27 August 2012

Blogger Talk: Novel Exposed - Indie/Small Press Month - Interview with author Angeline Kace (August)

Hey guys! It's been a fantastic month so far. I know Jessica (Confessions of a Bookaholic) and I have had a blast this month highlight some of our favorite indie/small-press authors. This week we have Angeline Kace on. She is the author of the Vampire Born series.

Descended by Blood

Currently Available

Brooke Keller is a high school junior who has never spent much time living in one place. She is finally in a town long enough to almost snag the boy of her dreams, until her life is threatened after killing a fanged man in his attempt to kidnap her. Brooke begins a dangerous journey in an effort to find out who is after her and how to stop them. In a world with powerful and prejudiced vampires, Brooke must tap into the side of her that she never knew existed at the risk of losing her life in order to save it.

Enemy Within

Coming soon!

Two guys who’ve stolen her heart.
Three races and only one of them worthy.
Countless enemies with insatiable bloodlust for power.
Will one girl's curse ultimately save her?

Half-vampire Brooke Keller barely survived the slaying of her worst enemy, only to learn that Zladislov—the world's most powerful vampire, leader of the vampire world, and her father—wants her dead. However, this time, she's not only fighting vampires but a raging monster within her that endangers what's left of her humanity. And when a deadly disease threatens to take her best friend's life, Brooke tries to convince Kaitlynn to accept a monster of her own: becoming a Zao Duh.

As a former slave to the Pijawikas, Mirko is driven to protect the innocent at all costs, but he has never faced a foe more formidable than Zladislov. And when the Commission bears down on Brooke, Mirko finds the stream of enemies runs deeper than he ever imagined.

Interview:

I know I’ve been sitting on pins and needles waiting for the second book in the Vampire Born series – Enemy Within. To help hold me over… just a tiny bit, can you give us a nice juicy teaser?

I licked my lips and savored the sweet, tart liquid. It zapped my tongue like the charge you’d get if you touched it to a battery full of juice. It excited me as the jolt jumped through my cells, shooting from one to the next, spurring little electrical shockwaves as it flowed down the back of my throat, then electrified my chest, and crackled into my gut.

I opened my eyes and found Mirko lying beneath me and covered in . . . blood.  

Can you tell us what was harder and easier for you throughout writing the first and the second book in the series? 

Enemy Within has been so much more difficult for me to write than Descended by Blood was. There’s a lot of reasons that go into this, but it’s been really hard for me to shut out the voices in my head of what people expect of the next book, what they liked or didn’t like in Descended by Blood, etc.

And I really wanted to write Enemy Within from both Brooke and Mirko’s point of views, but traditionally, once you start telling a story from a character’s point of view, you’d stick with that, and the story started being told from only Brooke’s point of view. Mirko’s voice was strong enough and demanding enough in my head that I finally gave in to him, and I am SO glad I did. I think the readers will be happy I did, too.

 Which character do you find yourself thinking about the most?

Well, Mirko speaks the loudest, but I’m not sure that counts as the most. Lol I do think about him a lot, though. And Brooke and what she is going through and how she should respond to certain things. I think about Jaren a lot, too. True to his Scorpio nature, he doesn’t say much, but he has a LOT of stuff going on underneath the surface, and sometimes it’s somewhat challenging for even me to get deep down and find out what’s going on with him and convey that on the page.

  If you could tell people anything about being an Indie author, what would it be?

Oh, gosh. That’s a tough one. There’s a lot I’d tell people about being an author, but it generally applies to all authors. I guess indie-specific would be that it’s a lot harder than it looks. You’re the one responsible for everything, and although that is rewarding most of the time, it can also be overwhelming and challenging.

I think the area most indie authors struggle with is editing. They can’t do it themselves, and then they have a hard time finding someone who can do it—properly. Amazon opening up the flood gates to allow anybody to upload a book wasn’t only a pseudo-gold rush for authors. It also was for cover designers, formatters, and editors. And what I see a lot of is that indies are hiring editors and they think the editing side is taken care of. But in reality, just because you pay someone to go over your manuscript doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing, nor does it make them qualified.

Finding a proper editor is like finding an elusive ghost in the clouds. Authors hire out because they can’t do it themselves. They don’t know what’s wrong or how to fix it. They’re not technically trained like a proper editor is. So when they go looking for an editor, they have the same challenge. They don’t know what makes a good editor. It’s not like looking at a cover and being able to tell if it’s pretty or not. It’s technical in a different way.   

What’s been one of the most important things for you in telling your characters story?

To keep things real. Although the book is written around a mythical species, I want there to be enough honesty and truth in the way that the characters deal with things that it remains believable.