We're still riding high on the excitement from June when us at BookMark Belles were asked to be part of the Authors Are Rockstars Tour!!! hosted by:Fiktshun & Two Chicks on Books !!! & to top that excitement even more when we found out we were hosting author Brittany Geragotelis I (Lisa) just about died!!! Hello she is an avid Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan just as much as I am!!!
NOW INCLUDES A GIVEAWAY!!! GIVEAWAY!!! GIVEAWAY!!!
KEEP SCROLLING
This was so me when I found out Brittany
was our author to host!!!
(Lisa)
Ok its time to get serious now I promise!!!! So here goes we have an Interview setup which was suppose to be accompanied by a book review of Life's a Witch by:Brittany Geragotelis but anyone who has followed our blog know that last month our original blog was compromised and we lost everything. So we had to start fresh with a new blog & trying to update all the book reviews has been killer but I promise as soon as its up I will link it here.
1. Tell me about your book. How did you come up with that (story, angle, idea)?
Life’s a Witch came about because I was trying out this website, Wattpad, for the first time and wanted to see what kind of an audience I could create there. I’d been dealing with 9 years of rejection by traditional publishers and wanted to see if readers would actually enjoy my books, despite the opinions of others in the past. So, I did some research to see what people were reading on the platform and it was a lot of Paranormal Romance. I asked myself, “what kind of book would I like to read within this genre?” and started to go through my options. Vampires were overdone, werewolves were over-saturated and zombies (though I specifically LOVE this type of story) had also had their hayday and were written by authors who’d already killed the genre with their awesomeness.
That left me with witches. Which had certainly been done before, but I didn’t feel like people were sick of it yet, and there was a specific storyline that hadn’t been touched on too much: The Salem Witch Trials. This brought up the question, “What if those who were accused during the witch trials actually were witches? And what if those that accused them were members of their own coven?” That’s where Life’s a Witch began to form. After that, I just tried to create the paranormal action book I’d want to read, with a main character I wanted to read about. She’s powerful, fearless, damaged, strong and not perfect. The perfect protagonist.
2.If you could meet any of your own characters, who would it be?
Definitely Hadley. She’s just so kick-ass, I’d hope she could give me some advice on how to be a hero. And Asher…now I’m married, so I couldn’t flirt with him or anything, but he’d be nice eye-candy to have around for sure. Lastly, I LOVE Jasmine. She’s like the friend who has no filter. Even if I don’t like what she says all the time, I’d totally want to be around to hear it.
3.Do you have a favorite character among the ones you've invented.
Like I said, I love Hadley. She’s got all the attributes I’d want in a heroine. Some people might think she’s conceited or snobby, but I like to think of her as being the popular girl who ISN’T mean. She didn’t ask for these things to happen to her, but they did and she adapted. She’s strong and doesn’t have hang-ups about her looks or insecurities or fears over what people think of her. Imagine what it’d be like to not worry about whether you look good in an outfit or whether that group of girls are talking about you behind your back, or whether you’re going to say the wrong thing. That’s where Hadley’s attitude is pretty cool. She just doesn’t worry about things like that.
But beyond that, Hadley’s fearless. She’s also powerful, and whether she wants to be or not, she plays a major role in saving a lot of people’s lives. She’s thrust into the leadership position and takes it on, even though it’s a thankless job and things get really tough. She has to eventually put her own life in danger to save others.
And guess what: she’s not perfect. She has her flaws, but we all do. That’s what makes her relatable. We ALL have imperfections, but we don’t ALL turn our focus to impacting the world in a positive way. Hadley—regardless of whether you like everything about her—does. That is the kind of hero I want to read about.
4. What is the hardest part of writing for you?
The hardest thing for me actually comes after the writing’s done! More specifically, getting people’s feedback on my characters. I’m starting to learn that I may not always create widely likeable characters. So, where I see them as real (flaws and all) and interesting, some people are put-off by them.
