- For people who haven’t heard of
Fire Country, make a brief description.
Fire Country (for which Ice Country is the
sequel), is a YA dystopian novel, and the first book in a sister series to The
Dwellers Saga. Here’s what it’s about:
In a changed world where the sky bleeds red,
winter is hotter than hell and full of sandstorms, and summer's even hotter
with raging fires that roam the desert-like country, the Heaters manage to
survive, barely.
Due to toxic air, life expectancies are so low the only way the tribe can
survive is by forcing women to procreate when they turn sixteen and every three
years thereafter. It is their duty as Bearers.
Fifteen-year-old Siena is a Youngling, soon to be a Bearer, when she starts
hearing rumors of another tribe of all women, called the Wild Ones. They are
known to kidnap Youngling girls before the Call, the ceremony in which Bearers
are given a husband with whom to bear children with.
As the desert sands run out on her life's hourglass, Siena must uncover the truth about the Wild
Ones while untangling the web of lies and deceit her father has masterfully
spun.
- When did you decide to become a
writer?
I
started seriously writing in September 2010.
Before then, like so many others out there, I’ve LOVED reading my entire
life, more than any other activity. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to
write my own books, but I always managed to come up with an excuse—either I’m
too busy, too lazy, or I just don’t have good enough ideas—to not do it.
Perhaps it was a fear of failure, I’m not really sure. But for whatever reason,
I drifted along, reading, but not really writing.
Then I
met my wife, Adele, a sweet and beautiful Australian, who encouraged me to put
my dreams first. So, while I had a few weeks off before a new desk job in
September 2010, I started writing a book using the first idea that came into my
head, one about angels and demons that evolved from humans. Six weeks later,
Angel Evolution was born!
I’d
officially caught the writing bug, and so I kept writing, averaging 2,000 words
a day, and slowly moving up to 3,000 words. I finished my first children’s
book, Nikki Powergloves, 4 weeks later. Then I wrote Demon Evolution in another
6 weeks and followed it up with a middle grade book called I am Touch, which I
have yet to publish. Finally, 10 months after starting Angel Evolution, I
completed Archangel Evolution. So I had 5 books written in 10 months, but
hadn’t published any of them!
So I
just went for it! The rest has been a whirlwind adventure in which I’ve written
14 books in less than two and a half years, 12 of which are now published. On
the back of The Moon Dwellers, I became a fulltime author in June of 2012,
making what started out as a dream become a reality!
- Do you have specific habits
when you write?
I think every writer does. For me
it’s setting a word count meeting or exceeding it each and every day while I’m
working on a project. Usually I don’t even take a single day off while writing
a novel, not until the first draft is finished anyway. That’s usually 3,000
words a day for 25-30 days straight.
When I’m in the middle of writing
a novel, I tend to forget about real life. Eating, sleeping—those sorts of
things. Most of the time Adele will
gently remind me to eat breakfast by bringing a bowl of cereal and a cup of
coffee.
I’m a very organic writer, so I
don’t do a whole lot of planning or outlining. Generally I start with a general
idea, come up with something attention-grabbing to begin the story, and then
go! As I write, the ideas start to flow and I jot down bullets of events, new
characters and plot twists I want to happen later in the book. Before I end
each writing session, I list out what I want to write about in my next writing
session so I don’t have to reread or think a lot when I start again. I prefer
to write this way, as it feels less like a job and more like art, but everyone
is very different.
- Are you an early bird or night
owl?
Neither really. Although I lean
toward staying up late rather than getting up early, I don’t usually write at
night, as that’s my time to do other things, like respond to reader messages,
manage my social networking sites, and have a good time in my Goodreads fan
group. I also coordinate all my publishing and promotional activities at night,
as well as do interviews like this one, or write guest posts for my blogger
friends.
I typically get up around 8am and
take a half hour to check e-mails. Then I start writing and don’t stop until
lunchtime, at a pace of 1,200 to 1,500 words per hour. It’s always hard to stop
once I’m in the flow!
- Where do you get your
inspiration?
Strangely enough, I get most of
my ideas and inspiration while writing. And I don’t mean just ideas for
whatever book I happen to be writing. For me, the very act of writing puts me
in the right mindset to be inspired and let my creativity flow. My best ideas
for future books have come when I was working on completely different series.
Although I try not to slow myself down too much by constantly writing down
ideas for other books while I’m working on a project, I do tap my best ideas
into my iPhone for later review.
- Which of your characters is
your favorite and why?
In Fire
Country, my favorite character is the main character, Siena, mostly because she
spoke the loudest to me. It was incredible how she just started talking to me one day and then she
wouldn’t shut up. She’s someone who speaks to you loud and clear, like no one
else you’ve ever met before, and she basically just wrote herself, which is a
rare and awesome thing. Her language is colorful and interesting and very,
very, real, because like I said, she tells me each and every thing she wants to
say! Yes, even now that the book is finished, she still talks to me ALL the
time.
