Debut Author Interview: Martine Fournier Watson

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Meet Martine Fournier Watson, author of the literary historical novel The Dream Peddler, which releases today from Penguin Books

Martine Fournier Watson is originally from Montreal, Canada, where she earned her master’s degree in art history after a year in Chicago as a Fulbright scholar. She currently lives in Michigan with her husband and two children. The Dream Peddler is her first novel.

Welcome, Martine!

Tell us about your book.

Traveling salesmen like Robert Owens have passed through Evie Dawson’s town before, but none of them offered anything like what he has to sell: dreams, made to order, with satisfaction guaranteed.

Soon after he arrives, the community is shocked by the disappearance of Evie’s young son. The townspeople, shaken by the Dawson family’s tragedy and captivated by Robert’s subversive magic, begin to experiment with his dreams. And Evie, devastated by grief, turns to Robert for a comfort only he can sell her. But the dream peddler’s wares awaken in his customers their most carefully buried desires, and despite all his good intentions, some of them will lead to disaster.

Where did you get the idea?
I was a huge fan of L. M. Montgomery growing up, and my favorite heroine was Emily of New Moon. Emily wants to be a writer, and in the final book of the trilogy she writes her first novel but is unable to sell it, so she burns it. All the reader ever knows about this book is that it was a modern-day fairy tale called A Seller of Dreams. Since I could never know any more than this, my curiosity about the burned book eventually led me to write my own version.

Are your characters based on real people, or do they come from your imagination?
It’s a bit of a mixture. Characters come to me already formed, and I get to know them better as I write, so they’re not based on anyone I know. But I often throw in little bits and pieces from real people when I’m rounding them out, either as personality traits or backstory. For instance, Evie Dawson, my protagonist in The Dream Peddler, hates to be laughed at, and that’s modeled on my own mother’s feelings.

How long did you take to write this book?
The first draft took about six months, and then I spent maybe another eight months or so getting feedback from beta readers and revising. Finding an agent took a long time! Over eighteen months and a grand total of one hundred and nine queries. Once on submission, it didn’t take dreadfully long to sell—maybe about five months.

What kind of research did you do for this book?
My research was in two parts. I wanted to know as much as I could about the dreaming process and what kinds of things are possible in terms of influencing our dreams and remembering them. This was fascinating, because I discovered all the things I’d written that felt far-fetched to me are actually quite plausible!

The other branch of the research was understanding farming communities and how they operated during the early part of the twentieth century. Not quite as scintillating, but in order to make the characters and their way of life tangible, I really needed to have all the details, even down to what crops would have been planted or harvested at which time.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I am a pantser all the way. The process of discovery is what makes writing so joyous for me. I think if I always knew exactly where my plot was going, I would grow bored.

What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why?
Definitely the drafting, although it wasn’t always that way. I was in my thirties before someone enlightened me about how first drafts are supposed to stink. Once I started drafting more quickly instead of stewing over every word, it became my favorite part of the process. I love the feeling of a great idea for a scene popping into my head and rushing to get it all down.

What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?
It depends on the book, but editing is always hard for me. Once I’ve written the book, I’m afraid to look at it again, to be overwhelmed by the mess, and I really have to talk myself into it. With my current project, I also did myself the great disservice of writing it out of order as scene ideas popped into my head, having only a vague idea of how they’d fit into the storyline. Organizing that jumble of scenes into a coherent narrative, linking them up with new writing, is the hardest thing I’ve ever done as a writer.

Can you share your writing routine?
I don’t have a routine, and I write anywhere and everywhere. I have to keep paper and pen handy everywhere I go! I love best to write outside, usually sitting on our back porch, but if it’s too cold you’ll usually find me on the living room sofa.


Do you have any writing quirks?
I don’t know if this counts as a quirk, but I detest typing. I draft everything longhand in notebooks and then transcribe. There’s something about typing that deadens the writing for me—I don’t know how else to describe it. Everything feels more vivid when I’m putting pen to paper and scribbling furiously to try and keep up with my mind.

Which book influenced you the most?
I’m not sure I can narrow it down to just one, but certainly one of my all-time favorite books is one that I happened to be reading around the time I was writing The Dream Peddler: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. His writing is everything I could hope mine to be, and his agent was one of the first I queried. I also read everything by Donna Tartt—she is brilliant.

What are you working on right now?
I recently finished a readable draft of my second book, so I’m waiting to get feedback from a few kind writers who have agreed to critique for me. It’s another adult literary effort, this time about two eighth-graders who become friends without realizing that one of them has found something precious the other recently lost.

What’s your favorite writing advice?
Ignore all the advice and trust your instincts.

What are you currently reading?
Right now I’m reading The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker and loving it! I wanted to read it because it’s about a small town overtaken by a mysterious sleeping sickness that seems to cause powerful dreams, and I was curious about what it might have in common with my own book. I’m so glad I discovered it, because the writing is beautiful and the story completely absorbing.

Where can we find your book?
Amazon
B&N
PRH

Where can we find you?
Website
Twitter
Instagram
Goodreads

Thanks for chatting, Martine! We wish you success with your debut!

Debut Author Interview: Meet Christie Grotheim

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Meet Christie Grotheim
Christie Grotheim is a New York-based writer whose stories have been featured in Salon, The New York Observer, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood. Grotheim studied creative writing at the New School and the 92nd Street Y, where Marjorie Moore was conceived, and birthed a few years later as her debut novel. More of her published writing can be found on http://www.christiegrotheim.com. Follow her at @cgrotheim on Twitter and @christiegrotheim on Instagram.

Christie is the author of The Year Marjorie Moore Learned to Live, out today!

Forever searching elsewhere, Marjorie Moore is consumed with wanting, or in her opinion, needing. Feeling trapped by her town and her family, she escapes through obsessive shopping, pill popping, and fantasizing about a possible affair with a friend from high school with whom she reconnects on Facebook. Her growing credit card debt “forces” her to sell prescription drugs—which she secures at her

receptionist job at the local hospital—to her dysfunctional friends. As her web of lies at home and work unravels, Margie wrestles with whether she is capable of becoming present in her own life.

