A Note:

6/2/13

I once told myself: IF I am accepted into grad school, this blog would no longer be updated. As it turns out, in April, I received news of my acceptance for the Fall 2013 semester, where I will attain a Master's degree of Science in Nutrition.

Running a blog, as many of you may already know, is a demanding side job once the excitement wears off. And once I fell out of the blogging community's loop (have you SEEN how many blogs there are now? Wow!), it was like the kiss of death. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get into a blogging routine once this happened due to the disconnect I felt from the community.

So I took a break. I struggled with the loss and with missing my blog. And then I realized I didn't have to run Book Faery to still be a book reviewer; I could read my books and post reviews online. I'm still a book review blogger, just not in the traditional sense.

I'll still be online. You can chat with me on Twitter, where I'll be posting links to my reviews and talking books. I'll also be posting links to nutrition articles. And if you'd like to connect with me where I guarantee I will post reviews, just add me as a friend on Goodreads.

So that's all, folks! It's been a fun and amazing journey, and I thank you all for listening to my thoughts about books. I hope we all can keep in touch elsewhere :)

Tori

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Author Interview with Gena Showalter!

Thank you all for leaving Gena such wonderful questions!  While compiling the list, we were forced to not include some (if you read Into the Dark, you'll find those questions answered there)  As for every other question, Gena was kind enough to answer them ALL!

Courtesy of EHarlequin:
"Gena Showalter has always believed in love. An avid romance reader, she decided to try her hand at a story of her own and is now the author of sexy paranormal romances, including The Stone Prince, The Pleasure Slave and Heart of the Dragon. She is also the author of Awaken Me Darkly, the first in the darkly seductive Alien Huntress series. Fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon and Karen Marie Moning will find a new favorite in Showalter. Her wildly sensual page-turners have mix of humor, danger and wickedly hot sex, a combination sure to enthrall."



Welcome Gena!  The readers and I are so excited that you were able to stop by Book Faery. 
Thank you so much.  I’m excited to be here.

The Darkest Passion comes out on Tuesday May 25th! *squee*  What was it like writing Aeron and Olivia’s story?  Did you ever wish you could strangle Aeron? 
I never struggled while writing Aeron’s character.  I think because I knew him, his quirks.  Or maybe because I wanted to be wrapped up in his wings, those strong arms . . . Sorry, I digress.  But, strangle him?  Nah.  Olivia, though . . . I’d never written anyone like her.  A sweet, innocent angel (literally!), dewy-eyed and optimistic.  That might be why her inner bad girl quickly came out to play.  And in her case, when she says “the devil made me do it,” she really means it!  

How do you feel about Legion?  Are there any future book/short story plans for her and a particular someone?

I like Legion – even when she needs a spanking! -- because I understand what motivates her.  Aeron is the only person who’s ever loved her, and she’ll do anything to keep him.  A little stalkerish, sure, but who hasn’t dealt with feelings like that in some capacity?  And yep, I do have a story in mind for Legion.


Do you have a favorite scene or line from The Darkest Passion
The entire book grew out of one particular scene that played through my mind over and over again.  I saw a dark haired woman running up the hill, toward the fortress in Budapest.  She was wearing a white robe, and the back of that robe was wet and coated with blood.  She was screaming Aeron’s name.  Everything bloomed from there. 


Out of the three stories in Into the Dark, which was the one you were most pleased with? 
Definitely The Darkest Prison.  I loved writing the love-hate tug of war between Atlas and Nike, two fiercely strong characters who fought their vulnerabilities – the dummies! -- yet still they couldn’t stop craving each other.


Will Nike and Atlas be making a guest appearance at any point in future LotU stories?
 

I hope that they will, yes.  Does that mean that they’ll listen to me?  No.  The characters decide.  Always.  I’m their puppet.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? 
Don’t write what you think everyone wants you to write.  Write from the heart.  That's when the magic will happen.



