Interview with young adult author Lisa Orchard

Welcome, Readers.

Today’s special guest is young adult author Lisa Orchard. We’re talking about her young adult romance books in The Starlight Chronicles series.

During her virtual book tour, Lisa will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card (winner's choice) to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Lisa Orchard grew up loving books. She was hooked on books by the fifth grade and even wrote a few of her own. She knew she wanted to be a writer even then. Her first published works are the “Super Spies Series.” These stories revolve around a group of friends who form their own detective squad and the cases they solve. “The Starlight Chronicles,” is the next series that Lisa created with musical misfit, Lark Singer as her main character.

 After graduating from Central Michigan University with a Marketing Degree, she spent many years in the insurance industry, pining to express her creative side. The decision to stay home with her children gave her the opportunity to follow her dream and become a writer. She resides in Michigan with her husband, Steve, and two wonderful boys. Currently, she’s working on the next book in the Starlight Chronicles Series along with a few new ideas that may turn into standalone novels. When she’s not writing she enjoys spending time with her family, running, hiking, and reading.

Welcome, Lisa. Please tell us about your current release.

Lark Singer is seventeen years old and already on the way to a brilliant music career. But as she and her band, Starlight, gear up for a competition, life seems to be throwing her a few curve balls. The mysteries of her past seem to be unraveling, and she’s no longer certain she wants to know those answers or how knowing about her past will affect her difficult relationship with her mother. And when her best friend, Bean, changes things between them, all her plans for a musical future are placed in jeopardy. How can she balance her complicated personal life to keep her musical goals on track?

What inspired you to write this series?

It’s a funny story actually. My husband and I were watching a documentary about one of our favorite bands, Rush. I have to confess that they weren’t one of my favorites until I watched the show. However, I was so impressed by their musicianship and their commitment to their music that I turned to my husband and said, “I want to be like Geddy Lee.”

This documentary brought back that age old desire to be a rock star. We’ve all had that dream, haven’t we? Anyway, since I’m too old to go down that road now, I decided to write a book about it instead and “The Starlight Chronicles were born.


Here's an excerpt from The Starlight Chronicles series:

Bean touches my hand and pulls me back to a safer place. He gives me a look full of knowing and compassion then squeezes my hand. I look down suddenly ashamed of my emotions.

“She doesn’t have anything on you. You’re a kick-ass guitar player.”

I give him a grateful smile. Bean always knows how to make things right. We finish our lunch in an easy silence that can only be shared by two people who’ve known each other a long time. It’s comfortable, like your favorite pair of sneakers. They’re scuffed and worn, but you immediately feel at home in them.


What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m working on a couple of them. The next story in “The Starlight Chronicles” and I’m also working on a thriller titled “Missing Mia.” I’m pretty excited about both of them.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I knew I wanted to be a writer in the fifth grade. The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew inspired me and I began writing stories then. It wasn’t until I was home with my own kids, though that I decided to pursue publication. I’ve been having so much fun writing and the ideas just keep coming! I hope they never stop.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I work part time at my kids’ school, but any spare moment I have, I devote to writing or marketing my books. I have two series out. The first one is “The Super Spies” series that’s written for the upper middle grade age group, and “The Starlight Chronicles” that’s written for the upper young adult age group.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Hmmm…this is a good question. I would say my interesting writing quirk is the fact that I eat chocolate while I write. I know! So bad! But, I have to say sometimes chocolate gives me a mental boost so I can finish the scene I’m working on. It also helps when I get stuck and I can’t go for a hike. A quick bite of chocolate seems to help me through the rough waters.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Well, when I was really young, I wanted to be a detective just like Nancy Drew. However, that changed and I decided I wanted to write books like Nancy Drew.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I love hiking in the woods. It’s a stress reliever and a great way to unravel plot problems when I get stuck in my story. I love the smell of the woods and the peacefulness of nature. It’s very calming.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon

The books will be offered as a boxed set for $0.99 during the tour.

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Interview with YA author C. S. Johnson

YA author C. S. Johnson is here today to talk about herself and the first book in her Starlight series, The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering.

Let’s get to it.

Bio:

C. S. Johnson was born in western Pennsylvania, but considers world travel a top priority. Her novel, The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering won 2nd place in the 2012 Munch Writing Contest. It is the first in an epic young adult series. She writes in a variety of genres, including young adult, fantasy/sci-fi, and spiritual/apologetic fiction. She currently lives in Atlanta with her family, cats, and caffeine addiction.

Welcome, C.S. Please tell us about your current release.

The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering is the first book in an epic young adult series. It is set in high school, focusing on the life of Hamilton Dinger. Hamilton is a narcissistic, charismatic show-off, who is the leader of his group of friends. He is very cynical about life in general, but when he is confronted with a supernatural incident, he finds out he is a fallen star, and capable of superhero abilities. He is then faced with the choice to fight the supernatural evil which slowly begins to exert its power over his city, or do nothing. Along the way, prompting him to step up, are his ‘mentor,’ Elysian (a judgmental changeling dragon), and his ‘co-defender,’ Starry Knight, another superhero who definitely knows what she is doing. All together it makes a very fun, funny story with eternal implications.