Marjorie’s insatiable desires and misguided antics shed light on our own search for escapes—and search for self—and perhaps that is why we cheer her on wholeheartedly.

Let’s get to know Christie and her debut!

Where did you get the idea?
Marjorie Moore is a flawed protagonist who is always searching elsewhere, for otherness, and I have known people like that in my life both in Dallas and here in New York. I feel it’s a very unhealthy outlook, and I wanted to explore this theme through Margie’s search for fulfillment. I wanted to create a satirical character that we could laugh at a little—but relate to, and I found myself relating to her more than I cared to admit: my way of rationalizing things, my own search for escapes, my own struggle to be present in the moment.

What’s the story behind the title?
I came up with the title early on, and it just stuck! I liked the alliteration, and it became even more meaningful when I realized at the time I wrote the novel, I too was learning how to live. I was reevaluating how I spent my time and who I spent it with; where I find joy, and what I value. There are a lot of ways we relearn to live, and Margie’s story is just one of them, but I believe it will resonate with many different people on many different paths.

Tell us about your favorite character.
My favorite character, if of course, Margie herself: I tried to create a character who was human, quirky, and real. The challenge was creating a flawed protagonist who was a bit desperate and delusional, but still relatable, so it was important for me to make her authentic and give her depth.

Are your character based on real people, or do they come from your imagination?
I do find I can create more realistic characters by pulling from people I know: the mannerisms of one, the looks from a couple of others, certain characteristics of another. I use the amalgam as a starting point that is then evolved and is developed until they become their own being, and I as a writer have a complete unique image of them in my mind. Marjorie Moore really came alive for me, and then took on a life of her own, driving the character-driven plot forward.

Tell us about why you chose the setting of your novel.
I feel that my novel could have taken place almost anywhere—in Middle America or New York City—but I chose a place I know well as a kind of homage to Texas. I grew up in Longview, went to college at TCU in Fort Worth, and lived in Dallas for a few years before moving to NYC. Until recently, my sister lived in Flower Mound, which the suburb Prairie Mound is based on—but unlike Marjorie Moore, I found it quite charming. I wanted to be able to recapture and describe the landscapes, the smells, and other details that reminded me of my childhood.

How long did you take to write this book?
The entire process has taken about five years. The saga of Marjorie Moore started as a short story in a 92Y workshop with Adam Langer. The class’s enthusiastic response inspired me to write a few chapters of a novel after the workshop ended, which I then set aside to focus on graphic design—and paying the bills. I picked it up a year and a half later—and liked what I read—and felt the novel had momentum, and that the message was relevant enough to continue. I pushed forward full-force, taking another class at the 92Y with Sandra Newman, where I continued developing the novel and workshopping chapters. I worked hard on the novel the entire year until I had a tight manuscript to query. The query process took nine months, and while I mostly queried agents, I approached one small press, Heliotrope Books, who took on the project—and we finally signed a book deal in November 2017. The publication process took a year and a half, leading up to the thrilling release date of April 2nd!

What kind of research did you do for this book?
Not much deep research was required of this book, other than referencing visuals of the towns mentioned, like Paris, Texas. Prairie Mound is a fictional town, combining two suburbs I know well: Grand Prairie and Flower Mound. And I had to double-check pop culture referenced in the book, to make sure it was in keeping with the timeline of the book, since Margie is a few years younger than I am myself.

What did you remove from this book during the editing process?
While certain scenes were certainly streamlined and cut down, I did more building and expanding than removing, for example, adding depth of character through more backstory and specific memories from Margie’s troubled childhood.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I’m a little bit of both. I’m not into methodical plotting because this is not the main draw for me when I read. I can read about any subject and be carried through any plot if the prose is beautifully written. But when I write I do have a sense of the ending, and the themes I want to convey. And I do utilize outlines of chapters, and scenes and objectives within each chapter, which helps me with pacing, character development, and the character-driven plot.

What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why?
I like getting into the zone and writing for hours uninterrupted, getting lost in a scene or description as I conceive it. I also enjoy refining on a sentence and paragraph level, massaging the language when I already have something on the page to play with. I don’t mind further edits because I like how it can lead to something new—a new line of funny dialogue or a better metaphor. For me writing is like reading: I love getting lost in another world, but it’s even more exciting because it’s one that I am creating.

What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?
I believe the most challenging part of writing, like any art, is knowing when it’s complete. Knowing when continuing to edit no longer improves it, trusting when you as an artist feel that it’s finished, and having the confidence to let it go and release it into the world.

Can you share your writing routine?
Since I’m a freelance graphic designer, I can’t write every day. But my ideal routine is getting up relatively early and diving in, before the stress of the day is allowed to enter my mind, and writing at least four hours, which for me is ideal, sometimes extending to six or eight if I’m really in the zone. I try to write in blocks of time, blocking off three days or a week in between design projects.

Have you ever gotten writer’s block? If yes, how do you overcome it?
I rarely get writer’s block, and I have found the best way to overcome it is to force myself to sit down and continue, knowing that I will almost always get past it within fifteen or thirty minutes.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
I never thought I could write a novel. Perhaps because of the great literature that I read and love, I felt maybe I wasn’t intelligent enough, that my vocabulary wasn’t broad enough. At the time I started writing I was obsessed with David Sedaris, Jonathan Ames, and Augusten Burroughs. And I had an epiphany: this is not rocket science—they are merely putting one sentence after the other, using language within my capacity. They had a voice and a point of view. Since I felt the personal essay form was more approachable, I allowed myself to write, word by word, sentence by sentence, and found that I too had a voice. So I would tell myself: Christie, push past your fears and insecurities, and allow yourself to write.

Which book influenced you the most?
There is no one book that influenced me the most, but some of my favorite writers are: Martin Amis, John Irving, David Sedaris, Jonathan Franzen, Jeffrey Euginides, Vladimir Nabokov, Milan Kundera, Anthony Doerr, Barbara Kingsolver, David Foster Wallace, and Marilynne Robinson—to name a few! I have been moved and inspired by so many writers over the years.

What are you working on right now?
I’m working hard on my second novel, A Ballad in Cobalt Blue. I’m deep into it and kind of obsessed with it right now; it’s my very heart and soul. I find pouring myself into it relieves the anxiety I feel about marketing my current book. It uses a completely different energy, so it allows for balance and an escape from this exciting but intense process!

