Monday, April 16, 2018

Interview - When A Vamp Falls by A.M. Griffin


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 Bonds
Book 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.

Amazon       BN       KOBO


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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2 comments:

A. M. Griffin said...

Thank you for having me!

Nikolina said...

I really enjoyed reading your amazing interview, thank you!

 
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