D. McEntire, Author Interview

Cynnara Tregarth, Author Interview Trina M. Lee, Author Interview

D. McEntire, Author Interview

D. McEntire, Interview

By Michelle Pillow, www.michellepillow.com

(Diane) McEntire grew up around books. Her mother went through books like candy, and as a member of several mail order book clubs, there was never a shortage of something around the house to read. Diane remembers her love of reading beginning with the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys series. Though she found mystery novels fun, she found paranormal stories, still her favorite genre, to be where the real excitement lay. Her mother’s love of reading passed on to Diane’s daughter, who, at an early age of ten, began to write fantasy stories. Her stories, so descriptive and full of imagination, motivated Diane to try her own hand (pardon the pun) at writing.

At one of her family’s weekly Friday dinner gathering at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, where she and her sisters tended to go on and on about books they’ve recently read, the conversation turned to the approach of an annual favorite—Thunder Over Louisville. The prior year, a record of over 800,000 attendees packed the Louisville side of the river. She voiced the joke of that being a vampire smorgasbord, and thus, The Watchers series had begun.

The first of the series, Midnight Reborn, was released in 2008. Seven books in the series have been released to date with more to follow.

Q: In your series, The Watchers, you delve into the world of vampires. What inspired you to write about this?

McEntire: My family had a weekly gathering on Fridays at Cracker Barrel. There would be no less than fourteen of us with my mother and father included. While various conversations rounded the table, my two sisters and did what we always do when we meet—share our thoughts on romance novels we’ve read or listened to on audio.

One particular family meet-up occurred the beginning of April, 2007. While talking and eating, a particular topic drew in the entire gathering—Thunder Over Louisville, an annual fireworks festival that heralds the opening of the Kentucky Derby Festival. The event’s popularity brings in people from all over the United States. I told the group that I had heard on the local news that a record number attended the festival last year—over 800,000 people on the Louisville waterfront. A mental image of the crowd and vampires walking among them struck me, and I had joked aloud about the place being packed with so many people would definitely be a vampire smorgasbord. With the encouragement of my family, the Watchers series had begun. Since I’d already had the setting, downtown Louisville, Kentucky, and the timeline, before the start of the festival, the story came together quite easily. Being from Louisville, I was able to visualize each and every step. I created a world in the heart of a busy city where with the setting of the sun, a war waged between vampires whose lust for blood and the thrill of the kill puts both the vampire and human races in danger, and the Watchers tasked with the job of eliminating that threat. Midnight Reborn kicked off this series filled with rogue vampires, kidnapping, murder, vampire drugs, psychotic scientists, and a cat named “Brat” who should have learned years ago to step away from the food trough.

Q: Did you base your story off of known vampire myths?

McEntire: Midnight Reborn was my first published novel, and I was only beginning to learn the ropes of writing and promoting. I was introduced to chat rooms and readers’ groups, and recall chatting with another new author about vampires. A reader had complained about certain abilities of her characters. My response to her was, “You show me a real vampire and I’ll ask them.” No one knows what vampires, werewolves, ghosts, or any other paranormal character can or can’t do—walk in sunlight; never age or age slowly; sleep in coffins, the earth, or in normal beds; shift into bats or any other animal; have the ability to read minds, speak telepathically, wipe memories, or will a person to do something; eat normal food or consume only blood. They are fictional, giving the author the ability to create their own character. I love having that freedom, another reason I enjoy writing paranormal instead of historical, which requires research and knowledge of a particular timeline. Although there is that freedom, I do research places and aspects of plotlines for accuracy/believability even though the characters happen to be vampires. I want readers stop and take a glance around as if vampires really do exist.

Q: What legends inspired you?