What’s your favorite writing advice?
One of the best pieces I received, from Jonathan Ames who was kind enough to read one of my essays when I was just starting out after I randomly sent him an email. His thoughtful response: “I really enjoyed your story. Keep writing! And remember to make every sentence entertain!” I have taken that to heart, and feel it’s great advise. There is no room and no place for a boring sentence.

What are you currently reading?
Right now I’m reading advanced reader copies of noels from fellow debut authors with books coming out this year, and I’m really enjoying them. There are so many unique and talented voices coming out this year! Of the books I read this summer, my two favorites books were Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan and Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and my absolute top two books that I’ve read in the last five years are The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. And I try to squeeze in some classics; the last two that struck a chord with me were 1984 and The House of Mirth.

Where can we find you?
Website: www.christiegrotheim.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christie.grotheim
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cgrotheim
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christiegrotheim/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42832882-the-year-marjorie-moore-learned-to-live

Debut Author Interview: Eva Seyler

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Meet Eva Seyler
Eva Seyler was born in Jacksonville, Florida. She left that humidity pit at the age of three and spent the next twenty-one years in California, Idaho, Kentucky, and Washington before ending up in Oregon, where she now lives on a homestead in the western foothills with her husband and five children, two of whom are human.

Eva is the author of The War in Our Hearts, out today!

The War in Our Hearts opens in France, 1916. Estelle Graham faces a nightmare. Expecting to meet her beloved husband and bring their newly adopted daughter home to Scotland, she instead finds him gravely injured and unconscious in a casualty station. As she fights for his care, she takes solace in his journals and letters.

In a farmhouse in Somme, Captain Jamie Graham is forever changed when he meets young Aveline Perrault. Both of them broken and walled off from the cruel and cold world around them—made even crueler and colder by the Great War—the pair form an unlikely bond. She finds in him the father she never had, and with her love, he faces the pain from his own childhood.

Readers will discover the depth of love and faith in the face of brutality and neglect as these characters learn to live while surviving World War I.

Let’s get to know Eva and her debut novel!

Where did you get the idea?
I’ve felt for a long time that there wasn’t enough WWI fiction out there, and as I was thinking about what I should write, I got a visual in my head of a red-headed girl standing in a barn. That was Aveline, and when she had some trouble, Captain Jamie Graham came to her aid.

What’s the story behind the title?
My best friend came up with the title and it stuck! I was able to tuck in a line to neatly tie the title to the story after she came up with it, too, which was super awesome.

No spoiler, but tell us something we won’t find out just by reading the book jacket.
There’s a sixteen-year-old runaway fisherman’s son named Willie Duncan who’s pretending to be twenty, and he’s kind of adorable and I’d like to write more about him someday.

Tell us about your favorite character.
I have incredible fondness for Estelle Graham, my MC’s wife, who is gorgeous, graceful, and sweet, yet doesn’t take sh*t from anyone. But my very favorite is my MC, Jamie Graham, who wasn’t even originally supposed to BE the main character, but he completely took over in spite of all my intentions.

If you could spend a day with one of your characters, who would it be and what would you do?
I’d pick Estelle, definitely. She has a mischievous streak that would make her a Tremendously Fun Friend.

How long did you take to write this book?
It took almost exactly nine months from writing the first words to beginning the querying process, and another six months to complete the edits and proofreading.

What kind of research did you do for this book?
Honestly, I felt like I was drowning sometimes, but the upside is that I’ve learned so much I can continue to write about WWI and already have the basic history of the era covered in my head. For The War in Our Hearts particularly, I needed information about trench warfare more than anything else. Eye-Deep in Hell by John Ellis and Hot Blood, Cold Steel by Andy Simpson were both amazing resources.

What did you remove from this book during the editing process?
Mostly self-indulgent snogging scenes that didn’t do anything to move the plot forward. I also took out a lot of rambling and irrelevant nonsense about Captain Graham’s time training troops in Aldershot.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Pantser. When I have a solid idea where the story is going, then I make my detailed timelines and write my character sketches and all that technical jazz.

What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why?
I like the polishing part, when I have the bulk of the story in place and I get to rearrange and reword and weave everything together into a harmonious, well-crafted whole.

What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?
Turning it over to beta readers before it’s reached a state of perfection.

Can you share your writing routine?
I write whenever and wherever I can. I use Google Docs, so I can (and do!) write on my phone or iPad in the car, sitting around waiting for people, relaxing the the bath, whatever. I also try to make time at my computer at least once a day for concentrated writing time with an actual keyboard under my fingers.

I write by hand sometimes early in the process, and I take most of my notes and do my character sketches by hand too. Usually about halfway through writing a novel, I’ll print out the initial draft and annotate it by hand (adding scenes, indicating rearrangements, making notes of things that are still needed and where they should go) before completely re-typing the work from scratch.

Have you ever gotten writer’s block? If yes, how do you overcome it?
If I can’t think of anything new to write that’s relevant, I’ll go back and do some editing, or draw pictures of characters/scenes, or pick my friends’ brains for ideas.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Probably I would tell it, “Someday you’re going to write fan-fiction and it’s going to change your life. You think that’s something to scoff at now, but you just wait and see.”

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I have two completed works besides The War in Our Hearts: an old novel called Hide, which I will never go back to, and a novel-length fan-fiction. As far as unfinished works, I have four at the moment: a fictionalized memoir, a post-WWII novel, a novel about Belgian refugees in WWI, and a book set during the summer of 1925 in western Oregon near where I live.

Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a stay-at-home, homeschool mom to my two daughters. I overextend myself constantly trying to do ALL the things, because I enjoy so many things. I hate washing dishes, I’m very disorganized, and my brain retains pointless information from, say, the 1980s, whilst simultaneously filtering out 96.6% of anything someone said to me five minutes ago.

How did you get into writing?
I’ve been writing since I was little, but I never really FINISHED anything until roughly 2008, when I wrapped up a novel I’d started a couple years prior, and after that I quit writing completely until 2016, when I got sucked into writing fan-fic and realized I missed writing a lot and wanted write my own book.

