A Dream Within A Dream: Daughter of Chaos Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

http://www.chapter-by-chapter.com/tour-schedule-daughter-of-chaos-by-jen-mcconnel-presented-by-month9books/

Welcome to my stop on the Daughter of Chaos tour being presented by Chapter by Chapter! Today I have a great interview with the author to share with you and don't forget to enter the tour wide giveaway at the end of the post! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

Daughter of Chaos (Red Magic #1)

Author: Jen McConnel

Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Publisher: Month9Books

Description:

There comes a time in every witch's life when she must choose her path. Darlena's friends have already chosen, so why is it so hard for her to make up her mind? Now, Darlena is out of time. Under pressure from Hecate, the Queen of all witches, Darlena makes a rash decision to choose Red magic, a path no witch in her right mind would dare take. As a Red witch, she will be responsible for chaos and mayhem, drawing her deep into darkness. Will the power of Red magic prove too much for Darlena, or will she learn to control it before it's too late?

DAUGHTER OF CHAOS is the first in the RED MAGIC paranormal YA trilogy.

1. What was your inspiration for writing Daughter of Chaos?

I used to teach middle school, and I loved scheduling creative writing days for my students. I always wrote with them, and one day we were using sentence starters as imagination sparks. Mine was, “She was a funny looking woman, but...”, and I just started writing. Three class periods later, I had the very rough first draft of the first chapter of DOC. The story really came at me out of nowhere, and I had so much fun discovering it.

2. What kind of research did you have to do for the book?

The paranormal world of the story relies heavily on global mythology, and I’ve always been fascinated by myths and legends, so I enjoyed learning more about different gods and goddesses for this book.

3. Are any of your characters ever based on people you know or yourself?

I think each of my characters has a piece of me in them, and I freely borrow personality quirks and temperaments from the people I’ve known in my life, but it’s all a mish-mash. None of my characters is directly based on anyone I know.

4. How did you become a writer? Was there a person or situation that prompted you to start writing?

I’ve written as long as I can remember, and my mom was a huge early influence on me; she was free-lancing for a local magazine when I was young, and she also wrote a book. Watching her go through the process made me eager to try it for myself, but in high school, I started to feel like I wasn’t good enough. I stopped writing (other than a few angtsy poems here and there) and I didn’t really come back to it again until my first year teaching. At that time, the encouragement of my husband really helped me push past the hurdle of self-doubt and got me playing with words again.

5. What tips do you have for aspiring writers?

Drop the aspiring and simply write. No one but you has the power to validate you as a writer; if you call yourself a writer, then that’s what you are. And keep at it! It’s hard, and frustrating, and scary, but it’s so much fun to tell stories. If that’s what you love to do, don’t stop.

6. What's next for you?

I’m working on the next book in the Red Magic series, and I’m also getting excited for the sequel to my NA novel, THE SECRET OF ISOBEL KEY; it will be released later this spring. In my non-writing world, I expect I’ll keep teaching, learning, and yearning for travel.

Thanks for this chance to talk about DAUGHTER! I’ve had a blast.

Thanks so much for stopping by and chatting with us today Jen!

Jen McConnel now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches writing composition at a community college. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time.