Please welcome my fellow Liquid Silver Author Alianne Donnelly. So tell us Alianne, where are you from?
A: I am originally from Slovakia but for the past eleven years I have been living in California.
Q: What inspired you to write your first book?
A: Lol the first one was mainly a challenge to see if I could do it – keep a story going for 100k words or more. The very first day I sat at a computer and typed 20 pages. Yeah, it was a mess… But five more books later, I learned how to do it right. It’s true what they say: Practice, practice, practice.
Q: What books have most influenced your life most?
A: Early on it was fairy tales, and they still fascinate me to this day. They’re the reason I write Happily Ever Afters. Now I read mainly romance and history/mythology books. When life gets really stressful or glum books become my escape. More often than not, what I read tends to influence what I write and how I write it.
Q: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
A: Names. This gets me every time. I come up with an amazing place, or a really great character, and I can’t for the life of me think of what to name them. I even put together a notebook of just names I like. Now I read through it and think… what the heck kind of a character would be named that?? Lol
Q: What was it like, getting the “call” that your first book, “Blood Moons” would be published?
A: When I saw the email in my inbox I figured it was another rejection. I read through it, looking for the “regrettably…” part and never got to it. I think I actually stopped breathing and my eyes went wide as saucers when I read it a second time and realized it was an acceptance. I called every person I knew just to say, “I’m getting published!!! Okay, gotta go!”
Q: Who designed the cover?
A: I honestly don’t know. I believe all the back-and-forth was handled through an intermediary. I wish I knew so I could thank them in person. The cover came out even better than I imagined. I love it!
Q: What was the hardest part of writing your book?
A: Writer’s block. Most of the time I fly through a story blind and let it develop the way it wants to. The hardest part is when I get stuck. I’ll sit there, staring at my computer screen for hours and end up browsing the web instead of writing. Usually it means I messed up somewhere. I’ve scrapped entire chapters before and rewrote whole sections just to steer the story in a better direction.
Q: Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
A: I learned that you should write what you want to read because you never know what an agent or publisher will respond to. Blood Moons is the first of my novels ever to get published and if you’d asked me a year ago, I would never have guessed this would be the one. But I would have written it anyway. =)
Q: Do you have any advice for other writers?
A: Don’t give up. People will put you down, they’ll condescend to you, they’ll tell you it’s all nonsense and nothing will ever come of it. I’ve been there. I’m still there with some people around me. I don’t write for them. I write for myself, because it’s what makes me happy.
Q: Where can readers find you on the World Wide Web?
A: My blog: http://aliannedonnelly.blogspot.com and
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Alianne-Donnelly/136408409725584?ref=ts
Join me on Saturday when we read an excerpt from Alianne’s book Blood Moons.
Tina
The Clog Blog 