Share something about you most people probably don’t know.
The wider world probably doesn’t know how actively I despise summer, sunshine, and being hot. I have reverse seasonal affective disorder (yes, reverse SAD is an actual thing).

What are you working on right now?
I’m working on my post-WWII novel, because it’s the closest to completion. It is a very ambitious and complex piece of work that isn’t coming together as easily and magically as The War in Our Hearts did, but I think it’s totally worth the extra trouble.

Where can we find you?
Website: www.evaseyler.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorevaseyler
Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_eva_seyler (I’m most active here!)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theevaseyler
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/theevaseyler/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2263146-eva-seyler

Debut Author Interview: Andrea Rothman

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Meet Andrea Rothman
Before turning to fiction writing, Andrea Rothman was a research scientist at the Rockefeller University in New York. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and was fiction editor for the literary journal Hunger Mountain. Her short stories can be viewed at www.andrearothman.com.

Andrea is the author of The DNA of You and Me, out today!

In The DNA of You and Me, ambitious young scientist Emily Apell joins a renowned research lab in New York to study the sense of smell. There she meets Aeden Doherty, a senior colleague. Their relationship is complicated by external events. Eventually Emily will have to choose between her research and Aeden. Years later, about to receive a prestigious award for the work she carried out in the lab, Emily looks back upon that choice.

Let’s get to know Andrea and her debut novel!

Tell us about yourself, Andrea.
I’m a wife and a mother of two teenagers. We have no pets though I would like to have a dog. I’m thinking about it. My day job is to write. After two o’clock it’s all about the kids and the house and reading a lot. I’d like to apply for a teaching position but worry that it will interfere with everything else I have to do.

How did you get into writing?
I’ve been writing since I was a teenager, I kept notebooks and I read all of the classics. I only started writing seriously (with discipline) as an adult, after I left science—I was a research scientist for many years.

Apart from novel writing, do you do any other kind(s) of writing?
Lately I’ve been writing essays about different topics, mainly science and nature.

Share something about you most people probably don’t know.
I’m scared of heights. I can’t stand at the edge of a building without feeling I’ll fall off.

Which book influenced you the most?
So many, but the most recent book was the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I think it’s a masterpiece, a brilliant exploration about relationships, mortality, and being human.

How about The DNA of You and Me? What’s it about?
Thematically my novel is about choice: the choices we all make in our lives and our pondering them years later. The novel is a retrospect, told from the perspective of a female protagonist, Emily, looking back upon the period she spent in a research lab, and her relationship there with a colleague by the name of Aeden.

What’s the story behind the title?
Interesting that you ask! The original title of my novel is Pathfinder, but my publisher changed it because they thought people would associate the title with the popular car: Nissan Pathfinder. We brainstormed for a while for a new title, until my editor came up with The DNA of You and Me. Everyone liked it, including the marketing team.

Tell us about your favorite character.
Aside from Emily my favorite character is Aeden without a doubt. He can be headstrong and manipulative but he is also a smart guy with a big heart, who understands that love is more important than success.

If you could spend a day with one of your characters, who would it be and what would you do?
I’d go to Coney Island with Aeden in the summer and have milkshakes by the beach.

How long did you take to write this book?
From conception to publication (actual pub date), it took ten years.

What kind of research did you do for this book?
I did a lot of research about Anosmia, defined as a long-term inability to smell. The research in the lab, carried out by the characters in my novel, is about smell.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Both: a pantser at the very beginning of the work and a plotter towards the end.

What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why?
The beginning. I love the process of not knowing anything, of discovering things little by little, allowing the words on the page to speak to me and tell me their secrets, the things I haven’t said that need to be written.

What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?
As much as I like not knowing where I’m going (see my answer to previous question) I also sometimes find it a little nerve-racking when things seem to be going nowhere, and it happens all too often in the writing process, especially with fiction.

Can you share your writing routine?
I write creatively only in the morning, from around 8 to 12. I need absolute quiet and I usually write at my desk at home or in a quiet office space. It’s nearly impossible for me to write imaginatively in a Starbucks for instance.

Have you ever gotten writer’s block? If yes, how do you overcome it?
I’ve had writer’s block very often in my life, I think most writers experience this a lot. To overcome it I usually just lower my expectations and write whatever comes to my mind, just try to fill the page with words, trying to keep my ego out of it. I think most blocks are a problem of the ego and having high expectations about the words and the material before the work is even done. Beginning writers rarely have writer’s block.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Follow your heart and trust yourself. It will be okay. If you love the material enough, a book will eventually take shape.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
Two unpublished (a memoir and a novel) and around six unfinished novels. I also have many completed short stories I have yet to polish and submit for publication.

What are you working on right now?
Right now I’m working on my next novel, trying to figure out exactly what it’s about and to nail down the narrative voice. This is usually what sets the tone for me and leads the way. In terms of plot, I think I will be planning ahead with this new novel much more than I did with The DNA of You and Me.

What’s your favorite writing advice?
Have faith in yourself, and don’t discard what comes to mind just because it may seem crazy or depressing or unlikeable. Usually this is the stuff of genius/the stuff that is uniquely yours and no one else’s. That is what will define your voice.

And where can we find you?
Website: www.andrearothman.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrearothmanauthor/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/rothmaa
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/andrearothmanauthor/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17662282.Andrea_Rothman

Debut Author Interview: Dan Stout

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Meet Dan Stout
Dan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes about fever dreams and half-glimpsed shapes in the shadows. His prize-winning fiction draws on travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller. Dan’s stories have appeared in publications such as the Saturday Evening Post, Nature, and Mad Scientist Journal. His debut novel Titanshade is a noir fantasy thriller, available from DAW Books. To say hello, visit him at www.DanStout.com.

Dan debut novel is Titanshade, out next week!

Titanshade is fantasy noir thriller set in a world where magic is real and technology is at 1970s level. Dan describes it as Men in Black meets Chinatown.

Let’s get to know Dan and his debut novel:

Where did you get the idea?
Liberty Hall was a writing community site, when participants were given 90 minutes to write a piece of flash fiction. For whatever reason, I came up with Carter, the setting, and the discovery of the murder, as well as most of the action in the first act. After that, it was just a matter of following the clues…

What’s the story behind the title?
Titanshade is an oil boomtown, where a mix of greed and hard labor has allowed the residents to claw out a living in the midst of an arctic perma-freeze. So much of the story ties into the character of the streets and the citizens that there was never any doubt the book needed to be named after the city.

