Authors ARE Rockstars Tour: Brodi Ashton

I'm so pleased to have earned a stop on the Authors ARE Rockstars tour. I'm particularly pleased, because I'm hosting Brodi Ashton, which coincides nicely with Utah Book Month.

Brodi wrote Everneath, which is one of my favorite books this year (review). The sequel, Everbound will be out in January, and I must admit to feeling very anxious to make its acquaintance.

So, thank you to Brodi for stopping by and answering a few questions:

How has your writing process changed since you published Everneath? Is there anything that you swore you wouldn't do that you find yourself doing now related to your writing?

I think the thing that has happened the most is now that I'm published, I have to write whether I feel the passion at the moment or not. Before Everneath, I could write when I felt like it, without anyone waiting on me. Now, with deadlines, and people on both coasts who have expectations of me, I have to write even when I'm not necessarily feeling it. It's been a learning curve for sure.

As for things I swore I would never do, at one point I swore I wouldn't teach myself to inhale candy while writing. That promise has gone out the window. Along with my figure.

If you could choose any author to co-write a novel with, who would it be with, and what would the book be about?

Good question! Right now, it would Lindsey Leavitt, mostly because I think to co-write a novel, you have to love the person and love their books, and with Lindsey, this is true in both cases! And we just spent some time at a conference together, and daydreamed about writing a novel.

She writes contemporary, and I write paranormal, so I'm thinking our book would be about a girl who is seeing a therapist, but at the same time, she is seeing demons.

(sidenote: I would totally read this book!)
 
The style and tone of your writing in your blog posts and tweets are so different from your novels. How are you able to channel this different, more melancholy side?

It was hard! The first novel I ever wrote - about a girl who hunts aliens - was very much a similar tone to my regular writing style, like the stuff you find on my blogs. But that novel didn't sell. So when I set out to write a new novel, I was all, "That first novel didn't sell, so I'm going to write one that feels like the EXACT OPPOSITE of that first one."

Once I had the situation, and the story in my head, it was pretty easy to grasp the melancholy tone of the novel. I mean, it's about a girl who has six months to say goodbye to her loved ones forever, before she's sucked down to hell. There's no way to give it a lighter tone.

Is there anything in the first drafts of Everneath that didn't get included in the final version that you now wish were there? How about the opposite? Anything you'd like to get rid of?

Most of the changes during revisions came from adding more scenes, like the prologue of Nikki and Cole ending the Feed at the beginning, and all of the scenes from the Shop-N-Go. I think adding so many new scenes helped make the world a richer place, so I don't regret any of the changes.

But I did have to make Cole... let's just say I had to make him more sexy. My editor has a thing for Cole. This was the thing I resisted the most, but in the end, it forced me to really get to know Cole. Biblically. Kidding.

Major round of applause for creating a romantic interest that is centered in reality (though with a definite mythical flair). How important was this to you? Do you think that it has resonated well with readers?

It was very important to me that both of the main love interests are human. That's why I'm a little unsure about being categorized as a "paranormal romance" because PR usually means a human falls in love with a paranormal creature, and the differences in their makeup is what keeps them apart. I wanted to take two humans, and try to make their connection as strong as the "otherworldly" connections out there are.

I think it has resonated, because often when I'm talking with readers, and I point out that both of the love interests are human, they are often surprised, as if they hadn't thought about it that way before. I think this is a version of success, because they're not saying, "Oh, it's just two humans in love. Boring." They don't even notice it!

Thanks again to Brodi for stopping by! If you haven't already, check out more great posts for the Authors ARE Rockstars tour, as well as Utah Book Month!