Walkers/Tortured Soul Interview Questions
GR/Patricia-Hola Kyra
KG-Hey
GR/Patricia-Thanks for agreeing to do an online interview with Goodreads and answering a few questions. I know you’re probably excited about the release of your new book and are probably busy with marketing.
KG-Yes I am very excited and I am looking forward to this one. I am still growing as an author and in Tortured Soul you will see that a bit.
GR/Patricia-We had quite a few club members participate in the questions and comments and I don’t want to keep you too long so I guess we’ll get started. First Question: Where do you get your inspirations from?
KG-My inspiration comes from the fascination I’ve always had with vampires and comic book super heroes. When I was younger I always wanted to be a vampire because you live forever…as I grew older I didn’t want to be so much because they couldn’t come out in sunlight; then after a few years that started to change and they were recreated to be beautiful creatures. Though I’m not a kid anymore when I’m writing I always put myself in that ‘what if’ mind set. Now I look at it more on the side of a superhero more so than a vampire; you can come out in the sunlight, most are rich and gorgeous; and not all such as those in Walkers are monsters.
GR/Patricia- Who are your favorite comic book heroes and why?
KG-Mystique is my favorite, she’s bad ass and she can change into whoever she wants to be. Next I would have to say Night-Crawler; he’s a teleported and Mystiques son. Batman I’ve always liked, because he is human but fights for good.
GR/Patricia -How did you first start in Vampire stories?
KG-The first vampire story I read was Bram Stokers and then the vampire Lestat; but after reading twilight and waiting for Midnight Sun to be finished I grew bored, so my husband told me to write my own book, so I did. It was exciting and it was just like reading a good story except for the fact you were creating it as you go.
GR/Patricia -Does music help you a lot when you write?
KG-Music…as you will see especially when you read Tortured Soul is soothing and it helped a great deal. Music helps me write quite a few scenes in the book. Sometimes with music you can feel and I use that a lot when I write.
GR/Patricia-What are some of your favorites?”
KG-Bands or Singers
GR/Patricia-Both
KG-Bands…um Linkin Park…my son love’s Linkin Park and he’s only five years old; Paramore, Seether, Evanescence; 112 and Allure if that counts as a band; N’Sync…I have a lot and I listen to a variety of music. Singer or Artist shall I say; Rhianna is probably one of my favorite now but Aaliyah will always be my top favorite; Amy Lee just to name a few…I can’t even think right now its so many.
GR/Patricia -Yes I have a lot of favorites myself but if you had to choose one singer and one group to sing at your wedding who would it be?
KG-112 at my wedding; probably Debra Cox…I forgot about her at my wedding also.
GR/Patricia-When is the third book coming?
KG-Hopefully sometime in the spring, it will be the final installment for the Walkers trilogy.
GR/Patricia-Are you working on anything else after that?
KG-Actually I’m taking a break from Walkers for a while and focusing on a new book, called Infinity.
GR/Patricia- Is that vampire related also?
KG-Yes
GR/Patricia-Can you tell us a bit about it or is it too early?
KG-Well it’s about a woman who sees her father murdered by a vampire at the age of 4, but of course no one believes her and thinks she's crazy. She’s an only child, an outcast…tough, a menace to society. Her cousin takes her in and she learns to fight and control her anger. When she grows up she becomes a police detective but still has a problem with authority and working with others. A new rookie becomes her partner and she finds out that there is so much more to him than his gorgeous face. That’s all I’m going to say now…it’s still in the works.
GR/Patricia-Okay well that sounds interesting. When should we expect that? And how long does it take to complete a book?
KG-I’m hoping late January or February. It usually takes me about 4 months for the first draft; going through the editing that I try to do and choosing or designing a cover a total of 6 months. That with everything else I have to do while trying to write a book.
GR/Patricia-If you’re not writing what are you doing?
KG-First and foremost I’m a mother and a wife; secondly and student and I coach basketball and volleyball and I am also a volleyball player. On top of that I have a full time job.
GR/Patricia-If you had a major book deal would you quit your full time job and coaching?
KG-Well….I would probably still work maybe not full time. Basketball I thought I was done coaching but I’m volunteering so I may give that up once the girls move on to another team (due to age) but volleyball No…I love to play and coach volleyball; that wouldn’t stop I’d just work around it as I always do. Believe it or not I do most of my writing while at volleyball tournaments; it’s comforting.