No spoiler, but tell us something we won’t find out just by reading the book jacket.
One particularly fun aspect of the world was figuring how different species in a post-industrial fantasy world would learn to adapt to each other, from clothing and language to eating utensils tweaked for different anatomy.

Are your characters based on real people, or do they come from your imaginations?
They all come from my imagination, but my imagination is fueled by juxtapositions of real people—the attitude of a guy I met at a party with the fashion sense of the woman in line behind me at the grocery store.

How long did you take to write this book?
I wrote the Liberty Hall flash in April of 2015, so it’s just under 4 years from inception to publication.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I’m a plotter, but I value the characters more than the plot structure. If the characters wouldn’t logically proceed from point A to point B, then it’s on me to either provide a framework where they would, or change the plot to reflect their honest reactions.

What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why?
Editing. I enjoy seeing the different threads of the story pull tighter, revealing a tapestry that’s richer and more complex than I first imagined.

What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?
Drafting. I love brainstorming, and I love fixing the story once it’s built. But writing down the initial draft is like chewing glass.

Can you share your writing routine?
I work in chunks of time, usually two blocks of 2–3 hours. I start early, so I’m usually done with writing by noon, and move to admin and marketing after that.

Have you ever gotten writer’s block? If yes, how do you overcome it?
Not so much writer’s block as much as a sudden realization that, “This is garbage and I just keep going around in circles.” The only way out (at least for me) is through.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
You’re good at revising, but you need feedback, and to get that you need to have written the first draft. So get going!

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
Wow, several half-finished ones. I wrote a NaNoWriMo that’s essentially a 50k word outline, and have others that range between 5 and 20 k.

Do you have any writing quirks?
Oh man, so many! Maybe the strangest is that my first-draft characters almost always have names that start with the same letter (Steve and Sara and Sammie, etc.). I created the Mollenkampi naming convention in Titanshade as a private joke at my own expense.

How did you get into writing?
I wrote when I was younger, but I only began to get serious in 2011. That was when I found NaNoWriMo, and then the online writer communities. Once I dove into them, there was no going back!

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Lately, just sleep! Carving out time for non-writing related activities is important, and I need to make myself put down the mental pen a little more often.

Apart from novel writing, do you do any other kind(s) of writing?
I love short fiction, and still return to it as a break from the novel-writing routine, and to flex a different set of writerly muscles.

Share something about you most people probably don’t know.
I can (just barely) juggle.

Which book influenced you the most?
All of them! The biggest influence on me was all the time I spent in the library, grazing on fiction and biography and history. I sampled all the various languages of prose, and fell in love with each one of them.

What are you working on right now?
The sequel! It’s been tough but rewarding, as building a follow-up that can also stand on its own has meant learning a whole new set of skills. But it’s paying off, and I’m very excited to share the next chapter in the story.

What’s your favorite writing advice?
The struggle belongs to you; the finished product belongs to the reader.

Where can we find you?
Website: www.DanStout.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/DanStoutWriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanStout
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danstoutwriter/
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7938095.Dan_Stout

Debut Author Interview: Felicia Grossman

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Meet Felicia Grossman, author of the historical romance Appetites & Vices, which releases today from Carina Press

Felicia Grossman wanted to write stories ever since her father read her Treasure Island when she was four years old. The Delaware native never lost her love of words, earning both an English degree and a law degree. Felicia now lives in the northern part of the country with her spouse, children, and dogs. When not writing, she can be found eating pastries or belting showtunes in her living room.

Welcome, Felicia!

Tell us about your book.

Appetites & Vices tells the story of Ursula Nunes, the least popular Jewish heiress in 1840s Delaware, and Jay Truitt, a recovering opium addict hiding behind his rich playboy persona. What starts as a faux engagement to help Ursula’s social standing turns into actual love. The novel follows Jay’s struggle build a new life and Ursula’s struggles to fit into both Jewish and Gentile society, while discovering that everything is a little easier with a partner. The book explores of the difficulties of American Jewish identity, addiction, and interfaith romance.

Where did you get the idea?
Appetites is a faux engagement story and I love that trope (romance is all about the tropes). And I really, really, really wanted to write a heroine in a historical romance that could’ve been my ancestor (there’s no British nobility in my blood, I promise), who got to have a really big character arc because why should the heroes have all the fun screwing things up?

Tell us about your favorite character. 
Let’s be real, I usually put a little bit of myself in all my characters, especially my heroines, but there’s a TON of younger me in Urs. A lot of embarrassing things that I look back on and cringe, and a lot of the good stuff as well. Urs is spoiled, indignant, high-tempered, impetuous, pushy, bossy, and socially-awkward, but she’s smart, loyal, brave, determined, and ultimately very kind. She values fairness and justice and may say the wrong thing, but would never “punch” (or throw) down.

How long did you take to write this book?
I started writing Appetites in August of 2017. My heroine was originally a grandmother in a book I was querying so I gave her a backstory for fun. I finished editing around November of 2017 and did some initial test queries/pitching in December #pitmad. I really queried in February of 2018 and got an agent through a #kisspitch like. Appetites sold in July of 2018 so it’s been really fast.

What kind of research did you do for this book?
It’s historical so a ton of research. It’s set in my area of the country (Delaware and Philadelphia)—where I grew-up—just a few centuries earlier—so I kind of knew where to go, i.e., Rebecca Gratz’s letters and writings as well as Winterthur Museum and Gardens, etc.

What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why? 
I love editing, especially big edits. It feels like spring cleaning and because you are finally molding your clay. Drafting is throwing the clay down on the wheel, editing is where the fun begins.

Can you share your writing routine? 
I’m a mom and I have a full-time day job so I write whenever I can. In hallways, when the kids go to bed, anywhere and everywhere.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. You only grow and change if you learn and you can’t learn what you don’t know.

