Can you tell readers a little bit about
yourself and what inspired to write in this particular genre?
My parents, until
they retired this year, were both faculty at various boarding schools—my dad
was the headmaster of two, and my mom taught Latin, worked in college
counseling, and ran the library—and I went to one myself. (Unlike Connie, I
didn’t go to the school where my parents worked. We lived in California, and I
wanted a place with “real seasons,” because I was extremely dumb.) I have a lot of memories of my time as both a
faculty brat and a student, and I thought it’d be fun to write a novel based on
some of them. It was!
What is it about the paranormal, in
particular vampires, that fascinates you so much?
The paranormal in
general intrigues me for two reasons: it’s mysterious and deals with the
potential for things beyond what we can currently see, and so much of it, at
least in fiction, depends on an individual’s will and faith and
imagination.
I also like how
vampires differ from culture to culture, but almost every culture has some kind
of similar concept. Playing with archetypes is my idea of a good time, which
might be why I don’t get invited to many parties. ;)
Was one of your characters more
challenging to write than another?
Autumn was tough.
Quiet characters are always tough for me—I am, er, Not Quiet, especially around
people I know—and when the story’s not from their point of view, it’s even
harder.
Julio was also a
challenge, because I don’t spend a whole lot of time around kids, and it’s been
a long time since I was six.
Is there a character that you
enjoyed writing more than any of the others?
All of them were
great, but Jenny was particularly fun. I always like the sarcastic ones. I also had a good time with Connie’s mom
(…wow, that sounds wrong) because being the head of a school requires such a
mix of idealism and cynicism and patience.
Do you
have a formula for developing characters? Like do you create a character sketch
or list of attributes before you start writing or do you just let the character
develop as you write?
As I mentioned above, I work with archetypes a lot, and that
goes for my characters as well as my monsters. Usually, I’ll pick something
like “Sarcastic Punk Chick” and then see how I can play with it, adding
qualities or changing things until someone like Jenny takes on a personality of
her own. With Connie, I also felt it was
important to make her different from me, since I was already drawing a lot from
my own experience, so she’s athletic and Latina and likes math and science.
Can you tell readers a little bit
about the world building in the book/series? How does this world differ from
our normal world?
Connie’s world is
very much like ours on the surface. Magic exists, but it’s rare that people
know how to use it, particularly now—mostly because it’s never really been
reliable. People can’t actually see or tap into magical power by themselves:
they have to make deals with things that either come from outside the world or
exist on a level that we can’t normally perceive. Since these things have their
own wills, and some of them think we’re tasty, magic is a dangerous thing.
Do you ever suffer from writer’s
block? How do you deal with it?
Often! It helps to
have an outline planned, though. I don’t stick to it entirely—if I decide that
I need to take the plot in a different direction, I do—but it means that if I’m
not feeling inspired, I can sit down at my computer, look at my outline, and start
work on whatever comes next. Usually just working clears up the block: for me,
it’s a lot like going to the gym, where you don’t want to go until you’re
there.
When did you consider yourself a
writer?
Probably the first
time I got a story published. It was a short little sf thing: romantic angst
after Neo-Tokyo has exploded. I was in college at the time, slumping around my
room because it was January and I’d just had a breakup myself and blah blah
twenty-one, and got this email all “Hi, we want to pay you fifty bucks for your
story.”
Squealed like a
goddamn anime schoolgirl. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t have a roommate.
What are your guilty pleasures in
life?
I don’t feel guilty about very much, but probably men,
musicals (I…kinda love Disney films), really bad candy (I am the only person I
know who likes circus peanuts), fanfic, extremely dangly earrings, and clothing
with glitter on it.
Other than writing, what are some of
your interests, hobbies or passions in life?
I’m incredibly
geeky, and thus play both tabletop and live action RPGs, in addition to video
games—although I’m consistently behind the technology curve with those, and am
still midway through Dragon Age 2.
Some friends and I indulge in ballroom dancing on occasion, I used to be a fair
skater and would like to do more of that, and I’m teaching myself to sew.
Where is your favorite place to
read? Do you have a cozy corner or special reading spot?
I wish! Most of my
reading these days happens on the T, so mostly I’m trying to concentrate on my
book while someone is industriously putting his elbow in my spleen. When I go
on vacation, though, it’s different: I go to the library near my folks’ place,
get a stack of books as tall as I am, and occupy the living room couch for
days. It’s fantastic.
November 9 Interview
Michelle @ Mom With A Kindle
November 9 Promo
Monique Morgan
November 10 Interview
Fang-tastic Books
November 11 Interview
Roxanne’s Realm
November 12 Guest blog
Celestial Reviews
November 12 Guest Blog
PW Creighton
Paranormal Perceptions guest post series
November 12 Promo
Inkk Reviews
November 13 Guest blog
The Creatively green Write at Home Mom
November 14 Guest blog
November 15 Review
Publishing the Paranormal
November 15 promo
Cover2CoverBlog
November 16 guest blog
November 16 Review
Hickey of the Beast
Isabel Kunkle
Isabel Kunkle
Genre: YA / Fantasy
Publisher: Candlemark & Gleam
ISBN: 978-1-936460-22-9
ASIN: B004S7B21C
Number of pages: 272
Cover Artist: Kate Sullivan
Book Description:
Connie thought freshman year might suck. She never thought it’d be literal.
Bad dreams? No big deal. After all, Connie Perez is starting her first year in the prep school her mom runs. Anyone would be a little stressed, right? When she starts dreaming about strange creatures and places that don’t make sense, she doesn’t think much about it: there’s other stuff on her mind. Then she starts noticing that the people she dreams about get sick right afterwards.
Then everything gets weird.
There’s something bad on the campus of Springden Academy. Something that feeds on students and warps their minds. And, as Connie and her friends try to figure out what’s going on, it starts to look like she’s the only one who can stop it. Freshman year was hard enough without having to fight evil after class.
About the Author:
Isabel Kunkle lives and works in Boston, where the winters have yet to kill her. She’s been the headmaster’s kid at a number of prep schools and attended Phillips Academy Andover herself, but has yet to develop mystic powers, unless you count the ability to eat nearly anything. When she has a moment, she likes reading, roleplaying, ballroom dancing, and watching bad TV from the Eighties.
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