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Friday, September 26, 2014

An Interview With Author, Joann Buchanan

An Interview With Author, Joann Buchanan


Where are you from?
I grew up in San Diego California, but I currently live in Russell, KS
Why do you write?
I write what comes to mind. I have a shifter series called The Children of Nox which I am finishing my last book in. I also have a romance series called The Halo Saga. The first book in that series is called Shine. The last thing I’m working on is a steampunk fantasy series called Empires Lost. The first book in that series is finished and waiting for me to reread and rewrite it.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I wrote my first novella when I was 13 years old. I have always been a writer.
What genre do you typically write?
All kinds of genres. I just let the story tell itself and when it’s finished, then I know what genre it is. I don’t set out to write in any particular genre.
Do you feel like you have a specific writing style?
I feel I have my own voice. If that comes with a particular style, then yes. It’s not something that happened over night though. It’s something I have been developing since I was a teen.
How long does it usually take you to write a book?
The average time for a first draft is about three months. That doesn’t mean it’s finished, but the idea of the story is.
What do you do to conquer writer’s block?
I read. Sometimes stepping out of my own world into another author’s helps me take a look at my own work. I also work through writers block. Sooner or later something will happen and it will drag me out of it. I haven’t really experienced it too many times.
What can you tell us about your favorite character from your book?
In Shine, I love Elizabeth because she is a normal girl trying to make sense of this world she has been accidentally brought into.
What actor or actress would you like to see play your character in the movie adaptation
I would love to see Elizabeth played by Mila Kunis because I think she could pull off the feisty vulnerable character.
Who is your favorite author and what is it about them that inspires you?
There are too many that I love to narrow it down to one. Frank Herbert, Stephen King, David B. Coe. 

What book are you reading now?

I have recently discovered Melissa McPhail. Her book Cephrael’s Hand is like reading poetry in motion. I love how she uses the English language and how it draws me in. 

What are your current projects?

I have three chapters left to write in After Dark, and I’ve started working on Corona, book 2 of The Halo Saga. 

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

I know this sounds weird, but I wouldn’t change anything. The reason is because from one book to another, I can see my own personal growth. Besides if I did that, nothing would ever come out…lol. 

Can you share a little of your work with us?

From AFTER DARK book 3 in The Children of Nox series.
Fire burns the ice frozen by time.  Embers made of passions flames have become the death that needs covered in the dirt from whence we came.  There are truths hidden in the darkness. They lay dormant, waiting for that single beam of light to shine on them. They are the freedoms we all long for and the balance we all seek and yet they are nevermore and almost lovers. They are the two sided coin of the bastard free will, the brother of that temptress called love.  If that poisonous spell called love danced across the meadows, I would spit on it and walk away.  I would be ignorant to the pain of endless nights and no longer would I live with a shadow over my head. Did I love him? I did and that is the shame I must endure.
The abomination I allowed to be set upon the world haunts me and now the Time of Three is here. I should have let love fall, crash to the ground and burn in the fires of my beating heart. I gave way for the abomination. I lit the flames and now I must watch and wait to see if the world will fall to darkness because of my own transgressions. If there ever was a curse for the gardens that grow in this the beating hearts of mine then it would be sewn with the weeds of regret. It would be the absence of joy and the single loneliness I must cling to in order for sanity to rein in my soul. 
I have walked the world with the hope that each night that fallacy I called my lover and husband wouldn’t be set free from the cages that surrounded him. Oh wondrous night and fate filled light, how do you greet me?  Is it with more pain or do you perhaps bring me sanctuary from the darkness of my own making?
The deep wooded forests surround the one place of joy I found during my eternal night. I have no children, death and sleep are not my friends. My arms may be empty but my heart is true and loyal to my wolves. And there, upon the mountains sit the Fates who have watched and woven the tapestries. The three of them signal that now is the time and that sweet silence is no longer an option. In this, the Time of Three, the fate of the souls will be decided. The Dream Protector, the Stained one and now the Child of Light is to be born.  Will they have the same fate as my dear sweet Lillyanna?
I can still remember the way her tiny hand felt when it wrapped around my fingers. There was goodness and innocence in her. She was my light, my soul, killed in a rage by the demon Ash. And now, the regret I called my lover is free to do as he wills. That BASTARD! I know what he seeks. Am I powerless to do nothing about it? Am I not the goddess of the night? Do I not see in the darkest corners of all the universe? How then is it possible that in this time I am helpless? I know I have missed something. I feel it in the night’s bitter air. There is a piece of the puzzle that remains hidden. If I didn’t, then how could his heart have turned so cold to the embers of our love?
I sob as tears stream down my face. I know the decemberist of days are still ahead. I see the threads and long to pull just one to unravel the past and change the present. Damn the Fates for guarding the tapestries so well. If I designed my own fate, then did I also map out the fates of those I have grown to love so much?
 ~~Nox, Goddess of the Night.

