CHARACTER INTERVIEW: Wendy from Fractured Memories

Tell me a little about yourself (where you live, who you are, what you look like, what you hope to achieve, etc.)

My name is Wendy. I’m sixteen years old, but I still look like I’m thirteen. My goal is to avenge my family. I live in the world after the Starvation took out 90% of the population. It’s been twenty years, and humanity is still fighting to recover. I used to live in a little compound in the mountains called the Den. My parents built it right after the Starvation, but the Skinnies attacked, and I am the only survivor.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Practice fighting. My mom died when I was young, and I turned to defend myself as a coping mechanism. I prefer two knives along with my own hands and feet.

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What is your favorite color and why?

I’ve never thought about it.

What is your favorite food? Why is it your favorite?

Sugar cookies. I’ve only had them a few times, and they are the last gift my dad gave me before he died.

What would you say is your biggest quirk?

Everywhere I go I make a mental map of the route. I can keep track of a path and can get back to where I started no matter what. The Den, where I grew up, had a bunch of tunnels, and I hated getting lost. My dad always said it was the way I coped with that.

What is it about your antagonist that irks you the most, and why? Share a line in the book where this irk is manifested.

When I figured out who betrayed the Den, it took everything I had not to kill him right then and there. Unfortunately, he had about ten friends with him, and while I could maybe handle four or five of them, he taught me to fight. He knows all of my moves.

He thinks I’m like him. He thinks I would rather let weak people die and save them the trouble of suffering rather than help them. He’s wrong.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Wendy said.

“Why?” He stopped twenty feet away.

“Because, I’m going to kill you.”

“You’re here for a rematch?”

“I’m here for your head.”

He laughed. “Still upset about the Den?”

“I’ll get over it just as soon as you’re dead.”

What or who means the most to you in your life? What, if anything, would you do to keep him/her/it in your life?

After I figured out who betrayed the Den, I realized that I’d found a new family. Arie, Kev, Cal, Matt, and Jeff had become my family. I’ll do anything to keep them safe. Anything. Even live when I would rather die.

What one thing would you like readers to know about you that may not be spelled out in the book in which you inhabit?

In Fractured Memories, I’m deep in the clutches of PTSD. That’s why the book feels a little disjointed because I’m still processing the death of my family and friends from the Den. It’s a bit rough at first, but throughout the series, I come back to myself. Actually, I become a better version of myself, thanks to the friends who take me in and guide me back to my humanity.

If you could tell your writer (creator) anything about yourself that might turn the direction of the plot, what would it be?

I’ve been gathering bad puns since this series started. Can I use them in the last book? Pretty please? I promise to give Kev a run for his money.

***

A Question for Kathryn:

How much of yourself do you put in your characters? If I were to come to life, I wonder how much of Jo is in me.

I put quite a bit of myself into my characters, especially when I wrote my first book, A River of Stones. After Samantha's parents' divorce, she has to figure out how to get through the hard times ahead. The good news is that there are also good times, times Samantha learns how strong she really is. 

Books that have come after that, are are more of a mixture of me, but I still have some of me in each one, whether that's a character's thoughts, mannerisms, or a portion of their life story.

***

Website: http://joannschneider.com/dir/

TIE DIED has arrived!

This little guy is cute, not scary at all!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Andrea Pearson

Tell me a about yourself. What got you started in writing?

My youngest brother is an avid reader, and he once complained to me that there weren’t enough books in our local library for him to read. I was about 22 at the time and wrote my first book for him. He liked it, so I continued the series, and haven’t stopped writing since. :-)

How do you schedule your writing time? When do you write?

Anywhere and anywhere I can find the chance! I have a three-year-old and a baby (who is frequently sick and has had some health issues). Finding writing time is very difficult. But I’ve started dictating, and it’s much easier (and faster) to talk into a recorder for ten minutes and get in the same amount of words as 45 minutes of typing. :-)

What's your favorite part about writing? Your least favorite part about writing?

Favorite part: The rush of creativity! The feel of new ideas forming as I tackle a scene. It’s quite exhilarating. My least favorite part? That middle-of-the-story bump! I know most writers experience it. It’s what happens when you’ve gotten through the exciting events and you know where you want to go, but you’re not quite sure how you’ll get there, even when working with an outline.

How did you come up with your book idea? How long did it take you to write your book?

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I’ve got 25 books out now, so I’ll answer this in a general sense. It takes me anywhere from three weeks to a month to finish a book, including self-editing before sending to beta readers and editors. In the beginning, it took around a month to write and several months to edit. Thank goodness we progress with practice! As to ideas, they almost constantly flow. They come from anything and anywhere! Conversations with my husband or kids, a movie, a song, a hike in the mountains, etc. There is never an end to ideas.

What types of marketing do you do to promote your writing?

