Jay Crownover

First and foremost, please tell us a little bit about yourself.  I live in Colorado and don’t think I would ever want to live anywhere else. I love a good story. I burst into flames in the sun and I am prolly the world’s worst speller. Bad when you need to use words correctly to make a living. My current favorite song on repeat is Blue Mountains by The Diamond Rugs and it’s about a stripper.

You tend to write various types of genres.  What's your favorite to write and why?  What are you most comfortable to write and why?  I don’t know that I write various genres. All my characters are intertwined, live in the same world and interact with each other. All my books are classified as New Adult, so really I just have tattoo guys, army guys and rocker guys all in that same classification.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?  I start with a theme. Rule’s was finding your true path, Jet’s was being true to who you are and not letting the past dictate the future, Rome’s is forgiveness. Self forgives, forgiveness of others and learning that asking and taking help is okay. 

Once I have the theme I go from there and figure out the plot points on getting my characters to where the overreaching theme is explored and developed.

I don’t outline or brainstorm or take notes. I just sit down and write and write and write.

What is your writing routine?  I just write. No routine, no rhyme or reason. That’s why this job is great. I can typically knock out 5,000-10,000 words a day but I can do it in the morning or at 2 am. I just write when the mood strikes, but am always very aware of my deadline. I write everyday even if I don’t want to because it’s my job and it’s a way to stay motivated and keep on top of it. I don’t always save everything, but I put words on the paper every day. When I’m finished I revise, reread and then send my MS to my book bestie for feedback and to throw commas in there because I suck at it! I just recently started using a proofreader as well, and then I send the finished product to my agent and my editor.

Where do you find your inspiration?  Life. Music. Colorado. In dreams. My past. Everywhere and anywhere, which I think is true for all authors.

Where did the concept of THE MARKED MEN series come from?  That being ‘marked’ means a lot of different things. People see marks on the outside and make snap judgments, but life…circumstance…choices we make or don’t make fundamentally mark us along the way as well. All the guys have marks in different ways, it’s fun to write each one of them and explore the markings that go beyond the surface.

What is it about bad boys that attract us to them when we know better?  Lol…everyone always says I write bad-boys. I really don’t. I write guys secure in who they are, in what they are doing in life and that are just at home in their skin, marked or unmarked as it may be.

Women like to think a bad boy will change just for them because they matter that much. The allure of someone dangerous and slightly hard to handle is sexy and if you are the one he comes home to it makes you inherently feel special.

Did the characters come first, or did the storyline?  I couldn’t get rid of Rule. He was hounding me and demanding I tell his story. When I started his journey the rest of his crew organically feel into place. I knew he was a twin, knew he and Shaw had history, knew he was misunderstood but the nuances of the story were a surprise as I followed him along.

How did you research rock stars for JET?  No, because Jet is a rocker not a rock star. Totally different kind of guy. Jet doesn’t want adulation or exorbitant fame. He wants to write songs and play music for people that appreciate it. He’s in it for the art not the fame and fortune. 

I know Jet. I worked in bars forever. I know the kind of guy Jet is and what ultimately drives him.

What type of relationship is your favorite to explore and develop?  Complicated ones. Ones that shouldn’t work but can’t be denied. Ones that have history and baggage. Ultimately the relationship has to have the characters grow so easy doesn’t really play into that.

I also like difficult family dynamics. I think the reason young adults make the choices they do has a lot to do with becoming untethered from home. It plays a part in how they grow and interact with others.

What has the publishing process been like?  Interesting. I never thought I would be learning a new job in my 30’s. I love my editor, but having someone tell you to change things, move your words around…it can be hard. She’s amazing and I know she is pulling the best story possible out of me, but I still want to pull my hair out.

It’s a business. You have to be patient, you have to be aware. You have to network and be available to readers and the publisher. You have to WORK at it, just like any other job and you can’t take any of the opportunity for granted. I’m very lucky.

Pretty weird for a girl that was pouring beer for a living this time last year. :)

Would you recommend advertisements or did you market your books through a different venue?  Social media is a must…readers have to be able to know what’s going on with you, have to be able to connect. The more ways for people to find you and see what you have going on book wise and promotional wise the better.

I have a PR team: http://literatiauthorservices.com/, and HarperCollins has a huge marketing team that handles most of my promotional stuff.

How involved are you in terms of editing/book cover/release date/marketing process?  I’m fortunate that my publisher lets me pretty involved. HC gets the ultimate say but thus far they have been super receptive to my feedback. Release dates are all them and I need an editor so…also they have a massive marketing team that studies the market…they KNOW what will sell…like I said above, I’m super lucky. I have no complaints about the publishing process. I think HC really understands my vision, what I’m about and I think they know what makes my voice in the NA world unique.

