Interview & Giveaway: Joann I. Martin Sowles author of Laney (The Brookehaven Vampires, #1)

Thank you to Joann for stopping by our blog today!

1. How did you come up with the concept for this book?

Well, I have a vampire obsession... I love them! But I wasn’t getting what I really wanted out of what I was reading. While I was reading anything and everything I could get my hands on that involved vampires, Laney’s story started to form. With everything I read she grew a little stronger until I couldn’t put it off any longer, I had to get her story out of my head and bring her to life.

 2. How did you come up with the names for the characters?
I came up with the names several different ways. I had a tough time deciding on Oliver and Oscar’s names – I called them Good him & Bad him for the longest time – but after trying out several different names I finally settled on Oliver and Oscar. I’ve always loved the name Delaney, so Laney was easy. As for the other names, it’s usually a name that I come across and like or the name just comes to me when I’m creating the characters.


3. How much are you and the characters alike?
I think there are aspects of me in some of my characters but I don’t think we are too much alike. Although, Felix and I do share and unhealthy obsession with candy. 

4. Do you read a lot and what are you reading now?
I go through phases with reading. Sometimes I read a ton of books in a short period of time and other times months will go by without me reading anything. I’m just getting over one of those spells of not reading. I recently had the pleasure of reading Fighting Destiny by Brittany Booker. The book has not been released yet so it was pretty exciting to get a sneak peek. I am currently reading Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love by Trisha Telep & I’m also reading Lure of the Vampire by Bertena Varney.

5. What made you decide to go vampires?
That’s simple, as I mentioned before I have an obsession. LOL! I’ve always been fascinated with vampires and most mythical creatures so it was just natural for me to write about vampires.


6. How did the cover come about?
The cover was a challenge in the beginning. I knew what I wanted and was trying to express that to my husband, who created the cover art and had never done anything like that before. After several attempts and nothing looking quite right we headed down to Barnes & Noble to check out book covers. It was Kami Garcia’s Beautiful Creatures that caught my eye. I love the cover of that book and the trees inspired Laney’s cover. And with that my husband went to work on the cover once again. He came in late one night while I was sleeping to wake me so he could show me what he had done. Very groggily I followed him to his computer where he showed me the cover he had created and the rest is history.


7. So what is your next project and when is it due out?
Darkness, book 2 of Laney’s story is due out anytime. There has been a bit of delay with the production and release but we hope to have it out very soon.


8. Do you have a daytime job or are you a full time writer?
I am a homeschooling mom of 2, ages 10 & almost 12, and I’d have to say that’s a pretty big job. I have very little free time and when I do find some, I try to get some writing done.


9. How did you get into writing novels and were you worried about people’s reactions to your books?
I honestly didn’t believe I could write a book. I wanted to for years but I just didn’t think I was capable of actually writing an entire novel, but I had to give it a try. I constantly told myself that it would be better to try and fail than to regret never giving it a chance. And yes, I was very nervous what people would think of my writing and I still do from time-to-time, but considering Laney was just a finalist in Dan Poynter’s Global eBook awards I think I did alright with my first story.

10. One last thing, do you collect anything personally?
Books. I love books! I am somewhat of a bibliophile. I got a nook for my birthday the beginning of the year and thought that would curb my book buying but it didn’t seem to help. If anything, it made it worse. Now I rather than just buying an abundance of printed books I’m constantly collecting ebooks as well. I guess it’s not a bad addiction to have.

Thank you for the interview and to all who took the time to stop by and read it. I invite all of you to visit my website where you can view the first 3 chapters of both Laney & Darkness: www.brookehavenvampires.com ~ Joann I. Martin Sowles

Enter the Giveaway of a SIGNED copy of Laney HERE! Ends 10/20

Where to find Joann:
http://www.brookehavenvampires.com
Joann on Goodreads
Joann on Twitter