An Interview with Jaime Questell, author of By a Charm and a Curse

Jaime Questell is a writer and graphic designer from Houston, Texas. She has also been a bookseller, a professional knitter, a semi-professional baker, and an administrative assistant. None of these jobs involved wrangling corgis, which is quite sad. She lives in the ‘burbs with her husband, children, and pets.

I’m not going to be reviewing your newest novel, but from your other published novels, is there one that is your own personal favourite?

By a Charm and a Curse is my first published novel, but of my other manuscripts, the one I’m currently working on might be my favorite. It has witches and a good dose of the Mexican culture I grew up with. It’s set in a fictional Texas town that’s buried in secrets, and it’s been so much fun coming up with all the components.

Everyone has a ‘first novel’, even if many of them are a rough draft relegated to the bottom and back of your desk drawer (or your external harddrive!). Have you been able to reshape yours, or have you abandoned it for good?

OMG, that first novel! It is so, so rough. It’s definitely been gathering some cobwebs, but I don’t want to write it off forever. I’m thinking it could be reshaped one day, or potentially be harvested for dialogue (because there’s some funny stuff in there, if I’m remembering correctly).

Some authors are able to pump out a novel a year and still be filled with inspiration. Is this the case for you, or do you like to let an idea percolate for a couple of years in order to get a beautiful novel?

I am so awed by the people who have an unending supply of ideas, but I definitely like to let things percolate. I like to make hidden Pinterest boards where I can post images that relate to the idea I have, so I can remember them later, but for the most part I just let the idea simmer in the back of my mind while I work on other things.

I have heard of writers that could only write in one place – then that cafe closed down and they could no longer write! Where do you find yourself writing most often, and on what medium (pen/paper or digital)?

Writing time is limited and precious, so I’ll write anywhere: at home, at Starbucks, while on my lunch hour, waiting for an oil change. And I prefer my laptop to write, but again, because I need to write whenever and wherever I can, I’ll write on my phone or in one of the bazillion notebooks I usually have on me. That said though, I do find that if I’m stuck, writing by hand usually works to get me unstuck.

Before going on to hire an editor, most authors use beta-readers. How do you recruit your beta-readers, and choose an editor? Are you lucky enough to have loving family members who can read and comment on your novel?

I am incredibly lucky to have four critique partners who go over my work before I send it to my agent. I’ve worked with them for years, and their commentary is always on point and insightful. And I don’t work with an editor until my work is sold, but my agent is very editorial, which is fantastic. She really knows her stuff, and makes my writing better.

I walk past bookshops and am drawn in by the smell of the books – ebooks simply don’t have the same attraction for me. Does this happen to you, and do you have a favourite bookshop? Or perhaps you are an e-reader fan… where do you source most of your material from?

Everywhere! My favorite indie bookshop is Murder by the Book in Houston. They have a great selection and a knowledgeable staff, and I love shopping there. But I also like to utilize the library. I recently discovered Overdrive, and it’s made my audiobook habit much easier to feed.

I used to find myself buying books in only one genre (fantasy) before I started writing this blog. What is your favourite genre, and do you have a favourite author who sticks in your mind from:
1. childhood? When I was a kid, I could not get enough of The Baby-Sitter’s Club. Every birthday, every bit of money I was able to save went toward those books. And then, when I was a little older, it turned into a Sweet Valley High obsession. Those felt so taboo after the BSC, I mean, there was kissing.
2. adolescence? The movie version of Jurassic Park (and let’s be honest, Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park) got me hooked on Michael Chrichton, which led to me reading everything I could get my hands on. Around this same time I became obsessed with the classics, but, of course, never the classics assigned to me in class. I loved Alexandre Dumas, and read The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers over and over.
3. young adult? I was working in a bookstore at this time, and that was pure temptation. I read everything and anything, but Sophie Kinsella and Louise Rennison were favorites at the time.
4. adult? I love to read across genres now. Some of my current favorites are Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black, Kelley Armstrong, Heidi Heilig, and Victoria Schwab. Basically, I’ll read anything that sounds good.

Social media is a big thing, much to my disgust! I never have enough time myself to do what I feel is a good job. You manage your own profile, please tell me as much as you are comfortable with in regards to your preferred platform and an estimate of time you spend doing it [and whether you like doing it!].

I’m too much of a control freak to relegate to anyone else. But I agree that social media is so overwhelming! It can be hard, feeling like you have to do everything. I think it’s better to choose one or two platforms and do them well. So I choose to focus on Twitter and Instagram. Every now and then I start to think that I should have a Facebook author page, but then I remember how much it would stress me out and that the page would suffer. I’m going to quote Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec here and say, “Never half-ass two things. Whole ass one thing.”

About By a Charm and a Curse:

Le Grand’s Carnival Fantastic isn’t like other traveling circuses. It’s bound by a charm, held together by a centuries-old curse, that protects its members from ever growing older or getting hurt. Emmaline King is drawn to the circus like a moth to a flame…and unwittingly recruited into its folds by a mysterious teen boy whose kiss is as cold as ice.

