Interview With... Danielle Farman
To all who are reading this,
Welcome to an exciting new feature for this blog, known as 'Interview With'. This is a chance for everyone to meet new and upcoming authors from a wide variety of publishing companies. You can find out about the steps taken during writing, and general knowledge about the authors themselves. Exciting, eh?
Join me on this journey as I meet author, Danielle Farman and learn about her new book, Blood and Milk: Tainted Dreams!
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Name: Danielle Farman.
Age: 21.
Living in: Aberdeen
Hi Danielle!, thanks for joining me today! So, what are three interesting facts about yourself that you'd like to share with the readers?
1. I do alternative modelling as a hobby. My alter-ego's name is Jester Jinx, and I am a sponsored model for a wig company called Geisha Wig's.
2. I currently have in total, ten pets. They are all fluffy rodents!
3. I am a vegetarian and I never drink alcohol, which is apparently unheard of for someone my age!
What made you want to be a writer?
Well, ever since I was a young child I have always enjoyed creating stories and telling them to people. When I was in school I always took creative writing far more seriously than the other pupils, and when a teacher told me she would one day hope to see my name on a novel that just settled it. I have always loved writing stories, and it has always been my dream to have one of them published.
What motivates you to write?
Many things motivate me to write! One of the main things is the support I get from my family and my boyfriend. They are always asking me about ideas I have, and about characters I am creating. Music has always been a great way of getting me to want to write, and helps me think up new stories and scenes! And, as sad as it sounds, I was bullied a lot for being different in school and I wanted to basically make those fools eat their words! It pays to be different.
Do you have a particular writing process?
I do try to plan out my stories in advanced by making notes, character files and timelines but they very often get ignored. One rule I have always stuck to is I HAVE to finish writing a chapter once I start. Even if it is a rough draft. My boyfriend reads over each chapter as I finish and finds spelling errors I missed. Once the novel draft is complete I go back to the start and edit it all, changing parts and adding in things. I tend to do this a fair few times.
How do you manage the deadly problem that is writers block?
I try to motivate myself again. I go for walks, listen to music, chat about my ideas with my boyfriend. The best thing to do is go with it and wait for the miserable affliction to go away! The worst thing you can do is force yourself to write when you have writers block. What is a piece of writing advice that you will always remember?Never be afraid to write your story. Don't worry about what people will think or say, or if they will judge you. There is a reason we come up with our ideas. I used to worry I offended people with my writing, or that I got made fun of but after hearing this advice I never worried about it again. What is the most influential book you have ever read, and why do you think so?Oh that is a difficult one! There are so many books that have influenced me in one way or another! The Hobbit was the first real novel I ever read and loved, and Pet Cemetery influenced me as well as it has many mixed emotions and themes, and it was the first novel to actually scare me. But, gun to my head, I would have to say Frankenstein. I know it may sound like a cliché, but the story always left an impression on me. It is influential as it is so vastly read and the themes are greatly debated; 'Who is the real monster?' 'Do two wrongs make a write?' I also admired the sadness you could feel in Mary Shelley's words as she experienced so much death in her lifetime. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?Many of the places in my novels exist near where I live, such as forests. A flat one of my characters live in is loosely based on my Dad's old flat. I loved it there. Most of my inspiration comes from places and people I have seen in my dreams.
