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Hi Ellen. Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Please discuss your newest book.<\/h4>\nHi Ellen. Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Please discuss your newest book.<\/h4>\nMy newest book is also my first book and is titled \u201cWhen Darkness Falls\u201d, The First Vampire Redemption Story. It is the first in a series of at least 3 books. It tells the story of Lexie, a vampire executioner who doesn\u2019t know she is one. When her best friend is murdered by vampires, she is thrown into a five-hundred-year-old secret and meets her Amant de Sange or Blood Mate, Etienne Benoit. She chooses to step into her legacy as a \u2018Chosen One\u2019 and begins her journey into a dark and dangerous world. Lexie and Etienne fall in love and when he betrays her she vows revenge.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019ve loved all of the Anne Rice novels and when a friend introduced me to Buffy, The Vampire Slayer I became intrigued by the idea of \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018bad vampires\u2019. I started reading as many vampire books as I could get my hands on including Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Kelley Armstrong, Christopher Pike and Stephanie Meyer. They were my research, and when my work commitments changed, I decided it was time to write. I wrote the first draft in 9 months, took a year off when my husband became terminally ill, and then pursued the dream when he died. I found a great writing coach and the next 4 years were spent in rewrites, editing, and polishing. A great publisher found me and we published the book in March of 2016 on Amazon\u2019s Create Space and Kindle. I\u2019m sorry for your loss.<\/p>\n
My current project is writing the second book in the series.<\/p>\n
When I was a teenager I read a lot of Hemingway and loved his style of writing, so definitely Hemingway. Probably most of all though would be Anne Rice.<\/p>\n
I have two main characters. Lexie is a Southern Belle from Atlanta, Georgia and was brought up in a strict Southern Baptist household. She\u2019s rebelled against the suppression of her Mother and lives in Paris working as a translator for the United Nations. She\u2019s attractive, sassy, a bit promiscuous and wonders if this is all there is to life.<\/p>\n
Etienne is a 500-year-old vampire who was turned against his will and has created an organization to fight against \u2018dark\u2019 vampires. He\u2019s sophisticated, handsome, ruthless when he needs to be and resigned about ever finding his Amant de Sang (Blood Mate). He falls hard for Lexie and when he is forced to turn to the \u2018dark\u2019 side, vows he will find a way back to her.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to see Olivier Martinez play Etienne and Jessica Chastain play Lexie.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m lucky enough to be able to write full-time. I don\u2019t write every day full-time, but when the story or the characters are demanding my attention, I\u2019m disciplined and write 3 to 5 hours every day.<\/p>\n
The rewrites. Then I realized they are the key to honing my craft and producing something that people want to read.<\/p>\n
Creating the story.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m reading \u201cFind Me When The Sun Goes Down by Lisa Olsen.<\/p>\n
I love horses and music<\/p>\n
Tablet and computer<\/p>\n
My writing coach trained me to do a lot of what she calls \u201claying on my bed writing\u201d. In other words, really thinking about where I want to go in a particular paragraph or chapter and making sure my characters are always in character. Also doing the required research \u2013 I\u2019ve learned to love research. When I\u2019m on a roll, I\u2019m always in my office by 9am anxious to discover what my characters have been up to overnight.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m still in the marketing process and so far so good.<\/p>\n
Never give up \u2013 just keep writing.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t listen to the little voice in your head saying you can\u2019t or you\u2019re not good enough or no one wants to read what you want to write about.<\/p>\n
See friends, listen to music, watch TV, travel \u2013 in many ways I\u2019m never not writing. I\u2019m always thinking about writing even when I\u2019m not sitting at my computer.<\/p>\n
Everywhere \u2013 but particularly other authors who write about vampires.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have an opinion about that \u2013 I\u2019m traditionally published and I love my publisher.<\/p>\n
Facebook, Twitter, word of mouth, author interviews, pod casts<\/p>\n
Would you or do you use a PR agency?<\/p>\n
I would and I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Right now a lot. The book is newly published and it takes time to build an author platform and develop one\u2019s readership. I\u2019m willing to put in the time and energy to get my book known.<\/p>\n
How successful has your quest for reviews been so far? My publisher has been extremely helpful in that regard. She discovered a tool we\u2019ve been using and it\u2019s been extremely productive. We\u2019re still working on attaining reviews and know that it takes time and energy on both our parts.<\/p>\n
Not really.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to meet Bram Stoker. Fascinating mind.<\/p>\n
Sit down and write \u2013 don\u2019t critique \u2013 just write.<\/p>\n
Everything I said above<\/p>\n
I have a blog \u2013 ellenchauvet.wordpress.com<\/p>\n
Website \u2013 ellenchauvet.com<\/p>\n
Find me on Facebook<\/p>\n