Are you working on anything now?  I am but I can’t talk about it just yet but if you go snooping around on Goodreads or Amazon or B&N or I-Tunes it’s pretty easy to find out what it is. I’ll have an announcement coming hopefully this week or the next about what’s up next!!!!

I’m really excited about it and I think my readers will be thrilled.

Any upcoming releases?   Again peeps are gonna have to venture out and see for themselves…my next guy very well might be floating around but I don’t have the official okay to shout it from the hills just yet!!

www.jaycrownover.com

Jaycrownover@gmail.com

Jaycrownover.blogspot.com

http://www.goodreads.com/Crownover

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJayCrownover
Twitter@jaycrownover
facebook.com/jay.crownover

Rachel Van Dyken

Ms. Van Dyken has offered the first five commenters get a free e-copy of THE ELITE.  Make sure you leave your name and email address so we can get in contact with you! 

First and foremost, please tell us a little bit about yourself. I love to read and write. I always tease that I'm a reader first writer second ;) I enjoy pumpkin spice americanos, have been happily married to my husband for four years and am 28 years old. 

You tend to write various types of genres.  What's your favorite to write and why?  What are you most comfortable to write and why? That’s such a hard question! I love writing New Adult because I love the emotion and angst tied into that genre, but historical will always have a special place in my heart ;) 

Are you a plotter or a pantser? TOTAL panster! I never know where the story is going to go. I think it makes it more exciting that way. 

 

What is your writing routine? I usually get up around 7am answer emails, do interviews or radio show interviews, then around 8 or 9 start writing and don’t stop until around 4. I try to write all day every day, but usually take Sundays off to give my brain a rest. 

Where do you find your inspiration? Everywhere. I love dialogue. For me, that’s where the story begins, it’s in a funny one liner I overhear someone say, or a conversation I have with one of my best friends. 

THE BET is not your typical pretend-we're-engaged-fall-in-love storyline.  How did you come up with the plotline? I actually started writing the book based on a conversation I'd had with one of my friends. Believe it or not, I had a goldfish I left behind during Christmas break, she flushed him down the toilet so he wouldn’t die and we were laughing about it when I got the idea for the story. Everything else just kind of followed, having my real Grandma as inspiration also helped. 

What is EAGLE ELITE COLLEGE?  What does it teach you, and why would anyone want to go there? Eagle Elite is a prestigious university located in the heart of Chicago. Only people with lots of money or great importance go there. The whole idea behind this school is that if you go graduate from it, you can get a job anywhere. 

Without giving too much away, what secrets do the Elect hide, and why are there so many rules about them? The Eagle Elite reminds me of a secret society. Everyone thinks they want to be in on it, but once you find out the truth you're trapped for life. The people pulling the strings at Eagle Elite are not ones you want to make enemies of. 

THE UGLY DUCKLING DEBUTANTE is a unique twist on a classic fairytale.  Why did the concept come from? I LOVE fairytales and wanted to write a Cinderella type story for my first regency. It's easy to write about insecurities b/c as a woman I know what it’s like to feel like the outcast, we all do, so it was a really interesting story to write. 

What type of relationship is your favorite to explore and develop? I LOVE writing about heroes who are broken or heroes who need a woman to come into their lives, giving them a reason to want to fight for the greater good. 

WHISPERED MUSIC sounds like a cross between BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.  How much research did you have to do on the fairytale, Russia, and music while simultaneously keeping your story new and fresh? It totally is!! I love music, and have a music background. I wanted to be able to write a story about it without making it like a typical regency where the hero is some lord fallen on hard times who turns to his music for strength. I wanted the music to have a magical feel. In this story Dominique see's everything in music, even the way people walk or talk. His scars remind him of his past and of why he is considered a Beast. It's probably one of my favorite historical stories I've ever written. 

How did you choose the fairytales to write for in your LONDON FAIRYTALE series? I Googled! ;) I went through and looked up all the fairy tales and picked. Of course, I chose my favorites but a lot of people don't realize how dark and depressing most Fairy Tales are. We always see the Disney versions on TV but Grimm's Fairy Tales are slightly horrifying, so I tend to lean towards the more Disney type of story. 

You write a lot of New Adult.  What about that genre draws you to it? I love the angst and emotional turmoil. It's so interesting to write and I feel like I can put a lot of emotion into the characters. With NA you don’t really have any rules, the possibilities are endless. 