But that’s not really the problem. It’s the negativity that’s hard. Hey, if you didn’t like the book, that’s cool. It’s not gonna be for everyone. But did you really need to write a 1,000 word essay on all the things you hated about the characters, the writing, the story AND me? I feel like the amount of bullying and nasty comments that are spread online is out of control. Some people need to remember that just because we have the luxury of freedom of speech, it doesn’t mean that everything we think should be said. For instance, if you didn’t like a book, then why write about it at all? No, really, think about it. This way you get the same point across, but in a kinder way; You’re not giving publicity to a book that wasn’t for you, AND you aren’t putting negativity out there.
Since I published my first book, I’ve tried to practice mindful blogging/tweeting/FBing. I ask myself, “Am I putting negativity out there or positivity? Do I really want to put down the things people have worked so hard on? What legacy am I leaving?” So, yeah, the non-constructive criticism is the hardest thing for me.
5. What’s the best thing about being an author?
Being able to create something that has the power to change people’s lives. A book can make people think in new ways; cause readers to question their beliefs or the way they look at life; bring joy or strength when someone needs it the most; provide an escape during a tough time; inspire someone to do better, be better, reach farther and never give up; or make people believe in true love…that’s why I do it. I know through personal experience that a made-up character and a well-told story can impact another human being in a real way. Writing is the way I contribute to the world in a positive way.
6. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Never let someone else take your dream away from you. After so many years of rejection, I came close to giving up (mind you, this is not an easy industry to be in). But luckily, I changed my mindset instead, kept writing, and focused on doing it solely because I loved it. And that’s when I experienced success. I let go of my ego and decided that maybe there was another way to get my writing out there to readers. Thank gosh I didn’t give up when people told me to quit, because now I’m living my dream
7. What are you working on now?
Well, I just finished editing the next book series we’ll be pitching and I’m really excited to see what people think of it. I also just launched a fan-funding campaign on Wattpad, to give my fans a chance to be a part of my next writing project, called Kiss & Sell. It’s a story about a teenager who feels like she’s the last in her class to get kissed, so she and her friends decide to sell her first kiss on eBay. People can donate to the project here: http://w.tt/15XOFWs . Lastly, I’m in the beginning stages of a new writing project that’s darker than anything I’ve written before. I’m sort of in research mode on that one though, so that’s still far off in the future.
Random Q & A fun with Book Mark Belles
1. If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?
What if My Husband’s Secretly a Serial Killer (and other things that keep me up at night)
2. Twook! (Tweet your book): Go!
LAW is about a teen witch who's a direct descendent of the first person hanged in the Witch Trials. This time, the trouble's not in Salem.
3. Name 5 items in your author survival kit?
A Computer (I haven’t written a book on paper since I was 16)
My cats (for company and the occasional distraction)
A great editor (they’re like your partner in crime)
The Internet (Research, Twitter, FB, Eonline, etc)
Coffee (Iced or hot, it’s a necessity)
4. Sweet or Sour?
Sweet
5. If you could be anyone in the world who would it be and why? Buffy Summers. Because she kicks ass, looks good doing it, has the best quips and saves the world…a lot.
6. What would your superhero name be and what special powers would you have?
My name would be: Book Girl. And my special powers would be that I could write anything and it would come true when I wanted it to. Either that or write something and it would appear in front of me.
Brittany Geragotelis is living the dream. After 10 years of rejection from the publishing industry, she began to post her original novel, Life's a Witch, on the online writing site, Wattpad, hoping that others would enjoy reading her book. A year after the first upload, the book had received 19 million reads, which caught the attention of Publisher's Weekly, The Huffington Postand The Wall Street Journal.After building up some buzz in the industry, she hooked up with her agents who instantly received interest from publishers and movie/tv producers. Within weeks, Life's a Witch went into auction between four major publishing houses, and in the end Brittany landed a 3-book deal with publishing powerhouse, Simon & Schuster.
On January 29, the prequel/spin-off of Life's a Witch, called What the Spell? became available in bookstores everywhere, while a new and improved Life's a Witch will debut on July 9. The sequel, The Witch is Back, will come out January 2014.
When she's not writing, Brittany is obsessing over celebrities, TV shows, movies, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, gluten-free food and, of course, books!
Brittany lives in NYC with her husband, Matt, and her two cats, Murray and Cohen.
Blog FaceBook Twitter YouTube Pinterest
a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment