So with that gush fest out of the way, I was lucky enough to interview her and hopefully you guys can learn some things you didn't know before!
Blogger
Book Fair 2013
We’ll start with the
basics.
1. When did you first know you wanted to be an author?
I don’t remember exactly when I knew. When I was really
little I remember wanting to be a school teacher, and setting up “school” with
all my dolls and stuffed animals as students. I don’t think there was any one
aha! moment, it was a gradual, organic thing. I do know it was sometime before
I turned 12 since even then I was writing stories.
2. What is your normal ‘writing routine’? Music? No music? A
snack you can’t write without? Do you have to write at a certain time of day?
No music, but usually the TV is on, which I know most people
would think would be distracting. It actually helps me stay focused. I write on
my laptop in the family room with everyone around. I much prefer to write at
night—and by night I mean from somewhere around 10 or 11 p.m. until sometime
between 4 and 6 a.m. I always have water, and more often than not some kind of
snack, usually something chocolate, or those Chick’n in a Biskit crackers. You
know, something healthy.
3. Do you base any of your characters on real people you
know or are they complete fiction?
For the most part they’re fictional. Of course there are
pieces of not only myself but other’s I know in some of my characters, as I
think is true with most authors, but none yet are strictly and completely based
on a single person.
4. What’s been your favorite experience with a fan, fellow
author, or book blogger so far since becoming an author?
Gosh, so hard to narrow since I’ve been introduced to this
amazing, wonderful world full of all of the above. I guess one of the best (or
maybe funniest) was when I did Authorpalooza at Barnes & Noble with a bunch
of authors. Fellow author Heather Frost (who I absolutely adore!) brought her
younger sister with her simply because her sister wanted to meet me. Apparently
she’s quite the fan, which always makes me blush. She told Heather, “I want to
meet a real author.” I guess Heather,
being her sister, doesn’t count in her world lol. She’s really a sweet girl.
5. How did you decide what genre you wanted to write? Is
that the genre you typically read?
You know, when I was a teen there wasn’t much in the world
of YA, so I’d always read adult novels (not as in erotica, you know what I
mean). Lots of romance, horror, mystery. Then my own daughters began bringing
home YA books, and encouraging me to read the books they were particularly fond
of. Suddenly I realized how huge the YA world was, and how good the books are. As I read, I knew that was the genre for me to
write. Now I almost exclusively read YA.
6. What’s the scariest thing about being an author?
Reviews! I mostly avoid them, but sometimes when I’m feeling
particularly masochistic I read some of them. I try to stay objective, but it’s
like someone critiquing one of your kids—really hard to take with grace and
without tears when it’s bad. And the second scariest is book signings. I’m just
not good at putting myself out there and being bold enough to show people my book
unless they ask first.
Now for some random
questions.
1. If you could go back in time (and morals were completely
not an issue in this situation), what book idea would you write as your own
work? Meaning, what book that someone else has written do you wish you’d
thought of first?
Other than the obvious ones (Twilight, Harry Potter, Hunger
Games) that would make me rich and famous, I guess probably Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale.
It’s my all-time fave book because she just uses such great language to tug at
your emotions, and though I wouldn’t have been bold enough to write the—ahem—love scenes (read: sex scenes), I truly
love the two main characters and their love story. Very original, beautiful,
and ultimately fulfilling.
2. If you could live out one of your books, which one would
it be?
Probably Immortal Mine.
Wouldn’t be a bad thing to be immortal—though it might suck to be always chased
by the bad guys trying to eradicate me. Still, having Sam as my honey and
getting to hang with Shane would be something I could easily deal with. They’re
both pretty sexy. Might be nice also to not age, and not get fat or wrinkled.
3. All of your main characters from all of your books are
trapped in a zombie apocalypse! Which one dies first? Which one saves the day?
Who is the most resourceful? Who gets the girl in the end? Which one is the
plucky comic relief? Who gets discouraged and just gives up all together?
See! I knew the zombie apocalypse was coming! Okay, first to
die is probably Olivia (Whispers of Razari)
because she’s not from this world, and while she’s met a lot of strange
creatures, I doubt she’s met anything like a zombie. Plus, she’s very
kindhearted and would find it impossible to kill anyone—even the undead. The
day would be saved by Trevor (Geek Girl)
simply because he’s a total geek, and therefore has read everything ever
written about zombies, which means he’s the most prepared and knows many
different ways to kill them. Who gets the girl? Ooh, tough one, can I say all
of them? No? Okay, I’ll go with Henry (Heart
on a Chain) just because he’s pretty dang hot. And sweet. Killer combo.