McEntire: I receive inspiration for writing paranormal stories from places. If there is a place with a history and is said to have paranormal activity, whether proven or not, scenarios for stories come easily. You can imagine what happened there in the past and what could happen in your story. In Louisville, I used Waverly Hills Sanatorium, touted as one of the scariest places on earth, as one of the main spots in the fifth novel of my Watchers series, Midnight Unseen. The building housed tuberculosis patients from 1926 – 1961. It reopened as Woodhaven Medical Services in 1962, but was closed again in 1980, and has remained vacant ever since. The building’s isolated area and state of disrepair made it a perfect location for vampire activity, not only in the fifth novel, but in a few of the subsequent novels in the series. I’d chosen another intriguing place in Louisville, the U.S. Marine Hospital, for a significant locale in the series as well. In fact, it is the backbone of the fourth novel, Midnight Savior, but readers will have to check out the story to learn the building’s sinister secrets. When you know an area well, it’s fun to drive around and allow your surroundings to set the perfect tone for a scene, or the entire story itself.

Q: Why do you think readers, and society in general, are fascinated by the paranormal?

McEntire: The paranormal is not something seen or experienced by everyone, which is one reason for the lure and excitement. Take ghosts, for instance. Not everyone has had an encounter with a spirit, so when there is a place said to be haunted, people flock there in hopes of having their own experience. There’s a thrill in having your own special proof that something exists beyond what we see in the world around us. That’s the keyword—special. As if having that experience gives you membership to an exclusive club. Paranormal stories revolve around that “members only” feeling. You’ve got vampires, shifters, ghosts, or whatever the paranormal element is in the story, with only a select group aware of their existence. Readers find themselves among that select group, allowed in behind the scenes, while the rest of the everyday world goes about its everyday business without a clue, missing out on an unseen world filled with danger and passion, and characters that are strong, sensual, protective, and possessive.

Q: What are your favorite paranormal shows, movies and books?

McEntire: Perhaps it’s my age, but I never got into some of the younger generation televisions shows such as Vampire Diaries or Supernatural. There are two paranormal television series I record religiously so as not to miss a single episode. Trueblood, the vampire series probably everyone has heard of, and Haven are my favorites. Haven is a series on Syfy where there are people in a town called Haven that have what is known there as the “Troubles”. Stressful events cause those people to have special, and not so pleasant, abilities to which the main character, Audrey Parker, is immune. You have to check out this series! I’m totally hooked!

Q: How would you react if you came face to face with a vampire?

McEntire: If I came face-to-face with a real life vampire, I would have to sit him or her down for a nice, long chat. As I said, no one knows what a vampire can or can’t do. I’d surely be interested in knowing. Call it the perfect research for more vampire tales! Who knows, perhaps there are more capabilities never before written. I could create the next big seller.

Q: What does the future hold for the Watchers series?

McEntire: Even from the beginning I had ten novels planned for the series, and that hasn’t changed. Authors often talk about characters speaking to them, well, that is no different with me. When I first began putting storylines and characters together, each Watcher popped into my head, letting themselves be known. At one point, the first three novels were being written simultaneously. Talk about major multitasking! I hope to get the last three books—Midnight Protector, Midnight Taken, and Midnight Profession—written and released before the end of 2014 or early 2015. After that, it will be time for other stories—paranormal, sci-fi, and even historical—whose characters have been not-so-patiently waiting to have their stories told.

Thanks for joining us, Diane!

You can learn more about D. McEntire and her books at her website, www.dmcentire.com.

FROM AUTHOR: review of the latest release: Midnight Silence – The Watchers, Book Seven

“A LASR Best Book!!” “With complex, riveting characters and a dynamic plotline this story was mesmerizing.” – Judy and Marianne from Long and Short Review

Sampling of Diane’s other paranormal titles–

The Watchers Series (Vampire Romance)

Midnight Reborn – The Watchers, Book One 978-1605041490

Midnight Rose – The Watchers, Book Two 978-1605044170

Midnight Revelations – The Watchers, Book Three 978-1605046044

Midnight Savior – The Watchers, Book Four 978-1605048642

Midnight Unseen – The Watchers, Book Five 978-1609281304

Midnight Rider – The Watchers, Book Six 978-1614955177

Midnight Silence – The Watchers, Book Seven 978-1614959403

Spellbound for Love Series (Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts, Were-jaguars, Goddesses)

Hunting Jaguar (ebook only)

Haunting the Wolf (ebook only)