Which book influenced you the most?
One? I have to pick just one? I always I’m historical romance with a bit of a Jewish humorous women’s fiction voice. Like Joanna Shupe, Alyssa Cole, Beverly Jenkins, and Elizabeth Hoyt have been huge romance influences, while Nora Ephron, Susan Isaacs, and Jennifer Weiner have been huge voice inspirations. I read Heartburn when I was like ten and it was totally inappropriate but it also changed my life because I understood the tone, the humor, and the dynamics.

What are you working on right now?
Appetites & Vices has a sequel called Dalliances & Devotion coming out in August, so there are edits there. I’m also drafting something entirely new, but still American now, and there’s a Regency I’m editing.

Thanks for chatting, Felicia! We wish you success with your debut!

Debut Author Interview: Megan Collins

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Meet Megan Collins
Megan Collins holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University. She has taught creative writing at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and Central Connecticut State University, and she is the managing editor of 3Elements Review. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, her work has appeared in many print and online journals, including Off the Coast, Spillway, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and Rattle. She lives in Connecticut.

Megan is the author of The Winter Sister, out today!

The Winter Sister opens sixteen years ago, when Sylvie’s sister Persephone didn’t come home. Out too late with the boyfriend she was forbidden from seeing, Persephone was missing for three days before her body was found—and all these years later, her murder remains unsolved. Now, in the present day, Sylvie reluctantly returns home to care for her estranged, alcoholic mother undergoing cancer treatment, and finally begins to uncover the truth behind what happened to Persephone.

Here’s the first paragraph:
“When they found my sister’s body, the flyers we’d hung around town were still crisp against the telephone poles. The search party still had land to scour; the batteries in their flashlights still held a charge. Persephone had been missing for less than seventy-two hours when a jogger caught a glimpse of her red coat through the snow, but by then, my mother had already become a stranger to me.”

Let’s get to know Megan and her debut novel!

Where did you get the idea for The Winter Sister?
The Winter Sister is inspired by the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter, which has always been my favorite myth because of the many ways in which it can be read—as a story of motherhood, a story of what happens when we refuse to let go of grief, or a story about the effects of trauma. The idea for this book came to me when I wondered what would have happened if Demeter had had another daughter, if Persephone had had a sister, who was left to navigate her childhood in the wake of her mother’s neglect and rage and unending grief over Persephone’s disappearance. Sylvie, the narrator of The Winter Sister, is my answer to that question.

No spoiler, but tell us something we won’t find out just by reading the book jacket.
Art plays a big role in this book. After her sister is murdered, Sylvie spends all of her free time painting, almost to the point of obsession, and by the time we meet her as an adult, she’s working as a tattoo artist. But art is not therapeutic to her; instead, it’s tied to a pivotal experience from her past, one that continues to cripple her with guilt and shame.

Tell us about your favorite character.
For me, Sylvie’s mother Annie is the most compelling. In a lot of ways, she’s a terrible mother, having basically abandoned that role altogether after Persephone was murdered. But deep in her core is a lot of love and guilt that have essentially left her paralyzed, unable to move on. And though I would never want to be like her, I sympathize with the trauma she’s endured. I understand how easy it can be to lose yourself to that pain.

If you could spend a day with one of your characters, who would it be and what would you do?
I would take Sylvie out on a self-care day because she’s gone through so much and definitely needs it. We’d eat giant cinnamon buns for breakfast, go see a funny movie, get massages, order some delicious takeout, and then binge-watch a riveting TV series for the rest of the day, pausing only to cuddle with my golden retriever Maisy (who clearly has to come, too).

Are your character based on real people or do they come from your imagination?
While none of my characters are based directly on anyone real, I’m certain that each one has qualities borrowed from people I’ve known. It’s impossible to write in a vacuum, so real life always slips in, whether it’s through a character’s background, a gesture, or a particular way of speaking.

How long did you take to write this book?
It was about two years from the initial outlining of this book to the final revision I made with my agent before it was sent out on submission. But during that time, I took nearly a year-long break, as I got stuck for a while and chose to focus on revising another project instead.

What kind of research did you do for this book?
In a way, I feel like I’ve been researching this book for half my life, ever since I first heard the myth of Persephone, and in all the years since, whenever I’ve re-read it, taught it, or devoured any reimagining or adaptation of it I could find.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I’m definitely a plotter. In my non-writing life, I like to plan things out and know as much about what’s coming as possible, so it makes sense that when it comes time for me to draft a novel, I want detailed outlines to help me find my way.

What is your favorite part of your writing process?
My favorite part of the writing process is the physical feeling I get in my body when the lines and sentences are flowing particularly well. It’s something I feel in my arms, in my legs—a sensation in my veins, as if my blood is sparkling. It sounds a little crazy when I say it like that, but I’m willing to bet that there are a lot of other writers who know exactly what I mean.

What is the most challenging part of your writing process?
The most challenging part of the process is when you know there’s a problem in what you’ve written—a consistency issue, a lack of clarity, a need for a better transition, etc.—but the solution eludes you. It can be incredibly frustrating to keep staring at the section that’s giving you trouble, believing that you’ll never write your way out of it. On a positive note, though, once you do find the answer to the problem, it’s incredibly rewarding and you get to feel like a superhero for a second.

Have you ever gotten writer’s block? If yes, how do you overcome it?
I have a rule for myself that I’m not always great at following: when you’re going through writer’s block, be kind to yourself. Writer’s block happens, and it’s not because you’re a bad writer; it’s because your brain needs to recharge. Take writer’s block as an opportunity to read voraciously, so that when you do come back to the blank page, your mind is stimulated and, hopefully, churning with fresh ideas.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
“You WILL write a novel. You WILL get published. Stop worrying so much about what might NOT happen for you before you even get the words on the page. Write that story. Write those poems. And just enjoy the process.”

Do you have any writing quirks?
I’m a huge over-user of em-dashes—and I don’t think I’ll ever stop. In addition to being elegant, they offer a sense of pause that’s far superior, in my mind, to the comma, semi-colon, and ellipsis.

Tell us about yourself.
I have the immense privilege of teaching creative writing to high school students at an arts magnet school in Hartford, Connecticut. I’m also the managing editor of the literary journal 3Elements Review. When I’m not writing, reading, or teaching, I’m hanging out with my husband, Marc, and our golden retriever, Maisy.