Plucky comic relief would have to come from the ever sarcastic Jen (Geek Girl) because she’d never take any
of it seriously. The only one who might give up altogether is Sam or Niahm (Immortal Mine) because one of two things
would happen with them: 1) They’re immortal and can’t die so why fight against
what can’t kill you? or 2) If the zombies could
kill them they’d give up because who wants to spend an eternity fighting zombies?
4. An oldie but a goodie. If you could have one superpower,
what would it be and what would you do with it?
If I can’t be Superman (who has everything) then I’d like the superpower of the ability to
transport immediately wherever I wanted. I could save a ton of time not driving around, and I could see the whole world
whenever I had the whim. The first thing I’d do is land myself on top of one of
the pyramids in Egypt. Or maybe smack in the middle of Stonehenge. Or Main
Street, Disneyland. Maybe the highlands of Scotland. Hmm . . . not sure what
I’d do first.
And now to make some
split second choices.
Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla.
Video games or board games? Oooh, tough one. Old school
video games.
Salty or sweet? Sweet.
Night or day? Night.
Hot or cold? Hot.
Hardcover or paperback? Hardcover.
First person or third person? First.
And last but not
least. Tell us a bit about your latest book.
What’s the title?
The
Experiment
Tell us a bit about it! (Synopsis)
Time is running out for the Collaborative's oppressive rule
of the remote world Senca One. The government attempts to suppress the
escalating riots, even while seeking to further their experiments. When their
parents are taken, triplets Juliet, Cilla, and Emiah Tripp set out to locate
them, and soon discover they are at the center of a hunt to capture them.
Evading the Collaborative across Seneca One’s harsh terrain,
they’re confronted with the trials of survival. They also discover something
that changes the very core of what they are: they’re morphs. Struggling to
adapt to the strange new ability, they question what they really are . . . and
why. Are the rumors of experiments done on children true? Did their scientist
parents have anything to do with it?
Their quest brings them to the capitol city of Brighton,
which is on the verge of revolt. While searching for information about their
parents, the Tripps align themselves with the very people fueling the
rebellion. They unwittingly spark the revolution they want no part of and
discover something more dangerous than they suspected.
Here's where you can buy this book:
Here's where you can buy this book:
Where did you come up with the idea?
The idea was introduced by Jeffery Moore, who I co-wrote it
with along with Sherry Gammon. He had the first idea then we all added to it
and changed it until it became what it is, a YA speculative fiction/sci-fi
novel.
What was your favorite thing about writing this book?
Getting the chapters from the other two, just to see what
they’d come up with. And then the opportunity to write my chapter to see if I
could surprise them as well.
What was the most challenging thing about this book?
Jeff lives in Massachusetts, Sherry lives in New York, and I
live in Utah, so we had to coordinate everything via email, which meant waiting
until they received a message and then answered if I had a question about
something.
What’s something unique about this book?
We each took a character, and then wrote that character in
first person (the characters are triplets). So each chapter is written “by” a
specific character, which gives each chapter a unique feel. I think you can
definitely tell it was written by 3 different authors, but the story flows
along from chapter to chapter nicely as if we were telling a true story rather
than one from our imaginations.
What do you love about your main character(s)?
The love and genuine respect between these three siblings is
a really great thing to have been a part of. Of course they still tease one
another and get in little spats as siblings do, but thrown together into a
situation they weren’t prepared for, and then to find out they’re morphs it was great they had one another
to lean on for love and support.
What bugs you about your main character(s)?
My particular character (Cilla) is a little bit shallow and
whiney. As the story progresses we find out that’s more of a front to cover her
insecurity, but still, there were times I wanted to tell her, “Get a grip!”
Where can we find it? (Links!)
http://www.theexperimentnovel.blogspot.com/
Anything else you
want to tell us about you, your books, or just a general shout out to your
fans?
I am so beyond grateful to all of my readers. I wanted to be
an author for so long, but didn’t think anyone would ever care to read anything
I wrote. So I’m humbled not only by the fact that there are people who do read what I write, but that take the
time to write to me to tell me how much they liked a certain book. I don’t
think I’ll ever get used to that!
Blog: www.cindycbennett.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/cinbennett
Rapunzel
Untangled
Enchanted
Fairytales
Heart on
a Chain
Geek Girl
Immortal
Mine
Reluctance
In the
Beginning
Watched
Thank you, sweet Shannen, for letting me hog your blog (hey! I made a rhyme). And thanks for not posting any embarrassing videos of me. ;)
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