- Name a book you wish you had
written.
Wow. Tough call. Although I’d
love to say I’d written The Lord of the Rings, it’s really not in my
wheelhouse. Divergent by Veronica Roth perhaps. Or, ooh, I know, The Knife of
Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. That’s one of my favorite books and I love
his writing style.
- What do you do, besides
writing?
Reading (of course!), watching
and playing tennis, swimming, playing any sport really, watching TV and movies,
hanging out with Adele, making friends with animals everywhere we go. Adele and
I are currently almost a year into a two year trip around the world while I
write, so much of what we do revolves around where we are in the world, whether
it be Mexico, Europe, Asia, or somewhere else entirely. Our home is wherever we
happen to be at the time!
- What are you reading right now?
Hunger, the second book in the
Gone YA dystopian series by Michael Grant. This series is a pretty creative and
entertaining read, although it has many cringe-worthy moments! I try to read as
many books in the genres I write in as possible, so I’m always current on
what’s popular and because it’s fun!
- Name your favorite books.
I have many, but to name just a
few: The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Unwind
by Neal Shusterman, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, The Scorpio
Races by Maggie Stiefvater, The Book Thief by Markus Zuzac (apologies if I
misspelled any of the author names, some of them are hard!)
- Best reward as a writer?
Having readers tell me how much
they enjoyed one of my books. At the end of the day, that’s what all the hours
writing and thinking and living and breathing my characters and plots and
twists is all about. Entertaining readers, making them feel things. Making them
be so engrossed in my books that all their cares just fade away.
- How do you react to a bad
review?
Sob, scream at the walls, rock back and forth. All three
things at the same time. It’s messy, you don’t want to see it.
Kidding aside, I’ve had to grow some pretty thick skin, pretty fast. I never
want someone to dislike my books, my writing style, my characters. But the
truth is, everyone has different opinions, which is what makes life
interesting. I mean, have you ever hated a book that all of your friends said
was amazing? I know I have. My goal as a writer cannot be to please everyone.
It’s simply to improve my writing with each and every book and do my very best
to entertain my incredible readers. So when I do occasionally get a negative
review, I read it and try to glean any constructive feedback from it that may
help me in the future. Anything I disagree with or that is mean spirited, I
just ignore. It’s all about having the right attitude and always striving to
improve.
- Do you like singing or dancing?
Does music inspire you?
Yes and Yes! And Yes! I’m not
particularly good at singing or dancing, but I love them just the same. Adele
and I watch all the singing competitions as well as So You Think You Can Dance.
Then we sing and dance after their over, just for fun.
Music definitely inspires me! I
don’t usually get writer’s block, but if I do, I can usually snap out of it
pretty quick just by listening to a song that has a lot of emotion in it.
- What are your favorite TV
shows?
Adele and I are TV addicts! We
love (in no particular order): Grey’s Anatomy, Revenge, Downton Abbey, Game of
Thrones, Nashville, The Mentalist, X-Factor, American Idol, The Voice, So You
Think You Can Dance, The Amazing Race, The Walking Dead…I’m sure I’m missing
others, but those are the main ones!
- Do you have a nice relationship
with your fans?
Oh my gosh, YES!! I couldn’t have
it any other way. Honestly, I’ve met so many of my readers on Goodreads through
my fan group (1,200+ members strong and growing!), and have been fortunate
enough to strike up really good friendships that will last a lifetime! I have
so much in common with my readers, and because I’m such an active author on
Goodreads, I get to know them extremely well. We buddy read books together,
talk about TV and movies and what we did over the weekend, and just have fun
together. I don’t like the word “fans”, because I consider every reader to be a
friend. “Readers” works better for me, although I really just think of them as
people who enrich my life on a daily basis!
I guess that’s the last
question! I just want to thank Rhomy for taking the time to have me on her blog
and for the awesome questions!! Also,
I pledged when I started writing to always respond to readers, and love getting
comments and questions, so please contact me using one of my favorite social
networking sites included in this post. As always,
happy reading!!
I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, spending most of my time daydreaming or playing around in the mud. I grew out of the mud play, well, most of the time, a good soak in the mud is always fun. I still daydream often and sometimes my daydreams interrupt my daydreams. So I write to remember them. If I didn't write, I think my mind would explode from an overload of fantasy and weirdness. To the annoyance of my friends and family, my characters sometimes become a part of my world. During my childhood, I would frequently get in trouble in school for daydreaming. Eventually, my vivid imagination paid off and I had the privilege of writing and co-directing my sixth-grade class play--a dreadful disaster, though not from my writing, of course. I'm pretty sure it was the acting.
