Interview: Author of Born at Midnight C.C. Hunter

C.C. Hunter, author of Born at Midnight, which releases today, was nice enough to let me interview her. If you haven't heard much about Born at Midnight, the synopsis is below:

One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever.  Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.”  Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.
Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either.  Or does she?  They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason.  As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas.  Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past.  Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart. 
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…

Bailey: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

 

C.C.:  I’ll be honest.  I come from Alabama, and creating stories—or just flat-out lying about stuff, as other people might say—was a way of life in my family.  I had a vivid imagination when I was a kid, still do, in fact.  I’ve always had book-length stories running around in my head but I didn’t try to capture them on paper until I was 23 and my new hubby suggested I go back to school to become a teacher.  I told him I had a different path I’d like to explore, and that’s when I admitted I wanted to become a writer. 

Saying out loud that I wanted to be a writer was a huge step for me.  I’m dyslexic.  I’m a terrible speller and often I get words and sentences backwards, so not only did I have to learn how to write, I had to learn how to deal with my dyslexia.  But you know what?  I think being dyslexic helped me with my writing.  It helped me understand people’s emotions, which is so important in developing characters in fiction.  Plus, being dyslexic forced me to work harder, and that led to my viewing a rejection as an invitation to try harder.


Bailey: What is your writing schedule?


C.C.:  That really depends on whether I have a looming deadline or not.  Normally, I write every weekday from around 8:00 to 5:00.  Weekends I try to keep free for spending time with my family.  But if I’m a deadline, I may end up writing up to 14 hours a day, including several hours on the weekend.

Writing is a full-time job for me. But you know what?  It’s the absolute best job I could ever have and I wouldn’t change a thing!


Bailey: Can you name a few of your favorite authors/books?



C.C.:  Oh, this one is hard.  I read a lot of different authors so my reading list is varied.  I do almost all of my reading these days in bed because it’s a great way to wind down from writing.  Some of my current favorite YA books include:

Firelight by Sophie Jordan 

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynne Childs

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

13 to Life by Shannon Delany

Evermore by Alyson Noel

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

The House of Night by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast 



Bailey: Where is your favorite place to read and write?
 
C.C.:  I always write in the same place.  I have an office, which is really more of a study.  I have floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with my favorite books, a comfy sofa and a couple of arm chairs, in addition to my desk and chair.  I have these beautiful French doors that lead outside to the patio and backyard, so when I find myself at a loss for inspiration, I can usually find it by taking a peak out those doors.

As for reading, as I said, I do most of that in bed.  Just ask my hubby about the huge TBR stack of books in my bedroom.  LOL


Bailey: How did you come up with the idea for your Shadow Falls series?

C.C.:   I get asked this one a lot, and it’s kind of a funny story.  Several years ago, I had written this humorous paranormal romance—not a YA—that my agent sent out to several editors.  It got a lot of great feedback but no offers.  So, I shelved it and went back to writing my humorous romantic suspense novels and sold quite a few to Dorchester.  Anyway, flash forward a few years and one of the editors who’d seen my funny paranormal novel contacted my agent to see if I’d be interested in writing a YA paranormal series.  She had the initial spark of an idea and it was two words:  “Paranormal Camp.”  Seriously, that was all she said but it was enough.  I took those two words and went to work on creating the world that is now Shadow Falls. 


Bailey: Is there anything else that you want readers to know?

C.C.:  Absolutely.  First, thank you for having me at IB Book Blogging.  I love, love talking about writing and sharing info about my characters.  In so many ways, my characters are like great friends, or even my own children, who I want to tell everyone about.

Next, I’d like to remind your readers that my short story Turned At Dark,  which is Della’s story and sort of an introduction to the Shadow Falls universe, is available as a free ebook on all sites, such as BN, Borders, Sony, Googlebooks, IBookstore.  Plus, I’m running a contest right now called “Tweet About My Book and Win a Kindle.”  You can find details about that and my latest blog at my website,  HYPERLINK "http://www.CCHunterBooks.com" www.CCHunterBooks.com

Thanks for stopping by, C.C.!

To celebrate the release of Born at Midnight, C.C. Hunter and her publisher have generously offered up a copy of Born at Midnight for a giveaway. This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL, so international peeps, you can finally be able to enter one of my giveaways!

To enter, all you have to do is comment with your name and email address below! Following is not necessary but appreciated! This giveaway will end on Saturday, April 2nd. 

*JUST ADDED* For an extra entry, tweet about this giveaway and interview and leave another comment with the link to the tweet.