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Today we interview author of Amazon bestselling vampire books, Claudette Melanson.
Claudette Melanson writes & edits in Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband Ron and four bun babies: Tegan, Pepper, Butters & Beckett. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and an MA in Literature. She's wished to be a Vampire since age five. She hopes to one day work full time as an author, since there are many, many books living inside her head. We'll be discussing her work, her interests outside of weaving fantastic tales, and what inspires her. |
Please tell us something about you we can't learn from your bio.
I have a favorite vacation I've taken with my family twice. We hoped to make it a yearly event, but finances have been so that we've only gone twice. Hope to again in October, 2016. My son, husband and I take this cruise to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean. It's surprisingly affordable and so much fun! The four days include one at Cocoa Cay, which is Royal Caribbean's private island, and all day in Nassau. When we're there, we go to this private island called Sandy Toes. It's beyond beautiful and not overcrowded at all--and they have an all-inclusive drink package...hehe. After we get off the boat, it's two days at Universal Studios Orlando and a night at my favorite--Halloween Horror Nights. We went the year they had Cabin in the Woods and that house was phenomenal. They even had all the monsters in their little boxes. I love all things horror and that was the best house I've ever seen. The Silent Hill house was a very close second with a patch of zombie nurses to wade through and Alessa standing at the top of the stairs.
Please tell us about your latest book.
My latest book that isn't part of the Maura DeLuca series is a murder mystery with a very twisted killer, who chooses quite the twisted setting for his/her bad deeds. The female detective, my protagonist, is still being developed, but so far I really like her J. The book is set in Canada, but I don't want to give away my setting yet. It will definitely be full of twists, turns and surprises!
Where did you gain inspiration for your latest book?
For the third book in my Maura DeLuca series, I've gained inspiration from Maura, the main character, herself. I dreamed about her many times before writing her story. As I'd think about her in my waking hours, her story came together more and more, each time, inside my head. I started writing this book a long time ago and it's set, in the beginning, in the little town where I went to college--some of the best years of my life. I included a character based on my college love, well, how I would have liked for him to be. He turned out be far less appealing than I imagined him to be. So, I turned him into an 'upgraded' version. Many of the characters start off reminding me of someone I really know, but they definitely grow into their fictional skin right away. I've always loved vampire fiction, so I'm sure there's a little of all I've read all mixed up in there too.
Why did you to become a writer?
I've always 'written' inside my head from about the age of five--that I can remember. I'd look at trees and people around me and my brain would create running descriptions that I really wish I could've written on paper. I wrote a continuing story for my ballet class that my teacher would read at the beginning of each week's lesson. My mother started reading to me from birth and so I always had books playing out inside my head whether my own or someone else's. I wrote many stories during high school and college, but they were all just prep for my first novel, Rising Tide.
Where is your favorite place to write?
At home with my furbabies.I have four bunnies: Tegan, Pepper, Butters and Beckett. I love to be at home with them and stop to pet and play with them. My home is my escape from the world and I love being there with them. I hate quiet, and so always have a movie or familiar TV series on while I'm writing. I simply can't write without noise. Sometimes I'll have the theme song I use for each chapter playing. But it's usually something I love--but have seen and don't have to pay attention to--Dexter, Castle, Criminal Minds.
Can you choose a favorite among books you've written? If so, what makes it stand out from your other work?
Definitely Rising Tide. I suppose because it's the first novel-length work I ever finished. And I worked on it for six years, until I had the story just right. It's a vampire mystery, and the mystery is reserved to the thoughts of the main character, Maura. It's a book that sets the scene for the series, dropping lots of little clues that readers will find the answers to in other books. The reader knows what is going on with Maura, but she, herself, does not. I've read comments from readers who say they can't believe she doesn't figure it out, but what is happening to her is paranormal. If you had weird things happening to your body, would you think something paranormal was happening to you? No, a normal person wouldn't, and that's the world Maura lives in. There is no reason for her to think what is happening could be. So, of course, she ends up receiving the shock of a lifetime.
What are you working on right now?
My main focus with my writing lies with finishing the Maura DeLuca series. Most of my writing time is spent completing the third book, Riptide. At the end of Undertow, Maura is left alone, after making some very bad life choices--very typical of an eighteen year old--and encounters yet more danger. I can include an excerpt from the WIP:
"Maura! Are you...alright? Is it healing?"
I nodded, while wincing at the burn of cells knitting my face back together. I felt like a mute--too shell-shocked to utter a word. I wanted to go home, wanted my father and Caelyn, my mother. I couldn't help the tears that came against my will, though I was forbidden to cry in public places. My knees refused to support my tall frame any longer. I sank to them like my bones had all gone soft.
