Q1. Before I was asked by Pan Macmillian to read your novels, I had never heard of them. I haven’t read your original Trylle series – why would I go back and read them after this trilogy?
Bryn’s story in the Kanin Chronicles has more world-building and delves into the history of tribes and what it’s like to grow up in that world. But Wendy’s story in the Trylle Trilogy tells the story of a changeling and what it’s like to find out about this world from an outsider. Wendy has vastly different experiences and insights because she comes from such a different place and ends up as royalty.
Q2. What are you currently working on? Are you going to continue publishing in both ebook and paperback format? What do you think could happen if you’re driven to write something that your ‘traditional publishers’ don’t want to publish?
I’m currently working on a standalone paranormal romance novel set in the 1980s called Freeks. It should be sometime in 2016 with my publisher. I think that I’ll always publish ebook and paperback, whether I’m with a traditional publisher or self-publishing. It just makes sense, since people like to read in both. So far, my publisher has been really supportive of everything I’ve pitched, but if there was something that I was really passionate about that they didn’t want, I’d either shop it around to other publishers or self-publish it.
Q3. ‘I once heard the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.’ So you’ve applied this to your self-publishing, but what about your own novels? You say that you turned away from your original darker novels, and went to paranormal romance. Would you ever revisit the genre?
I don’t think so. They were bad psychological thrillers, and I think that genre is something I don’t excel at. I love writing about fantasy elements, so far now, I plan to stick with paranormal and horror.
Q4. I’m pretty excited for there to be a movie of Switched. It seems to me like you are trying to put things out there that anyone can enjoy – regardless of whether their preference is an ebook, a paperback, an audiobook or a movie. What drives this conscious/unconscious decision?
It just makes sense to me that if I’m creating something that I want people to enjoy, I want to give them as many options to enjoy it as possible. I’m also a big movie buff, so just seeing any of my books on the big screen would be thrilling.
Q5. Your writing habits are of the ‘binge-and-purge’ kind of writing. Red-bull keeps you awake into the wee hours of the night for a couple of weeks, and BAM, at the end you have the backbone of a novel. Have you ever thought about changing your writing process?
I actually have changed my writing process a bit. It’s still a little “bingey” but I was getting burnt out and couldn’t sustain writing at the speed I once was. I also got married about six months ago, and I have a stepson now, so the “staying up until five in the morning” routine wasn’t really working with a family. So now I usually write during the day, starting around ten in the morning, until the evening. I used to do marathon sessions of writing that would last a few weeks, but now I pace myself and it takes about three months to write a novel.
Q6. Other authors I have interviewed talk about having an outline – post-it notes in an office, or writing in paper journals. Is there something like that in your writing technique? Or is it all digital for you?
I outline extensively before I start writing. I start out taking notes by hand, but my outline is typed up. As I’m writing, I usually jot down notes and ideas on post-it notes to remind myself to change something or look something up.
Q7. You’re officially a ‘college dropout’. You say that you wish you had been able to finish college – what is stopping you now? Are the stories in your head too busy pushing themselves out for you to head back to ‘traditional’ education? What do you think you would get out of returning to college?
The main reason I haven’t gone back to college is that I don’t know what I’d go to college for. I’ve considered it, because there are things like that I would to learn, particularly about history, zoology, and practical effects in the film industry. But I don’t know if I’d pursue any of them as a career, since I like being an author, so I don’t know if it’s worth spending so much time and energy on getting a degree that I won’t use.
Q8. I totally get the way you feel about paper-back novels, and I do a similar sort of thing myself – buying my favourite authors in paperback. Is it the draw of being able to physically hold the book to read it, or something else that keeps you buying them?
I like having tangible things on my shelf, especially if I really love them. I’m the same way about movies and music (although now I buy records instead of CDs). I just like knowing that there’s something I own that can’t just disappear, even though I know that everything online is backed up in clouds and is actually probably more secure than the physical products.
Q9. It seems like you have answered many, many sets of interview questions, is there something you wish someone would have asked you? Or conversely, something you wish they hadn’t asked?
Not really. I always enjoy getting questions I haven’t gotten before – and you’ve asked a couple here – but I don’t have any specific questions I’d like to get. Once when I was in England, a boy asked me if I like mushy peas, and that was fun.
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