Author Interview on the Queen of Teen Fiction Blog

Happy Friday! Today is Day 14 of the 28-Day Blog Challenge for Authors (halfway point! Details about the challenge are here). It's also the start of the last week of my Reading Addictions Blog Tour. Tour ends June 22 which gives you one week still to enter my giveaway for a $30 Amazon gift card and an autographed copy of First Visions. I'm also holding a giveaway on my new Facebook Page for a chance to win an Advanced Reader Copy of Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot.

Today Katie from the Queen of Teen Fiction featured me on her website. I posted the interview below, but make sure you check out her awesome blog and read her review of First Visions by clicking here.



1. Hi Heather! Where did you get the inspiration for First Visions?
It was actually based off an old story I wrote as a teenager. Most of my stories were crap and had melodramatic plotlines like teen pregnancy scares or were cheesy horror stories about virgin blood drinking vampires. However, the one particular story involved a psychic who helped find a missing child and I just expanded from there. I had actually forgotten completely about the story and when I started re-reading my old writings, it really struck me how great it would be to turn it into a series. I haven’t read too many books about psychics and I thought it would be fun area to explore. 

2. Kate is a fabulous character! Did you relate to her at all when writing First Visions?
I tried to make Kate as real as possible. Yes, she definitely has her flaws and I hope readers see she does grow a lot over the course of the novel. We’ll continue to see her grow and mature in the next book as well. But I’m a pretty sarcastic person, so you’ll definitely hear my voice come through at times. 

3. What made you choose to write for the older YA audience?
When I was in college, I had such a hard time finding books for my age group. I either had to read books about characters younger than me in high school or books about characters with “real life” problems like careers, marriage and children. I think when you’re 21, you are in this phase where you’re not a child anymore, but you may be still very reliant on your parents. I hope there will be more books that focus on this age group because it’s such an interesting time in a person’s life. 

4. There’s some great humour in First Visions. Do you think it’s important to keep a certain level of humour in a story?
I love books that can be suspenseful and still make you laugh to alleviate some of the tension. I try to think about the books that I like when writing and most of my favorites have parts that have me belly laughing. I try to inject some much needed humor when things are getting too heavy. 

5. First Visions is the first book in the series, how is book two coming along?
It’s going really great! I have an outline and a good chunk of the first draft done. In this book, we continue Jared and Kate’s story, but will also be introduced to another psychic. Kate has always wanted more control over her visions and this new psychic offers to help her. There will also be another missing persons case she’ll become involved in. 

6. What are some of your favourite YA novels?
I have a ton, but I’ll try to narrow it down: Hunger Games trilogy, Delirium series by Lauren Oliver, The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi and Fever by Lauren DeStefano. 

7. In your opinion, what is the most rewarding part of being an author.
You’re sharing these crazy little stories that occurred in your imagination with complete strangers and hoping to touch them in some way. I love to hear people’s opinions on my work and how they react to certain elements o

The Birth of My Other Baby

Today is Day Six of the 28-Day Blog Challenge for Authors and we're sharing the story behind the birth of our novel. If you're interested in participating, check out this link.

Describe how the idea for your book first came to you. Where were you? Who was the first person you told? How did they respond?


The story behind the conception of First Visions is kind of two-fold. I first wrote a story about a psychic finding a missing child when I was a teenager and recently revisited the tale. My grandmother passed away last year and since she raised me, the majority of my old writings were at her house. I was feeling very sad after her death and it made me feel nostalgic enough to want to revisit the past.

Although the psychic story was inspiring, I made a few keen observations as I re-read my old stories from my teen years:

1. We were poor and I was hungry all the time (In almost every scene of my stories someone is eating and I describe their meals in painstaking detail).


2. I had no boyfriend (I was clued in by lines like: Their lips met for the very first time. She pulled away, “I guess this means you’re my boyfriend now.” “Definitely,” he agreed eagerly.)


3. I had a flair for the melodramatic (You could count on a pregnancy scare, a teen suicide or an AIDS scare in almost every single story).

The person I likely told the first time around about my story was my cousin Dana. She’s my creative soul mate and we started writing books together as far back as middle school. We always shared each chapter after it was completed and would lavish outlandish praise on each other about how amazingly talented and witty we both were. We grew up in unfortunate circumstances and writing stories was our way to give ourselves an escape.

For weeks, my husband had to endure every cheesy line that would induce me into a fit of giggles. I have no problems making fun of myself and I thought my angst induced tales were HILARIOUS. I asked him what he thought about me giving the psychic story a go and he said the concept sounded interesting. After that first dinner at Houlihan’s where we talked about the book, he became a major sounding board for different ideas I had. He’s been such a huge source of support-I really don’t know what I’d do without him.

This is a picture of my wonderful grandmother who I really credit for taking me down this path. I know she’s out there watching over me and cheering me on.

The Literary Characters I Will Always Love

We've made it to Day Five of the 28-Day Author Blog Challenge (details are here)! Need to spend the day catching up on some of the other posts from authors. Yesterday was the hubby's birthday, so we spent the day at the shore and even had a Sammi and Ronnie spotting from the Jersey Shore. Of course, the husband would rather have died than sign a waiver to go into The Shore Store, so it was simply a glimpse from afar. Anywho, onto the topic of the day:

Who is your favorite literary character? With which literary character do you most relate?

I would say my favorite literary characters would have to be Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. First of all, they have probably the greatest literary romance of all time. Some of my favorite book quotes come from Darcy declaring his love for Elizabeth: “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” and “I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

Plus, Elizabeth is such a likable character. She’s clever and virtuous and I love how she can tell off Darcy even as she’s falling for him. With many one-note characters in the book, she’s a breath of fresh air. Other favorite characters from classic novels include Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind and Benjy from the Sound and the Fury.