Forced to travel through Texas as the new Girl in the Box, Emmaline is completely trapped. Breaking the curse seems like her only chance at freedom, but with no curse, there’s no charm, either—dooming everyone who calls the Carnival Fantastic home. Including the boy she’s afraid she’s falling for.

Everything—including his life—could end with just one kiss.

Buylinks: https://entangledpublishing.com/by-a-charm-and-a-curse.html

Author Links:
Author Website: jaimequestell.com
Author Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jaimequestell
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimequestell/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15396319.Jaime_Questell
Author Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/jaime_q/
Newsletter: http://jaimequestell.com/events/

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Interview with Erica Cameron, Author of Sea of Strangers

I’m not going to be reviewing your newest novel, but from your other published novels, is there one that is your own personal favourite?

It’s so hard to pick because every book I’ve written has some special element that means a lot to me, but there is something incredibly wonderful about The Ryogan Chronicles. I love the world, the characters, and the story told there. I also love that I finally got to populate a world that I initially created back in college. That means more than I know how to explain.

Everyone has a ‘first novel’, even if many of them are a rough draft relegated to the bottom and back of your desk drawer (or your external harddrive!). Have you been able to reshape yours, or have you abandoned it for good?

In 2007-2008, I wrote my first ever original novel. It took the concept of angels and gave them a new origin story and whole new mythology. There was a lot I loved about that concept and the story itself, but it was my first novel and I made a lot of plotting mistakes I didn’t know how to fix. Although I did steal certain concepts and systems from that novel, it won’t ever be published.

Some authors are able to pump out a novel a year and still be filled with inspiration. Is this the case for you, or do you like to let an idea percolate for a couple of years in order to get a beautiful novel?

Sea of Strangers is my third release in 2017, so I have to go with the option one! I am always working on something, and often have a few projects waiting in the wings. It’s hard to find the time and mental energy to work on all of them at once, but I am lucky enough to have a very wonderful editorial team at Entangled who make sure my books go out into the world as polished and pretty as they possibly can be.

I have heard of writers that could only write in one place – then that cafe closed down and they could no longer write! Where do you find yourself writing most often, and on what medium (pen/paper or digital)?

Thankfully, I’m not nearly so particular! I do almost all my writing in Word on a laptop, but I can write by hand if needed. Sometimes the change of method helps, actually. I have written in bed, at my desk, on a couch, an airplane, a car, on my phone on break at work—pretty much anywhere. I do enjoy writing at coffee shops, though! So long as I can get a comfortable seat somewhere, that is.

Before going on to hire an editor, most authors use beta-readers. How do you recruit your beta-readers, and choose an editor? Are you lucky enough to have loving family members who can read and comment on your novel?

I have had numerous beta readers over the years, and they have all helped me develop my work in wonderful ways. I especially like an early reader who asks questions. Sometimes they notice patterns or missing information that I never saw, and them asking questions about those things helps me even out the rough edges of the story. My family is incredibly supportive, but they tend to read the final versions rather than the early ones. As for editors, I’ve never actually paid for editorial services. When deciding to work with an editor at a publishing house, though, I need to know what they see in the story and what they’re hoping I can change in it. If their vision doesn’t match mine, the partnership won’t work. Everyone working on a novel needs to be heading toward the same end goal or the whole project will turn into a mess.

I walk past bookshops and am drawn in by the smell of the books – ebooks simply don’t have the same attraction for me. Does this happen to you, and do you have a favourite bookshop? Or perhaps you are an e-reader fan… where do you source most of your material from?

There is a dearth of good independent bookstores in my area! The best one is about an hour away—Books & Books in Coral Gables. There are several Barnes & Nobles, though, and I even work at one close to home! It’s a brilliant job, but also difficult. I want to bring home so many books I don’t have the time to read or the space to keep! I do read electronically a lot, and I don’t mind that format. However, seeing my bookshelves full to the point of groaning under the weight of my library is something I won’t easily give up.

I used to find myself buying books in only one genre (fantasy) before I started writing this blog. What is your favourite genre, and do you have a favourite author who sticks in your mind from:

1. childhood?Once I got to the point of picking my own books and authors, I fell in love with fantasy! Tamora Pierce was my first ever favorite author.
2. adolescence?I stuck to the sci-fi/fantasy realm for a long time, but I also tended to read mysteries my dad left around the house. He was going through a James Patterson phase at that point. Those were also the years I introduced myself to Anne McCaffrey’s Pern world.
3. young adult? College interrupted my reading years (it’s hard to read anything you’re not assigned!), but once I graduated I also branched out. Romance. Classic literature. I discovered authors like Georgette Heyer, Jasper Fforde, Jim Butcher, Jacqueline Carey, Brandon Sanderson, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and more. So many more. It helped, of course, that I worked at Borders Bookstore for a couple years after college. It’s also what brought me back to the world of young adult, a section that didn’t really exist when I actually was a young adult. [Rose: A woman after my own heart!]
4. adult? These days I read mostly young adult, middle grade, and adult (though mainly sci-fi/fantasy). Most recently, I read and loved Fish in a Treeby Lynda Mullaly Hunt, This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp, and The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher.

