Friday 4 November 2011

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - JACQUELINE PAIGE




1.             What is your name, where were you born and where do you live now?
I'm Jacqueline Paige.  I was born in Ontario, Canada and I’m afraid other than living all over Ontario I haven’t strayed from my original start very much.

2.             When did you first consider yourself as a "writer"?
I think I’ve always been a writer-even if it was only in my head.  Now, being an “author” was something that didn’t sink in until I probably had four or so books published.  What can I say, sometimes I’m a little slow. J

3.             Do you work another job as well as your writing work?
Yes, although there are days I wished I could say no to that one.  I manage a very busy (open 364 days a year) cafe and eatery franchise.  I’ve been there for two years, since the day the doors opened.  Most days it’s a great world to be in —surrounded by coffee, lattes and sweets —other days I’d just like to sleep...

4.             Who is your publisher? or do you self publish?
Until recently I would have listed my three publishers, Eternal Press, Class Act Books and Whiskey Creek Press – but in September I decided to give this self publishing thing a whirl and brought out two books, two months in a row through Amazon and Createspace.  Let me tell you this, I love my publishers and have a a new found respect for everything they do for us authors!!

5.             How long does it usually take you to write a book, from the original idea to finishing writing it?
That varies, a lot.  Some characters and plots co-operate and if I ignore the rest of the world outside my writing realm I can do a full length (50,000 words) in a little under a month.  The longer stories, or those with characters that absolutely refuse to behave it can take me six months to get it all out.

6.             What can we expect from you in the future?  ie More books of the same genre? Books of a different genre?
I’m always working on something – however at this point I seem to have bitten off more projects than the day has minutes for.
In the past week I have signed three contracts – so there are some definite new releases coming about.
Those would be the first two books in the Magic Seasons series – From Beltane Magic and The Solstice Heat.   Here’s a little blurb on that:

Step into a world of magic and passions....
Take a dash of spice, heat it
Add a flash of magic and watch the sparks fly
Toss in a killer that's targeting women
Add a handful of witches from all paths to stir it all together...


The other contract is for the second book in The Hidden Senses Trilogy – Dream Visions and it so happens that I have a blurb for it right here:

Felicity has spent her life alone, moving from one place to another hiding a part of her no one has ever been able to accept, not even her own family.
For as long as she can remember she’s had dreams that lead her to a person that’s somehow connected with her.  There are no answers or cures only misery for her when she can’t get anyone to believe her.
When a child reaches out to her, frightened and in the hands of strangers she forgets the reasons why she shouldn’t tell anyone and goes to the police.  She finds herself sent for a court ordered psychiatric evaluation.
It’s not the first time, it won’t be the last.  She packs up once again, ready to move as soon as she’s done with another so called doctor.  From the moment she steps into the office everything changes and she finds nothing she expected.
Can the child be found before it’s too late or is she facing heartache again?

I have four others that are either in the proof stage or have been submitted, so I could keep this blurb list going on for pages, but I won't. All that I'm working on is listed on my website, along with excerpts and partial chapters.

7.             What genre would you place your books into?
When I tried to think of a name for my blog / site I decided this one line summed it all up.  “All Things Paranormal”  That’s what I write.   All of my work is in the paranormal genre – romance of course but I like to toss in some suspense from time to time.  I think the only paranormal I haven’t tackled yet is vampire and who knows maybe someday.

8.             Where do you get your book plot ideas from?
Honestly, I don’t really know.  For the most part they just come to me in the form of scenes (and rarely the opening ones) and it’s usually just when I’m about to fall asleep.  My muse apparently never requires sleep!

9.             How do you come up with the Title and Cover Designs for your book/books?Who designed the Cover of your books?
Most of the time before I’m a quarter of the way into writing a book I have the title—it can come from a line in the book, something that happens or even just the main theme of the book will make a good title.  Coming up with a title that has never been used is a hard thing to do.
With my publishers, I let their talented artists do all the work and so far I’ve been lucky to have ones that can pull a picture out of my head and put it on a cover.
The two that I brought out on Amazon I had Jared from Off the Wall Creations do them for me.  (I should mention Jared is one of children as well.)  For DREAMS I sent him three pictures I really liked and told him to figure out a way to put them together so they worked.  I was in awe and thrilled when the final cover pic came back!   For CURSES I again made my son do his magic with a slight change.  The background photo of the cover was taken by my husband on one of our short get-aways to a peaceful cottage at a lake.  When the print comes out for Curses, it won’t be hard to see where the idea for the second story came from – it started with the picture on the back.

10.           Which format of book do you prefer, ebook,hardback, or paperback?
ALL of the above!  For reading I like both.  Usually I start with an ebook and if it turns out to be one of those books I’ll read over and over I buy the paperback.  I used to buy all paperbacks and hardbacks, but space became an issue – I would have had to buy a bigger house if ebooks hadn’t taken off like they did!
As a writer, I like all of them as well.  Although now that I’ve had to format the darn things myself, I really have a new fondness for the paperback versions.  Ebooks are complex things to put together!

11.           What piece of advice would you give to a new writer?
Keep writing!  Regardless of which stage your at and if you have submitted something or not – just keep writing.  Eventually your conscience won’t let you continue to stock pile stories or you’ll write that one that you have to share with the world.

Where can readers follow you?

Your blog details?  http://jacqpaige.blogspot.com/
Your web site ? http://jacqpaige.webs.com/



Thankyou for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview!





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