Soulless

Today we welcome Crystal Collier to Unicorn Bell. Her follow up to Moonless is out now. She was game to answer my questions, and there's also a giveaway...

Where did the initial idea for Soulless come from?

This is the second book in the Maiden of Time series (Moonless, Soulless, Timeless), a series that started as a sweet little stand alone (romance) book in 2002. It was the tail end of a dream and a whirlwind writing experience spurred on by the first two words: Blue eyes. Suddenly there were tragic creatures under the moonless sky who ached to consume their counterparts, the Passionate, and whose only hope of escape from their eternal hunger was being vanquished by a mysterious, blue-eyed man.

Which part of the publishing process was the most surprising?

How little cheese publishers are throwing at me. Kidding. Sort of. You always believe once you’ve been published, you’ve made it. The truth is, it’s a zen process that takes decades even after that first, world-stopping moment of “Oh my gosh! I’m published!” You have to stock your own cheese. For a long time.

If you could give yourself any piece of advice before you started writing, what would it be?

If I could speak to that 3 year old girl who was telling stories through her pictures, I’d say, “Keep the creativity alive. Read. Write. Study. Practice.”

Plotter or panster?

Every time someone asks this question I get a mental image of a large floral planter. (Merge the words and you’ll get my meaning.) I’m an in-betweener. I plot the story arc, character arc and major turning points. I know the characters before I start the novel, then I set them free…but only within the fences I’ve established. (Characters can be so willful.)

Quiet room or noisy room when you're writing? How quiet do you need it? What sort of noise?

I'll take whatever I can get. I write well to silence. I write well to noise. I write well to music…unless it’s rap or heavy metal.

Your writing area/desk: a place for everything and everything in its place or if anyone ever straightened it, you'd never find a thing?

I wish you could see the dozens of notes scattered out in front of me, scrawled across napkins, receipts, wrappers… They're in my periphery, reminding me of the hundreds of creative thoughts that still need to be documented.

What is your current pop culture obsession (book, TV show, movie, webcomic…)? What are the rest of us missing?

Doctor Who, but only when he’s played by Matt Smith. Oh my goodness! Best. Doctor. Ever! He makes me laugh, and smile, and revel in my own geekdom.

Soulless

Alexia manipulated time to save the man of her dreams, and lost her best friend to red-eyed wraiths. Still grieving, she struggles to reconcile her loss with what was gained: her impending marriage. But when her wedding is destroyed by the Soulless—who then steal the only protection her people have—she’s forced to unleash her true power.

And risk losing everything.

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Links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Crystal's Blog

Crystal's Twitter

Goodreads

Website