As a special (bit late) Vanlentines day treat I have a wonderful Intreview with an amazing author........ Mrs. C.C Hunter!! She was kind enough to answer my questions and she wrote some truely great answers so without further ado...
1. I love your Shadow Fall's series and I wondered when writing a series does it get easier with more books since your so familiar with the characters or does it get harder to keep the story
going?
C.C. : First, thank you so much for having me visit your blog. Bloggers have a special place in my heart. Now, to answer your question . . .
In a way it gets easier, because, yes, I do know my characters better. But that doesn't mean I don't sometimes write my way into a corner. I've gotten Kylie into trouble and I didn't know how she would get out. So, it takes me sometime to come up with a solution. But the further I get into a series, the more my characters take form in my head and "talk" to me. More times than you would think, my characters tell me what they will do. One of the hardest parts for me is to end a series. I could keep going forever and exploring other characters. Chosen at Nightfall was supposed to be the final book, but I feel there is more to tell. So, on April 2nd, I'm releasing a novella only available as an ebook, Saved at Sunrise, which is about Della and Steve F.R.U. mission. Then, I'm going to continue the Shadow Falls series by writing more books from Della's point of view. After all, she still has a lot of stuff to work out, so her story is far from over.
2. I'm sure there are a lot but what are the top 5 authors that inspire you?
C.C.: Gosh, I have so many favorite authors that have influenced and inspired me. It is hard to name names, but I'll try. Authors like Sophie Jordan, Lori Wilde, Joy Preble, Susan Muller, and Mary Lindsey are all friends of mine, and they have all inspired me in one way or another. Plus, I read all the time. There are so many brilliant authors out there, it is hard not to be inspired by them.
3. Was writing your first choice job or did you at one point envision yourself doing something else?
C.C.: No, writing wasn't my first job, and it took a long time to even admit it to myself that I wanted to be a writer. It was one of the scariest—and hardest—things I've ever done. Now, don’t get me wrong—I love writing. More than that, I love telling stories. I think it’s part of being from the Southern US. But writing those stories down on paper, and obeying all of those grammar rules they taught us in school, well, that was the part that scared me. And I'll let you in on a little secret—it still scares me. You see, I’m dyslexic. For me, that means I’m a terrible speller and often I get words and sentences backwards. But when I was in my early twenties and Hubby asked me what kind of a career I wanted to pursue, I told him I wanted to be a writer. And I never regretted taking that leap of faith, either, although it was, as I said, the hardest, and scariest, thing I’ve ever had to do. But, if I wasn't a writer, I'd probably be a teacher, since I love teaching writing classes.
4. How would you describe your writing style?
C.C.: I’m not a plotter. I don't have charts and outlines of scenes. I really do write to discover the story just as my readers read to learn the story. When I first started writing Born at Midnight, I didn’t know who the ghost was going to be. To me, writing books is very much like getting to know someone. You don’t meet someone and in one, two or three weeks get to know them. It take weeks, months, and sometimes years before you really know what makes someone tick. While I always have a handle on the moral character of a character, I don’t know everything they will face during the course of the story. And the characterization of real and fictional people will depend a lot on what lessons he/she learns through the course of the story. So while my plans don’t change, sometimes my characters become smarter, more frightened, or more aware of different issues as the story unfolds.
5. Which Shadow Falls book so far has been your favorite to write?
C.C.: That's a very hard question. I have loved writing all of the Shadow Falls books. Some were definitely harder to write than others, but I still enjoyed writing them. I even loved writing Whispers at Moonrise and Chosen at Nightfall despite the fact that I cries a lot while writing them. But I laughed a lot, too. And that makes to all worth it. So, trying to choose one book over another is like trying to pick my favorite child. I love them all, but maybe for different reasons. :)
Thanks for having me and I'd like to leave you with my motto: Laugh, Love, Read.
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