Author Interview: Christi Goddard

HAPPY MONDAY ALL!!!

Today I'd like to welcome fellow Bransformer, Christi Goddard. Christi has made the jump from writer to author this past year (CONGRATS!). Her first book, Four in the Morning, will be published by Immortal Ink Publishing in May 2012!

She's taken the time to answer some fun questions for us. ;-)

Q1. Why your genre? Why not romance? Children's books? Literary fiction?

A. My genre picked me, I suppose. I have always written stories with teenaged characters and I tend to stick with stories that have some manner of fantasy aspect to them. I wrote for years before I ever gave much thought to ‘genre.’ Those years we spent as teenagers were some of the most important we experience, even if they were horrible and traumatic. Even if we don’t want to think about them as adults. I do read adult fiction, but I want to tell the stories of teenagers who face difficult situations and try to succeed with little or no experience to guide them. And I have to make it funny.

As far as romance, I have written a couple of romances, but they are also YA and paranormal. One is the Lesser Evil series, the first book of which will be out in December 2012. The other is a stand-alone book, and there’s been no firm decision on when that will be released. This one borders quite boldly near the ‘literary fiction’ realm and is unlike anything else I’ve tried to do. Regarding children’s books, I have started a book I want to finish one day, and it is MG. So I guess I might be a bit of a genre hopper with that one, but most of my work will be firmly entrenched in the YA paranormal genre.


Q2. Tell us the secret of your muse.

A. She is a fickle beast. I might go weeks without writing anything at all. But sometimes, when she feels like being kind, I can write an entire book in a matter of days. My fourth book I wrote in eleven days, for example. Four in the Morning took a total of six weeks, but there were starts and stops. I’ve discovered my stress level has a great deal to do with my muse’s cooperation.

Q3. Self-pubbing vs traditional pubbing vs small pubbing: What made you choose?

A. Well, like most everyone, I tried to do the traditional route first. I wrote a book, queried, failed. Wrote another book, queried, failed. Wrote another book, queried, failed. When I was querying my fourth book, I sent my third manuscript to a professional editor since I had sincere hope for it and had gotten positive feedback from agents with it. My editor loved it so much, she suggested I let Immortal Ink Publishing consider it. I’d never heard of them and that’s because they were brand new and getting into the e-book business. They decided to take my book on, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve had a say in everything from the book design to how I want things to proceed, and I’m sure a larger publisher would be more constraining. I never expected riches or fame, I just want my stories to be available for people to read.

Q4. Every writer has a "system". What's yours? How often do you write? Panster or plotter? How long does it take you to write that first draft? Complete product?

A. This kind of goes along with the muse question. I am a punster, totally. I get an idea and jot it down. Eventually, bits of dialogue pop into my head and I jot that down. Then a whole chapter, usually somewhere in the middle, comes to mind. Then, when I ‘feel’ the time is right, I open a new document and pound away. All I need to get started is that opening line and some vague idea of where everything is going. The time it takes me varies between projects. As I mentioned, I wrote one book in eleven days. Most take me about two months, but Lesser Evils took about six months to write, edit, edit, edit, and edit. It was HUGE when I finished it so took a lot of streamlining.

Q5. Tell us a secret.

A. That would make it NOT a secret then, wouldn’t it? This would actually be hard since I tend not to have them. I’m pretty open about everything. Okay, I have a small one (this literally took a long time to think of). I like to make fan videos and put them on youtube. I will not divulge my secret account, so don’t bother asking.

Q6. The most important question of all! Vanilla or Chocolate cake?

A. Chocolate is the answer, but that’s because chocolate is the answer to everything.



The synopsis for her new book can be found on HERE, and a cool sneak peak of the first pages are HERE.

And you can see the wicked trailer on  youtube.

If you don't follow Christi yet, jump on over and say "HI!" on her blog.

Have a great week everyone!

~JD