From Corona book 2 of The Halo Saga
The soul remembers what the mind can’t.

Rule number 1 To become part of eternity you must be willing to sacrifice everything.
 Rule number 2 You will be tested, body, mind and soul.
Rule number 3 From this point on there is no turning back.

Prologue
When I was a little girl, I lived in the country once. Every night I would lay on a blanket under the stars and stare up at the sky. Those stars held such magic and comfort for me. I didn’t look up at them and see just a bunch of twinkling lights a billion light years away. To me, those stars were filled with people. They were my friends, my confidants and yes from time to time, they even held the love of my life. When I looked up at the night’s sky I saw nothing but the possibility that things would get better, I was not alone in the world.
 There were so few moments in my childhood where I felt safe and happy—but those nights, when the moon was full and the stars shined down on me; those were the happiest of my life. It was in those stars I made my wish—it was the same thing I wished every night—that one day I would find someone and fall in love. I didn’t want the surface kind of love that most people settled for in life, I wanted the real kind of love that lasted forever. When I was a child, I didn’t know the stars listened. I didn’t know they would send me Samuel…but I believed. And I have to think now, that’s all that mattered.
The day Samuel and I met changed my life…it changed my soul. When we met I was nothing more than a simple human woman trying to make it through life. I loved what I did for a living and I had a few friends, but I was missing that one special person in my life. Who knew the stars listened? Who knew they would send me an angel? And how did they know I would want to become one so we could spend forever together?
If the stars do listen—and I believe they do, then I would like to give them a special thanks for bringing my angel Samuel into my life. I would like to ask them what took so long. Last but not least, I would like others to believe that when you make a wish with all your heart and you believe anything is possible—then it is.


Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

There are some worlds I hate leaving behind. I know without a doubt The Halo Saga is going to be the hardest for me when the series ends because it is such a beautiful story about love, family and sacrifice. 

Do you have any advice for other writers?

My advice is simple, read every day and write every day, even if it’s only for half an hour, take the time to do it. 

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Thank you for taking the journeys with me. I have enjoyed writing every book I have out and love hearing from you as well. 

Author Bio:
Joann H. Buchanan is a mother of five children, and has a wonderful husband who supports her passion for the written word. She owns a small audiobook company named Empire voices. Empire Voices creates audiobooks.
You can stop off at www.empirevoices.com for more information.
Her upcoming releases include Shine, After Dark book 3 in The Children of Nox series, and Empires Lost book 1 Keleigh.
She is in two anthologies, Horror in Bloom and Hidden in Your World.
For more information about After Dark, or the blog tour for After Dark please visit www.joannhbuchanan.blogspot.com, or www.facebook.com/JoannHBuchanan. To arrange a book signing or interview, contact her representatives at 541-813-1113 or joannhbuchanan@charter.net
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EXCERPT:
After that, I took the memory card from my camera and put it into the computer to pull up the images. One by one they came up. First were the pictures of the small trees with the beautiful yellow hues of light sparkling behind them. Across the sky, grey clouds formed and rays of light shined through them. I flipped through the photos, taking a quick look at all of them. As I reached the end of the file, I was sure I had imagined everything I had witnessed. Then the last three pictures showed him coming into view. Magical, miraculous, my jaw dropped as I pressed print on the small printer. A lifetime passed while I waited for the printer to finish spitting out the photos. With a sigh, I paced back and forth a little. Waiting wasn’t something I did well.
I looked at the pictures without blinking. I had captured the ray of light with Samuel in it. His body appeared like nothing more than an orb, or could even have been explained away. In the next picture, his body formed, almost ghostly in appearance. Finally, in the last one, Samuel landed on the ground. His wings had disappeared and the man I met was there.
I had seen it happen; it was real. It was proof enough to me that I wasn’t some crazed lunatic. Samuel had come from the sky. Questions still lingered in my mind. What was he doing there? How did I get to my car? There was nothing on the file after the last three images I’d printed. Fear grew inside me the more I thought about what could have happened on the way to my car. I couldn’t quite picture it, but I knew Samuel had saved me. I didn’t know what from, and I didn’t know why, but he had. Why couldn’t I remember?

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