A couple months back I was lucky enough to meet this wonderful woman. And instantly fell in love. She's like a long lost sister and I am SO happy to have met her. I adopted her immediately, and no she didn't have any choice in the matter.
So follow along as I harass my kith and learn more about her as an author! I made her responses green cause she likes that color, and it makes me smile.
Hello Julia-kith! Welcome to my blog, say hello to everyone!
Salutations to you all! Thanks for joining me today and thank you Bekah-kith for the kind words and for hosting.
Always! I love talking to you. And even better when we can talk shop. I've read Angelborn, obviously, but I have held back my questions until now. Let's start with, What got you to start writing in the first place?
I literally learned how to write and thought to my little self, "What now? Oh I can write a story!" So I wrote a fairy tale and never stopped writing. All growing up I wrote, and then when I got to college, I learned I could major in English and Creative Writing. That's when I decided to be an author.
OMG that is too cute and sounds just like you. You've been published before this book. What other publications have you been in?
I've been lucky to be in a few anthologies. Two short stories of mine are in Tales from Our Write Side, which was my first publication. Then my dark fairytale about a twin princess who doesn't want to share was published in Mirrors and Thorns. And four of my poems are featured in Primal Elements which I was lucky enough to be editor for so I got to know those poems closely (and highly recommend them). My next short story pub will be in Glass and Ashes which comes out in November.
And now your Angelborn series is starting. The first book is aptly named Angelborn where Ginny first learns about her heritage. Where did you get the idea for this series?
I was reading a story that portrayed angels as menacing and disdaining of humans and I thought to myself aren't they supposed to be compassionate? What if an angel fell in love with humanity? Then Ginny, his daughter, came to me. This angel was told to have children to protect humans from demons and here was her story.
It sounds super cool when you put it that way! And you did a super fun twist on your demons too. Wanna share a little something about them? That way you can decide how much to say without giving away spoilers.
Well my favorite part of what I imagined for demons were the changelings. We have our myth of vampires. They are super strong and fast, have regenerative powers, and never age. My mythology is they are actually changelings. But they don't drink human blood. They need demon blood to survive and become demons when they die.
So fun! And what do they look like?
They look like us but with black eyes and flushed red cheeks when they have fresh blood and are ready for a fight.
Creeeeeeeeeeeeepy! I love it! And you followed actual mythology for some of this too. Including the names. How much research did you have to do to write this?
This was actually the first story I had to do research for (it's gotten worse as the series continues haha), but I found all of it interesting. That made it a lot easier to go through the process. I researched angels and demons and the different names I use in the series. Samyaza was a big research point for me and the basis of my character Shemiazaz.
And your angel?
I didn't want to base him off of a specific angel. I guess I didn't want to be disrespectful to those who believe in angels by portraying a certain one in my specific way. But I really enjoyed imagining Grace and felt inspired to write him the way I did.
I approve of this method. That was really smart of you. And the hilariously awkward relationship between Ginny and her best friend?
Well I think Ginny has the best awkward parts of me (haha) and so that comes out naturally in her relationships. But luckily those in her life accept it and roll with it.
Actually, you have a lot of realistic and amusing relationships in your book. Including everyone at the Alliance House who are of the same blood line but not really related any longer. They all act and interact as people that grew up with each other though and have at least a bond, even if they don't always get along. More like, "yeah that guy's a black sheep" instead of "that guy's a raging asshole". Was it hard keeping all those different relationships straight in your head?
Thank you! Actually characters and relationships are my favorite part to write and read in a book. And I think they come more naturally to me than other aspects of writing.
For sure you are good at it. I swear some of those parts felt like watching into a family gathering. Especially the meals. And the cocky, protective, sweet, older brothers who always had a reason or excuse for anything.
But you also set up the fight scenes perfectly, and as I was discussing with another fan, you're foreshadowing is sneaky and on point and I love it. My third read through, yes I've read Angelborn three times now, it finally dawned on me just how sneaky it was and I started all over again to keep an eye out for that. Do you put it down that way in your first draft? Do you know what is going to be important later? Or do you back up and add those things in after you realize it will be needed later?
I'm an outliner. I can't begin until I know my characters and my scene list and have made all my connections and discoveries. I used to be a pantser but then I realized I never finished anything because I never knew where I was going next. For Angelborn this was the first time I plotted first and once I was getting ideas for this book and even later in the series, the connections and foreshadowing started to make sense.
Ah! One of you crazy planning people. No wonder I had to ask about it. I have always failed at plotting. I make good plots, then write stories that have nothing to do with that. And you already have the second book all plotted up and written, right?
Yes! I am and I do haha! The sequel, Heavenfire, is currently in the editing process and getting ready for its release April 18 of next year.
Which is also going to be amazing everyone. I am sneaky so I have already grabbed a sneak peak on that. Julia is there anything else you want to share with my readers?
Yes! You can find me at www.facebook.com/hijinkswriter www.instagram.com/hijinkswriter www.twitter.com/hijinkswriter hijinksblog.wordpress.com
And thank you so much for joining me!
