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[AOTM] Author Interview with Lynda Styles
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Awesome interview! Your book sound like an awesome read cant wait to read it. It's defiantly going on my tbr list. ~A
We are privileged to have Lynda Styles, author of On Gallows Hill answer our interview questions to enhance your reading experience of our May INDIE PICK group read.
I now turn the Q&A over to Lynda:
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Thank you SO much for the nomination. I'm so excited about it. The choice to go Indie was not easy, I was offered a contract but chose to take the path less traveled (though I think it'll be a busy path as time goes on!). Okay, here goes:
1. What books have most influenced your life? I am an avid Stephen King fan, a Diana Gabaldon fan, Philippa Gregory, and I love the classics like Lovecraft & Poe. I'd have to say Gerald's Game by SK was the one book I ever had to "put down" for a few minutes.
2. How do you develop your plots and characters? From real life. I saw A&E's Psychic Kids and thought to myself "Imagine living with that ability in Salem?" Then, Katelyn was born.
3. Tell us about your Lovers of Paranormal book? My book is set in Salem, MA where I grew up. Warning: There are no witches. Only ghosts, teenagers, and bad men preying on the internet.
4. We all need a hero! Tell us about your protagonist(s)? Was there a real-life inspiration behind him or her? Katelyn and Cassie both are the heroes of the book. Cassie doesn't need a hero, though she might just get one anyway. These girls are strong young women who stand up and fight.
5. A good villain is hard to write. How did you get in touch with your inner villain? Was there a real-life inspiration for him/her/it? Absolutely - To Catch a Predator was an inspiration. Imagine that show with a delusional psychopath on it.
6. What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the world building within your book? My own teen years. That's a very hard time full of choices that can land us in scary places. I was lucky to not be Cassie in that dungeon!
7. What real-life science, pseudo-science, history, religion, or mythologies did you research for the paranormal aspect of your book? History: researched the story of Sarah & Dorothy Good, two of the victims of the witch hysteria. Also read a great deal into how psychics see, how they contemplate information, etc.
8. What was the hardest part of writing this book? Revising it and following through to market it: running the marathon, not the sprint. Then? After you write it? Writing another!
9. What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? When Cassie figures out how to save herself. I cried like a baby!
10. Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? I learned I am capable of really incredible things. I learned how to be a business woman and an artist at the same time.
11. Is there a message in your novel that you hope readers will grasp? Don't put your home phone # on Facebook, young ladies. ;) Oh, and those people who were hanged & tortured in Salem? They were real. Please don't come and dance on their graves in October. Hilarious side note: a fan found ME by googling me and showed up at my door!
12. What are your future project(s)? I'm writing the sequel right now! There's a serial killer in this one and Katelyn is doing an internship at the Salem PD as a psychic!
13. If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be? Teacher - but I do that anyway. And I'll always write, for me and my readers, no matter what.
14. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to the Lovers of Paranormal community members? Thank you SO much for reading this book - it is grassroots efforts like this that allow those of us not on the NYT list (yet!) to shine. <3 God bless!!
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Thank you, Linda, for taking the time to answer our interview questions. Follow the discussion thread for Lynda's book, On Gallows Hill, right HERE:
Be epic!
LoP MOD-Anna