LORDS QUESTIONS

Repeated question from roughly ten people: Will Paris get his story?  If so, when?  (You were right, he really is popular!) 
Absolutely!  I think his book will come after Strider’s.  So it will go Aeron, Gideon, Amun, Strider, Paris.  And just so everyone knows, BIG changes happen for Paris in Amun’s story, The Darkest Secret.  Big.  Big, big, big.  And you’ll get to see more of him in Strider’s story.  At least I think.  I’ve only just started.  Paris could stone wall me, the sexy deviant.  However, I don’t think he will.  He’s as eager for his happily ever after as readers are.


Amy: Where did you get those hunky models for all of your covers? 

The publisher picked them.  I actually have very little say about my covers.  But I am totally in love with the models for the Kiss and Pleasure and Whisper covers. 


Amy: Are the tattoos on the Lords of the Underworld covers your designs?  Is it possible for fans to get them as temporary tattoos? 
I wish they were mine, but nope.  The publisher designed them, and they own the copyright.  A print out hasn’t been made, so our best advice is to take the cover to your local tattoo artist and see if they can replicate it.  


Throughthehaze:  Will all of the Lords get their own story?  I really want to read Torin’s story! 
Absolutely!  Torin might be last, though.  (I’m sorry!)   I know the name of his heroine, think I know a little about her, but I haven’t figured out their story yet.  I think he deserves something spectacular, and that’s what I want to give him.


Kristen:  Do you think the cover art reflects the characters you’ve written? 
You know, I’ve never really thought about it because I see the covers long after the books are written.  Although, I will say the Pleasure cover is closest to the character (Reyes) I se in my head, and the Lies cover is the least like the character (Gideon) I see in my head.  In “real” life, Gideon has blue hair, piercings and lots of other tattoos.
 


GENERAL/WRITING PROCESS QUESTIONS

Monica & Doreen: How old were you when you realized you wanted to write?  When did you write your first story? 
I played around with my own stories in junior high, realized writing was hard and stopped.  Then I wrote papers for my friends in high school (a nice little side job), but that was it.  Then I went to college and dropped out – three times.  Then I had a heart to heart with myself, and writing was the only thing I could see myself doing for the rest of my life.  I decided to give it another try.  Creating stories was still hard, but I fell in love with the process.


Rainmaiden: If you got to marry a hero from any romance novel, who would it be?
From my own books, I would pick either William or Devyn (yes, I am a sucker for the reformed womanizers tamed only by one woman)  From Kresley Coles amazing Immortals After Dark series, I would pick any of the wolves.  Okay, okay, and the vampires.  HOT!!!  Jill Monroe has a Navy SEAL hero in SEALed and Delivered, and I am gaga for him.  I love all of Susan Elizabeth Phillips heroes.  They are so unique and naughty.  I love Jennifer Cruise heroes, too.  Okay, you’ve caught me.  I am a romance novel hero slut.  I want them all.

Gina:  Can you tell us what some of the things your editors find/suggest to you? I have a hard time believing you would require much help at this stage in the game. 
My biggest problem is time.  I lose track of it in my own life, so it makes sense that I lose track of it in my stories.  It’ll be dark when it should be light, two days will have passed for one, but five for another.  I couldn’t keep a countdown to an event straight if my life depended on it.  My second biggest problem is glossing.  Sometimes I will gloss over significant events/emotions and they lose impact.  My editor helps me find those problem areas and fix them.  Oh, Lord, and I can’t forget consistency problems.  (I can keep you here all day)  I change my mind about all kinds of stuff and will forget the domino effect those changes cause.

Darcie:  What kind of atmosphere do you work best in?  Noisy areas, dead quiet, or a happy medium? 
I prefer soft music in the background, but I usually get a loud, blasting TV, and constant barking as my dogs try to climb their way out the window to attack the flowers daring to blow back and forth in the wind.  I’ve trained myself to work through anything. 

Jen: With all the books that you write, how do you keep the timelines straight in each book/series?

