Interview with Books, Stars and the Pages in Between

Nothing can describe the feeling I get when readers and bloggers connect with my story and not only want to know more about my characters, but about me too as a person! It's humbling and makes my heart just burst with gratitude!

I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by Erika from Books, Stars and the Pages in Between! Check it out below or to view the full interview, click here

1. Hi Michelle, and welcome to my blog! I want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me about your work. First off, can you tell me a bit about how you got into writing, and what drew you to the fantasy and romance genre?

Thanks so much for giving me this opportunity Erika, I absolutely love getting to connect with my readers! I’ve always had a passion for writing. Something about the creative expression released through written word has always spoken to me. As a kid, I used to constantly write short stories or make comics because I loved the idea of bringing the thoughts inside my head to life. Being a little bit of a weirdo, my interests were much darker than most kids at an early age. Developing a love for horror stories and all things paranormal, authors like R.L Stine and Christopher Pike were my favorite growing up. As far as romance is concerned, books always had a way of making everything so much better. Portraying the perfect love stories with the most perfect guy, ugh! How could I not be sucked in! HAHAHA!

2. The idea of an Oleah is unique and very original. How did you come up with such a cool concept?

Thank you! Truth is, I’m just a lover of cats. Lions are such majestic beautiful creatures and have been my favorite animal from since I can remember. The idea to blend their features into a more human-like shape was something I wasn’t sure I could properly execute in word format at first. There were a lot of sketches in the beginning of different variations of Oleah’s and it literally became a process of elimination until I was satisfied with the outcome.

3. You have some really stunning covers. Can you tell me a bit about them, and how they were created?

That means so much to me, because the covers are something that I’m truly proud of. My background is actually in graphic design. When I first started writing Truth, before I even finished the first chapter I knew exactly how I wanted the cover the look. Being self-published, I have that freedom of full creative control and I was so happy that I could use it to my advantage and breathe life into this series. The cover model for Truth and Justice is actually my niece! I searched high and low on stock photography sites and could never find the type of image I needed, which was really frustrating. The thought came to me that I could possibly use my niece as she fit Angel’s description almost perfectly. It took a little convincing at first, but once I got the green light from her, everything just fell into place. It was a great bonding experience! I did her makeup for both covers, shot the images, brought them into Photoshop and was thrilled with how they turned out.

4. What were your inspirations for Angel and Zander's characters? Are any aspects of their personality based off real people?

Angel is actually a lot like me, which was unintentional. I believe that the similarities came across subconsciously as I wrote. She needed to be relatable, and to tap into that I often referenced my old diaries to see how I was as a teen. What were the things I freaked out over? What was I insecure about? How did certain things make me feel? All these questions helped me mold Angel into the character she is, while adding in various elements to make her stand alone. As for Zander, I wanted to make him delicious, dangerous, mysterious and intense. He’s basically all my favorite book boyfriends merged into one. Edward from Twilight, Bones from the Night Huntress series and Patch from the Hush Hush series. One smoking combination!

5. Describe Angel and Zander in three words each.

Three words? Yikes, that’s tough! Angel would be…powerful, loyal and humble. Zander would be…passionate, devoted and romantic.

For more of my interview with Erika, click here