Thursday, June 19, 2014

Interview with S.A. Wolfe


Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?
FREEDOM is the second book of the FEARSOME series, and it is a standalone novel. FREEDOM starts where FEARSOME left off, except this time we see what happened to Dylan Blackard. Unlike the first book, this one shows Dylan’s POV along with that of Emma’s POV (his new love interest). In this story, Dylan has no choice but to face his greatest challenge in life which is revealed in the first chapter. At the same time, he meets his new colleague, Emma, who kind of turns his world upside down with her own real life problems. They turn to each other for support but their journey to resolve their separate issues becomes intertwined as they both fall for each other. It’s a fast paced romance with some mystery and a lot of humor thrown in.

Do you have a favorite character?
In FREEDOM, Dylan is my favorite character. He’s had a challenging life, and now he has to face an illness head on knowing that he has to manage it for the rest of his life. I love his strength, loyalty, and wit. He’s not about to give up, and he’s as sexy as hell.

Have you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the direction of the novel at all?
Dylan was originally slated to be a minor character in the first book, but then his role became central to both Carson and Jessica. Some readers have refereed to it as a love triangle but I never thought of it as one because there is no cheating and the relationships take place at separate times. However, because Dylan was critical to that storyline, many readers asked me to write his own story. He had a resolution in FEARSOME, but readers wanted him to have a real HEA. I decided they were onto something, and once I started writing FREEDOM - it only took one chapter - I knew Dylan had a great story ahead of him.

If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the creative process for your cover?
Damon at damonza.com designed both of my covers. He’s wonderful to work with and is very patient. He had the synopsis of my novel and I described which character I wanted on the cover. He then presented me with quite a few images to start with and from there he tweaked it based on my feedback. He makes it pretty easy and painless. The painting on the cover of FEARSOME captures a self-portrait of Jess described in the novel. The image on FREEDOM is really how I envisioned Dylan after he goes through rehab and transforms himself into a new person. His physique is a reflection of the battle he faces in his mind, and I think the huddled pose conveys the fear and anxiety that plagues him.

What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?
When I write, I listen to movie soundtracks that don’t have lyrics. For light comedic scenes, I often listen to Under The Tuscan Sun, Little Miss Sunshine or something similar. For dramatic scenes, I listen to Last of the Mohicans, Vikings (TV theme), or Revolutionary Road. If I have a dance scene, or location scene that requires some action, I’ll listen to certain songs, rock or alternative rock, as long as the lyrics don’t distract the writing process.

I generally write in blocks of 3-5 hours, and I work best late at night. I try to write everyday and once I reach the 50% mark of the story, I’m usually in so deep, I write day and night, only stopping to throw some awful meal on the table for the family.

Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
I do a rough outline with major plot points in a 3-Act structure. I add in where I want twists or reveals, and then I flesh out particular scenes and placement. However, it’s very loose. Once I start writing, I allow myself to detour if I feel it’s warranted and the character needs to go in a different direction. All I know is the ending - the middle is constantly in flux.

Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
I have a wonderful editing team that I hired. They both read and edit the book separately and then merge their notes and edits when they present it to me.  Once I go through their edits and do the revisions, we often have discussions on content and grammar. Editing is hard work for me because sometimes I do lengthy revisions multiple times. After the editing is done with them, then it goes to a third person, the proofreader. So after two editors and a proofreader, then I sit with the book and read and revise a little more, often asking my editors to check my work.

Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?
Besides Amazon, my books are on Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, iTunes, Kobo, and the other places Smashwords distributes to.

What kinds of marketing [twitter, facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for promoting your book(s)?
I’m on Twitter but I’m not very good at it. I engage with readers mostly on Facebook. I love getting messages and posts from readers there. I also have a newsletter that I send out about once a month. That's where I’ll send excerpts of my upcoming release and I offer giveaways to my subscribers that I don’t always post on Facebook. So aside from Blog Tours, I spend most of my marketing time on Facebook, and I also post about other author friends and their books.

What’s next for you?
Currently I’m working on the third book in the Fearsome series, and then I plan to start a series based on characters from Brooklyn, NY.

Book & Author details:
Freedom by S.A. Wolfe
(Fearsome #2)
Publication date: April 7th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:
*This is a stand-alone sequel to Fearsome. No cliffhanger!

Dylan Blackard is back in town and certain everyone knows his secrets.

Putting away his notorious reputation as the wild guy with a womanizing past, he’s now on a new path, wanting to be the good guy his brother can stop worrying over. As long as he gives up his old vices—including women—he can keep himself on the straight and narrow and finally live up to everyone’s expectations.

However, obsessing about his lack of self-control is making Dylan one humorless, cranky hermit. That all changes, though, when his brother hires a new employee, the stunning Emma Keller, who will be sharing an office with him and all of his tightly wound nerves.

Emma, a spunky young woman from New Jersey, isn’t about to feel sorry for Dylan and his situation. She is beyond distracting to him, and that is enough to turn his emotional balancing act upside down. Not only is she intelligent, and a smart aleck, she’s also very determined to pull the sexy Dylan Blackard out of his self-imposed isolation.

From the moment he meets her, he feels alive again, but Emma doesn’t come as a gift with a pretty bow; she comes with major baggage—a family embedded in its own tumultuous history.

Will Emma be the tipping point that causes Dylan to regress into his past destructive behaviors…or will he actually pursue her for keeps?

*Due to adult language and sexual content, this New Adult Contemporary Romance is intended for readers over the age of 18.

Purchase:
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1hpmxzF
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1hQP6lT

AUTHOR BIO:
S. A. Wolfe lives with her very loud, opinionated children and husband. She is a voracious reader and passionate about writing, and when those two activities don’t keep her locked away in her room, she loves roaming the streets of New York City. Sometimes she even hikes mountains, but most of the time she finds excellent ways to procrastinate.

Author links: 

Giveaway:
Tour wide giveaway
--4x ecopies of Freedom (INTL)
--2x Signed Paperbacks of Freedom (U.S. only)
--2x $50 Amazon Gift Card (INTL)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 



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