Character Interview on Simply Infatuated and Book Tour Giveaway

Simply Infatuated was kind enough to let Kate from First Visions: Second Sight Book One stop by their blog yesterday to give an interview. I printed a portion of the interview below, but make sure you stop by their blog to read the interview in its entirety. This tour stop is also the launch of my new giveaway for a $20 Amazon.com gift card and autographed copy of my novel. The Rafflecopter giveaway is being hosted on my FB page and there are plenty of chances to enter including liking my page, following my blog, commenting at one of my blog tour stops (schedule is here) or tweeting about one of my tour stops. Just a reminder First Visions will be on sale for $1.99 through 6/24 at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

What is it like to be in someone else’s mind?

You would think it would be really exciting, right? Nope, not usually. Since I can’t control the visions I see, most of the time I either witness people’s most mundane or grossest memories. I really don’t want to know about the affair my dentist is having or how my neighbor stole fifty bucks worth of undergarments from the local Wal-Mart. This is not to say all of my visions are horrible. They can help me understand a person’s motivations better. Sometimes they also offer up the chance for me to help others.

How did your family react when you told them about your gift?

I think most of my family thinks I have daddy issues and I’m making up the visions to get attention. Believe me, I could do a lot more outrageous things if I wanted to get my father’s attention. However, my mom has been super supportive and thinks maybe there’s a reason I developed these powers when I almost died.

Is it hard to hide that you are psychic?

Most people think psychics are full of it, so it’s easy to play it off and pretend I don’t really have this strange ability. When I do confide in them, they ask me to predict something. Believe me I wish I could predict something. I’d buy a lottery ticket with winning numbers and move me and my mom into the biggest McMansion in all of Franklin.

Do you plan on returning to college?

I’m doing online classes now and majoring in English. I wanted to take a few art classes, but that’s not really possible since you typically need to be physically present.

What do you have planned for yourself after you graduate?

Well, I’m going to have an English degree and I don’t want to teach, so that’s a tough question to answer. I may end up having to set up a psychic booth down the shore and charge the tourists tenners if I can’t decide on a real job.

If you could choose to have a super power, would you keep the one you have or choose another?

Hmm, I probably would want the ability to see into the future. I see into the past and there’s nothing you can do to change what’s already happened.

What’s your favorite thing about living in NJ?

That people always expect you to be a cliched representation of a cast member of the Jersey Shore. Just kidding, you get the best of both worlds and live close to both the city and the beach.

 

 

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