Nowadays, my editor.  We had a conversation just this morning about the days I’d gotten mixed up in one of the upcoming stories.
 

Siria & Kate: Do you listen to any music while you write?  If so, could you tell us a few of the artists/song names? 

I do listen to music when I write.  I’m a big fan of Skillet, Evanescence, Red, The Veronicas, Taylor Swift and Decyfer Down.  I have eclectic tastes.

BrookeReviews:  What books have you read recently that you would recommend? 
Because I’m currently immersed in my own paranormal world, I’ve tried to step back a bit from reading other paranormal worlds – not that anything would stop me from reading a new Kresley Cole, Larissa Ione, Karen Moning or Nalini Singh.  (Fine.  I can list lots more paranormal authors I’d read in a heartbeat)  So, any spare reading time I’ve had, and there hasn’t been much, I’ve been picking up Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jennifer Cruise, rereading my favorites. 

Elizabeth & Susan:  What is the greatest thing about being an author?
  

Holding the finished product in my hands.  It’s tangible evidence of the blood, sweat and tears I poured into the project.

Holly:  What is the life of a writer really like? 

Wonderful and stressful and rewarding and heartbreaking.  I’m doing what I love, creating, bringing the pictures in my head to life, so that’s wonderful.  Sometimes I have to work seven days a week, from sun up to sun down, to meet a deadline (or three), and then rampant piracy of a project I slaved over, can be stressful.  Hitting bestseller lists, getting feedback about characters or stories can be absolutely rewarding.  Hate mail, bad reviews, sometimes they are a knife through the chest, and that can be heartbreaking.  But overall, I think the life of a writer is utterly fulfilling. 

Cherry:  As an author, do you use real people (friends, family, celebrities) as a mold for any of your characters? 
I’ve used things my family and friends have said, little quirks in their personalities, but I’ve never used the whole person.

Hawkeyegirl: How has the web community (bloggers, Twitter, personal blogs) affected your career? 

I’m not sure.  I know it’s connected me to my readers as nothing else could have, but I don’t know how that affects sales in terms of my career.  Stepping away from the business side of it, though, their feedback has helped me keep going when a story (cough Darkest Lie, Intertwined, Ecstasy In Darkness cough) proved very, very difficult to write.

Brenda, Nastassia & uprobdontknome:  Where do you get the inspiration for your books? 

All kinds of places.  Like with the Lords of the Underworld, I didn’t like that one curious female was blamed for all the world’s misery.  So, that story inspired to rewrite it and blame men.  Sometimes something I see or hear will bring a character or situation to instant life.     
 

Breiab:  What is your favorite aspect about creating these worlds/characters?
 

They have to do exactly what I tell them to do.  No, wait.  That’s what I ~wish~ happened.  Stubborn characters.  They run over me all the time.  But to be honest, that might actually be my favorite aspect.  They take on a life of their own and I get to watch them grow and mature.  Although not all of them mature.  William.

Hannah:  How different is your final draft from your very first? 

Hugely.
  My rough drafts are merely bare bones that come in around 70 – 80 thousand words.  The finished book will be over 100 thousand.  I have to connect dots, flesh out characters and plots, add and delete and figure out where I changed my mind about something and make sure everything flows.  Not that I always get it right.  See every mention of my editor LOL 

Lisa: Do you have any rituals you perform to help prepare you to write?
 

I usually have to have a cup of coffee beside me.  Other than that, I’m pretty easy.
 

JoJo:  If you could be trapped in any book/series, which would it be and why? 
Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole.  I want to date all her sexy alpha heroes. 

JoJo: Do you have any questions you always wanted to be asked during an interview?  If so, what is it, and what would your answer be?  (she’s sneaky!)
Interviews honestly scare me, and I usually have Admitters Remorse for weeks afterward, followed by an intense shame spiral, so I don’t think I’ll ever be able to suggest a question for someone to ask me.  I am such a recluse – hard to believe if you’ve seen me do an interpretive dance of Kresley Cole’s career on YouTube, I know I know, you’re scarred for life, but just blame Author Talk – happiest in a shadowed corner escaping everyone’s notice. 