Aldiva stopped struggling so she could better stare at me in contempt. "Ughhh," she spat in disgust. "A fine addition to our race she'll make."
I simply lowered my eyes. I had no right to defend myself in the least. I had no fire inside to defend myself with. I'd been beaten down and stripped of anything that felt remotely Maura DeLuca to me.
"She is the daughter of Alexandru Aldea...a princess of Wallachia. And you would do well to remember that, Aldiva." This was a new voice, one I'd never heard before.
"Millicent?!" Gregor sounded exasperated. "I refuse to believe I am that easy to track!"
The new female in our midst chuckled with a sound too heavy for a woman. I gaped at her in wonder as she strode forward in dark perfection. If Aldiva were a blinding winter's day, Millicent was the soft velvet of a starless night. There would still be moon on this night, exemplified in the pallid luminosity of her skin. Her over-sized, black-as-death eyes were set in her face like two sparkling pieces of obsidian. The makeup accentuating them had an overdone gothic flair to it, deepening her eerie beauty. Her perfect, full lips were painted the same color as her hair, undefined in length as it melded into the black of the shirt she wore.
What is your favorite genre to write and why?
Anything about vampires is definitely my favorite. I love other paranormal types of writing as well, but vampires are my passion. I have another vampire novel of a much darker type that is half-finished. I don't know why I developed such a fascination for the creatures, but when I was little, I studied endlessly trying to figure out the way to become one--to my mother's absolute horror. She tried to tell me becoming one, if you could, was a sin and took away all my vampire books, which only served to make me love them more. There's just something so delicious about a being who sucks away the life essence of others so they can live.
What are your favorite books to read?
I love the Twilight books. Not afraid to say it, either. Right now, I'm completely addicted to the Dexter book series. I do love my Indie Authors too: Wings of Darkness by Sherri Wingler, Bloodgifted by Tima Maria Lacoba, The End by Adam Booth, Regina: The Monster Inside all top the list. I always enjoy reading Grimm's too, grew up on those. And classics like Wuthering Heights and The Sun Also Rises.
How can readers connect with you?
Amazon Author Page: http://bit.ly/cmamzauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cmelansonauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bella623
Tsu: http://www.tsu.co/vampyauthor
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/pub/claudette-melanson/6/366/27b
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7881896.Claudette_Melanson
Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/claudemelanson/
Wordpress: https://cmelansonauthor.wordpress.com/
Tumblr:https://www.tumblr.com/blog/authorcmelanson
Instagram: https://instagram.com/cmelansonauthor/
Book Gorilla: http://www.bookgorilla.com/author/B00IHS7GBI/claudette-melanson
Where can we buy your books?
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Rising Tide: Dark Innocence http://amzn.to/1h0bktb Undertow: Death's Twilight http://amzn.to/1JYRDgt Minion: http://amzn.to/14pT7Pi Shimmer: http://amzn.to/1fzBLEd Your Turn: http://amzn.to/1dVirl6 |
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Do you have any events coming up we should know about?
On September 4th, I'll have my first radio interview with the Writestream Radio Network with S. Evan Townsend on the Speculative Fiction Cantina, which airs Friday nights at 6:00 EST. More details can be found on their web site: http://writestreamradio.com/
September 17-20, I will be attending the InD'Scribe Writer's Conference in Palm Springs, California. I will be sharing a signing table there with author, J.C. Brennan, as well as attending some of the exciting author sessions. Rising Tide is a finalist this year for a RONE Award for the category YA Paranormal. I hope to be taking home the trophy for the category overall, but will be extremely happy to display the finalist trophy, no matter what happens. More information on the conference can be found here: http://www.indscribe.com/.
You have an exciting giveaway coming up. Can you tell us more about it?
My student teaching assignment was completed at Altoona Area High School in Altoona, PA. I was disappointed with the reading material for my classes. It was a book that wasn't relevant to their lives or the issues they faced. I believe reading should be an adventure and should be enjoyable. I want to give back and would like to do so for the classroom, its students and its teachers, who go too often unnoticed.
I'm announcing a contest open to all Middle and High school, as well as colleges in the US and Canada. I will donate signed copies of my bestselling YA Paranormal novel, Rising Tide, to a classroom and will also come to pay a visit so we can discuss books and writing.
Contest is open to teachers, students, and parents--all can feel free to enter using the Rafflecopter. There are many entry options and one winner will be drawn at random. Contest runs August 16 - February 29, 2016. Date of visit and material covered during is to be determined by the classroom teacher. Entries can be made here: http://bit.ly/1Pt4Ez2
You have quite a bit going on right now...very exciting stuff! Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us. We look forward to seeing what you come up with next.
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