Interview with Stacey Marie Brown

Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?

Dwellers of Darkness is the third book in the Darkness Series. This story continues where Fire in the Darkness left off. In the beginning we deal with the fallout from Ember’s disappearance/reappearance. All the characters go through huge changes in this one. Ember has finally accepted what she is, who she loves, what she wants . . . now she has to fight to keep it. There are new revelations, secrets, romance, and two hilarious pixies. The final book, Blood Beyond Darkness comes out August 2014.

Do you have a favorite character?

I really do love them all. And probably have different favorite every day. Of course, I really love Ember and Eli. But I think my favorite characters to write lately are Cal and Simmons. They have a personal connection to me. They are actually based off real people, and we lost one of them recently. His personality and humor comes across in Cal; and I know, without a doubt, he would LOVE his character. He and Simmons have a very soft spot in my heart and were fun to write.

Have you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the direction of the novel at all?

Yes! I love all my characters and they are all important to me, but Ember’s friend Kennedy has become pivotal to the series. There is so much with her going on behind the scenes that I have to tell her story. She will get her own spin-off book.

If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the creative process for your cover?

Very involved. I think my cover designer wants to kill me half the time, but my books are my babies. The cover is what attracts people initially. They can make or break your book.

What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?

Silence would make me crazy. I have to have noise. Usually music and the white noise of people around me at a café. I can’t write and watch TV, but I can’t write in silence either. My Darkness Series soundtrack really gets me in a place I need for the fight scenes and love scenes.

Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?

I do a basic outline, but my characters run the show. I will go into a scene thinking it will go one way, and they can have other ideas. A few times they have surprised me, leading me to a place I never thought of, but it ends up even better than what I had planned. I have an acting background, and I really let my actors improvise and experiment in a scene.

Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?

Yes. I have a developmental editor and a copy editor. I want my brand and product the best it can be. We’re human so things slip through sometimes, but that happens in big publications as well.

What kinds of marketing [Twitter, Facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for promoting your book(s).

On them all! Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Goodreads, Amazon, and Wattpad. My website can connect you to all of them http://www.staceymariebrown.com

Do you find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and writing your next book?

Yes. It is easy to get wrapped up in the marketing part and forget the real reason you are there and why you have those awesome readers following your posts. Most days I have to cut myself off the Internet and go out to a café and write. I have learned I suck at writing when I stay home. Too many distractions. Then there are times I let myself work on marketing stuff and keeping up with people on FB. As long as I meet my deadlines, I give myself a little freedom.

Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

Traveling! I have lived in places like England, Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, and have traveled all over the world. I have a strong gypsy in me and she needs to be fed or she gets restless and grumpy. Less expensive passions are reading and archery.

What’s next for you?

I am currently writing a new series called City in Embers (Collector Series), which stems from an event one of my characters causes at the end of Darkness of Light. But that is about it, none of the character or themes come into this new one. I wanted to delve deeper into what happens to others who are affected by what Ember did. We saw it through her eyes, but I wanted to see the story through eyes that were changed because of Ember and how her destruction alters lives and changes others fate. It’s really a different story, and I am so excited about it. It’s full of paranormal and X-Filestype of science.

AUTHOR BIO

 Stacey Marie Brown by day is an Interior/Set Designer, by night a writer of Paranormal Fantasy, Adventure, and Literary Fiction. She grew up in Northern California, where she ran around on her family’s farm, raising animals, riding horses, playing flashlight tag, and turning hay bales into cool forts. Even before she could write, she was creating stories and making up intricate fantasies. Writing came as easy as breathing. She later turned that passion into acting, living and traveling abroad, and designing. Though she had never stopped writing, moving back to San Francisco seemed to have brought it back to the forefront and this time it would not be ignored.

When she’s not writing she’s out hiking, spending time with friends, traveling, listening to music, or designing.

Author Links:

   -Website: http://www.staceymariebrown.com/index.html

   -Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6938728.Stacey_Marie_Brown

   -Twitter: https://twitter.com/S_MarieBrown

   -Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DOLSeries

 

Giveaway:

Tour wide giveaway

--First two books in the Darkness series (signed) with tote bag (US only) - Picture Attached!

--Signed copy of Dwellers of Darkness + pouch (US only) - Picture Attached!

--5 x eBook copy (any book in series) - INTL

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