Your first major publication is Blood and Milk: Tainted Dreams. Have you had any publications prior to this?This is my first publication. I have never had the guts to send my work anywhere before this! Apart from the school paper if that counts? What isBlood and Milk: Tainted Dreams about? It certainly sounds interesting!Blood and Milk: Tainted Dreams is a story of conflicting personalities and walk's of life. I wanted to write a story where the worst possible people would become vampires; a Christian who believes the vampirism is a gift from God and that he has to rid the world of evil, a teenager angry with what the world has done to him, an androgynous man who takes his sexual fantasies to terrifying limits and a harmless vegetarian with a fear of blood, amongst others. The leader of this group is Nicholas. He chose these people carefully, creating his group of 'angels' to carry out God's will. Together, they form a band to spread the word of the Lord. This is Nicholas' plan. The band must follow in order to keep their loved ones out of danger, or to live out their fantasies of domination and revenge. Maya Meadows, a socially-awkward and paranoid young woman, stumbles upon them as they play at a club one evening. She becomes infatuated with Adrian, the guitarist. She soon learns their dark secret and is unwillingly dragged into their Hell. After falling deeply in love, Adrian and Maya must fight to be together. This is where they will learn who their real friends are, and who are the deadly enemies. What drove you to write about vampires?Vampires have always been creatures that both fascinated and terrified me. I know they are a a gothic cliché, but I was always amazed by the fact they were one of the very few sexual, attractive monsters out there. They are so deadly, yet they have many weaknesses. I also loved the idea of creating vampires with other flaws such as vegetarianism and the fear of blood. Vampires. The release on World Goth Day. Something tells me you're a Goth! Either that or the release is a coincidence... What attracted you to the subculture?The release date was originally the 23rd, but I asked for it to be changed to World Goth Day as it would be very fitting! I have always been attracted to the gothic scene. When I was about nine years old my older brother started listening to metal music with gothic band members, and my brother dressed gothic himself. I loved the style, and even started wearing subtly gothic clothing early on. In my early teen years, I tried to 'fit in' by wearing colours that resembled marshmallows, but I hated it. And so began the dawn of my very black and lace-filled wardrobe! Gothic styles to me are very beautiful, be it dress sense, writing styles or anything gothic related! And finally, do you have any plans to continue Blood and Milk as a series, or do you plan on writing one-shot titles?Actually, Blood and Milk was originally just all one book but as it is so long the publisher and I decided to make it into two books; Tainted Dreams and The Fall of Grace. The second part is due to be released shortly after the first.
Thank you for such a fantastic interview, Danielle!
Be sure to check out Blood and Milk: Tainted Dreams on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com on 22nd May! In the meantime, you can find Danielle here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Danielle-Farman/498541266856780?ref=hl
---
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Red Bones by Ann Cleeves.
Welcome to an exciting new feature for this blog, known as 'Interview With'. This is a chance for everyone to meet new and upcoming authors from a wide variety of publishing companies. You can find out about the steps taken during writing, and general knowledge about the authors themselves. Exciting, eh?
Join me on this journey as I meet author, Danielle Farman and learn about her new book, Blood and Milk: Tainted Dreams!
---
Name: Danielle Farman.
Age: 21.
Living in: Aberdeen
Hi Danielle!, thanks for joining me today! So, what are three interesting facts about yourself that you'd like to share with the readers?
1. I do alternative modelling as a hobby. My alter-ego's name is Jester Jinx, and I am a sponsored model for a wig company called Geisha Wig's.
2. I currently have in total, ten pets. They are all fluffy rodents!
3. I am a vegetarian and I never drink alcohol, which is apparently unheard of for someone my age!
What made you want to be a writer?
Well, ever since I was a young child I have always enjoyed creating stories and telling them to people. When I was in school I always took creative writing far more seriously than the other pupils, and when a teacher told me she would one day hope to see my name on a novel that just settled it. I have always loved writing stories, and it has always been my dream to have one of them published.
What motivates you to write?
Many things motivate me to write! One of the main things is the support I get from my family and my boyfriend. They are always asking me about ideas I have, and about characters I am creating. Music has always been a great way of getting me to want to write, and helps me think up new stories and scenes! And, as sad as it sounds, I was bullied a lot for being different in school and I wanted to basically make those fools eat their words! It pays to be different.
Do you have a particular writing process?
I do try to plan out my stories in advanced by making notes, character files and timelines but they very often get ignored. One rule I have always stuck to is I HAVE to finish writing a chapter once I start. Even if it is a rough draft. My boyfriend reads over each chapter as I finish and finds spelling errors I missed. Once the novel draft is complete I go back to the start and edit it all, changing parts and adding in things. I tend to do this a fair few times.
How do you manage the deadly problem that is writers block?