What type of person is your ideal heroine when you're both reading and writing?  What type of person is your ideal hero when you're both reading and writing?  Are they the same?  Why or why not? My ideal hero is someone who, despite having all the cards stacked against him, still comes out on top. I like to write the broken hero who doesn't even realize he still has strength left inside of him. I like to write strong male leads, the type that would die for the ones they love. As far as a heroine, I get so tired of weak female characters. I try to make my female leads equally strong but with visible chinks in their armor. For many of my regency stories this usually has to do with the girl being trapped into marriage or told what she can and cannot do by her family. 

What have you learned about the publishing process? It doesn't get easier the more you write. If anything, it gets harder. The publishing process is extremely fun, but at the same time, it's constant work. 

Would you recommend advertisements or did you market your books through a different venue? I advertise through Facebook, Goodreads, etc. But my main suggestion for advertisement is word of mouth. 

How involved are you in terms of editing/book cover/release date/marketing process? When I self-publish and when I’m traditionally published, I'm involved every step of the way. As far as release dates, my publisher decides that for me ;) And I work around their schedule for my self published series.

Are you working on anything now? I’m currently working on the third book in The Bet series, The Gamble, as well as Entice, the third book in the Eagle Elite series. 

Any upcoming releases? The Wager just released and Elect is up for pre-order ;) 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wager-Bet-Book-ebook/dp/B00E7XUGM8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381596366&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Wager

http://www.amazon.com/Elect-Eagle-Elite-Rachel-Dyken-ebook/dp/B00FKAD59I/ref=pd_sim_kstore_7

www.rachelvandykenauthor.com,

@RachVD

Facebook: Rachel Van Dyken Author

If you want to do a giveaway to commenters I can do that too! I'd be willing to give away five e-copies of Elite ;) Let me know!

Jessica Spotswood

1.    Are you a plotter or a pantser?  I’m somewhere in-between. I don’t like doing a full, detailed outline – I tried that with STAR CURSED and it was disastrous. But I make a loose outline for the next few scenes or chapters so I know where I’m headed.

2.    What does your daily writing routine look like?  I’m actually working on creating a more consistent writing routine! I’ve never been a steady, 1k-a-day writer; I may not write for several days in a row, and then I’ll write 2-3000 words. I usually write for a few hours in the late afternoon (I rarely start before 3pm), and then if I’m on deadline I’ll write again late at night, from about midnight until 4am. I’m very much a night owl.

3.    Where do you find your inspiration?  Everywhere! I’m inspired by dreams, by snatches of conversation I overhear, by music lyrics. For the Cahill Witch Chronicles, Snow Patrol and Mumford & Sons and Florence + the Machine featured prominently in my playlists. I’m inspired by books I love – and books I don’t love, when I think about how I would write it differently!

4.    How did you come up with the plot for The Cahill Witch Chronicles?  Did the story come first, or did the characters?  The characters came first. I had a dream in which my sisters and I were fighting over a magical locket from our mother, and the idea of writing about the mix of love and rivalry between three sisters with a complicated magical inheritance stuck. The plot evolved from there, and it changed so much in edits. In the draft that sold, the dire prophecy that one Cahill sister would murder another wasn’t even in place yet.

5.    What about witches fascinates readers and writers alike?  Well, historically, women accused of witchcraft were often marginalized in some way – they were eccentric, they were poor, they were too educated, they were unmarried, they lived outside town. I think readers like to root for underdogs, and writers like to explore that notion of powerful women in societies that fear them.

6.    Discuss your research process about historical witchcraft practices.  Which part of the Cahill witchcraft lore is historically accurate and which part did you create?  My research focused mostly on the history of persecuting innocent women, rather than witchcraft lore. I drew more from literary influences like Harry Potter and Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle series to create the magic in the series. The history of the Daughters of Persephone, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood, and the witchery that Cate and her sisters do is all invented.

7.    Without giving too much away, when you first started developing the idea for the romance between Cate and her two very different and very swoon-worthy suitors, Finn and Paul, did you know who she would end up with (if she ends up with either of them) or did it change as you wrote?  I definitely knew that Cate’s heart belonged to Finn. Paul is there to illustrate how much Cate has changed since her mother died, how she can no longer follow the traditional path that’s expected of her, how she’s outgrown her childhood dreams. He’s a good man, but he’s not right for Cate.

