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Author Q&As

Welcome to the Author Interview section on my website! I proudly present Q&As in varying length with authors about their books, their writing and anything random that comes to mind and they don't mind answering. For book reviews, please follow the link marked 'BookBag' in the top menu.

 

Suzi Moore: 'If you have the imagination, you can know anything'

Suzi PhotographBlackWhiteHi Suzi, thanks for doing a Q&A with me! I've noticed there isn't much I could find out about you from my search engine, other than that you've been a nanny and teaching assistant. What (else) would you like your readers to know about you (if anything)?
Writing makes me happy. Happier than happy. I feel more like me than at any other time.

Is Lexiland your first full novel, aimed at the YA/MG audience?
It is. It was my first attempt at writing a novel and I feel very lucky that I have an amazingly supportive agent because the book would not exist had Sophie not encouraged me to try.

How did you come up with this intricate tale of loss and friendship?
I don’t know. I thought a great deal about what I was like at that age. I tried to remember what I thought and felt. I don’t know how, it just sort of happened.

Was it difficult to take such a difficult subject (the death of a sibling) and still write a relatively funny book about it?
I tried to balance the writing with both dark and light so that if I wrote something that was moving or a bit ‘grown up’ I tried to add humour or something lighter too.

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Sarah Moore Fitzgerald - Back to Blackbrick

SMF-Prof Sarah MooreSarah Moore Fitzgerald's beautiful Back to Blackbrick has just been published in Dutch as De geheimzinnige sleutel (The Mysterious Key) by The House of Books. What better time to ask her some questions? Hello Sarah, thank you so much for agreeing to this Q&A!
I’m so excited about the Dutch translation – thank you for being the person to bring ‘De Geheimzinnige Sleutel’ to a new set of readers in Holland!

Which age group did you have in mind for this novel? (Orion published it as a children's book, but isn't it more Middle Grade or even Young Adult?)
I started out with no idea what age group I was writing for, but when I spoke to the publishers, their sense was that the story is one for young adults. It’s recommended for 12+ in the UK, and I think that’s just about right, but it’s also a book that many adults have told me they’ve enjoyed too. It definitely deals with some themes that would be too grown-up for children younger than 12.

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Jordanna East - 'Writing complex murderous plots is fun!'

Jordanna picture2Hello Jordanna, author of Blood in the Past and Blood in the Paint (scheduled for winter 2013)! Let me guess… they're not exactly romance novels? Tell us a little more about what you write about.
*laughs* Hi Sandra! You guessed correctly, definitely NOT romance. They’re psychological thrillers; some might refer to them as crime thrillers, though I try to shy away from that categorization because they’re not whodunits. The reader already knows the ‘who’. The journey the books take you on is ‘why’.

They are psychological thrillers because not all humans are well-adjusted and deal with the pressures and grievances of life normally. Sometimes life pushes and people push back…violently. In Blood in the Past, when one character pushes back, it sets off a chain reaction of events and three characters become intertwined, all pushing back in various ways. Blood in the Paint takes place ten years later, when they all come to be aware of each other, so to speak. It’s a very fun story arc to write. (Yes, I know saying writing complex murderous plots is ‘fun’ makes me look just as psychopathic as my characters.)

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Jessica Fortunato - On Sin Collectors and writing

Fortunato photoHi Jessica, thanks for doing a Q&A with me as part of your blog tour for Sacrifice, your second Sin Collectors novel! First question: are you a vampire? (Okay, that only makes sense if you've seen her author bio.) But do tell us a little bit about yourself!
Thank you for having me! As for my mortality, I like to keep people guessing.

You've published The Sin Collector last year, novel one of the series, followed by the novella Thomas. Is that an extra or a must-read in order to understand Sacrifice?
You could probably get away with skipping Thomas, however I wouldn’t recommend it. The novella includes more detail into the rites of Sin Collectors as well as hinting at many of the aspects of Sacrifice. In addition, you first meet Emmilina, one of the new main characters in Sacrifice!

 

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Character Interview: Chloe Clever, aka The Oracle

Oracle 3Welcome back, Diantha Jones! Well, sort of, because the Oracle of Delphi author has made it possible for us to submit a few questions to her main character, Chloe Clever. 'Cause we're dead curious... what's it like, being the mythical Oracle of Delphi? Is it all fun, with dreamy demigods, lounging in Myth do you actually have to do... stuff?
 

For just a moment, I thought being the Oracle might be fun.

I was wrong.

Sure, being the Pythia has its ups and downs, but fun is not an adjective I would use to describe it. Dangerous, yes. A good time? Not exactly...

It's true. I had wanted to escape my old life in Adel, Georgia. I was tired of being ridiculed and treated like some psychopath. So I had a few hallucinations that ended badly. Was that reason enough to label me a “whack job” and make me the pariah of the entire town?

Maybe it was. But none of that matters now.

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Sherry Soule - on Immortal Eclipse and more

Sherry Immortal-Eclipse-Final coverHello Sherry and thank you for doing a Q&A and providing me with an e-ARC of Immortal Eclipse, your latest stand-alone novel! (The review is up on my BookBag blog!) Let's start with a little bit about you… 

Is Sherry Soule a pseudonym (or just a splendid name for an author)?
LOL! It is my name.

How many books have you written so far, in which genres?
Well, I have written ten books, but only three are published thus far. I write both young adult and adult novels in the urban fantasy, horror (zombie), and paranormal romance genres.

I see several WIPs on your website: do you work on more than one story at once?
[P.S. A WIP is a Work In Progress...] I used to do that but now I force myself to focus on only one story at a time.