Social media is a big thing, much to my disgust! I never have enough time myself to do what I feel is a good job. Do you manage your own profiles or did you choose someone else to?

I’m on several social media sites and it’s all my own posts and comments! Which is probably why my Facebook and Tumblr pages are all but ignored. Social media is time consuming, and I only have so many hours in the day. I used to be way more involved online and would post several times a day on my various accounts, but I’ve been forced by necessity to pare it back until I mainly check notifications, answer direct messages and comments, and then log off again. I like being able to talk to friends across the country (and the world), however, if I have to choose between social media and either writing time or sleep, social media usually loses.

About Sea of Strangers (The Ryogan Chronicles, #2):

Know your enemy if you want to survive…

The only way for Khya to get her brother back alive is to kill Varan—the immortal ruler who can’t be killed. But not even Varan knew what he was doing when he perverted magic and humanity to become immortal.

Khya’s leading her group of friends and rebels into the mountains that hold Varan’s secrets, but if risking all their lives is going to be worth it, she has to give up everything else—breaking the spell that holds her brother captive and jeopardizing her deepening relationship with Tessen, the boy who has been by turns her rival and refuge since her brother disappeared. Immortality itself might be her only answer, but if that’s where Khya has to go, she can’t ask Tessen or her friends to follow.

About Erica Cameron:

Erica Cameron is the author of books for young adults including the Ryogan Chronicles, the Assassins duology, and The Dream War Saga. She also co-authored the Laguna Tides novels with Lani Woodland. An advocate for asexuality and emotional abuse awareness, Erica has also worked with teens at a residential rehabilitation facility in her hometown of Fort Lauderdale.

Website: ByEricaCameron.com

Blog: ByEricaCameron.com/wp/blog/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ByEricaCameron

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ByEricaCameron

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/ericacameron

Newsletter: http://byericacameron.com/wp/newsletter/

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An Interview with Amber Hart, author of Wicked Charm

I’m not going to be reviewing your newest novel, but from your other published novels, is there one that is your own personal favourite?

I think whatever book I’ve written last—in this case, Wicked Charm—is always my favorite. It’s fresh on my mind, and exciting, and I adore being able to share it with readers.

Everyone has a ‘first novel’, even if many of them are a rough draft relegated to the bottom and back of your desk drawer (or your external harddrive!). Have you been able to reshape yours, or have you abandoned it for good?

My first stories were written with crayon. They have somehow been lost over the years, which is probably, mercifully, a good thing.

Some authors are able to pump out a novel a year and still be filled with inspiration. Is this the case for you, or do you like to let an idea percolate for a couple of years in order to get a beautiful novel?

Inspiration is around me daily. I would love to aim for a novel a year, but it does seem to be more around the two year mark. I definitely get many, many more ideas than I’m able to write. I listen to the ones that are the loudest.

I have heard of writers that could only write in one place – then that cafe closed down and they could no longer write! Where do you find yourself writing most often, and on what medium (pen/paper or digital)?

Pen and paper feels the most organic to me, but a laptop is more feasible, so I work on that. I prefer to work at home, with a cup of tea, silence, surrounded my novels, and my cat curled up at my feet.

Before going on to hire an editor, most authors use beta-readers. How do you recruit your beta-readers, and choose an editor? Are you lucky enough to have loving family members who can read and comment on your novel?

When I first started, I had beta readers, but now my agent reads the manuscripts first. Occasionally I hand it over to a trusted friend or fellow author, when they have time to read, and I always appreciate their feedback. I leave the editor decision to my agent and publisher, because they know what’s best for my stories. Thankfully.

I walk past bookshops and am drawn in by the smell of the books – ebooks simply don’t have the same attraction for me. Does this happen to you, and do you have a favourite bookshop? Or perhaps you are an e-reader fan… where do you source most of your material from?

I see the need for paper books and ebooks. I love both. I support both. Paper books have the allure of touching a physical copy and giving it a home on your shelf, along with the smell of parchment and ink. Ebooks have the allure of fitting into tighter places and containing many stories all in one device, of being practical for travel, and of being incredible space savers.

I used to find myself buying books in only one genre (fantasy) before I started writing this blog. What is your favourite genre, and do you have a favourite author who sticks in your mind from:

1. childhood?  Thriller. Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine
2. adolescence? Fearless series by Francine Pascal and Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
3. young adult? I love all genres, but suppose I lean a little more towards fantasy
4. adult? Contemporary or fun/flirty romance. I love stories with happy endings.

Social media is a big thing, much to my disgust! I never have enough time myself to do what I feel is a good job. Where can my readers find you?

I’m on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Amazon, and Goodreads. They all help draw readers to novels!

Amber: Thanks for the interview! I hope readers enjoy Wicked Charm.

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