Thank you so much for sharing your book with me and agreeing to do a Q&A for my readers.
Thank you, Sarah, for featuring The Outcasts. I am beyond honored and thrilled that you enjoyed it.
Give us a quick summary of The Outcasts!
Larna Collins has never understood why her dad skipped out on her and her mother when she was twelve years old. Until then, he was a devoted and loving father.
But six years later, during a renovation of her childhood home, she unearths her father's journal from under a floorboard. According to his final entry before he left, he had recently visited a small parish in England.
The entries drew her to this seemingly quaint village, which Larna discovers isn't as charming as its blood-craving inhabitants want her to believe, and she learns that she isn't the only one trying to track her father down.
Could this explain her father's disappearance? Or was placing her in the center of danger her dad's master plan all along?
What was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome in completing your book?
I think the problem (at the beginning, anyway), was that there were like a tiny million hurdles to leap over. As soon as I got over one obstacle, I’d immediately be smacked in the face by another. Finishing the first draft was such a huge snag—it took me about eight months to finish—and it was extremely rough. It was my debut novel. I had a lot to learn with the entire process, from start to finish. I still do.
One of my favorite things about reading a vampire book is the different adaptations of the myth. Your book features vampires with unique abilities and physical features. What inspired your adaptation?
It was vitally important to me that my vampires be different. Unique. Originality is my inspiration, you could say. Take for instance, my vamps are attracted to each other’s blood over that of human blood. There are reasons for that, which are explained in more detail in volume three: Tree of Souls.
A portion of your plot hinges on a real-life small English town, Bromham. Is this a town you’ve visited before? If not, how did you discover it?
Discovered by Google. Thanks Google. I have never been to Brohman, but I sure would love to. I have, however, been to London. I absolutely fell in love when I visited almost fifteen years ago. Time to go back to England.
What is your writing Kryptonite?
The internet. It’s really hard to stay focused when there’s so much else I could be doing—like playing on Twitter.
How long did it take you to get this book published, from its initial conception to the release date?
It took me about five years. I kept putting it down—for months at a time. DOH! If I could smack myself now … It took a good swift kick to my rear to get me moving. I think at the beginning it was easy for me to doubt myself and doubt the direction I was going in. Writing can be pretty difficult if you don’t believe in your work. It took me publishing on Wattpad (www.wattpad.com - Great reader writer website that’s free!) to realize The Outcasts needed to be published.
Larna is a fascinating main character and is a joy to get to know. Is she or any of your other characters inspired by people in your real life?
Yay! I am so glad you thought Larna was a joy to get to know. She had such a long, difficult journey in book 1. I could tell you that Larna was a complete figment of my imagination. That I plucked her right out of the cosmos … but I’d be lying to you. This was my first book, and I wasn’t a strong enough of a writer to completely make her up out of nowhere. There is a lot about Larna that I guess could be attributed to me, especially at the beginning of her journey. Self-reflection. All I know is that I hope I did her justice. Corinth Taylor was inspired a lot by my best friend, Misty Spitzer. She is also an amazingly talented writer and she helped me get this book to where it needed to be. He’s also a mix of Zach Levi’s character in Chuck. And an homage to Andrew Garfield and also Jay Baruchel.
Family connections and loyalty play a large role in your story. Is your writing something that you share with your friends and family?
Yes, yes, yes. This was very important to me, and I am so grateful you were able to glean that family connections are so significant in The Outcasts. Great question, by the way. The simple answer is, most definitely. My friends and family are the glue on the spine of the book. They make up the pages. The words on the paper, even. I am very lucky to have them. Most of my friends and family have multiple copies, have shared it with their friends, and have read it several times. I am very blessed to have them all in my life. Very, very blessed.
What is the first book that made you cry?
Oh man, as in it moved me? Or scared the living crap out of me? Because I’ve had both happen. I used to read Stephen King (I still do). Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck really got to me. It’s the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant workers, who move from place to place in search of a new job during the Great Depression. Lennie is mentally disabled, and the way Steinbeck writes his character is just heartbreaking and relatable. His story is gut-wrenching because he’s so misunderstood. I had to read it in school; to this day that story still gets me—this was a pretty deep storyline, with lots of layers and moving parts. Extremely sad.
Many of my readers are trying to decide which avenue of publishing to pursue for their books. Since your book is published independently, could you share with us what you’ve enjoyed about this process?
ENJOYED??!! Enjoy publishing? Just kidding, sort of … publishing, for me, is one of the most stressful things about the process, but it also means you’re at the finish line, which is the most important thing. Woohoo! I like publishing my books wide, which means it gets sold over a wide range of platforms: B&N, Nook, Apple, Amazon, Kobo, and more. Going international (for me that’s out of the US) is such an amazing experience. I want everyone to be able to enjoy this book, from all over the world.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers looking to publish their first novel?
Finish the book. Don’t look ahead. Don’t get lost in the forest. Take it one step at a time, breathe, and enjoy the journey, because it’s a tough one. But well worth it! When you have people tell you that your books are in their top-5 list that they’ve ever read in their entire life … man, that’s something. That’s accomplishment. It means a lot to me. The Outcasts is an award-winning, bestselling novel now—it wouldn’t be so without people believing in it.
What other books and authors inspire you?
Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas, and Alexandra Bracken’s Darkest Minds books.
What is your favorite book to recommend to others?
The Blood Dagger trilogy … oh, wait, you meant someone else’s books. Well, I’d have to say Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files is a must-read series. Solid all the way through.
The Outcasts and The Watchers, the first two books in your series are already out and the third book, Tree of Souls came out just recently. What can fans of your books expect in this new book?
Yes! I am so very excited to share Tree of Souls with the world. This series is over seven years in the making. More action. More heart break. More loss. More drama. More feels. It’s the end. Endings are hard. Don’t take it from me … I’ll close with a review I received from Tree of Souls:
“Tree of Souls was such a roller coaster of feelings. Love, loss, faith, despair. So brilliantly beautiful. I would die for these characters--Larna, Corinth, Vinson, Leo.. I just love them all.”
What are you working on next?
I am working on a side spin-off from The Blood Dagger series, which has not been named yet. SQUUUEEEEE!! That’s my excited yell. I am also working on a seven book series which will not be vampire. It’s Ready Player One meets WarCross.
Thank you so very much for the interview!
Ten-year-old Harold Hufferbluss has extraordinarily vivid dreams. Some good, some not so good, and some freaky bad, but all in full color and jukebox loud. And these particular weird dreams have attracted the attention of something not quite human: Slender Sam. Ol’ Sam is watching Harold, intrigued by the boy who can dream just a little bit better than everybody else. A boy with a special knack for dreaming that others can only...dream of.