What inspired you to write this book?

I was inspired largely to write the book because of Hamilton’s superhero name (given to him by the media in his story), which is Wingdinger. I thought the name was brilliant (I thought of this in high school, so give me a break) and I really wanted to bring him to life, with “Dinger” as his last name. “Hamilton,” was a name which lent itself some character, but also allowed me to define his character on his own terms. The name means “beautiful mountain” according to Babycenter, anyway, and I thought it would be a fun play on scenarios to have faith move a mountain.

Excerpt:

(This is the excerpt from the first time Hamilton meets Starry Knight, with whom he will share a complicated connection. It is a cornerstone moment in the series, which will build on itself over and over throughout the rest of their story.)

            It was then that I heard it. The lulling tune of a harp poured out from out of nowhere. My familiar melody. I stilled. It was the song from my dreams. 

            Maia heard it, too, and seethed. “I know that melody...” she whispered. “Show yourself!” she commanded.

            The tune became louder as I looked all around. “There!” I cried out, as I saw her.

            There’s a girl, if she could be called a girl, on the roof of the school building behind us. She was standing tall, playing the harp next to her. Her long brownish-red hair gave her an element of gracefulness even as the rigidity of her armor lent her strength.

            Gwen saw her and gasped. “She’s lovely!”

            I felt like saying the same. The girl was no ordinary girl. She had wings – white wings, like an angel. A smaller pair of wings fluttered out of her head, while a pair of glimmering silver chains draped over her forehead were pulled into the half-bun at the back of her head. A long, bright red feather dangled in her hair, contrasting pointedly with the blue and violet of her leather tunic.

            She finished the last line of her pretty piece and then snapped her eyes open.

            I felt a twinge inside me. Even from this far away, I knew her eyes were a captivating shade of violet, speckled with starlight.

            “Who are you?” I couldn’t resist the urge to ask.

            She didn’t answer me, but turned her full attention to Maia. She held up a half-gloved hand and reached into the sky. A second later, a bright arrow appeared in her hand, and her harp transformed itself into a bow.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m working on a variety of stories, mainly book 2 of the Starlight series, tentatively entitled, Calling, where more supernatural adventures await Hamilton and his friends, and also on my adult fiction debut with Soul Descent, which is a social critique/social response on a number of my favorite and least favorite topics.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I don’t think I ever thought of myself as a writer, truly, consciously, until I was in high school working on my first pieces of longer fiction. But as a child, I would write a lot in school. The teachers had to let me write on the adult notepad program in the computer lab because the child-level one let me write in large print a LONG story which turned out to be over 28 pages. This was quite a bit more, considering most people were writing somewhere around 5. My academic rival, Tommy Baer, wrote about 10. Probably the idea dawned on me in close to 5^th grade, when my reading teacher, Mrs. Johnson (coincidence, not-related) read my creative writing essay aloud in class because I was writing on a much higher level than everyone else. But I know it never occurred to me that I could make a living doing it, although that has become my most ardent dream of late.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I work as a teacher and an online tutor. I am also a wife, mother, and first-time homeowner. It is very hard to find time to write between everything, but writing has to be a priority. I dream of the day when everything is working like it is supposed to, everything is done and clean, and everyone is happy, content, and accomplished. But it will probably never happen, so life goes on.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

In terms of words-writing, I use a lot of parentheses (a LOT of parentheses). It’s a good attention-getter, a good signal to keep reading.

For story-writing, I talk aloud like my characters would. I tell people all the time I would’ve made a great actress if I could only get past the idea that I look stupid when I’m not myself. And my performance anxiety.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

There were lots of things, but I wanted to be a missionary most of all. I always wanted to travel, and I have had the chance to go on missions trips all over the world, so I thought it would be a good fit. I’m not really in mobile mode at the moment, so in most of my writing I tend to bring in the question of God or the supernatural somewhere. That was really my biggest problem with The Hunger Games. Where did religion go? Religion has never, historically, completely disappeared from a culture.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

It’s funny how you can look at someone or something and see something completely different from somebody else. We see people, and things, but do we actually look at them? I don’t know. But the book is the embodiment of my hopes and my attempts to live “the dream,” and I hope you find that same affirmation in your own dreams that I find within its pages and characters. Plus it is hilarious. Need I say more?

Ways to connect and find the book:

Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

People can find the book here:

The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering (Book 1 of the Starlight series) can be found at Amazon.com, BN.com, Booksamillion.com, and Westbowpress.com.

Thanks for stopping by today, C.S. and letting us get to know you a little bit. Happy writing!