How did you get into writing?
I caught the writing bug when I was six years old and wrote my very first story, “The Bad Cats.” From that day on, I knew there was no other path my life could take; I was going to be an author.

Apart from novel writing, do you do any other kind(s) of writing?
Over the past ten years, I’ve divided my time between writing novels and writing poetry. In fact, my MFA is in poetry, and I’ve published a number of poems in literary journals since graduating from Boston University’s creative writing program in 2008. I love fiction and poetry equally, and I don’t think I would be the writer I am today without the training I received in each.

Share something about you most people probably don’t know.
I’m obsessed with tiny things. I have a collection of miniature items, including a mini typewriter, mini bookshelf, and mini books! Some other favorites from my collection are my tiny cash register, shopping cart, and banker’s lamp.

Which book influenced you the most?
The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath. Before I first read Sylvia Plath in my early teens, I was writing pretty terrible poems filled with a lot of abstracts and clichés, but as soon as I saw how Plath crafted images and made universal emotions or experiences feel completely new, I was changed forever. I didn’t have the opportunity to take any creative writing classes until I was in college, so as a teenager, Sylvia Plath was my teacher.

What are you working on right now?
I’m working on a new novel. Like The Winter Sister, it’s about a woman haunted by her past who has to navigate some dysfunctional familial dynamics in search of a long-buried truth—but the similarities end there.

Where can we find you?
Website: www.megancollins.com
Facebook: facebook.com/megancollinswriter
Twitter: @ImMeganCollins
Instagram: @megancollinswriter
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18280418.Megan_Collins

Debut Author Interview: Danielle Haas

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Meet Danielle Haas, author of the romantic suspense novel Bound by Danger, which releases today from Entangled

Danielle Haas grew up with a love of reading, partly due to her namesake—Danielle Steele. It seemed as though she was born to write out the same love stories she devoured while growing up.

She attended Bowling Green State University with a dream of studying creative writing, but the thought of sharing her work in front of a group of strangers was enough to make her change her major to Political Science.

After college she moved across the state of Ohio with her soon-to-be husband. Once they married and had babies, she decided to stay home and raise her children. Some days her sanity slipped further across the line to crazy town so she decided to brush off her rusty writing chops and see what happened.

Danielle now spends her days running kids around, playing with her beloved dog, and typing as fast as she can to get the stories in her head written down. She loves to write contemporary romance with relatable characters that make her readers’ hearts happy, as well as fast-paced romantic suspense that leaves them on the edge of their seats. Her story ideas are as varied and unpredictable as her everyday life.

Welcome, Danielle!

Tell us about your book.

Special Agent Graham Grassi is on a quest to stop a sex-trafficking ring from infiltrating Chicago. His path keeps crossing with sexy redhead, Mickey O’Shay. The stakes raise higher when Mickey’s goddaughter is taken, and her connections to the case leave Graham wondering if she’s just another victim in a sick game, or if she knows more than she’s letting on. Together, they race against time to unravel a web of deception before it’s too late.

Where did you get the idea?
My initial idea sprang from wondering what would happen if a flight attendant had a blind date with a man she’d already met…a man she’d just told to stop trying to join the mile high club on a flight she worked. Then I realized this wasn’t very heroic behavior, and I had to figure out what situation could he possibly be in to take him from sleazy to dreamy. Of course NONE of this made the final version, but it led me to a great story I never expected to tell.

No spoiler, but tell us something we won’t find out just by reading the book jacket.
Although Mickey and Graham are in a high-stakes emotional situation, they still have a lot of witty banter between them. Graham even serenades Mickey—with a horrible singing voice—to one of my favorite songs by Journey.

What kind of research did you do for this book?
I did a lot of research into sex-trafficking. It was horrific! But it opened my eyes to this dark world that exists everywhere and I now have a passion for advocating against. I even ran my first 5k in support of raising money to help victims of sex-trafficking.

What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?
The most challenging part is just finding the time to sit down and write, and not feel guilty about doing so. I’m a stay-at-home mom and my son isn’t in school yet. It’s hard to balance.

Can you share your writing routine?
I normally write at my desk or at the island in my kitchen. I work better in the morning, so after I get my daughter on the school bus I give my son time to do his own thing (TV, Kindle, Puzzles, Play-doh) and I work on getting in my word count. My brain shuts off around 5:00 and it’s tough for me to get back into my writing at that point.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Be patient and find your writing tribe! The people in this community are amazing, and their support and advice have been life-changing. I wish I would have known they were out there sooner.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I have three unpublished manuscripts that are all under contract. One will be out this year, the other two will follow shortly. I also have two unpublished/uncontracted manuscripts out on submission.

How did you get into writing?
I’ve always loved writing. When my son was 6 months old, I thought I was going to go stir crazy with only focusing on my children and husband. I decided to sit down and try to write a book based off my hometown and I fell in love with writing! That book, a small-town contemporary romance, will be published later this year!

Share something about you most people probably don’t know.
I changed my major in college seven times! I started in creative writing, but the idea of having to read my work in front of other people scared me so bad I just keep changing majors and looking for something else I’d love to do.

What are you working on right now?
I just finished another romantic suspense, which is book two of a three book series. Each book focuses on a crime where a dating app is used by the villain/and or suspects in the novels.

What’s your favorite writing advice?
Keep writing, keep learning, and have an open mind. After I finished my first manuscript, I thought it was the best thing ever…until my paths crossed with my now critique partner who pointed out everything I did wrong! Instead of being defensive and offended, I listened to her wonderful advice and used it to improve my writing. I still do this daily!

Where can we find your book?
Amazon
Apple
Kobo
Nook

Where can we find you?
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Goodreads

Thanks for chatting, Danielle! We wish you success with your debut!

A New Short Story, an Interview, and Other Podcasty Things

Posted on by Erin Bartels

You may know that I have a podcast, Your Face Is Crooked, that comes out each Monday morning. Those little episodes are concise looks at some of my formative experiences and the resulting neuroses that make me me.

What you may not know is that I have recently appeared in a couple long-form podcasts this month.

