What is it about the paranormal, in
particular vampires, that fascinates you so much?
I love the paranormal genre. I also
love sci-fi, regency romance, fantasy, urban fantasy and contemporary. I’m an
avid reader and will usually engulf just about any good book that I can get my
hands on. I’ve been a big vampire movie fan since I was little but never really
thought about writing a vampire book until the mood struck me last year. When
it struck with this fantastic story about a vampire who was in the midst of
questioning his mortality and getting his affairs in order for his death and a
woman who awakened a part of him that he thought was long gone, I knew I had to
write it.
What inspired you to write this
book?
I was at Romancing
The Capital Ottawa (RTC) and dreamed two nights in a row about the characters
and their first meeting. I’m not a plotter, I usually write by the seat of my
pants, but in order to make sure that I got it right, I put my dream to paper
and later had to go through and finesse it a little (meaning I had to take out
all of the crazy dream-y stuff).
Do you have a special formula for
creating characters' names? Do you try to match a name with a certain meaning
to attributes of the character or do you search for names popular in certain
time periods or regions?
I. Do. Not. Lol. It’s more of a roll of the dice. Literally. I use an app
called “Name Dice” and I roll it until I find something that sticks and fits
the character. Since the character changes a few times during the writing
process, I may have to use the app a few times until I have the final name. I
wish I had a better formula, but there you go. lol
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?
The characters
develop as I write them. I’ll be writing a scene and BOOM! The character will
reveal a secret and I’m sitting there floored. It’s weird to explain because as
the writer you would think that I know every part of a character since I
created them, but nope. It doesn’t work that way for me. I’ll get notes from my
editors or from readers saying, “I did not see that coming!” and my reply is
always, “Neither did I!” I love that part of writing. I’m writing like I’m
reading a book. I don’t now know what’s going to happen yet. For an avid reader
this is the best feeling!
Do you ever suffer from writer’s
block? How do you deal with it?
As
any other author, I do suffer from writer’s block. Usually it’s due from me
trying to force my characters to fit a certain mold or do something that they
don’t want to. The characters have a mind of their own so being forced into
scenarios just so I can wrap a scene in a nice bow usually leaves my fingers
not moving and me staring blankly at my computer. Once I give up whatever idea
I have about a character or scene and move to something else, is when the
characters start talking to me again.
Do you write in different genres?
Yes! I write whatever I fancy. That
practice doesn’t really allow me to take over one particular genre, but it
keeps my heart happy. I write sci-fi, paranormal, contemporary, urban fantasy
and YA.
Do you find it difficult to write in
multiple genres?
Not at
all since I write what I want to read. I would love to be able to stick to one
genre just for the sake of the readers, but since I write because I love to
read, I’m unable to keep it to one box. So there’s good and bad to jumping all
over the place. I love it, but no one can pin my writing style down so that
might be frustrating for readers. I’m just going to pretend that it all adds to
my complexity. lol
What are your guilty pleasures in
life?
Traveling and
reading! I love traveling and reading. I take 2 vacations a year and weekend
trips sprinkled in-between and I also read 2 books a week. I read so much that
I often have to use it as a bargaining chip to finish writing. If I finish two
chapters in my WIP this day, I get to finish reading the book that I’m reading.
SCORE!
What was the last amazing book you
read?
There are sooooo
many! Currently, I’m actually re-reading the Immortals After Dark Series by
Kresely Cole. Yup, all 17 books. I really, really need to be committing more
time to writing my own stuff, but those books are so good. So, so very good.
What can readers expect next from
you?
I’m currently
working on the second book of the War of Blood and Bonds series. Which is about
Vallus and Bride, two of the characters that we met in When a Vamp Falls. I’m
only a quarter into it so I can’t give too much of the plot away, but will be
able to say that Bride does not want to be caught up in the world of vampires
and Vallus, bent on fulfilling a promise, can’t leave her alone (the sparks are
flying!)
Where can readers find you on the
web?
They can find me
on Twitter (@amgriffinbooks) talking about any and everything (usually cracking
myself up) or on FaceBook (Author A.M. Griffin) asking for people to explain
the ending of books or discussing books that I’m reading. Come find me!
Would you like to leave readers with
a little teaser or excerpt from the book?
The door opened.
Ramsey stared in
awe at the beautiful woman in the doorway. Danya’s dark hair hung past her
shoulders. Her bangs were severely cut above her eyebrows. Generous lashes
framed vibrant green eyes. He’d thought that he’d imagined how pretty she was.
But no, she was even prettier.
While he looked
at her, drinking the sight of her in, she however, startled, screamed, then
tried to slam the door in his face. A well-placed foot stopped her before she
could.
“You. You.” She
grunted as she pressed her body against the other side of the door.
When that didn’t
work she kicked at his foot, trying to dislodge it. “No. No. No. You aren’t
real.”
He glanced down
at his body. “I’m very much real, sweetheart.”
Her eyes
fluttered closed. “This is all a figment of my imagination. I am delusional.
This is a symptom of anemia. One. Two. Three.” She took a deep breath, then
opened her eyes again.
He gave her a
wicked smile. “Still here.”
Danya screamed.
Ramsey cupped
his hand over her mouth and wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her body
close to his. She smelled of vanilla and brown sugar. He leaned in to take
another languidly whiff. Delectable.
She opened her
eyes wide, and panic was behind them. He didn’t allow himself time to enjoy how
her soft body was against his. He had to get her back inside before she had
everyone on her floor spilling into the hallway to see what all the commotion
was about.