Which book are you currently working on?
I’m finishing some rewrites on Immortal Eclipse [at the time of this interview; the new edition is currently available], then I’m starting edits on the next book in my YA series, called Destiny Disrupted.

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MaryAnn Kempher - Mocha, Moonlight, and Murder

MaryAnn KempherHello MaryAnn! Congratulations on publishing Mocha, Moonlight, and Murder! And thank you for doing an Author Q&A with me!
Thank you Sandra for hosting me.

Your Twitter handle used to be @Jaustenwannabe – was that you in one phrase?
I’m a huge fan of Jane Austen, and Agatha Christie. However, I did change my Twitter to my real name, MaryAnn Kempher recently.

Mocha, Moonlight, and Murder is your first book. Can you tell us a little about it?
Mocha, Moonlight, and Murder is romantic suspense. It will appeal to romance lovers because my two main characters, Katherine and Scott have really great chemistry, and I don’t mean just sexual. They just have this fantastic friendship before any romantic feelings ever surface. They start out as partners on a college project and become best friends. Eventually, they fall in love...

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Marissa Meyer - on Scarlet, fairy tales and The Lunar Chronicles


Marissa Meyer2Hello Marissa, thank you so much for doing this Q&A! What a great way to celebrate the release of Scarlet, in Dutch translation!

Where did you come up with this futuristic twist on a fairy-tale idea for this series?
I entered a writing contest a few years ago in which the host had listed about ten random prompts and writers had to choose two of them to include in their stories.
My two prompts: set it in the future and include a fairy-tale character. My contest entry was a sci-fi version of Puss in Boots and I had so much fun writing it that I thought I would try to do an entire series of sci-fi fairy tales! (The ironic part of that story is that only two stories were submitted for the contest—and mine didn’t win!)

Do you have a thing for fairy tales, and which is your favourite?
Oh yes, I’ve loved fairy tales since I went to see Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” in movie theatres when I was five years old. Not long after that, I was given a book with “The Little Mermaid” fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen in it and was of course devastated that it was nothing at all like the movie! So that kicked off... {click below to Read More}

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Marissa Meyer - on ideas, writing and publishing


Cinder ENYou're such a NaNo(WriMo) inspiration, since Cinder, Scarlet and Cress all started as NaNo-projects. What's your best NaNo advice for those who want to be writers and want to get published?
Take the goals seriously. We all have obligations in our lives—jobs, school, families, etc. But if you want to be a writer, you have to treat it like a second job. Make it a priority. Set yourself goals and deadlines and pretend you have an editor expecting to see something on that date. NaNoWriMo is fabulous for this because it gives you the goal—50,000 words in 30 days—and then it’s just up to you to figure out how to make it happen.

I’m not saying that life won’t sometimes get in the way and force you to re-evaluate those goals, but the important thing is to always be making forward progress on your dreams.

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Diantha Jones, Part Two: Get to Know the Author

Oracle 3

Let's start with a re-reveal of Prophecy of Solstice's End (book three) and a special quote to whet readers' appetites:
'So what are you saying?' she breathed, resisting the urge to fan herself.
'I'm sayin, Red, tha' I don't think I want to be a good boy anymore.'
Oh my... 'You've never really been a good boy, you know.'
He scoffed. 'I've been a bloody role model of propriety.' And he didn't look particularly proud of that. 

How do you pronounce Diantha and where does that name come from?
Okay. I say, it's Dee-an-tha. My mother told me to shut up, it's Dye-an-tha. I answer to both. My mother loves flowers and created the name from the Dianthus flower. My lil' sis is Jacinda (also a flower).

Are you a full time author or does the author only come out at night?
It feels full-time even though I'm not making full-time mula (yet). I typically write at night, but have been known to wake up inspired instead of full of attitude (the usual morning me).

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Diantha Jones - The Oracle of Delphi series

DianthaHello Diantha, thanks for agreeing to not one, but two Q&A’s! (To readers: this one’s normal, the other one’ll be a bit wacky, ‘cause I promised her that.)

Can you tell us a little bit about the basic plot of your Oracle of Delphi series?
This series is based around Greek mythology and centers around the Oracle of Delphi, the prophesier of the future, who just happens to be an 18-year-old red head from Adel, Georgia named Chloe Clever. After years spent plagued with hallucinations and tormented dreams, she eventually learns that it has all been for a reason. She has a great destiny to fulfill as the first Oracle in four decades...and the only one who can save Myth from a prophecy that could bring the entire kingdom crumbling down. Literally.

How did the idea for this series come about?
A hardcore love for Greek myth spawned the whole thing. I adore it. It was more about finding a focus amidst all of the myths and legends. I spent months with my head buried in books before I decided to give the OOD a try. Man, I'm so glad I did.

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Rebecca Hamilton - The Forever Girl series

Rebecca HamiltonHi Rebecca, thanks so much for agreeing to do this Q&A! My very first for my very own, brand new website! Here are a number of questions on writing and on the Forever Girl series.
Thanks for having me!

You’re the author of The Forever Girl, a debut novel that is classified as ‘urban fantasy’. What does that mean exactly?
I guess the urban fantasy is debatable ;) Most modern day fantasies that take place in the “real world” are considered urban fantasy, though some only count it if the story takes place in a city setting, where The Forever Girl takes place in a small town. But there are other novels classified as urban fantasy that take place in small towns, too, such as the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (True Blood). I think urban fantasy fans would like The Forever Girl though.

Where did the story of Sophia, the Forever Girl, start for you?
People hate this answer, because it’s so vague, but . . .

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In Translation

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