Although I love these characters, I don’t exactly find them easy to relate to. Believe it or not, the character that comes to mind is Stephanie Plum from the Janet Evanovich series. She’s a Jersey girl like me with the story actually taking place in my neighboring town of Trenton. She’s sarcastic and has a wicked sense of humor. She’s dating a cop while I’m married to one. Wow with all of these similarities maybe I should think about going into bond enforcement and befriend a prostitute.

Great topic to think about it! I’m excited to see who was chosen by other challenge participants. I’m certain Elizabeth and Darcy must have made a few other lists.

Books That Change the Way I Write

Today is Day Four of the 28 Day Blog Challenge for Authors (More details here) and it's been such a pleasure to read other writers' thoughts on these topics. The prompt for today is:

How do the things you read impact your writing? What do you love to read? What do you avoid reading at all costs? How would your writing change if you read more of the things you typically avoid?

Since I write mostly YA, I do tend to read a large number of novels from that genre. I often follow the trends in YA fiction to stay in tune with what’s in style right now. For instance, I read a lot of the vampire novels after Twilight became popular and a ton of dystopian series after The Hunger Games became a hit.


Although YA books are usually the top of my list, I do like a change from time to time. During these periods, I typically enjoy a romance novel, a thriller or a true crime book.

A few favorite books from these areas include Columbine by David Cullen, Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane, Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella, A Time to Kill by John Grisham, the Heiress by Jude Deveraux and Lothaire by Kresley Cole. These types of novels are astoundingly helpful for creating suspenseful and romantic scenes in my Second Sight series.


I used to loathe science fiction novels. I could never get into them and pretty much avoided them at all costs. But after reading one of my favorite novels The Host, I’ve grown to have a much better appreciation of them. Across the Universe by Beth Revis is an example of another sci-fi novel that I enjoyed. This urged me to not be narrow-minded and give certain genres a shot. You may end up surprised over the amazing books you stumble upon when sampling something new.

The only books now that I won’t really pick up are political writings and erotica. I’m guessing maybe my works would be much more scandalous if I did. I have very little interests in politics and I’m way too much of a cornball to read anything erotic. I’d probably childishly giggle during every sex scene.

I’m always on the look out for the next exciting read to inspire me and my writings. Can’t wait to see what other challenge followers have to say about this intriguing question!

The Writers I Want to Be Like When I Grow Up-28-Day Blog Challenge

This is the third day of the 28-Day Blog Challenge for Authors (learn more about participating here) and the prompt is:

Who are the writers you most admire? Who are your writing mentors?

There are so many great writers that I admire. I try to read as much as possible and I think reading so many different genres and authors really help me as an author. I can get inspired as much out of a piece of classic literature as a trashy romance novel. I’ve also realized that opening up myself to indie writers and not only purchasing books from mainstream publishers has really turned me on to some amazing talents in the business. Here are a few writers whose careers I wouldn't mind having.

Addison Moore

Have you read the Celestra series from Addison Moore? If not, you’re missing out on a truly amazing indie talent. She self-publishes the series and it has some of the funniest lines I’ve read in YA paranormal fiction. I love how much humor she injects into so many of the scenes, even when the characters are facing perilous situations.

Suzanne Collins

In the way that Stephenie Meyer is responsible for bringing on the vampire craze in YA fiction, Collins inspired a slew of dystopian young adult novels. Although I’m fan of several other authors who have written dystopian themed series (Lauren Oliver, Ally Condie and Lauren DeStefano) I think no one does it better than Collins.

EL James

Okay, I’m not exactly a fan of the erotica author’s Fifty Shades of Grey, but I do think that a number one author who got her start writing fan fiction is admirable. I know a lot of authors have been hating on her and saying she’s made her success off of stealing someone else’s hard work, but I think that’s an unfair characterization. Anastasia and Christian are barely recognizable as Edward and Bella. There are so many works out there much more derivative in my opinion. 

Getting Mad Writing Skills-28-Day Blog Challenge

Today is Day Two of the 28-Day Blog Challenge for Authors (learn more about participating here) and the prompt is:

What kinds of classes, programs, or workshops have you taken to hone your skill as a writer? What sorts of exercises did/do you use to improve your craft? Have you ever taught a writing class or workshop?


As I've talked about before, most of my writing experience involves magazine and web articles. I graduated college with a Bachelor's degree in English and took a few journalism classes including magazine writing and desktop publishing. The formal style of writing I learned in my college courses may have helped with my freelance writing assignments, but it has a tendency to get away with my works of fiction. I'm trying to loosen up my writing and have a more relaxed and natural style.

I did take one creative writing course during my senior year. We were given weekly prompts along with being asked to share a short story for peer review. The course was taught by an adjunct who published a book that I read, but hated. He was an okay teacher, but was more into chewing the fat than offering up much helpful advice. This  class was my first time sharing any fictional writing with strangers, so obviously I was racked with anxiety for weeks before my critique. The short story I created was called Misconception and it involved a woman who lost a baby after she found out her husband was cheating on her. Most of the feedback I received was helpful and for the most part, positive. At the time, I was upset when someone said it had a Lifetime movie ending, but looking back I now realize it was pretty accurate.

I haven't taken a workshop yet, but I have been looking into a few. I live in Jersey which makes New York and Philadelphia based workshops pretty accessible. Unfortunately with the two adorable maniacs I'm raising, I have to use more online options to improve my craft. I usually can type in free writing exercises into Google and find a tremendous number of blogs that provide examples. Free writing has been a huge help when I've gotten stuck during certain scenes in my story.

I'm interested to see what other authors participating in the challenge have done. Since I'm a newbie to novel writing it would be great to hear about tools that they've used to improve.