Please welcome Sandy Williams to Short & Sweet Reviews. Sandy Williams is the author of The Shadow Reader, and her second novel The Shattered Dark just recently released everywhere books are sold.
Hi
Sandy! Welcome to Short & Sweet Review, thank you for being
here today! :D
Thanks so much
for having me, Van!
Can
you give a short description of the McKenzie Lewis series for
those who haven’t read it yet?
Sure! The Shadow
Reader books are about McKenzie Lewis, a human who not only has
the ability to see the fae, but she can track them when they
fissure (teleport) from place to place by reading the shadows
their fissures leave behind. The fae found her when she was
sixteen years old, and she’s been working for the fae king for
the past ten years. She’s tried to balance her life as shadow
reader with her life as a college student, but that’s failing
miserably. Then, in THE SHADOW READER, McKenzie is abducted by
rebels who are determined to overthrow the king. THE SHATTERED
DARK deals with the ramifications from the ending of the first
book, and things get tougher for McKenzie when she learns that
Paige - her best friend who can't see the fae and doesn't know
of their existence - has been pulled into the war.
Was
it harder to write the second book, or easier since foundation
for the world and characters were already laid down?
Oh, so much
harder! It wasn’t the book’s fault. When I wrote The Shadow
Reader, I had no distractions at all. I wrote the majority of it
in a tiny apartment outside of London because my husband was
working over there at the time. Fast forward a couple of years
later, though, and not only were we back home in Texas (with
laundry and home maintenance and a part time job and all sorts
of other responsibilities), but I was pregnant for the first
time and with twins! For the first three months of the
pregnancy, I was too sick to do anything but lay on the couch.
The last three months, due to a condition called PUPPs and
another condition called cholestasis, I didn’t sleep more than a
couple of scattered hours a night. That’s all right for a week
or two, but three months of no sleep is not good. I couldn’t
function. So, most of THE SHATTERED DARK was written after I
delivered. Writing a book with new born twins wasn’t easy
either, but I did it! Hurray!
McKenzie
didn’t do a lot of physical fighting in the previous book; will
we see her busting-a-move in the Shattered Dark? ;)
McKenzie knows
her limitations. She knows that she doesn’t really stand a
chance in a fight against a fae, who have spent their whole
lives sparring with each other. But she doesn’t back down from a
fight if there’s no other way out, or if the people she loves
are threatened. She does what needs to be done. That said, she
does find herself in more and more situations where she and
others are in danger, and while she’ll never be an ace
swordswoman, her skills do improve.
Without
revealing anything from book 2, what was your favorite scene to
write?
Gah. This
question is so hard to answer! The second book is pretty action
packed, and I love so many of those scenes. I’m also quite fond
of the ending, though the ending certainly… complicates things.
I guess, at this moment, my favorite scene is in Rhigh. McKenzie
is pissed at a certain fae, but she has to have his help to
escape the city. There’s some banter, a ridiculous plan, and
then there’s the point when that plan goes to hell. It was so
much fun to write!
If
your series were made into a television show or a movie, who can
you see playing McKenzie, Kyol, and Aren?
Okay. Maybe this
is the hardest question to answer. LOL. It’s easy to find people
who look like McKenzie, Kyol,
and Aren, but it’s much more difficult to find people who look and act like them. So, I
guess I’ll just answer based on looks.
For McKenzie,
Nina Dobrev from The Vampire Diaries.
For Kyol,
Bradley Cooper when he’s super serious and sexy. It’s kind of a
bad match, though, because he’s not usually serious, and he has
a gorgeous smile. And since Kyol isn’t full of smiles, I don’t
think Bradley Cooper could actually do a good job playing him.
Does that make sense?
For Aren, a
slightly older Taylor Kitsch is almost a perfect match.
What
is your writing routine like?
When I’m not
behind on my deadline (which is, like, never), I write three
days a week. I have a part-time nanny watch the boys, then I
leave the house around 9:30 and head to my local Target, sit in
the Starbucks there, and write until about 3:00pm on a good day.
At 3, I force myself to go to the gym so I can be home by 4,
take a shower, then watch the boys and cook dinner. Since I’m
already behind on book three’s deadline, the nanny comes out
four days a week, I oftentimes skip the gym (bad Sandy!), and I
work Saturday mornings. This is much better than what I had to
do last year when I was so, so far behind on THE SHATTERED DARK.
I wrote every day, and at all hours of the day to try to get
that book shiny. My husband took off work to watch the boys and
my mom and mother in law stayed with me to give us extra help,
too. It was craaaaazy!
Tell
us three interesting things about yourself that can’t be found
in your biography section.
1. I was a Star
Wars junkie in junior high and early high school. I even skipped
school to watch The Phantom Menace when it came out. Sadly, the
prequels kind of ruined the movies for me. I still love the
story and many of the books that came out afterward (the Heir to
the Empire trilogy was great!), but I can’t get that damn Jar
Jar Binks out of my head.
2. I used to
show horses when I was in junior high. I did showmanship,
English pleasure, western pleasure, and had just started a tiny
bit of jumping when I sort of grew out of that phase.
3. Rolos are my
favorite candy. :-)
What
other projects can we look forward to reading from you in the
future?
I’m dying to
finish the science fiction romance I have halfway written. I
love that story so much! Think of it as an urban fantasy set in
space with lots of flirtation and kissing and things blowing up.
It’s going to be great!
Do
you have any advice to aspiring writers?
Read. Reading my
favorite authors taught me everything I know about writing.
Finish
this statement: You’ll enjoy The Shattered Dark if you
like…
You’ll enjoy The Shattered Dark if you like stories
that are packed with action, deceit, and an excruciating
romance.
**Lighting Questions**
Facebook
or Twitter?
Facebook!
All
time favorite movie?
Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves
Coke
or Pepsi?
Diet Coke!
Favorite
Paranormal Creature?
Vampires!
E-reader
or physical book?
E-reader
Favorite
Holiday?
4th of July
|AUTHOR'S BIO|
Sandy graduated from Texas A&M University with a double major in
political science and history. She thought about attending law school.
Fortunately, before handing over her life’s savings, she realized case
studies weren’t nearly as interesting as novels and decided to get an MA
in Library Science instead. She worked as a librarian until her husband
whisked her off to London on an extended business trip. She’s now back
home in Texas, writing full-time, raising newborn twin boys, and
squeezing in time to play geeky board and card games like Settlers of Catan, Dominion, and Runebound.
Must be a follower of this blog. US ONLY.
Good interview; I thnk Nina Dobrev might actually make a good McKenzie.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway.