Hey J.A! :D I’m super excited to have you here on my blog for this interview! I’ve spoken to your characters, and had you here for a multi-author interview, but this is the first time that I’m honoured to have you here all to myself…so, welcome! :D
\o/ I’m excited to be back
here. :D
I know that you’re trying
to keep spoilers for Caged to a
minimum, and that the follow-up to Caged,
Unnatural, is also being kept
top-secret. Do you have a hard time keeping quiet about your books, and how do
you plan to keep the narrator of Unnatural
a secret once more information about the book is released?
Initially, my publisher
wanted to keep it quiet about Caged’s
narrator, until I spilled to them that I’d already done a helluva lot of
chatting about the book on my Facebook page, as well as shared sneaky peeks at
bits of it I was working on as the story grew, and that kind of put the kibosh
on that idea. So, in all fairness, I didn’t keep as quiet about Caged as I probably should have. For Unnatural, however, it really was hard,
because it will provide major spoilers for Caged
if the characters for Unnatural are
unveiled too early, so although I did share tiny sneaky peeks at bits and
pieces I was writing for it, I had to eliminate character names from the
excerpts. Also, I usually have a couple of folk I chat to throughout writing my
books, and those couple know what to expect when I send them the book to beta
read. Unnatural was the first time
I’ve ever kept so quiet about what’s coming even to them, and so everyone who’s
read it so far went in blind.
For those eager to know
who’ll be fronting Unnatural, the
wait won’t be much longer as the main character will be named in the blurb that
goes live in September alongside the cover reveal. :D
You’ve been busy writing
the Holloway Pack Series, but do have
plans to write anything outside of that series?
Actually, funny you should
ask. Due to behind-the-scenes circumstances, Holloway Pack production is going
to be moving a little slower after Unnatural,
and so I’m going to be slowing down on my Holloway Pack writing to accommodate
that. In the meantime, I’ve started writing a contemporary new adult, as well
as a young adult post-apocalyptic (which may also fall into the NA category
dependent upon the end result). I’m unsure how long those will take me to
write, but hopefully not forever, because I’m eager to share them with the
world. :D
I’m always interested in
where authors’ inspiration comes from, so what inspired you to write Darkness & Light and the rest of
the Holloway Pack series, and how did
you craft your werewolves?
Sean inspired me to write Darkness & Light. He was a pretty
strong presence in my mind and demanded I sit up and take notice. However, I
can be as stubborn as my muse, and so didn’t give in to him completely by
writing the story from Jem’s POV instead of his. However, his presence in my
mind is what then went on to become the opening basis for the plot of Darkness & Light when Sean is a
presence within Jem’s mind. To be honest, I never pictured Darkness & Light as anything more than a standalone. It was
only when I reached the end that I realised I wasn’t ready to say farewell to
Jem and Sean and so, within a week, the ideas started formulating, and after
scouring a traditional spell book owned by my sister, the formula for Blue Moon was created. It was only once
I’d begun writing Caged that I
realised I’d created a potential series, because the initial idea for Caged came to me in Jem’s POV, but for
some reason, I just couldn’t get it to weave together in my head, so I let the
idea simmer—for an entire year—and it suddenly hit me that it wouldn’t form
right because I’d got the POV wrong. As soon as I realised whose POV it needed
to be, the story started to fully unfold. And I loved working with one of the
other Holloway Pack so much, I decided I’d do so for all of them. :D
Do you have a process that
you follow while writing? Like maybe listening to music (if you do…I would
totally love a playlist! :D haha), or some routine, perhaps?
I don’t have a process.
Only when I hit rock bottom for concentration do I resort to music, and whilst
I do believe a decent pair of earphones and the Kings of Leon Only by the Night
album is the way forward, I occasionally hit up my media playlist. Here’s the
first ten songs from that:
Chasing
Pavements (Adele); Head Over Feet (Alanis Morissette); Be Mine (David Gray); This Year’s Love (David Gray); Cold Desert (Kings of Leon); Seaside (The Kooks); Luka (Suzanne Vega); Make You Feel My Love (Adele); Someone Like You (Adele); You Learn (Alanis Morissette).
What tips do you have for
aspiring authors?
