Interview with author Gabrielle Bissett

1. Did you always know you wanted to be a writer or was there
something else you wanted to do as a career?

I wanted to be a lawyer when I was a child. (What a weird kid I was!)  Then as I got older, I considered being a writer, but I never really thought of it as a career.  When I got to college, I fell in love with history and knew I wanted to do something with that.  And then, after my career was settled as a history instructor, I turned back to my old love, writing.

2. Is there one author that you have read every book that they have written?

I've read everything by Edith Wharton.  I love her stories!  She can say so much with just a character's gesture or choice of words.

3. In your opinion what is the best movie adaptation of a book that you've read?
This one's hard because the movie adaptations rarely mesh with what I imagined as I read the book.
I do enjoy Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly, though. 

4. When you are browsing book stores what is the first section you go to?

I usually go to the history section first, pick up some books, and then go to the romance section.

5. If your book was being made into a movie do you already have actors
in mind for each role? What bands/singers would you put on the
soundtrack?

If Blood Avenged was made into a movie, I think Goran Visnjic would work as Vasilije (but younger Goran, to be honest).
Emily Blunt would be perfect as Sasa, and Gisele Bundchen has the perfect look for Tatiana. (I have no idea if she can act.)
As for the soundtrack, I would include some blues (the story's set in New Orleans) from Jonny Lang, Need You Now
by Lady Antebellum (love that song and it would work well when Vasilije and Sasa are separated), Shoot To Thrill by AC DC,
Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, Figured You Out by Nickelback, and the song my son wrote for the book trailer.

 6.. When you're creating characters do you incorporate traits from
people you know?

I think it's only natural to incorporate traits from others who affect you, such as friends and family, but I don't intentionally
do it.  None of my characters are actually people I know but they're more like people from my fantasies.

7. If you had the chance to have a sit down with any author alive or
deceased who would it be and why?

There are so many just in my genre of romance, such as Charlotte Featherstone, but the author
I'd most love to sit down with is Shakespeare.  Any writer whose work is still so relevant more than
500 years later is worth as much time as he can give me.