Interview with Amber Johnson, author of BEATLESS

As part of the blog tour for new release, Beatless, author Amber Johnson has stopped by for an interview. Check out her story, and be sure to enter her Rafflecopter giveaway!
1) Tell us a little bit about how the idea for this story got started.
I’d already begun writing this story when I was having a conversation with a fellow writer about someone we both knew. I had this compulsion to be friends with this person we were discussing even though she was not one back in the least. It wasn’t because she was more popular than me; it was because I genuinely liked her and I didn’t care if she used me or said mean things. So I asked, “Why do I want to be her friend so much? She clearly doesn’t care.” And the answer my friend gave back was, “Because plastic hearts don’t beat.”
I started thinking about those girls who make you feel like a shadow all of your life, and how hard it can be to find your own voice. These are the type of girls that steal the bottom of your bikini and throw it over a fence at a party and then make fun of you for being naked in the pool. The kind that of girl that spits gum into the hair of another girl who has chosen not get a haircut for religious reasons. But she’s pretty and popular and if she ever spoke to you, you’d probably go running to her for reasons you can’t explain at that age.

2) What do you feel is the biggest lesson your main characters learn from their experiences in this story?
The biggest lesson I wanted Mallory to learn was that there’s no plan in life. That when you finally experience something life changing, you’ll figure out that all of the petty things you gave weight to at one time, the things that made you think your life was over, will seem so stupid when you view them in retrospect.

3) How important was setting to the plot of the story?
I wanted the area to be small enough that you’d know someone the entire time you went to school, but big enough to leave room to meet new people. I chose Lawrenceville and Snellville because they’re the areas I grew up and were the most vivid setting in my mind as a backdrop for teenage angst.

4) What is the significance of the title? What prompted you to choose it?
Beatless has a lot of meanings. I had always intended the story to be about a drummer quitting a band and the members that were left behind having to do without the beat, thus becoming Beatless. Then there’s Lassiter who has no soul or heart. And then Mallory getting her heart broken. 

5) What element in the main characters’ relationship impacts the story most?
That people who have been abandoned are the first to abandon others.

6) What’s your secret geeky obsession?
I collect book character Barbies and won’t let my son open the boxes. Don’t judge.

7) Which secondary character was the most fun to write?
It’s a tie between Sara McNamara and Eliza Scott. They both had the best sarcastic lines. 

8) What was your biggest challenge in writing and publishing this story?
Beatless, as most stories do, started out as something completely different - a girl in her senior year of high school. I’d always had the three main characters lined up and named, and I knew the heart of the story, but it evolved. Originally it was going to be named Plastic Hearts because of the conversation I reiterated above, but another author put a book out with that name while I was still trying to write it, so I had to find a new one. It had taken me three years to find the exact story that I wanted to tell so I deleted everything off of the original document except the first chapter and in November sat down and wrote the entire thing in 25 days. I actually dreamed the entire book, got up at 4 a.m. to outline the chapters and finished it within 5 days after. Then I entered it into Pitch Wars and was told that it could not be New Adult if it took place in High School. So I had to sit down and revise it.

9) What is your next planned project? What can you tell us about it?
My next concrete project is a novel that has been contracted by The Writer’s Coffee Shop:
10) And the most important question: chipmunks or squirrels?
I’m gonna have to go with chipmunks because I’ve fed a squirrel up close and their teeth are so orange they glow in the dark.




Synopsis
Mallory Durham has been left behind and it is making her feel less like an adult and more like an afterthought.

Divorce, sickness, educational aspirations being shattered, and her Aunt Sam moving into her home, have made Mal's life nearly unrecognizable to her.

When Tucker Scott re-enters her life along with his band, will they offer what she needs to once again find her voice and self confidence or will it strip her of it even more?

Told through the dual voices of Mallory as she navigates her new world, and Aunt Sam's letters to her niece, Beatless tells the story of two women at very different points in their life, fighting the same battles; proving that no matter what age a person is, there are always lessons to be learned.

Add to Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20693377-beatless?ac=1

Excerpt
The Scott house was less than five miles from mine, but it could have been in a completely different world. The neighborhood was older, clearly didn’t have a Homeowners Association, and the houses themselves looked like they were in dire need of repair. His was a brown ranch that had an exposed basement, which I quickly learned was where he had all his musical instruments set up. It was a sweet deal because he’d soundproofed the room with egg crates, the whole back wall was filled with band posters, and there were a few guitars mounted to the studs above his keyboard.He seated himself in front of it, turning on the power and shuffling the sheet music that had accumulated there. “What’s your vocal register?”“I don’t have one anymore, remember?”“We can change that.” Light notes plinked out from beneath his fingertips and he swiveled in his seat to regard me carefully. “I know you’ve got it in you. You have to believe it too or it won’t work.”“I don’t want to sing in front of you.” The thought alone was making me want to vomit. What if I was as terrible as I imagined? I’d only been singing along to the radio in my room, but it was breathy and sparse, and honestly, it hurt a little if I went too high.His eyes softened and he patted the seat next to him. “Then sing with me.”

Playlist: 1. Incomplete- Switchfoot2. The Queen and I - Gym Class Heroes3. Love Somebody - Maroon 54. Stay the Night - Zedd5. Collar Full - Panic! at the Disco6. Miss Missing You - Fall Out Boy7. I Lived - OneRepublic8. Adel/Eurythmics mashup - Rolling in Sweet Dreams9. Ellie Goulding/ Eminem mashup  - Love the Way You Burn10. Imagine Dragons/ Coldplay mashup - Radioactive Paradise11. Lorde/ Katy Perry mashup - Royals vs. RoarBonus track: Ke$ha/ Beatles mashup - Tik Tok Together(mashups can be found on Youtube)
Dream Cast:




About the Author
Amber is a full time mom, full time wife, is employed full time, and writes when she can. She believes in Happily Ever Afters that occur every day - despite the obstacles that real life serves up on a regular basis. Or perhaps they're sweeter simply because of them. She always has 2 rubber bands on her wrist, a song in her head, and too much creamer in her coffee cup that reads 'Cocoa' - because she's a rebel. If she's not at her desk, with her boys, or behind the computer, she's supporting live music with her arms raised above her head and eyes closed, waiting for the drop.  


Connect with Amber
Website: amberlynnejohnson.comTwitter: @WhereIsJakeRyanFacebook author page: Amber L. Johnson Author
 Giveaway

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