they both forge together.
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