This is how it went:
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Please welcome this week's feature author - Glenda Reynolds. Later,
we are also joined by one of her characters who has agreed to answer some
questions for us from her book, Goddess of the Moon: Mayan World of Vampires
Violet: What is
your inspiration? What helps you get through writer's block?
Glenda: I find
inspiration in the Bible, movies/TV series, and my music playlist. Usually if
I’m stumped, a talk with a friend or my husband will spark ideas.
Violet: Do you
listen to music when you write? Have a completely silent space?
Glenda: I do not
listen to music while I write. I either like to sit against my headboard on
the bed or sit and look out into my lush green backyard through the glass
patio door while I write. I have since listened to low volume music in July 2013 with "emotional" / melancholy soundtracks and it helps me to write.
Violet: Who
inspires you? What authors do you look up to? Why?
Glenda: Amanda Hocking
and Stephenie Meyer inspire me. I look up to Stephenie Meyer because while
she wrote some of the most popular paranormal romance books made into some
fantastic movies, she incorporated her Christian beliefs into her writing: no
sex before marriage, no bad language and no pornographic scenes. And yet her
books still had plenty of romance in them and are accepted by a wide
audience. Amanda Hocking also inspires me for the following reasons: her
writing style is very basic and fluid; she made self-publishing look easy to
do; she became successful even when people balked at her because she was
self-published.
Violet: When did
you first start writing? What genre do you prefer?
Glenda: I started
writing in March 2010 just for fun at the office. I shared my writing with my
coworker and her two young girls. I prefer the young adult genre.
Violet: If you had
to choose another genre to write, what would it be? Why?
Glenda: It might be
non-fiction / self-help. This is probably because I recently purchased a book
from an author who talked about family estrangement. She mislead me into
thinking that her book addressed that when in fact it was journal about her
life: her midlife crisis, giving birth to 8 children, her misdiagnosis of
being bipolar, her love of country music, and Bible scripture woven in. I
would like to try to address family estrangement. Or I would like to do
something like a devotional or an inspirational calendar, or combine both.
Violet: What is
your favorite book (or who is your favorite author) and why?
Glenda: I have to say
up front that I’m not a big reader; therefore, I don’t have a long list of
authors. But Stephenie Meyer would have to top my list. Her writing style
draws me in to where it is difficult to put her book down. It makes a love
affair come to life inside of me. Her book Twilight, the first in the four
book saga, is my favorite of them all. To me it has the most romance.
But my all time favorite book is the Bible for life. Love stories will
fade away, but God’s word abides forever.
Violet: Do you have
another job and if so what is it?
Glenda: I work at the
home office of a Pizza Hut franchise for 15 stores. I work as an
Administrative Assistance. That’s the title I usually tell people since I’m a
receptionist / mail person / shipping person who sends the Pizza Huts office
supplies when they need them. But I also order their food trucks (stuff to
make pizza, pasta, beverages, wings) and analyze their paper work when it
arrives at the office.
Violet: Tell about
your first book and how long it took you to write the first draft?
Glenda: I’d say it
took me a year and a half for the first draft since in the beginning it
wasn’t a serious book project. My coworker urged me along in order to get
fresh reading material. I had a fresh appreciation for the modern vampire
after Twilight and the Vampire Diaries, especially with the Damon character.
I wanted my character to have some kind of beginning, so I chose the Yucatan
(since I love the lush green jungle) and to end up in old Florida. I chose
the City of Coba since it has been largely unexcavated, and I liked the
location. The story follows princess Melanna’s birth that is witnessed by a
vampire named Tez. The queen makes Tez promise to protect her daughter before
the queen dies. Wherever the princess is, Tez is always close by unnoticed
until fate revealed him to her. Meanwhile a vampire queen named Zafrina has
taken over the city of Coba and demands the ritual of human sacrifice. The
king cowers and gives her what she wants, even if it means his own daughter.
Melanna has to deal with an older sister who tries to have her killed.
Melanna also discovers that she is the Prophesied One to lead Coba into
battle against the vampires that have taken over. There are twists and turns;
vampires that you love to hate; a plot that leaves you begging for more.
Violet: List all of
your titles with a one sentence synopsis of each.
Glenda:
Goddess of the Moon:
Mayan World of Vampires Vol. 1
A YA kick-butt
paranormal romance with a Mayan princess, who overcomes many obstacles to
free her city from a blood thirsty vampire coven, gets a drop dead gorgeous
vampire boyfriend, reconciles with her father, and meets up with a healing
angel, but not without paying a great price.
The Cursed Leviathan
(unpublished/currently writing) Vol. 2
The story continues
with Melanna searching for Tez; the vampire pirate Captain Jon Devon and his
cursed love Desiree pillage the Caribbean; and the Dark One wars with the
Florida natives.
Violet: Who is your
favorite character? Why?
Glenda: My favorite
character is Tez since he was inspired by the Puerto Rican actor / singer
Chayanne.
Tez is the best and the worst in all of us but seeks to find
redemption and a place in this world. He is dark, gorgeous, witty, and
profound.
Violet: Who is your
least favorite character? Why?
