Sunday, June 17, 2012

Author Spotlight: Tammy Blackwell




 Tammy Blackwell is a librarian by day and super-hero by night.

Twitter: Miss_Tammy


INTERVIEW


Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?

Not a message per se, but my goal was to write a book series about a teenage girl becoming an adult in as honest of a way as possible (while adding some hot werewolves to keep things interesting). Scout’s life isn’t easy, and it’s certainly not always happy. Bad crap happens, and she has to figure out how she’s going to allow those things to shape her. I think it’s a process we’re all continually going through, no matter if we’re sixteen or sixty.

  
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Just the writing part.

No, really. I’m really horrible at writing rough drafts. I don’t enjoy those long months it takes to actually get something on paper... or screen as the case may be. I much prefer the revision stage. I think it’s the Type A personality in me that likes taking something awful and making it less awful.


 How many books have you written and which is your favorite?

I currently have two books available - Destiny Binds and Time Mends - and am working on the third and final book in the trilogy, Fate Succumbs.

There really is no way to pick a favorite. For me, they’re not books, but experiences, and each so unique and important in my development as both a person and writer, it would be fundamentally wrong to choose one over the others.


 If You had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?

Scout - Saoirse Ronan. The first time I watched Hanna (an excellent movie, btw), I thought, “OMG! That’s Scout!” (Yes, I actually thought the letters o-m-g. I’m cool like that.)

Alex - I always pictured a How to Deal-era Trent Ford as Alex. Cause early 2000s Trent Ford? Pretty, pretty boy. But if I had to go with a current young actor, I’m thinking maybe Logan Lerman. He’s got that sweet but insanely attractive thing going on.

Charlie - Once again, because I’m old, I saw Charlie as a younger version of an adult actor. This time it was a late 1990s Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. But I could totally see Jamie Bell (who probably isn’t young enough either) as charismatic Charlie.

Jase - I’m sticking to my original choice of Jackson Rathbone, I don’t care how old or cliche he’s become. A smiling Jackson IS Jase.

Talley - Tal is the hardest for me, because there just aren’t many overweight actresses out there, and I would be upset if they had someone skinny play Talley. The whole point is that being overweight doesn’t make her any less beautiful or awesome. So, if there is a Hollywood actress who looks a lot like Megan Fox but weighs 200 pounds, that’s who I’d like to see as Talley.

  
When did you begin writing?

I can’t ever remember not writing. I do know that I was eight when I wrote my first country music song because I wanted to be like Dolly Parton when I grew up. (What? My hometown only 2 hours away from Nashville. And really, who doesn’t want to be Dolly Parton?)


How long did it take to complete your first book?

Nine months to write the first draft, and another six months of revisions.


 Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?

While there have been tons of writers whose wonderful books have inspired me over the years, the thing that really got my butt in a chair and writing was meeting Barry Lyga, Stephen Chbosky, and Coe Booth at the YALSA Lit Symposium in 2008. I was there as a librarian, and it was my first time to meet authors whose work I enjoyed and respected in person. There was some point over that weekend when I realized they were real, normal people. No one had granted them super-writer powers. They just worked hard, and made it happen. I started writing Destiny Binds the day I got home.

  
What is your favorite part of the writing process?

Somewhere in the middle of revisions - usually around the seventh reading or so - there is a magical time when you read through your manuscript and actually enjoy it. It’s a very brief moment in history. Before that read-through all you see is the mess you have to clean up, and after you get so obsessive over tiny things, like how many time you use the phrase “managed to”, that you can’t see it as a story. The magical read-through is what makes it all worth it.

  
Describe your latest book in 4 words.

Time Mends - Broken hearts mend slowly.


Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?

Fate Succumbs will be out on September 11 and will end the Timber Wolves Trilogy, but it won’t be the last you’ll see of your favorite characters. Some of them will spill over to my next series, Shifters and Seers, which will be more love-story centered than the Timber Wolves books.





You can find my REVIEW of Destiny Binds:



Links to Purchase
Amazon


B&N:  



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