Ramsey walked
her back into her room and used his foot to kick the door closed behind them.
He stopped only when her back was pressed against the wall. She shook with
terror.
First attack
her. Then scare her to death. Perfect.
A sharp pain hit
his palm. He pulled away from her mouth to see the red bite mark. “You bit me.”
Her bite didn’t do any damage, and the pain was gone already. His body worked
quickly to make the repair. It was confusion that made him pull away. He hadn’t
expected that.
Another pain,
worse, like lightning, hit his groin. He doubled over and backed away.
Being kneed in
the balls felt the same whether he were human or vampire. It hurt like hell.
“Why did you do that?” he asked in disbelief.
The scared woman
that she’d been just moments before was gone, replaced by spit and hellfire.
She balled her fists and took a step forward to kick him in his chin. He’d let
her beauty distract him but recovered quickly and caught her bare foot mid-air
and pushed it, slamming her back against the wall. Before she could react, he
was against her body again and in her face.
“Why. Are. You.
Trying. To. Hurt. Me?” His nose was less than an inch from hers.
Her stare turned
icy. “Because. You’re. Trying. To. Hurt. Me.” She punched his sides then
winced. “Ouch. What the hell are you made of? Steel?”
“Dammit. Stop
that.” He pinned her hands above her head.
She wiggled in
vain, doing nothing but making his body react to hers. He lifted her arms
higher, raising her to her tiptoes. She tried to knee him again, but he blocked
her by maneuvering his hip and sliding his leg between hers.
He tried to
ignore her warm heat spreading over his thigh. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
She stopped
struggling long enough to glare at him. “Really? What do you call this or what
you did last night?”
He let out a
curse. “If I let you go do you promise not to attack me again?”
“Sure.”
He didn’t
believe her. “I only came to make sure that you had recovered from last night.
I didn’t mean to take as much blood as I did.”
“Everyone thinks
that I’m crazy because of you.”
“And for that I
apologize.” She relaxed a little. “So can I let you go now?” He really wanted
to keep her where she was, pinned against him, and take her. And if he didn’t
create space between them that’s exactly what he would’ve done.
She gave a short
nod.
He let go of her
hands and stepped away and kept going until he was against the wall, giving
them both space. He needed it so that his cock would go down, and she needed it
so that she wouldn’t feel threatened anymore. He also wanted to put room
between his balls and her knees.
“You bit me,”
she said again. “Why? I was just trying to help you.”
“And you did, by
giving me your blood.”
She held up a
finger. “Let’s make things clear. I didn’t give you anything. You took it.”
Yeah, that
sounded about right. Hearing her say it made him feel even worse. “If I had
asked?”
“The answered
would’ve been no.”
“It was a life
or death situation. Without you I wouldn’t be standing here now.”
She snorted.
“And that’s a good thing?”
“That I’m alive?
I should think so.”
“Alive and
coming back to finish what you started?”
He raised a
questioning eyebrow.
She pointed to
her neck. “To kill me.”
“I hardly have
intentions to kill you.”
She crossed her
arms and leaned against the wall. She looked causal, even relaxed, but
her muscles were
tight. She was getting ready for a fight.
“Thank you for
saving me.”
“I could’ve
died. You left me with a hemoglobin of 4.4!” Then she pulled her eyebrows
together in thought. “What is it supposed to be normally?” she mumbled.
“Humans should
have a hemoglobin of—”
“I’m not asking
you, mister,” she snapped.
“Ramsey Moreau.”
“Huh?”
“That’s my
name.” She clenched her jaws. He let out a light chuckle. “Nice to meet you,
Danya Evans.”
She took a step
to the side, sliding further away from him. “How do you know my name?”
He winked,
giving her a devious smile. “I heard your conversations with the officers last
night.”
“Creep much?”
“Sometimes.”
“And I suppose
that you couldn’t have found it in your heart to corroborate my story to save
me from the humiliation of being labeled crazy?”
“Ah, no.” She
cursed under her breath and kicked at the carpet. “But if you would let me,
I’d like to make
it up to you.”
She turned her
head. “And how could you do that? You can’t give me my blood back.
The transfusions
took care of that.”
“I want to take
you out to eat.” That hadn’t been his plan, but suddenly he didn’t want to
leave her. Yet.
When A Vamp Falls
War of Blood and BondsBook One
A.M. Griffin
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Date of Publication: 15-MAR-2018
ASIN: B07BGDFGZC
Number of pages: 250
Word Count: 72k
Tagline: Ramsey will stop at nothing to keep Danya safe from harm—even go to war to protect the one he loves.
Book Description:
Danya Evans’s normal everyday life is turned upside down when one good deed lands her on the opposite end of fangs. The fangs happen to be attached to the sexiest man she’s ever seen.
She knows that she should stay away from the vampire who almost kills her, but everything about Ramsey calls out to her heart and soul.
Ramsey Moreau, a Vampire who has walked Earth for thousands of years has two regrets. The first is underestimating the two new vampires who’ve found their way into New Orleans and the second is stealing blood from the trusting human he can't get off his mind. His world is mundane to say the least, but when Danya is around he finds a reason to live and love again.
He'll stop at nothing to keep her safe from harm—even go to war to protect the one he loves.
About the Author:
A. M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She's a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.
For more information please visit www.amgriffinbooks.com
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMGriffinbooks
Facebook: www.facebook.com/amgriffinbooks
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2 comments:
Thank you for having me!
I really enjoyed reading your amazing interview, thank you!
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