September 20, 2011

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:

Joann on Goodreads
Joann on Twitter

14 comments:

  1. How could you NOT have a Vampire obsession??? Thank you for a great interview.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  2. I really enjoyed the interview and your book looks very good. Thanks for giveaway.

    Judy
    magnolias_1[at]msn[dot]com

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  3. Great interview! I've loved vampires ever since watching Dark Shadows, with my mom, as a child!!

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  4. this sounds just like the the book i need to take the bad days away. i love all parnormal books. congrats on your first book. you got guts. i don't think i could write but always wanted to. good luck on second book joannie jscddmj[at]aol[dot]com i have to post anonymous can;t get google to work sorry

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  5. Thank you for taking the time to share this lovely interview with us and for the wonderful giveaway opportunity. Laney sounds like a great story :)

    dz59001[at]gmail[dot]com

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  6. I don't know how you find the time to write with homeschooling two kids!!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    darlenesbooknook at gmail dot com

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  7. I have been after her book for a while now. I've read is really good!

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  8. I have been really dying to read this book. I've heard great things about it! Thanks for the chance to win it!

    Courtney
    kcmelone at yahoo dot com

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  9. I hope this is an international giveaway ^^

    thanks you for the opportunity

    isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com

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  10. Great interview and I gotta say your not alone on collecting books :) I have amounted a mass amount of e-books and didn't really know how many paperbacks I had until we had to move two states away. I was in shock as I packed box after box :)

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  11. I've got a bit of a vampire obsession myself! Thanks for the interview and great giveaway!

    BellaMarie (at) tampabay . rr . com

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  12. i have an obsession for vampires too! haha i think theyre sexy ;P

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  13. great interview. I have loved vampires forever too. I think it would be impossible not to be vampire obsessed.

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  14. Joannie is my cousin and I just found out about her writing talents! I'm going to have to purchase this book soon! I enjoyed the first 3 chapters that are included on her website.

    Great job!!

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Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment! I do read every comment and appreciate them :)