I try to motivate myself again. I go for walks, listen to music, chat about my ideas with my boyfriend. The best thing to do is go with it and wait for the miserable affliction to go away! The worst thing you can do is force yourself to write when you have writers block. What is a piece of writing advice that you will always remember?Never be afraid to write your story. Don't worry about what people will think or say, or if they will judge you. There is a reason we come up with our ideas. I used to worry I offended people with my writing, or that I got made fun of but after hearing this advice I never worried about it again. What is the most influential book you have ever read, and why do you think so?Oh that is a difficult one! There are so many books that have influenced me in one way or another! The Hobbit was the first real novel I ever read and loved, and Pet Cemetery influenced me as well as it has many mixed emotions and themes, and it was the first novel to actually scare me. But, gun to my head, I would have to say Frankenstein. I know it may sound like a cliché, but the story always left an impression on me. It is influential as it is so vastly read and the themes are greatly debated; 'Who is the real monster?' 'Do two wrongs make a write?' I also admired the sadness you could feel in Mary Shelley's words as she experienced so much death in her lifetime. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?Many of the places in my novels exist near where I live, such as forests. A flat one of my characters live in is loosely based on my Dad's old flat. I loved it there. Most of my inspiration comes from places and people I have seen in my dreams.
Your first major publication is Blood and Milk: Tainted Dreams. Have you had any publications prior to this?This is my first publication. I have never had the guts to send my work anywhere before this! Apart from the school paper if that counts? What isBlood and Milk: Tainted Dreams about? It certainly sounds interesting!Blood and Milk: Tainted Dreams is a story of conflicting personalities and walk's of life. I wanted to write a story where the worst possible people would become vampires; a Christian who believes the vampirism is a gift from God and that he has to rid the world of evil, a teenager angry with what the world has done to him, an androgynous man who takes his sexual fantasies to terrifying limits and a harmless vegetarian with a fear of blood, amongst others. The leader of this group is Nicholas. He chose these people carefully, creating his group of 'angels' to carry out God's will. Together, they form a band to spread the word of the Lord. This is Nicholas' plan. The band must follow in order to keep their loved ones out of danger, or to live out their fantasies of domination and revenge. Maya Meadows, a socially-awkward and paranoid young woman, stumbles upon them as they play at a club one evening. She becomes infatuated with Adrian, the guitarist. She soon learns their dark secret and is unwillingly dragged into their Hell. After falling deeply in love, Adrian and Maya must fight to be together. This is where they will learn who their real friends are, and who are the deadly enemies. What drove you to write about vampires?Vampires have always been creatures that both fascinated and terrified me. I know they are a a gothic cliché, but I was always amazed by the fact they were one of the very few sexual, attractive monsters out there. They are so deadly, yet they have many weaknesses. I also loved the idea of creating vampires with other flaws such as vegetarianism and the fear of blood. Vampires. The release on World Goth Day. Something tells me you're a Goth! Either that or the release is a coincidence... What attracted you to the subculture?The release date was originally the 23rd, but I asked for it to be changed to World Goth Day as it would be very fitting! I have always been attracted to the gothic scene. When I was about nine years old my older brother started listening to metal music with gothic band members, and my brother dressed gothic himself. I loved the style, and even started wearing subtly gothic clothing early on. In my early teen years, I tried to 'fit in' by wearing colours that resembled marshmallows, but I hated it. And so began the dawn of my very black and lace-filled wardrobe! Gothic styles to me are very beautiful, be it dress sense, writing styles or anything gothic related! And finally, do you have any plans to continue Blood and Milk as a series, or do you plan on writing one-shot titles?Actually, Blood and Milk was originally just all one book but as it is so long the publisher and I decided to make it into two books; Tainted Dreams and The Fall of Grace. The second part is due to be released shortly after the first. Thank you for such a fantastic interview, Danielle!
Be sure to check out Blood and Milk: Tainted Dreams on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com on 22nd May! In the meantime, you can find Danielle here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Danielle-Farman/498541266856780?ref=hl
---
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Red Bones by Ann Cleeves.
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