So follow along as I harass my kith and learn more about her as an author! I made her responses green cause she likes that color, and it makes me smile.
Hello Julia-kith! Welcome to my blog, say hello to everyone!
Salutations to you all! Thanks for joining me today and thank you Bekah-kith for the kind words and for hosting.
Always! I love talking to you. And even better when we can talk shop. I've read Angelborn, obviously, but I have held back my questions until now. Let's start with, What got you to start writing in the first place?
I literally learned how to write and thought to my little self, "What now? Oh I can write a story!" So I wrote a fairy tale and never stopped writing. All growing up I wrote, and then when I got to college, I learned I could major in English and Creative Writing. That's when I decided to be an author.
OMG that is too cute and sounds just like you. You've been published before this book. What other publications have you been in?
I've been lucky to be in a few anthologies. Two short stories of mine are in Tales from Our Write Side, which was my first publication. Then my dark fairytale about a twin princess who doesn't want to share was published in Mirrors and Thorns. And four of my poems are featured in Primal Elements which I was lucky enough to be editor for so I got to know those poems closely (and highly recommend them). My next short story pub will be in Glass and Ashes which comes out in November.
And now your Angelborn series is starting. The first book is aptly named Angelborn where Ginny first learns about her heritage. Where did you get the idea for this series?
I was reading a story that portrayed angels as menacing and disdaining of humans and I thought to myself aren't they supposed to be compassionate? What if an angel fell in love with humanity? Then Ginny, his daughter, came to me. This angel was told to have children to protect humans from demons and here was her story.
It sounds super cool when you put it that way! And you did a super fun twist on your demons too. Wanna share a little something about them? That way you can decide how much to say without giving away spoilers.
Well my favorite part of what I imagined for demons were the changelings. We have our myth of vampires. They are super strong and fast, have regenerative powers, and never age. My mythology is they are actually changelings. But they don't drink human blood. They need demon blood to survive and become demons when they die.
So fun! And what do they look like?
They look like us but with black eyes and flushed red cheeks when they have fresh blood and are ready for a fight.
Creeeeeeeeeeeeepy! I love it! And you followed actual mythology for some of this too. Including the names. How much research did you have to do to write this?
This was actually the first story I had to do research for (it's gotten worse as the series continues haha), but I found all of it interesting. That made it a lot easier to go through the process. I researched angels and demons and the different names I use in the series. Samyaza was a big research point for me and the basis of my character Shemiazaz.
And your angel?
I didn't want to base him off of a specific angel. I guess I didn't want to be disrespectful to those who believe in angels by portraying a certain one in my specific way. But I really enjoyed imagining Grace and felt inspired to write him the way I did.
I approve of this method. That was really smart of you. And the hilariously awkward relationship between Ginny and her best friend?
Well I think Ginny has the best awkward parts of me (haha) and so that comes out naturally in her relationships. But luckily those in her life accept it and roll with it.
Actually, you have a lot of realistic and amusing relationships in your book. Including everyone at the Alliance House who are of the same blood line but not really related any longer. They all act and interact as people that grew up with each other though and have at least a bond, even if they don't always get along. More like, "yeah that guy's a black sheep" instead of "that guy's a raging asshole". Was it hard keeping all those different relationships straight in your head?
Thank you! Actually characters and relationships are my favorite part to write and read in a book. And I think they come more naturally to me than other aspects of writing.
For sure you are good at it. I swear some of those parts felt like watching into a family gathering. Especially the meals. And the cocky, protective, sweet, older brothers who always had a reason or excuse for anything.
But you also set up the fight scenes perfectly, and as I was discussing with another fan, you're foreshadowing is sneaky and on point and I love it. My third read through, yes I've read Angelborn three times now, it finally dawned on me just how sneaky it was and I started all over again to keep an eye out for that. Do you put it down that way in your first draft? Do you know what is going to be important later? Or do you back up and add those things in after you realize it will be needed later?
I'm an outliner. I can't begin until I know my characters and my scene list and have made all my connections and discoveries. I used to be a pantser but then I realized I never finished anything because I never knew where I was going next. For Angelborn this was the first time I plotted first and once I was getting ideas for this book and even later in the series, the connections and foreshadowing started to make sense.
Ah! One of you crazy planning people. No wonder I had to ask about it. I have always failed at plotting. I make good plots, then write stories that have nothing to do with that. And you already have the second book all plotted up and written, right?
Yes! I am and I do haha! The sequel, Heavenfire, is currently in the editing process and getting ready for its release April 18 of next year.
Which is also going to be amazing everyone. I am sneaky so I have already grabbed a sneak peak on that. Julia is there anything else you want to share with my readers?
Yes! You can find me at www.facebook.com/hijinkswriter www.instagram.com/hijinkswriter www.twitter.com/hijinkswriter hijinksblog.wordpress.com
And thank you so much for joining me!
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