Glenda: My least
favorite character would have to be Melanna’s sister, Eleuia. One of my
relatives was the inspiration for this character. You could say it was
therapy.
Violet: Which
character was most difficult to write?
Glenda: I might have
to say that Zafrina was difficult to write. How do you get into the mind of
pure evil? What drives her besides blood lust?
Violet: What scenes
are most difficult to write?
Glenda: The fighting
scenes were difficult. It’s like choreographing a fight scene for the big
screen except on a smaller scale in my head.
Violet: Do you see
yourself in any of your characters?
Glenda: I think I see
a bit of me in Melanna as far as dealing with a dysfunctional family
Violet: Indie
pub or trad pub?
Glenda: Indie pub for
now. I’d like to become traditionally published since a writer gets more
recognition that way: big stores carry your books and the publisher does some
advertizing for you.
Violet: What is
your favorite scene? Why?
Glenda: I think that
the honeymoon is my favorite scene because it contains a twist and some
passion.
Violet: Give a one
sentence summary.
Glenda: Melanna awaits
her fate in the honeymoon suite, plotting to put an end to the man behind the
mask, but she ends up surrendering to him body and soul.
Violet: If
you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Glenda: Maybe Amanda
Hocking to ask her what has driven her to write so many stories even before
she became famous and for her to tell me any other secrets about the writing
industry that I haven’t discovered yet.
Violet: If you
could take the place of one of your characters, which one would you choose
and why?
Glenda: I would
probably choose Xoco, a warrior woman of Coba who has an ordinary boyfriend.
She has real attitude and knows how to handle herself. At least there are no
complications with vampirism when you have an ordinary boyfriend.
Violet: If you
could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you
do?
Glenda: I’ve always
wanted to go to Hawaii. I would like to hula dance and maybe visit some
beautiful gardens and parks there.
Violet: What is
your favorite TV show/movie from your childhood? What is it now?
Glenda: I loved
watching Lost in Space when I was a kid. I use to fantasize that Professor Robinson (Guy Williams) would make a good father to me (I grew up without my father). Today it’s
between Dancing with The Stars and Vampire Diaries.
Like what you read? You can find more about Glenda here:
Here is an interview with Tez
from Goddess of the Moon: Mayan World of Vampires
Q. What is your full name?
A. Tezcatli Uetzcayotl. My friends call me Tez.
Q. Where were you born/created?
A. The Northern Yucatan near Palenque. My immortal life began on my
honeymoon when Zafrina and her Ancients decimated my village and murdered my
bride. Zafrina was hoping that I’d be her companion. She made me drink from
her and threw me over a high waterfall where my mortal life ended.
Q. What would you say are your greatest strengths? Weaknesses?
A. Strengths ~ power to affect plant life, compulsion, great muscular
strength and speed, musically gifted on the flute, and the ability to call
birds of prey with my cuff bracelet.
Weaknesses ~ I will burn up in the sun without my silver talisman
Q. Who is your best friend and why?
A. Amoxtli, our priest of the Brotherhood of the Eagle, is my closest
friend. He knows all about me and my history with the brotherhood.
Q. If you could be anything other than Tez the vampire what would you be
and why?
A. I would be Tez the mortal, father of many children, husband to a
beautiful Mayan woman, farmer, and fisherman. I would live a fulfilling life,
and when my time would come, my spirit will fly like the eagles.
Q. If you could be any other character, who would you be and why?
A. I think I would make a better king Tetaneeka. I would like to think
that I could be the kind of father to Melanna that she never had. She
would’ve grown up knowing that she was loved instead of being cast off to be
tended to by other people. I would not have withheld my love from her
because her mother died giving birth to her. Although I have always been
there in the shadows watching over her, as her father I would’ve been there
for her no matter what.
Q. What is your favorite book and why?
A. “The Fall of Man and the Promise of the Great Spirit”. It’s a book
that gives me hope and that prophesies about my beloved princess Melanna who
becomes the Prophesied One who overthrows the reign of the vampire queen
Zafrina.
Q. If you could take a vacation anywhere, where would you go?
A. I think that I would enter the seventh heaven on a billowy cloud with
Melanna and make passionate love with her until we are both spent.
Q. What do you think of your author?
A. She calls herself the “accidental author”. For someone who never
planned to be a writer, I say she does pretty good. I noticed that her style
is very reserved, hence the honeymoon scene without the graphic detail.
Although being a guy and a vampire, I don’t have a problem
with such things, but I agree that “kid friendly” is a good thing. If anyone
has a strong disagreement with me on this may find himself hanging from a
tree in the garden with the words “Don’t mess with the author” written in
blood on his chest.
Q. If you were on Vampire Diaries Survivor, which character would
win? Who would be voted off first?
A. I think that Stephen would be voted off first. After all, I’m older
and feed from sharks and jaguars. I am stronger when I feed from larger
animals versus feeding from small humans. I think I would have a good chance
to win, although Katerina is older than I am. But then she doesn’t possess
any special gifts as a vampire. On the other hand the original vampires would
be difficult to beat. But then they don’t have the Great Spirit to draw
strength from or to be able to call on birds of prey to help.
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