The first is as a part of season 2 of Clinch: A Podcast of Fiction and Not-Fiction. Last year, Clinch started as a way for my husband, Zach, who is also a writer, to deliver a brand new YA suspense novel in serial fashion (that’s the fiction part) and to explore what went right and what went wrong in his own publishing career thus far (the not-fiction part). If you’re a writer or an aspiring writer, I highly recommend starting the Clinch podcast from the beginning. It covers indie publishing, traditional publishing, dealing with tricky relationships and ego and expectations of yourself and so much more.

Near the end of the first season, Zach brought in other writers as guests for the not-fiction portion of the podcast, and they shared their own experiences and struggles in the form of interviews. For season 2, guest writers are doing both the fiction and not-fiction portions. And that’s where my episode comes in. For the fiction part, I share a brand new short story that takes place in the same world as my second book (out in September) which you can’t get anywhere else. In the not-fiction part, I talk about where I have found validation as a writer (and where I should find it). I hope you enjoy listening to it!

 

The second podcast you can find me on is Hear Us Roar, a podcast produced by the Women’s Fiction Writers Association to highlight debut authors. In that interview, host Maggie Smith (no, not that one) and I talk about We Hope for Better Things, history, photography, research, my writing process, why I chose to tell this story at this time, and more. Click on the graphic to check it out!

Debut Author Interview: B.P. Donigan

Posted on by Erin Bartels

Starting today and running for….as long as it needs to, you’ll find a new feature on this humble blog: interviews with debut authors!

For the past year, I have found great camaraderie and help from my fellow 2019 debut authors. As we seek to support one another, some of us have offered to do interviews for our blogs. So every once in a while, you’re going to see one of them on here. Now, I haven’t read all of these books — some of them just aren’t in my wheelhouse, but that doesn’t mean they’re not in yours or in the wheelhouse of someone you know.

For the first, allow me to introduce you to B.P. Donigan.

B.P. Donigan was born and raised in Wasilla, Alaska (which she reminds us would later become famous thanks to one infamous politician who could see Russia from her house, but at the time was about as rural as you can get).

She attended college in rural Idaho earning a degree in Print Journalism, and then not-so-rural Utah earning a degree in Marketing, and finally moved to very-not-rural Boston where she lived and worked for ten years. After paying her dues to the Extreme Winters, she resides now in sunny California, with her two kids, two fish, two dogs, and one amazing husband. Like any good superhero she spends her days building her cover story behind a desk, and her nights saving the world (on paper, at least).

Donigan’s debut is Fate Forged.

Here’s the description:

Growing up on the streets of Boston, Maeve O’Neill learned to rely only on herself. Paying bills isn’t glamorous, but her life is on a better track—until she starts having agonizing visions of torture. Desperate to rid herself of the paralyzing episodes, she follows her visions to the scene of a murder. Instead of answers, she gets an unexpected gift from the victim: Magic.

With the unwanted power, Maeve becomes the access point to all of Earth’s untapped magic. Now, powerful enemies are after her and staying alive means striking a bargain with an untrustworthy ally with a long-shot plan. Maeve has to keep the magic in check until she can get rid of it, but her control is slipping and everything could go wrong. If the plan fails, her unlikely ally betrays her, or her enemies catch her, she’ll be handing over all of Earth’s magic…and her life.

Interest piqued? Let’s find out more:

What sparked the idea for Fate Forged?
Fate Forged started with a ‘what if’ questions. What if a woman inherited crazy magic powers, but had no idea how to control them?  From there, I let the questions lead me into a story. Who is she? Why doesn’t she know how to control the magic powers? Where do the powers come from? What if she doesn’t remember something critical about herself…

Did anything from your real life influence your book at all?
Definitely! I grew up in Alaska, which is where my characters go to search for a Fate who can remove the uncontrollable magic powers from my main character. They hike over a glacier and to the top of a mountain in a re-creation of a three-day hike I did when I was a teenager. (I wasn’t chased by demon dogs at the time, but otherwise it’s the same hike.) The locations, and even the hiker’s huts where they stop over, are all real places. Also, the book starts out in Boston where I lived for a decade after college, and I mention Davis Square and a fortune cookie factory, which are real places that are near and dear to my heart. I had a lot of fun putting my favorite places into my story.

Did you have to do any research for Fate Forged?
I researched everything! For the story itself, I had to map out the character’s road trip, and Google search weapons, how to realistically kill someone in hand-to-hand combat, and watch lots of videos online just to make a coherent fight scene. For a while there, I was pretty sure my internet searches were going to flag an FBI raid on my house.

How long did it take for you to write Fate Forged?
I first sat down to write a novel four years before Fate Forged was published. The first year was all about learning how to write a novel. I’ve always been an avid reader, and I knew what I liked, but I had no idea how to plan, plot, or pace a novel. An entire second year was spent editing my work in progress and then getting beta readers and critique partners.

Did anything change significantly in your book during the writing or editing process?
Yes! Many of the characters’ names changed, and the title used to be The Lost Sect, which I liked, but the publisher didn’t think had enough depth. After some soul searching, I decided “Fate” was a thread that will reach across the entire series, and then I attempted to find a title with the word Fate that didn’t sound like a romance novel! To make it all cohesive, I ended up coming up with titles for the first three books (as well as the series title) so the extra effort was worth it.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Plotter all the way. I’m always looking for better ways to plan out the plot, the characters, and pacing. For me, it’s so much easier to write creatively if I know the bones of the story are solid.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
When I’m not writing, I have a full-time job, two kids, two dogs, and a husband. All that keeps me busy! When I have spare time, I love to dabble in home improvement projects and arts and crafts. I love trying new things, but honestly I have a hard time finishing up the projects I start.

What are you working on right now?
I’m working on book two in the Bound Magic Series, which is tentatively titled Fate Changed. Although the main characters overcome a lot of challenges in Fate Forged, there are still some people who need to be stopped, and the fate of Earth’s magic hangs in the balance in a new way.

Where can we find the book?
You can buy the book on Amazon | Kobo | Red Adept Publishing | B&N | GooglePlay

Where can we find you?
Website www.bpdonigan.com

Facebook (@BPDonigan)

Instagram (bpdonigan_author)

Twitter (@BPDonigan)

Goodreads

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