Holly: What other genres would you like to write about in the future? 

I’m working on a non-fiction project right now.  After this, I think I’ve officially tackled everything LOL
 

Giada:  Do you keep a dream journal? 

Nope.  If I wake up in the middle of the night with a cool dream on my mind, I just email myself then and there.  And sure, I’m half asleep, so those emails usually look something like this: wings fly and he won’t drink milk.  I deal.
 

Mandy:  Is it hard writing for two different genres? 
It’s actually . . . freeing.  Saves me from burn out.

Victoria:  Where do you find your “Beefcake Mondays” men? 

Google, one of my best friends.
 

Marlene:  Why did you pick the paranormal genre? 

I love that anything I can imagine is possible.  The only limits are those of my own making.
 

Lisa:  Do you spend time researching locations, or do you just wing it? 

I Google, I ask around, and then I start making stuff up to fit my needs.  My darling and dear friend PC Cast calls me “The Queen of Making Shit Up.”
 

BookMarc: What do you think is key to writing a successful character? 

Flaws, maybe.  Real people aren’t perfect, so giving a character flaws makes him/her more identifiable.   



OTHER SERIES QUESTIONS

Christie & Ashley: Are you planning on writing anymore books for your Tales of an Extraordinary Girl
series?
I would really really like to, yes, I just have to get a few things off my plate first.  Namely, two more Lords of the Underworld books and Twisted, the sequel to Unraveled, and then another Alien Huntress book.  Sweet heaven!  But those books are already in my publishing schedule, so they have dibs on my time.  Anyway, backtracking.  I would like to tell what happens to Belle and Rome on their hotter than hell honeymoon. 

DemonLover & Vixen Pearl: Will we see more books in the Alien Huntress series? 
Definitely.  Ecstasy in Darkness comes out this October (the blurb is now available on my website!), and I have one more book in that contract.  So, the answer is, there will be at least two more. 

Chelsea B & Rainmaiden: Will there be any more books in the Atlantis series?


I honestly don’t know.  I think I’d like to write a short story about one or two of the characters and tie up some lose ends, as for a full length Atlantis novel . . . there’s nothing percolating in my head right now.  Lately it’s been all Lords all the time.

Maria: How did you come up with the concept for Intertwined?  Can you tell us a little about its sequel? 

I actually first saw the series as something for adults, something dark and terribly tortured.  But I wrote, oh, I don’t know, three chapters, and trashed them.  (Numbers rate right up there with time– I lose track)  Anyway, they didn’t work.  So I tried again.  Trashed them again.  Then I started playing with Aden’s age and boom, everything began to fall into place. 

And, to be honest, Intertwined was actually a book I wrote in a dot to dot manner.  I knew Aden (dot one), knew the souls inside his head (dot two).  Then Mary Ann stepped on the page (dot three)  Then their . . . reaction to each happened (dot four)  I didn’t know anything more than the reader at that point.  So, it was then a matter of connecting the dots.  Why did he have the souls?  What did Mary Ann mean to him?  Why did they have that reaction to each other?  What happened afterward? 
 

As for Unraveled, well, everything is falling apart for Aden, Mary Ann, Riley and Victoria.  They have the death curse hanging over their heads, Aden – the supposed new vampire king – is being forced to date other vampires so that he can pick a queen, but the old king may or may not be dead.  Mary Ann is developing an ability she can’t control and the fairies are out for blood.  But other than that, not much is going on LOL 




Wow, well thank you so much for stopping by Gena and answering all of these great questions!  You are more than welcome to come back and visit anytime you want :)

Don't forget: all 5 of Gena's Lords of the Underworld giveaways end on  TUESDAY MAY, 25!    Just in time for The Darkest Passion's release!

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