I’d like to welcome my special guest Sandra Giles, author of the Collision of Worlds series. Please enjoy her insightful interview.
1. How long does it take you to write a book?
That all depends on how much I procrastinate and whether I’m in a writing mind-set. When I’m working on a novel straight through without distractions, either from another novel or from the real world, it takes me up to a month. Unfortunately this is a rare occurrence as I mostly find my mind elsewhere. If that’s the case then it can take months, years, or maybe even a lifetime. The last is something I might be testing with the novel I am currently working on.
2. Can you tell us about your challenge in getting your first book published?
I self-published my first novel, so the challenges have mostly been in being heard among the many other writers crying out for attention. Oh, and editing. That’s a massive challenge all in itself. Novels shouldn’t hit the shelves without strict editing and being self-published is no excuse. As someone who has never had enough money to spare for a proper editor, I can definitely be called a hypocrite. But I am working on it. I guess you can say that the biggest challenge is something that I still face and am determined to tackle head-on.
3. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Oh the usual things writers do. Sit in my room with my characters and gossip about those who aren’t present. We do this with a glass of red wine and surrounded by balls of paper from failed ideas. Okay, I’m not much of a stereotypical writer. I can be a bit of a hermit at times, but mostly I’m with loved ones (who are real, not fictional) and whatnot. I’m a big music fan and love concerts, so I can often be found at venues in various locations. More recently I have entered into a venture with my partner, Aron, that sees us attending local gigs and blogging about them. He takes the photographs and I attempt to write about reality as opposed to fiction. It’s proving difficult but is fun nonetheless.
4. What does your family think of your writing?
They think I need to be sectioned, or see a therapist at the very least. Those who have read my stuff are slightly fearful of my imagination as I write about some disturbing things, but they seem to think I have talent and have said they enjoy what I write. They have to say that as they’re family, but I think it might be genuine. The fear for my state of mind is, anyway.
5. How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best in your genre?
I don’t market my work anywhere near as much as I should. I used to do anything from social networking to giving libraries my novels and wearing promotional t-shirts. Nowadays I might blog a bit or send out the odd tweet, but mostly I let my novels fly solo. I’ve noticed a decrease in sales but it’s not significant enough to get me back on track. Especially as I don’t actually know what worked best as I did them all at once and didn’t find the link. I think blogging is quite effective as it shows writers as humans rather than allowing their novels to do all the talking for them.
6. What do you think makes a good story?
I personally wrote my novels for me, removing the aspects that, in my opinion, ruined stories. I like something with a fast-pace and a good balance of plot, action and humour. The characters need to be developed in a way that is relatable yet intriguing, and there is no fun in reading something where everything is described in excruciating detail. I’m also a massive fan of series, but not so keen on lengthy novels that never meet an end. This is because it’s great to get to know characters, but dragging a plot over hundreds of pages often becomes tedious. Oh, and it needs at least an element of fantasy. I can’t read about things that are too close to reality. To me it defeats the purpose of writing.
7. Can you tell us about this book?
I’ll answer this as I answer similar questions and act like my series is a book. It’s much easier as I never know which novel to go with. Collision Of Worlds is a contemporary fantasy series focusing on various narrators of varying abilities. From vampires to ghosts and psychics, these novels keep legends alive and deeply embedded in this very ordinary world we live in. There is gore, humour. love, confusion and suspense in every book, or at least from every narrator. But if you really want to know more, read the novels. It’s the only real way of knowing. [Insert evil cackle here].
8. Is there anything you’d like to say to your readers and fans?
Are you still out there?
Feeble joking aside, I’d like to thank anyone who has given my novels or even my blog the time of day as it means a lot to know there are people out there (however few) who enjoy reading what I write. And anyone who has gone that one step further and reviewed or commented on something by me, thanks a million. It means the world to have some way of knowing you’re out there, as it often feels as though I am talking to thin air. For the most part I probably am, but it’s good to know this isn’t always the case. I will try to give more than I have been as a thanks, and hopefully some new books are on the horizon.
9. Social media you’d like to share?
I now have to split this into two parts.
For my novels and whatnot, I can be found at the following places:
And for all things related to VEXtended (mine and Aron’s music blog), go to:
yawattahosby 