YA Storytellers Book Club discussion
Q&A with Authors
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Bait
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Favorite Author: Cassandra Clare
Book reading now: The Demon's Lexicon
Favorite Show: Supernatural
Favorite Monster: Werewolf
Book currently writing: Hunter (book after Bait)
Movie looking forward to: City of Bones
Favorite Line(s): "I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel."
"That's hellfire, Dean." Supernatural
Contact: Blog: http://kasi-kcblake.blogspot.com
Twitter: @kasiblake
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/K-C-Bl...
Who was the most challenging character to write?
Where did you come up with the idea for Bait?
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Love the Title! Where did you come up with the Title for 'Bait'?
What inspired you to write Bait in the first place?
My question... when is the sequel being released? I cannot wait! I was lucky to receive a copy in exchange for a review... and this is seriously one of the best books I have read in a LONG time! I need book 2 like yesterday! :)
what inspired you to become an author in general?
I love the beginning but I thought prologues were big no-no. How did you decide to do it anway?
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What a great way to begin a book anout the great Van Helsing's daughter. How did you come up with the world nuilding for ths?
Do you think mixing genres like mystery, suspense and romance gives depth to you book?
Do you plan to explore other dating options for Bay-lee?.....seeing as how she's in a difficult situation :P
How large is this world? Do you foresee spin offs once you're done with Bay-Lee and Nick? I love it when writers explore the world they create with characters I didn't expect!
Which character has the most of YOU in them?
can we have a chat with her hottie rick star ?
excuse my spelling my phone is not good at helping
I loved this book! It had an epic feel to it, like reading Harry Potter for the first time, but for an older crowd. What books influenced you in style or theme?
I love the concept of linking it all to Van Helsing. Did you have to do much research to get the details right? Did you try to stay true to the original Van Helsing story?
Just finished the book and I absolutely loved it!!! I can't wait to read "hunter". The only question I have right now is why did Nick have to die?????? I really hated that part :/
Hi there! What other genres of writing interest you?
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There was an elevator (not a glass one) up ahead. It looked like a freight elevator, possibly the way they brought in furniture, bringing it up in the large metal box. Left without a choice, she hit the button again and again. Her knees quaked. She glanced over her shoulder while pumping the button. The door slid open. She leaped inside, fell, and hit the opposite wall. Flipping around, she saw the reaper lunge at her as the doors closed.
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https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
and here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G8OUCVY
It will be at B&N, Sony, Ibookstore, etc. soon.
Which part of the story was hardest for you to write?
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It would have to be Nick, because it is always harder to write from a guy's point of view. Add to that he's a rock star. I knew he was going to be angry after everything that's happened to him, and that has the possibility of making him unsympathetic to readers. So writing for him was extra hard... but I love him.
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It was honestly so long ago that I do not remember. I've had this story at the back of my mind for years. In fact, I tried to write it several times, and it didn't work out. My friends are happy I finally did it because now they don't have to listen to me talk about it anymore. :)
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Another hard question. The girl I had in mind for Bay-Lee while writing her is actually too old in real life to play her. I can't think of anyone age appropriate that I would want to see as Bay-Lee. In my mind she is Sam from General Hospital, a younger version of her.
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The book had several different titles over the years as I thought about writing it. Eventually, I decided to use the ranks at Van Helsing's school as the titles. Bay-Lee starts off as Bait. In the second book, Hunter, she has moved up to the rank of Hunter. Then we just have Warrior and Legend to go. I'm not sure if she'll make it to Legend. That part of the story is still unclear to me.
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The huge amount of vampire books. Since Twilight, there have been so many books with vampires as heroes instead of villains, so I thought a book about hunters with monsters as the bad guys might be a nice change.
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Thank you! Hunter has been released now. I put the link to Amazon above. Hope you enjoy the second book.
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The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. We were assigned to read it in the seventh grade. I loved it so much, couldn't get it out of my head for weeks, and I wanted to be able to make other people feel like that.
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When I first started publishing my own books two years ago, I had absolutely no money. Hiring a designer to do the cover was out of the question. I had to learn to do it. My covers have improved. If you go back to Vampires Rule and then look at Bait, you can see how much I've learned. :)
I found the girl and the green background on a stock photo place online and purchased them. Then I used Gimp to put it all together.
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As I said above, it took years of starting and stopping to get this book out, longer than having a baby. :)
Once I finally found the direction the book should take, it took three months to write and three months to edit.
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Sure. Bait is free here at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJ182E4
Here at Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
And B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bait-...
Vampires Rule is also free here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YZB8XU
And here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
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I usually try to steer clear of them, but since I was starting from an unknown point of view (Nick's) and then going to Bay-Lee for a few chapters, I wanted to separate it. So I wrote him in her bed in the middle of the night, thinking about strangling her. Then chapter one starts with her waking to find a stranger in her bed. :)
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There will be four. Bait (which we're discussing now), Hunter (which I just released), and Warrior and Legend. They will probably be out in a year. I'm not promising anything. My vampire books are selling like crazy now and several people have sought me out to ask me to finish the series, so that's what I'm doing now.
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Supernatural is the best show ever! :)
I've been told people can tell I watch the show by reading my books, but I don't purposely use anything from the show. I try to come up with new mythology like border monsters instead of using a lot of old stuff people have seen a zillion times.
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Since first coming up with the idea, I knew some of the characters would be crossing over to the Spirit Realm. I added to the details a little at a time while trying to map out that other world. In Hunter, you get to see a new realm, the Dream Realm where the ghouls live. :)
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Yes. But I actually had Tyler Beck in my mind for years. Sometimes while listening to music I could see this guy rocking out on stage, and I created music videos for him. I'm a huge fan of hard rock, and I used to read all those books on the real lives to musicians. Of course, I watched MTV before it changed into what it is today. I don't think writing for a rock star was any worse than writing for an average guy.
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I hadn't really thought about it. Adding romance and mystery comes natural to me because I used to write romantic suspense for Harlequin. It's what I know, so it always becomes a part of my paranormal books.
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:) As a matter of fact, you will see her checking out her options in the next book.
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I actually hadn't thought about it, but as the world gets larger, it becomes more tempting. Depends on how popular these books become, I guess. If fans love them and want more, I will probably write more.
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I'm sorry. I forgot to answer about how large the world is for Bait. Umm, it is growing rapidly. In Hunter, something I didn't expect happened and another realm was added. Perhaps the same thing will happen in Warrior and Legend.
I actually want to explore the Spirit Realm more in depth in the last two books. Bay-Lee does visit it in Hunter and finds out why their moon glows. :)
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Wow. Hard question. I'm sure they all have a little me in them, Probably Bay-Lee is the one I most relate to because she had a hard upbringing and puts on a tough face for the world. She doesn't give up. That's me. :)
K.C. Blake will be in at the end of October to answer your questions. So start asking. :)