October 08, 2012

Author Spotlight - Krystle Jones


Hey all! Today we are pleased to welcome Krystle Jones as our Spotlight Author. We will post the interview with her here on the blog and will be sharing quotes from her books on our Facebook page Paranormal Reads. Be sure to stop by and see those goodies. Now on to the interview!
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1. Where do you find your inspiration for your writing? Mostly, from music. I'll be listening to a song and some little snippet will inspire a scene, which becomes the kernel for a new story.

2. Are any of your characters based on someone you know? No, they aren't. If anything, I've probably (subconsciously) pulled pieces of myself and put them inside my characters.

3. Is your family supportive with your writing? I think they don't always understand my motivation, but they don't try to discourage me. I'm a bit of a black sheep. There aren't really any other creative types in my immediate family. When I need someone to talk to about my fears on writing, my mom and my grandmother have always been there for me.

4. Which one of your characters would you want by your side in a real battle and why? Probably Sloane. She's such a fire-cracker character, and she's a trained fighter.

5. What do you do when your not writing? Read. lol Big surprise. I also love to watch movies or (no joke) sleep.

6. Do you plan on redoing more Fairy tale characters and writing a book about them? I do have an idea for a gritty, sci-fi/fantasy 'Sleeping Beauty', but it will be a while before I do anything with it. I have too many other series I want to finish first.

7. What are you currently working on? Right now, I'm working on the 2nd book in my dystopian/urban fantasy series. This is the book that has had the most demand so far from my readers, and I'm excited I'm almost done with it.

8. What has been the hardest book for you to write so far? A White So Red, hands down. That book started out as a very light-hearted, vanilla-flavored novella, then became this bloated epic of over 650 pages. I eventually "cut the fat" and trimmed it down to 122k. It became a much darker book over the course of the 10 drafts it went through.

9. Any advice you would give an aspiring writer? Practice when you can and read a lot. You'll learn just as much on how to write from reading the work of other writers as you will from reading a "how to" book. (I do recommend investing in some references, btw. I have a list of them on my website under my "For Writers" section if you're curious.)

10. What kind of research did you do for your books? I haven't had to do a whole lot of research. I try to stick to what I know because I feel I can paint a more realistic picture that way. But I did do quite a bit of digging on Pittsburgh for The Scarlet Dagger and Dark Horizons. For A White So Red, I refreshed my memory on the original tale of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves".

11. How did you come up with the ideas for your books? The idea for Veiled Innocencecame to me in a dream. I kept having this dream about Lianora, my blonde MC, that wouldn't go away. My vampire series kind of came to me on a whim. I was at work - daydreaming - when I got this idea for a strong warrior girl fighting her way through a ruined city. It wasn't until later I decided to use vampires instead of zombies. (Which I love btw.) And I've always loved fairy tale retellings. I'm pretty sure my idea for A White So Red randomly popped into my head one day, too, like much of my novel ideas.

12 Is there anything you want to tell your readers? I'd like to say "thank you" from the bottom of my heart for reaching out to me and telling me you like my books. (Or even what you didn't like.) Writing can be a lonely process at times, so when I hear from someone who's read one of my books or I read a review they've left on Amazon, it makes me smile, like we've shared some special secret. Even the critical reviews are awesome because they help me grow and it means someone out there picked up my book and read it.

13. Anybody you want to shoutout to? I'd like to shoutout to my fellow writers/musicians/artists/actors. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't have more than one passion to succeed.
 
Fun Questions
Coffee or Tea? Tea. Not much of a coffee person.
Cats or Dogs? I love both, but I do have a fluffy, spoiled kitty named Angel. I adopted her when she was 3 months old.
Favorite Holiday? Halloween!
Favorite Color? Red
Car or Truck? I prefer cars, but I don't mind trucks. Having owned a truck, let me say it usually resulted in a lot of requests to help move people's stuff.
Morning or nIght? Definitely night. I'm not much of a morning person.

Thank you so much Krystle for being with us and answering our questions. (Thank you for having me!)
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About Krystle




About Me: The Short Version 
Krystle Jones was born and raised in the small, southern town of Tullahoma, Tennessee. Reading and writing have been lifelong passions of hers. In addition to being a novelist, she is also an award-winning flutist and moonlights as a voice actress. Her voice can be heard in the popular online game Alice is Dead 3. 

Links

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Her books
VEILED INNOCENCE
 
Sometimes your greatest battles are fought from within.

Lianora has never placed much stock in the gods or in the lore of the land. She especially never believed the legends that spoke of a lost ancient magic, a magic woven from the fabric of people’s souls. So when she discovers the teardrop necklace, she thinks it to be nothing special – until the visions begin, horrific glimpses of an approaching evil, mingled with fragments of a legendary empress’ shattered past. 

Try as she might, Lianora cannot ignore the omens. As the visions worsen, she finds herself internally battling a shadowy voice that seems bent on consuming her whole. When tragedy strikes her home, she is forced to flee and team up with Vishka, a beautiful, fierce warrior shrouded in mystery, and Rowan, a brooding young knight. Together, the reluctant allies must find a way to conquer the darkness threatening to overtake the land of Eresea, and Lianora will have to come to terms with the destiny she never wanted.
VEILED INNOCENCE
 
THE SCARLET DAGGER
 
The strength of Sloane’s heart is about to be put to the ultimate test. 

After the Eclipse – the night vampires began openly slaughtering human victims – everything changed. Out of fear, the government salvaged what remained of the human population and enclosed them in massive, security-laden cities called White Sectors, while marking the vampire infested territory as Red Sectors.

When seventeen-year-old Sloane McAllister’s twin brother disappears, she seems to be the only one who thinks he isn’t dead, and vows to stop at nothing to find him. Gathering her courage, she braves the Red Sector to search for clues to his whereabouts. By chance, she encounters Aden, a handsome, charismatic vampire with a hidden agenda. He turns Sloane against her will, and whisks her away to his underground city. Enemies quickly become friends as Sloane struggles against her attraction to Aden, and resists her growing loyalties to the creatures that ruined her life. But the vampires themselves are the least of her problems. The city is harboring a devastating secret, one that could change the tide of the war and threaten to destroy everything Sloane has come to believe in.
THE SCARLET DAGGER

A WHITE SO RED
 
Take back what is yours.

Seventeen-year-old Snow’s life changed forever the night her stepmother, the Queen, sent her huntsman to cut out her heart. Fleeing for her life, Snow runs to the Silver Forest, a place as dangerous as it is enchanting, and begins an adventure she could never have dreamed.

With no one at her side but a rowdy band of carnivorous dwarves and an arrogant, rogue prince who is too handsome for his own good, Snow must confront the challenge that’s been laid before her: Kill the Queen and take back the kingdom that should have been hers.

But if she is to succeed, Snow will have to tap into a powerful, ancient magic, one that may have been sleeping inside her all along.
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown10/11/12, 5:06 AM

    New to your books.. sounds great !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Krystle10/20/12, 1:45 AM

    Hi, Alison! Thank you. I write to entertain, so I hope they can take your mind off "real life" for a while. =)

    ReplyDelete

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