Okay, it’s quite a list
(so apologies up front).
1. Don’t assume. Don’t
assume your first book is going to be good enough, that just having a story you
want to tell makes you a writer, that your writing is going to be a bestseller,
that you’re going to be the next J.K. Rowling, that the first agent you submit
to will love your writing as much as you do—or
the 100th, that your beta readers are being 100% honest with you
(especially if they’re friends), that you’re going to get rich like the other
success stories out there, that everyone is going to love your book …
assumptions bring disappointment, and a writer needs to have a thick skin if
they want to enter this industry, otherwise they will fall at the first hurdle.
2. Don’t give up. There’s
a quote somewhere that goes along the lines of: You’ve only failed once you’ve
stopped trying. This is true. If you believe—and I mean, truly believe you have
something worth sharing? Keep going. If you’re doing it for the right reasons,
this is what you’ll do. If you quit? Then maybe it just wasn’t as important to
you as you thought. However, there’s a fine line between persevering out of
determination and persevering out of arrogance. Make sure you’re on the right
side.
3. Write. And critique.
You’ll learn as much from critiquing the work of others (this is not the same
as reviewing a book and trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t—though
this is equally important—but rather, dissecting sentences to discover how to
create flow and interesting delivery, and pacing, and natural dialogue, and all
of those key elements that create the greater whole). And you learn from
writing more. Stephen King reckons a writer must have written 1 million words
before they can consider themselves as being anywhere near decent. Listen to
him. He talks sense.
4. And finally research.
Research the industry. You want to enter this vast expanse of agents and
publishers and avenues, right? Then make sure you know where you’re going
BEFORE you get there; if you don’t, you’re going to get to get lost. Remember
the saying: knowledge is power. Otherwise you’ll end up wasting a whole lot of
not just other people’s time, but also your own.
I’m always up for adding
more books to my to-read pile, do you have any that you’d recommend?
Recently read stuff I’ve
LOVED include Susan Kaye Quinn’s Debt
Collector Series, Ink by Amanda Sun, Hushed by Kelley York, Remember Me by Amaleen Ison, and Faking It by Cora Carmack. Oh, and The Summer I
Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller.
:)
And my final question,
what do you love best about being an author?
Knowing that somebody,
somewhere, is enjoying something that I’ve created. I ♥ my readers
with a passion. They rock my world.
Thank you for this
wonderful interview, J.A., it’s always a pleasure talking with you!
Ditto. Thanks so much for
having me back here. :D
ALSO, BLUE MOON IS ON SALE IN HONOUR OF CAGED'S RELEASE!
About J.A. Belfield
About Caged (Holloway Pack #3)
If the meek can become deadly, the strongest can be weak.
For Ethan Holloway, his mission to find a missing werewolf should be simple. Crack a few heads, bust a few chops and the solution always reveals itself. Always.
Not this time.
Ethan’s reputation precedes him, and because it does, someone is ready. Waiting. Unbeknownst to Ethan, he’s about to go down. Hard. Against a foe he never suspected and in a world he never imagined could be real.
What awaits Ethan is a fight not only for his reputation, but also his pack, his female, and his life. If he survives, damage control will become priority number one.
If he survives.
Because even Ethan’s not sure he’s strong enough to take on an entire race all by himself.
Especially one hell bent on exposing who and what he is in the name of sport.
Add to Goodreads: Caged
ALSO, BLUE MOON IS ON SALE IN HONOUR OF CAGED'S RELEASE!
TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY
- International
- Ends September 6th
TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:
EBOOK & BOOKMARK GIVEAWAY
- International
- 1 Winner will receive an ebook of Caged in the format of their choice and a Caged bookmark
- Winner will chosen using Rafflecopter, contacted via email, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize before a new winner is drawn.
- Ends August 30th at 11:59 PM (MST)
- International
- 1 Winner will receive an ebook of Caged in the format of their choice and a Caged bookmark
- Winner will chosen using Rafflecopter, contacted via email, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize before a new winner is drawn.
- Ends August 30th at 11:59 PM (MST)
TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:
Thoughts?
Did you enjoy the interview?
And are you excited to read Caged?
