Mayra Calvani's Blog - Posts Tagged "ya"

Alison Bruce has had many careers and writing has always been one of them. Copywriter, editor and graphic designer since 1992, Alison has also been a comic book store manager, small press publisher, webmaster and arithmetically challenged bookkeeper. She is the author of mystery, suspense and historical romance novels.

Find Alison on the web:

Website: http://www.alisonbruce.ca

Blog: http://alisonebruce.blogspot.ca

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alisonebruce

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisonbruce.books

Kat Flannery’s love of history shows in the novels she writes. She is an avid reader of historical, suspense, paranormal, and romance. When not researching for her next book, Kat can be found running her three sons to hockey and lacrosse. She’s been published in numerous periodicals. This is Kat’s third book and she is hard at work on her next.

Find Kat on the web:

Website: www.katflannery-author.com

Blog: www.kat-scratch.blogspot.ca
Twitter: https://twitter.com/katflannery1

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kat-Flannery/131065966999142

SUMMARY:

Twin sisters separated by war, bound by love…

After the death of their father, twin sisters Maggie and Matty Becker are forced to take positions with officers’ families at a nearby fort. When the southern states secede, the twins are separated, and they find themselves on opposite sides of America’s bloodiest war.

In the south, Maggie travels with the Hamiltons to Bellevue, a plantation in west Tennessee. When Major Hamilton is captured, it is up to Maggie to hold things together and deal with the Union cavalry troop that winters at Bellevue. Racism, politics and a matchmaking stepmother test Maggie’s resourcefulness as she fights for Bellevue, a wounded Confederate officer and the affections of the Union commander.

In the north, Matty discovers an incriminating letter in General Worthington’s office, and soon she is on the run. With no one to turn to for help, she drugs the wealthy Colonel Cole Black and marries him, in hopes of getting the letter to his father, the governor of Michigan. But Cole is not happy about being married, and Matty’s life becomes all about survival.

Two unforgettable stories of courage, strength and honor.

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Q: What’s inside the mind of a historical romance author?

Alison: Sometimes I think that if I didn’t write fiction, I’d want a job writing Trivial Pursuit questions or maybe Jeopardy answers. I’m a research junkie – which is why I’m drawn to historical romance. The inside of my mind is a jumble of research, laundry lists and observations of the human condition – not unlike my desk.

Kat: Many things and only a quarter of it is writing but before the writing comes research.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy HAZARDOUS UNIONS.

Alison: I’d rather say what kind of reader should buy HAZARDOUS UNIONS. Someone who enjoys strong female characters and the kind of men who would fall in love with them is a prerequisite. Loving history as much as Kat and me isn’t required, but it doesn’t hurt.

Kat: Great answer, Ali.

Q: What makes a good historical romance?

Alison: Research is essential. You’ve got to know your period–at least as well as your characters would. The next step is to write so that your research isn’t obvious. The rest is good storytelling which includes the usual suspects of plot, characterization and pacing. Regardless of the genre an author writes in, storytelling is the bottom line.

Kat: What Ali said.

Q: What is a regular writing day like for you?

Alison: First coffee must be made. The next step is procrastination. Since I have two kids, three jobs and house to take care of, procrastination is easy. Finally there will be the tipping point when a blank page is more inviting than dirty dishes and I get down to it. Once I start, it’s hard to get me to stop. Fortunately my daughter cooks.

Kat: Oh, yes coffee for sure. Once the kids are off to school I answer emails, and if I have a freelance job I need to complete I work on that. Every Friday is bookkeeping day for my husbands business. Once all the loose ends are tied up I write.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

Alison: As Hannibal from the A-Team says, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Kat: Fan mail. I love to hear from my readers.

Q: How did you celebrate the completion of your book?

Alison: When I finished Maggie’s story in HAZARDOUS UNIONS I ordered pizza and the kids and I watched half of season two of Teen Wolf on DVD. It had arrived the week before but I wasn’t allowed to watch it until the book was done.

Kat: I made my three boys their favourite dinners over the course of the week and then on the weekend we all went out for dinner.

My guest today is debut YA fantasy author D.W. Raleigh, whose novel, Shiloh's True Nature, was just published by Hobbes End Publishing.

D.W. Raleigh is from the mid-Atlantic region. He holds numerous college degrees, including an M.A. in Philosophy. Race track teller, debt collector, and merchandiser are just a few of the jobs he had held in addition to being a published author. Shiloh's True Nature is the first in a series of novels he plans to write.

Shiloh's True Nature tells the suspenseful story of a 12 year-old farm boy who is sent to stay with his estranged grandfather and discovers a mysterious new world inhabited by supernatural beings called 'Movers.' Find out more about the book from Hobbes End Publishing.

Q: What’s inside the mind of a Fantasy author?

A: For me, it is the desire to construct a unique tale that uses mythological themes without relying on technology.  It enhances my creativity to try to think of new ways for characters to accomplish ordinary tasks.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy Shiloh’s True Nature.

A: I can think of many reasons why fiction readers will love STN, but, for the sake of brevity, I’ll give just two.  First, they should buy it for the pure enjoyment of reading.  I believe I’ve constructed a compelling read that will draw the reader in and reward them for their effort.  Second, people need to unplug every now and then.  We are becoming so dependent on technological devices and visuals that it is stifling thought and imagination.  A good book is a great escape.

Q: What makes a good Fantasy novel?

A: I believe, with all novels, what is most important is being able to relate to the characters in some way.  If you can’t understand their motivations or see yourself in their position, you won’t keep reading.

