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| Author of The Goddess Test; which releases today! April 19th |
Interview:
A: A sequel to the myth of Hades and Persephone. Hades must replace Persephone, and someone keeps killing the candidates. (Whew, 20 words, right under the wire!)
Q: How/Who first taught you about mythology? Your love of it is so apparent within your writing.
A: Thank you! I was a voracious reader as a kid, and I used to spend weekend afternoons at the bookstore with my father, where I sat in the aisles and read through hundreds of books. One of those was D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, and I reread it so many times that it stuck with me. And I just kept reading everything related to mythology that I could find.
Q: Are you in love with ketchup or did you model this after someone? I'm constantly being made fun of for my obsession with it and found James' love of it refreshingly relate-able.
A: Ha! I love ketchup. I put it on practically everything, although I'm not quite at the point where I carry a bottle around with me. Though I will bring ketchup packets into a restaurant if they don't have a brand I like. I also love mixing ketchup and mayo too - I'm a bit of a weirdo, but try it! It's great, especially with fries. As for James, that quirk was unplanned - it just happened to show up on the page while I was writing. And I loved that about him. He's always prepared, even though it makes him look a bit odd. And he really doesn't care what other people think of him, which is so admirable, especially in a high school setting.
Q: The story of Hades, Demeter, and Persephone is not one simply of changing seasons, but of the struggle for one to adapt from going to one's mothers house to a husbands house. We see this struggle clearly within Kate. Was it difficult to get a good grasp on this connection between Henry and Kate?
A: Henry and Kate clicked in a lot of unexpected ways during the writing process. At first Henry was darker and, believe it or not, even more reserved than he is now, but they share an understanding in the sense that they've both gone through tragedy. Kate understands him in a way he didn't expect, and Henry understands her as well. And once I'd discovered that connection between the two characters, launching into the rest of their emotional arc was surprisingly easy.
Q: What is your current WIP (Work in Progress)? Can you tell me a little about it?
A: I'm working on the third Goddess Test novel, which is currently untitled. The writing process is a lot different from when I wrote the first book - I write in public places now, as opposed to writing at home, for instance. But the biggest difference is how people are reading the first book now, and I'm much more aware of the audience for this book. I can't say what it's about at all, since that would spoil the first two books in the trilogy, but I will say that this manuscript has surprised me in countless ways already, and I'm only sixteen or seventeen thousand words in.
Q: I've heard that you sold a dystopian trilogy, how has dystopian been different than writing mythology? More research, less?
A: I did! And I am really, really excited about it. The first book is called Masked, and it will also be released through Harlequin TEEN. I wrote it after I finished The Goddess Test, and it was a very different process. I actually wrote the entire first draft, edited it, then pitched it and rewrote the story from scratch, which I've never done before. There was probably less research going into it - a lot of what makes the world dystopian is political in nature, and I've always had a strong interest in politics, so much of that was already in my head. It also all had to make sense in a way that will hopefully make the reader believe that this world could really exist, and the history in Masked was much more of a character in the book than it is in The Goddess Test. But it's an intense story, and I'm very proud of how it turned out.
Q: Do you have a favorite place to sit and write? Where is your favorite place to read?
A: I sit in bookstores and write. I like being in a public place, but I also like the ticking clock - as in, the store's going to close in X number of hours, so if I want to reach my goal, I need to get off the internet and really write. I like to read when I eat, especially in restaurants. I'm the kind of person who gets a table for one and sits with my nose stuck in a book the entire time, and I love every minute of it.
Q: As a reader do you write in the same genre as you write? What is your current paranormal obsession?
A: I'll read quite literally anything that looks interesting, though I tend to prefer commercial fiction. I hang out a lot in the YA section, but I'll also venture into the general fiction section and browse as well. My favorites are split pretty evenly between adult and YA.
As for my current paranormal obsession, I'm in the middle of reading Josephine Angelini's STARCROSSED, and I adore it to pieces. She has a major hit on her hands, and best of all, it's about the Greek myths as well!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Categories: Author Interviews, Random
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