I focus mainly on my newsletter. I love my readers! Nearly everything I do is geared to beefing up my subscriber list. My automatic emails to them, once they’ve subscribed, sell my books better than anything else.

What are you currently working on? Do you have a new book out?

I’m working on two projects: Enshroud, the eighth book in my Mosaic Chronicles, and Self-Publish Strong, a series of books for authors on marketing, building robust newsletter lists, etc. (Kathryn: Please let me know when the first book in your author series is due to release. Perhaps we can do a spotlight then on the new book).

Do you have a project on the back burner? Tell me about it.

I’m brainstorming Koven Chronicles, my next series. It’s an urban fantasy about a woman who controls fire.

What would you tell a beginning writer who wants to publish but doesn't believe he/she has enough talent?

Practice makes perfect! Seriously – if you have the creativity to come up with an idea, you can refine the necessary talent to pull it off. If you work hard enough, the talent will flow. It’s the whole, “Fake it ‘till you make it,” thing.

***

Learn more about Andrea at the following links: 

Amazon profile: https://www.amazon.com/Andrea-Pearson/e/B005CF5NQ4/

Website: http://www.andreapearsonbooks.com

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Mark Minson

Tell me a about yourself. What got you started in writing?

I’m a Software Developer in Test which is a fancy way of saying I write the software that tests the software that is delivered to customers. I live in Herriman and have been writing since elementary school. My older sister and I used to come up with elaborate plots together. She encouraged me to take creative writing when I went to high school. I found a real talent for poetry but my prose was a bloodbath of grammar and imagery. Thankfully, time and writing conferences have cured that.

I love to sing and do impressions/accents. I like a lot of sports – some to watch, others to play. I’m a Green Bay Packers and Utah Jazz fan. I love to read which also cuts into my writing time. I’ve also taken a liking to wood working since I released my first book, Kyle by Fire. I’ve gotten into pyrography (wood burning) and I make wands that I sell at all of my book signings.

  

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How do you schedule your writing time? When do you write?

My writing time is very hit and miss. With 5 kids and a wife that likes spending time with me, finding time to write is not as easy as I would like. More often than not, I write on weekends and at night. Occasionally, I’ll pound out some words on lunch. This is why my first two books took so long to publish.

How and where do you write? Do you prefer a laptop or some other method of getting your words down?

I write on my laptop because I can type SO MUCH faster than I can hand write and I won’t even go into the legibility factor. I’m a focus writer so I really need at least an hour of uninterrupted time to write. I tried writing for just 15 minutes and the result was a carousal of plot and character. I do take notes and jot things down if I don’t have time to write but an idea comes to me.

What's your favorite part about writing? Your least favorite part about writing?

I love getting lost in the story I’m writing. I outline because otherwise I know my plot would wander. However, I often have to revise my outline because as I write, my characters surprise me with what they do. Least favorite is editing. Mostly because going back through this story I think is awesome and seeing so many mistakes is kind of a downer. But I know sometimes, all I care about is getting the words down and that editing will fix the yucky-ness.

How did you come up with your book idea? How long did it take you to write your book?

When I got back into writing on a regular basis, it started with a small writing group of friends. We conducted a round-robin writing challenge where we drew 3 random words and had to write one to two pages of a story using those words. Of course I procrastinated until the day we were supposed to trade stories and started a story about a kid who had to study all summer because he got bad grades the year before. This was the premise for Kyle by Fire. It took 4 years to finally publish my first book and 3 years to do the second. My wife has dictated that I don’t have that long to finish book 

What types of marketing do you do to promote your writing?

Mostly author events and a few group marketing sales. I didn’t write my books with the idea of getting rich. I just wanted to make them available for people to read. Someday I hope to invest more time and resources to writing but right now I have family as a priority.

What are you currently working on? Do you have a new book out?

I just released book 2 of the Phoenix Cycle Series – Will from Ashes. I’m currently working on book 3 but have a lot of other projects in progress on the sidelines waiting for me to finish this story.

Do you have a project on the back burner? Tell me about it.

I have multiple on the back burner. A story I wrote in high school called The Mysterious Prince is currently in re-write. It’s a story about the courting of a princess and one prince who steals her heart. I’m also excited about another fantasy story about Elves who were driven underground by dwarves. They concocted a plan for vengeance once they could rebuild their population but something has gone wrong.

What would you tell a beginning writer who wants to publish but doesn't believe he/she has enough talent?

Hone your skills. Attend writing conferences (there are tons in Utah) and join a writing group. I highly recommend The League of Utah Writers, www.luwriters.org. All of the talent in the world won’t get you published. Someone with no talent can be taught to write a book well enough to get published. And even if you are oozing talent, it still takes effort to mold that talent into something people want to read. Don’t stop writing.

Website: www.novelmage.wordpress.com