Q: What is a regular writing day like for you?

A: There is no such thing as ‘a regular writing day’ for me.  I write when the mood strikes.  That’s not to say I don’t have to motivate myself from time to time.  However, if I try to force myself, I am usually unhappy with the results.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

A: Knowing that an unbiased individual read something I created and truly enjoyed it is the most rewarding thing.  It vindicates my time and effort.

James Ryan Daley is a writer, editor, and digital designer. After earning an MFA in fiction at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2004, James has spent most of the years since teaching writing to college students, creating websites about video games, and editing anthologies of fiction and political rhetoric. When he's not glued to his computer, James can usually be found skiing the slopes of Vermont’s famous mountains or sailing the harbors of Rhode Island. He lives in Newport, RI with his wife and two daughters.

Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Jesus Jackson. What was your inspiration for it?

A: While the plot of Jesus Jackson centers on a murder mystery, at its heart, it’s the story of a young man searching for answers to the same huge, impossible, unanswerable questions that we all ask ourselves all the time: Is there a god? What happens after I die? How well do I really know the people in my life? How do I make sense of all the crazy, sad, frustrating, and unfair things that life is constantly throwing at me? These are all questions that I struggled with quite a bit when I was a teenager (and still struggle with, frankly).  Jesus Jackson was a fun and intriguing way of exploring them.

Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist.

A: In this story, Jonathan is in a sort of philosophical limbo that I think a lot of people experience: he has come to conclusion that he doesn’t believe in any type of god or religion, but he hasn’t yet figured out how to deal with life’s challenges without a belief system to guide him. This story is largely about Jonathan coming to understand how to live his life in the absence of any specific religious faith.

Q: How was your creative process like during the writing of this book and how long did it take you to complete it? Did you face any bumps along the way?

A: Writing the first draft of Jesus Jackson was actually a fairly smooth process: I woke up early every morning, wrote a few pages, and repeated until it was done. Revising the story was a whole lot less smooth. I had to go through multiple revisions (some of them quite extensive, and none of them easy) before I wound up with a finished product that I was really happy with.

Q: How do you keep your narrative exciting throughout the creation of a novel?

A: I just always try to ask myself what would be fun to read about next if I were the reader instead of the writer. Usually that leads me to jump right into something exciting.

Q: Do you experience anxiety before sitting down to write? If yes, how do you handle it?

A: I've always found that the best way to deal with that kind of anxiety is to avoid it. For me, that means waking up as early as I can stand to, and sitting down to write before I have enough time to start worrying about it.

Q: What is your writing schedule like and how do you balance it with your other work and family time?

A:  Most of my other work is done on a freelance basis these days, so my schedule is pretty flexible. That flexibility can be just as much of a curse as a blessing, though, because it's easy to get caught up in other projects, especially when you're approaching a deadline. That’s another reason why I try to write in the morning, before I have a chance to get distracted.  If I'm approaching an immediate deadline for my writing, though, then all bets are off: it’s just wake up, write, and keep writing until it’s time to go to sleep again.

Q: How do you define success?

A: As an author, I would define success simply having an audience. If there are people who read your book, enjoy it, and want to read your next one: that’s success.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers whose spouses or partners don’t support their dreams of becoming an author?

A:  That's a tough one. I'm extremely fortunate to have a wife who has always been supportive of my writing, and who happens to be an amazing editor, as well.  I honestly don’t know what advice I would give to someone whose spouse is actively against their writing, except to say that, sooner or later, they’re going have a pretty serious decision to make.

Q: George Orwell once wrote: “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” Do you agree?

A: Absolutely, though I tend to equate writing more with an incurable addiction than a painful illness. I feel miserable when I don’t write. I feel great after I’ve just finished writing. Most of the time, the actual writing itself is mildly disappointing, but every once in a while, it feels absolutely amazing.

Q:  Anything else you’d like to tell my readers?

A: Yes: that they should all go check out the trailer I made for Jesus Jackson. I basically spent half of my summer learning how to use professional film-making software, and the other half actually making this trailer. The response to it has been really amazing, so I am sure that they will consider it a well-spent 80 seconds. Here’s the link: http://youtu.be/iD3nMqCzjxo 

Book info:

Title:  Jesus Jackson
Genre:  Young Adult Mystery
Author: James Ryan Daley
Website: www.jamesryandaley.com
Publisher:  The Poisoned Pencil
The Poisoned Pen / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Q: What’s inside the mind of a fantasy/adventure author?

A: A lot of fun whimsical characters. For me, it’s like a never-ending movie trailer playing in my head, telling me the story before I write it.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy The Blackwell Family Secret: The Guardians of Sin.

A: If you are waiting to escape your norm and set off on an outrageous adventure through a magical world filled with nonsense, secrets, heroes, and many villains then this is the story for you. I wrote this story for those, like I, who have an interest in the Seven Deadly Sins and want to know their origin. Readers will find an unique story that combine magical elements with mankind’s history.

Q: What makes a good young adult fantasy novel?

A: The world needs to be alive and breathe through the written word. The reader needs to see it as if it were real and understand how it works.

Q: What is a regular writing day like for you?

A: Sitting at my desk, inspiring music in the background, my dog sleeping at my feet, and surrounded by my odd trinkets scattered around my computer. And most importantly, lots and lots of coffee!

Q: What do you find most rewarding about being an author?

A: I love to see the world come to life before me. I feel most rewarded when I start to understand my characters as though they were my friends, or better yet, me in another life that I’m remembering- like a forgotten dream.