8.    Did your process change when writing Book 1 to Book 2 to Book 3?  If so, how?  I wrote BORN WICKED over about 9 months without any editorial input. I had four months to write STAR CURSED and my editor made me outline it first, and it didn’t work; I felt too constricted by the outline and followed it to the book’s detriment instead of following the characters. We ended up throwing out 75% of that first draft and starting over. For SF we identified the major stakes of the story and I went from there, and I had six months, and it was a much more solid first draft.

9.    Speaking of Book 3, is there anything you can tell us about it? (book cover, release date, synopsis, ANYTHING?)  Yes! That’s all been revealed since you sent me these questions. SISTERS’ FATE will be released on August 14, 2014. Here’s the synopsis (warning: major spoilers for STAR CURSED!!):

 A fever ravages New London, but with the Brotherhood sending suspected witches straight to the gallows, the Sisters are powerless against the disease. They can’t help without revealing their powers—as Cate learns when a potent display of magic turns her into the most wanted witch in all of New England.

To make matters worse, Cate has been erased from the memory of her beloved Finn. While she’s torn between protecting him from further attacks and encouraging him to fall for her all over again, she’s certain she can never forgive Maura’s betrayal. And now that Tess’s visions have taken a deadly turn, the prophecy that one Cahill sister will murder another looms ever closer to its fulfillment.

 You can see the cover and add it to your Goodreads shelf here.

 10.How does it feel writing the last of a trilogy?  Is there any way we'll see these characters again?  It’s bittersweet. I wanted to give them the exact perfect right ending, and I hope readers will be satisfied. I don’t think I’ll write anything else from Cate’s point of view; I feel like her story is complete at the end of SISTERS’ FATE. I could see myself doing a short story from someone else’s point of view  – perhaps about one of her sisters, or Sachi and Rory, or Rilla Stephenson. That would be a fun extra. We’ll see. 

11.The covers are absolutely stunning. How much of a say did you have in creating them?  Thank you! I had absolutely nothing to do with it (most authors don't), but I’m really pleased with them.

12.How did you market your series?  I was part of Penguin’s second Breathless Reads tour in February 2012, and then part of the third tour in February 2013. I’ve also done local events in Washington DC and joint signings with other 2012 debut authors in Philadelphia and Boston. Mostly, though, my efforts are online. I blog, though somewhat infrequently; I tweet; I update the Cahill Witch Chronicles Facebook page. I’ve done a few twitter chats and blog giveaways leading up to releases on my blog. I’ve been lucky that Penguin has also done some fantastic marketing, including creating a really stunning book trailer (Preview) for BORN WICKED. Honestly, it’s hard to say what works and what doesn’t. I love meeting readers on tour or at events and interacting with them online, but otherwise I try to focus on writing the next book.

13.Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?  My biggest advice is to take your time. Make sure that your work is the absolute best it can be before you query or submit it. Set it aside for a bit and then go back to it with fresh, more objective eyes. Better yet, ask friends who are voracious readers or fellow writers to read it for you and give you feedback. Ask them what they like and want to see more of as well as what confuses them or doesn’t quite work. Try to listen with an open heart. You don’t have to follow all of their advice, but if two people say the same thing, it’s probably worth consideration. 

14.On your blog, you mentioned you're working on something.  Can you give us a clue as to what that might be?  Sure! I’m working on a sort of Southern Gothic ghost story. It’s very new, but I really love it. I’m not sure yet if that will be my next official book or not; I’ve got several ideas percolating right now!

15.Do you have any book recommendations, anything you're currently working on?  I just read Andrea Cremer’s THE INVENTOR’S SECRET, which comes out in April. It’s a wonderfully imaginative steampunk adventure set in a world where the British won the Revolutionary War. The heroine, Charlotte, is really clever and plucky, and I don’t quite know who else to trust, which I love! I also just read and love love loved ROSE UNDER FIRE by Elizabeth Wein, the companion to CODE NAME VERITY. It’s not an easy book – set partially in a women’s concentration camp during WWII – but it’s beautiful and Rose is so winsome.

Jessica Spotswood is the author of the Cahill Witch Chronicles: BORN WICKED (2012), STAR CURSED (2013), and SISTERS' FATE (August 2014). She grew up in a tiny, one-stoplight town in Pennsylvania, where she could be found swimming, playing clarinet, memorizing lines for the school play, or - most often - with her nose in a book. Now Jess lives in Washington, DC with her playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey. She can be found doing yoga, teaching writing workshops for teens, or - most often - with her nose in a book. Some things never change. 

Find Jess online: blog | Twitter | Facebook | Cahill Witch Inspiration pinboard