Author Interview – Billie Thomas
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre – Mystery
Rating – PG
More details about the book
Connect with Chloe Carstairs on Facebook & Twitter & GoodReads
How has your upbringing influenced your writing? My mom and I have always been big mystery fans and we traded books back and forth endlessly. No matter how our relationship was going at the time (can you say ‘rollercoaster’?), our love of mysteries was always neutral ground.
I began to toy with the idea of writing a fun, funny mystery with a mother-daughter relationship much like our own. From the first chapter, I could tell I was on to something special.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? I’ve been a writer since before I could hold a pencil. In school, I would actually write the books I did book reports on. (I can’t believe my teachers let me do that.) It always came so naturally to me that it was – and still is – a joy.
When did you first know you could be a writer? I remember taking one of those standardized tests in high school that recommend jobs for you. Turns out, all the jobs I’m suited for involved writing and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that advertising was listed first alphabetically. It was that easy.
What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? Writing is easy and fun for me. Storytelling – that’s another matter. The structure of a well-paced story didn’t come naturally to me the way it seems to for other writers. It’s something I’ve taken classes for and continue to work at.
Do you intend to make writing a career? I work in advertising so I do write for a living. It’s a very creative, but at times very stressful job As long as I can balance the two – writing novels and writing commercials – I’ll do so. But if I had to choose, I’d choose novels. Unfortunately, right now, the choice is between writing novels and eating. And a girl’s gotta eat.
What is your greatest strength as a writer? I’d love to say writing humor, but that’s so subjective. I’ll go with my perseverance. Finding time to write with my demanding job, getting a novel published and doing whatever I can to promote it – I’m certainly not taking the path of least resistance when it comes to my writing. That’s how I know I really love it!
How do you promote this book? I’ve let my main character, Chloe Carstairs, have her own blog, chloegetsaclue.com. She does character interviews with other the protagonists in other authors’ books and has made some great connections for us that way. She also solves free mini mysteries on the blog, which have become quite popular. Oh and she tweets like crazy. When I’m trying to get to sleep, I’m like, “Chloe, enough with the tweeting already.”
How much of the book is realistic? Well, no one really killed Santa, but there are several parts of the book that are realistic. The setting, instance. I love Birmingham and want everyone to know what a great city it is. It’s a character itself – often underestimated, full of surprises. Another Birmingham author, the late Anne George, was a master at using Birmingham as a backdrop for her stories. She was a definite inspiration. Also the relationship between Chloe and Amanda, as I’ve mentioned is very much like the one I had with my mother. Even better though, the relationship between Chloe’s parents is similar to the one my parents had. A true love story, full of humor and affection. Definitely something to aspire to!
0 comments:
Post a Comment