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***Author Interview***
Thanks
for having me on your blog and for all the great questions! I wanted to answer almost all
of them, but if that’s too many, feel free to cut some out!
What
inspired you to write your first book?
An
avid reader and consumer of geeky pop culture, I’ve wanted to be a published
author since I was very young. I got slightly serious about writing fiction in
2003, but it wasn’t until 2012 that I finally had a finished manuscript and I
started working on fiction writing and editing more regularly.
Do
you have a specific writing style?
I
used to write without an outline, but I make sure I have an outline now after I
abandoned one of my manuscripts toward the end because I felt like I couldn’t
tie everything together. (I want to try rewriting it eventually!) Still, I
don’t always stick to my outline and I sometimes will skip ahead to a vivid
scene I’m excited to write and go back and fill in the gaps later.
How
did you come up with the title?
It
was originally called The Veiled Man’s
Goddess, which I modeled after The
French Lieutenant’s Woman. My publisher thought it set the wrong tone for
the novel (it seems more like an adult romance), and we brainstormed with a
bunch of people to come up with something new, but we had a hard time. One of
my editors pointed to the words “nobody’s goddess” in my manuscript and said it
would make a great title, and we agreed! Noll is both nobody’s goddess and the
veiled man’s goddess in a way, so it works.
Is
there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I
didn’t really write the series with a message in mind, but I think a few came
through. If readers walk away with ideas about one’s freedom to love and how to
make things equal between genders, I’ll be happy.
How
much of the book is realistic?
It’s
a fantasy setting and there’s a magic spell (curse?) over the village, so not a
lot. But I feel like the emotions Noll experiences are pretty realistic when
considering the situation in which she’s been placed.
Are
experiences writing the book based on someone you know, or events in your own
life?
Nope,
no one or nothing I know in real life. I do have a penchant for the Byronic
hero in fiction, though, so that influenced my writing.
What
books have most influenced your life most?
Harry Potter, Hunger
Games, Jane Eyre, and Jane
Austen’s books.
If
you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Melissa
Giorgio, my best friend and beta reader. She published her first novel a few
years before me and has been seriously writing fiction for longer than I have,
so she gives me tips and motivates me to try to work as hard.
What
book are you reading now?
I’m
taking an unintended break from novels to marathon-read Fables from Vertigo. I played The
Wolf Among Us, a game by Telltale, and it was a lot of fun, so I wanted to
read the comic series on which it’s based.
Are
there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Pretty
much all of my fellow Month9Books authors! I’ve gotten to know them online over
the past year+, and I’m excited for their books to do well, too.
What
are your current projects?
I
just finished the first draft of the third and final book in The Never Veil
Series and I’m still working on revising that. (I’ll also soon have revisions
from my publisher for book 2.) I’m looking for a home for a finished YA fantasy
manuscript about four teens whose parents are all villainous in what I consider
a YA Game of Thrones meets Marvel
Comics’ Runaways. This summer, I want
to rewrite a YA suspense manuscript I shelved about a teen with prosopagnosia
who still loves his ex-girlfriend, even though something awful happened between
them and he can’t remember her face.
Name
one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
Melissa
Giorgio, my beta reader and author of The Silver Moon Saga.
Do
you see writing as a career?
Definitely!
I’m a freelance business writer most of the time, but I really hope to devote
more of my work day to fiction writing. But I’ll have to write (and sell) a lot
more books before I get to that point.
If
you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
No,
because it went through so many major rewrites already. From the version with
which I started querying to get an agent to the version hitting the shelves,
I’d say I made five major revisions (added new characters, rearranged scenes,
added scenes, deleted scenes) and twice as many minor revisions along the way
thanks to input from agents, beta readers and editors. I think we finally got
it right.
Can
you share a little of your current work with us?
“Is
your mother French?”
I shifted in my seat and winced
as my boxers rode up. The chipped metal stool they sit us on for these pictures
could hardly fit a kindergartener, let alone a high schooler.
“You… Your mother…”
Oh. The guy was actually looking
right at me. I mean, of course he was. He was supposed to be taking my picture
for the yearbook. Never mind that the seniors got to decorate their own
yearbook pages and there was unlikely to be a single other senior there. Mom
and Dad wanted the pictures. They picked out a dirty brown background. Said it
would go well with my eyes. I keep forgetting I have brown eyes. No, black. So
brown they were almost black.
“Uh,” I stammered. I gripped the
cheap plastic comb in my fist and watched uncomfortably as a girl next in line
started whispering to the girl behind her. They both started laughing. Hurry
the f*&^ up and take the picture…
The light flashed. I had
forgotten to smile.
“You look so like her,” said the
picture guy. I detected the faintest trace of an accent. And was… Was he crying?
The guy wiped an eye with his
shirt sleeve. Holy s(*&. He was crying. My gaze shifted uncomfortably to the
long line of people. More and more of them were watching now, a large crowd of
strangers. But what if I knew one of them? One could be in my class. One could
be my friend, for all I knew… I strained to recognize something—hair, an outfit
I’d seen before, a familiar way of standing. Didn’t Mia usually cross her arms
like that? I knew she had long hair, but I couldn’t tell from where I was if
this girl had short hair or had pulled her hair back. That’s what I got for
taking off my glasses for the picture. But what if Mia had cut her hair anyway?
What if my stupid brain had failed to register the hair cut?
Is
there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Writing
first drafts is always hardest for me! It’s overwhelming to think of the tens
of thousands of words ahead of me.
Who
is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their
work?
Jane
Austen. I love how her characters come to life and she interjects humor into
her stories as the narrator.
Do
you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
So
far, no, but I’m planning to sign at Book Con in NYC Saturday, May 30th!
What
was the hardest part of writing your book?
Fighting
to keep one aspect of the book in it that editors along the way wanted me to
take out. (Not Month9 editors—they saw its potential.)
Did
you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
Writing
is hard and sometimes you feel like you’re investing a lot of your life in it
for no reason, but if you love it, it’ll prove worthwhile.
Do
you have any advice for other writers?
Keep
writing, and don’t put yourself down.
Do
you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank
you for taking a chance on a new author! All the enthusiasm for the book has
made me so happy!
What
were the challenges (research, literary, psychological, and logistical) in
bringing it to life?
Finding
the right publishing house that understood my story.
What
genre do you consider your book(s)?
YA
romantic fantasy
Do
you ever experience writer's block?
Definitely!
If I’m on a deadline, I get especially panicked. But the best way to handle it
for me is to walk away and come back later if I can or just push through it if
I don’t have the time.
Have
you ever hated something you wrote?
Yes!
But not Nobody’s Goddess. I’ve
shelved the awful mess that was my first attempt at a manuscript.
What
is your favourite theme/genre to write about?
YA
fantasy in general and complex villains/antagonists specifically.
While
you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters?
Sure,
a bit. It helps to get into the head of your characters. That’s not to say
they’re anything like me, but they probably each have a little bit of me in
them.
What
are your expectations for the book?
I
hope it finds an audience and that most of the people excited for it based on
the concept and/or cover art alone aren’t disappointed!
Thank you Amy for answering some questions for us readers! Good luck with your book :)
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