GR/Patricia-How in the world do you find the time to do all of that? Your son is 4 or 5 right?
KG-Yes he’s five. I have a great support system, my husband coaches as well but my mom and a family friend makes sure that he gets to tball or karate if we can’t take him. During the season (high school volleyball) he’s mainly with us. We try to keep him around positivity through sports. But because I co-founded my program we work around his schedule but for our high school season he only competes on the weekend just so happens my husband is the varsity coach, so everything pretty much works out.
GR/Patricia-How did you develop your characters? (Or where does the attitude and demeanor come from)
KG-My characters’ names come from either a name that I think is cool or they are named after friends that I have. Some of my characters’ personalities are developed from people that I know and of course their powers are a combination of the fantasy world that I’ve created.
GR/Patricia-Who's your favorite author and did he or she give you much inspiration when writing your book?
KG-Oooh, good question. Well I’ve never fancied reading until I read the Twilight books; however, I think I mainly read those books because Robert Pattison was cute. I realized that after a few years I guess. So I would have to say at this point my favorite author would have to be…besides myself…Jeaniene Frost. A lot of my inspiration comes from self motivation, my husband, and my son. He loves vampires too and monsters and he loves batman, wolverine, and robin. However I was never really truly inspired by an author until I read Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost….she pushed the limits in her books and before I read her books I was limiting myself to where I wanted to push things not understanding…truly understanding the different genres and not wanting to offend a possible reader but after reading her books I found that I could still express myself to an adult audience and still be classy.
GR/Patricia-Any others?
KG-Amanda Ashley Bound by Night; Amanda Hockings My Blood Approves Series; and TR Graves Warriors of the Cross
GR/Patricia-Team Edward or team Jacob?
KG-Easy question, though I love Jacob remember I am a vampire fanatic so I’d have to say TEAM EDWARD!
GR/Patricia-Okay this question is specifically from Robin one of the only male members we have he wants to know what can we expect to see from Anthony in the second book. He says that he was one of his favorite characters and who was your favorite character in book I and does it change in book II?
KG-Thank you Robin. You will see a different side of Anthony in book II. In book I he was confident, courageous; and he loved Lasette Aaliyah unconditionally…in book II let’s just say you’ll find out why he loves Lasette Aaliyah unconditionally. I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t read it. In book I my favorite character was Mechelle for her tenacity; aggressive behavior; and her evil demeanor. Secondly Daron because he is a free spirit. In book II Daron because he matures into a man and you also see his growth in book II. Also Nicholas because we learn more about him and when he fights he fights hard. He is still arrogant but confident and I love that in a man. He’s strong and loves hard.
GR/Patricia-Why did you decide to self publish and do you hope to one day get an agent and be signed to a major book deal?
KG-Well I self published because I’m limited in resources for one and also because that is what I knew at the time. I mainly write for me it’s a hobby the bonus for me is if some one reads it and enjoys it as much as I do. If I don’t get a major book deal I won’t regret self publishing; if I do get a major book deal one that’s going to mean a lot more work and two if that happens it happens….not really my focus right now.
GR/Patricia -If you could live the life of any character who would it be and why?
KG-_Do you mean any character in my book or any character in any book?
GR/Patricia-Both
KG-Okay let’s see…Aaliyah in Walkers and Tortured Soul and probably Cat Crawfield in the Night Huntress books. If you’ve read the books you’d definitely understand why but more than that they are powerful, stubborn, confident, and for the most part they know what they want.
GR/Patricia-This question is from Nana she writes: Yippee Four more days! Kyra I'm not the biggest fan of vampire books, etc however I am a fan and my question is (question/comment) Many people believe that others such as yourself are into vampires due to being afraid of death; what are your thoughts on that and did this play into your infatuation on the subject?
KG-No I am not afraid of death I look at vampires as more of heroes than monsters, so no it didn’t play into the book at all; even vampires can die.
GR/Patricia-Thank you so much for taking the time out to speak with me on behalf of our book club. I look forward to purchasing book II and good luck with Infinity.
KG-You’re welcome.
message 17: by Yusonoz1
This interview was great and gave some good personal incite on who she is as a mother/wife and author. It makes me feel good about reading books from author's that are personal with their fans. hope to hear more from her and maybe she will think about getting a twitter page HA! 