Popping Bubbles

 

My Thursday Thirteen this week is a little different.  Instead of  13 bits of randomosity, I would like to introduce you to someone who, over the past year, has gone from being a person I knew on the internet to a real life friend who I value dearly.  I consider her a mentor and an inspiration in my writing, my soon to be career field and the way I want to live my life.  So, without further gushing, I present to you Claudia Hall Christian! 

Do you see those little buttons on my sidebar? Denver Cereal and The Fey?  Claudia wrote them both and they are fantastic.   Today she is embarking on a one month tour of the blogosphere to promote The Fey and I was lucky enough to get to ask her a few questions. Before you read them though, let me tell you about my introduction to Alexandra Hargreaves, the main character from The Fey.

I received a private plurk from Claudia asking if I would be kind enough to read and review a book she was in the final stages of writing/editing.  I said of course, send it on down! A few days later, a white three ring binder arrived. I will be very honest, when I first opened it, I thought “What if I don’t like it? How will I tell Claudia it’s not my cup of tea?”  Within the first 10 pages I knew my fears were unfounded.  The Fey is a woman’s thriller that grabs you tight and won’t let go. I finished it and IMMEDIATELY began begging for the next book in the series!  

Enough of my fawning, let’s hear Claudia tell you about The Fey in her own words…. 

1.     Many of my readers know you, but lots of them are probably new to the world of your writing, how would you best describe The Fey for them?

 At it’s most basic level, The Fey is about a young woman, Alexandra Hargreaves, who was cruising along in her life. She had a wonderful job, a great team of people to work with, a handsome devoted husband and a wonderful home. In the wink of an eye, everything changes. We meet her at the moment of that change. And everything just gets worse.

 2.     Your main character, Alex, shares a lot of character traits with you. She is strong, independent and driven, but her career field and yours are so different. How did you come up with the idea for the Fey?

 I had a dream where Alex’s mother, Rebecca Hargreaves, sat on the bed next to me. Every night for over a week, she’d arrive and with a flip of her hear begin talking about her family. I couldn’t sleep or eat until I started writing it down. That’s how the first edition of the Fey came to be.

 3.     The Fey and your other fantastic book, Denver Cereal, are both set in your beautiful city of Denver.  Does that make it easier or more difficult to write about the places your characters live and the events that happen to them?

 I haven’t noticed a difference between writing about where I live and where things happen. For example, many of the key scenes in The Fey happen in Paris, France. While I’ve been to Paris, I am certainly not an expert.

 The characters, and their actions, lead me from place to place. The hardest part for me is to let them do what they need to do rather than attempt to control their actions.

 4.     How did you find so much information about the military? Did you have contacts or is it all the brilliance of your imagination?

 I used a variety of sources. Certainly, Wikipedia is fabulous. Over the course of my life, I’ve known a lot of people who’ve served in the armed forces. These people’s added to the texture of The Fey by adding quirky details of military life. For example, Chapter Seven begins with Alex telling Erin stories about peeing from helicopters. This story came from a conversation with a female Navy SEAL. Imagine, how do women pee from helicopters? The flights are long. The helicopters don’t have toilets aboard.

 5.     I am salivating waiting for the sequel to The Fey. Any hope that it will be a long running series or do you have a set number of books and stories about Alex in mind?

 Thank you for being excited about the series. The second book, Learning to Stand, is currently in its final revisions. The third book, Who I Am, is in first draft form. There are eight total books outlined. However, as long as these characters have something to say, I’m happy to write about them. They are fun and interesting. I don’t mind having them hang around my head. 

6.     I know several people who have read both books. What kind of feedback do you get from your readers?

 I’m always interested in what people think or feel about my writing. The Fey has had truly wonderful reviews. 

Honestly, I was very worried about reviews from women with military background or in active service. Although we had over twenty early readers, we did not preview the Fey among women in the military. You can’t imagine my relief when their response was positive. And it was overwhelmingly positive. One women sent the book immediately, in her words, “to the sand” – which means Iraq. I can’t think of a bigger complement.

 7.     You didn’t print The Fey with a major publisher and the books are not available at major retailers.  How do you spread the word about your books and make sure people know they are out there available for purchase?

 Every book is marketed person to person, one book at a time. I’ve been fortunate to participate in a number of online forums, such as Plurk, Facebook and Twitter. Plurk, in particular, draws wonderfully supportive people who have helped to market the books for me. I also have used basic web marketing.

 And, I am now launching my first ever blog tour! 

This summer, I’m beginning a few in person book signings and readings at small local bookstores. This will be a new and exciting experience for me.

 8.     How did you decide to start writing? What was your first story about?

 Reading, and story telling, was my childhood coping mechanism. Because schizophrenia runs in my family, story writing was not highly valued out of fear that it would lead to insanity. Most of my stories were not kept or destroyed.

 9.     You are, among many other things, a beekeeper.  Will you ever write a book about someone who keeps the little buzzies?

 Alex, and her identical twin Max, keep honeybees. The honeybees are one of the themes that run through the Alex the Fey series. Also, Delphie, the psychic in Denver Cereal, keeps bees. 

10. If you had to describe Alex in fifty words or less, how would you do it?

 Hard working, loyal, loving, kind, generous, willing, mysterious, intelligent, complex, capable, relational, confident, strong, fragile hearted, womanly, cold and calculating when necessary, warm and loving to family and friends, attractive, wounded, monozygotic male/female twin, funny, playful, popular, deadly, bright, family oriented, Catholic, unique, fairy, someone you would want to know.

 11. You are on a month long virtual book tour through the blogosphere, how did you decide to embark on such an adventure?

 I wanted to find ways to introduce The Fey to more readers. I get a huge thrill out of people reading my work. Hopefully, the blog tour will introduce more readers to The Fey and the Alex the Fey thriller series.

 12. While we’re here, I want to give a happy little shout out to your other book, Denver Cereal! It’s very different from The Fey.  Was it difficult to write two very different stories concurrently?

 I enjoy writing and these characters are really great. It’s a delight to see what they are doing. As a serial romantic fiction, Denver Cereal continues a chapter a week. The hardest thing is keeping up with the schedule. The Fey  and the Alex the Fey thriller series are novels with discrete beginnings, middles and ends. The biggest challenge for the Alex the Fey thriller series is keeping the novels in the foreground when the serial fiction has such pressing deadlines.

 13. I’m the first stop on your tour.  Where can my readers find you next if they want to see more great information about you and The Fey?

 The Fey is serialized at AlextheFey.com. The novel will run through the end of the year, then will be removed. Learning to Stand will take it’s place in February, 2010. The Fey is also available at Amazon. If you use our store, feel free to use this code: X569JRXZ for a special Popping Bubbles ten percent discount.

 The best place to stalk me is either at Plurk or on my blog, On-a-limb.com. Tomorrow, the blog tour continues at Devyl Gyrl

 Thank you so much for your time, interest and generosity, Perpstu.

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Go ahead and leave me some comment love!  One person will be chosen at random (probably by a number drawn from a bowl by a five year old boy) to receive a copy of The Fey.  The rest of you can start clicking and buy your own copy!  Don’t forget to use Claudia’s discount!

 

 

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