Can
you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series? My newest book is Slaying Monsters for the Feeble, second in the Guild Codex: Demonized series. This series is all about Robin, a shy bookworm and magic history nerd, who accidentally ends up in a contract with a demon—an extremely rare demon who isn’t too pleased with his new job of protecting her. But to survive, they’ll have to work together...somehow.
Have you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the direction of the novel at all?
In my YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, the heroine Piper meets two untrustworthy daemons: a draconian, Ash, and an incubus, Lyre. Ash takes the stage as the hero of the story, but Lyre was hiding secrets from the beginning. He grew as a character, taking on a larger and larger role, until I knew he needed his own story—so I wrote it! In the Spell Weaver trilogy, prequel to Steel & Stone, Lyre is one of two narrating leads and I had so much fun writing his tale.
If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the creative process for your cover?
I’m lucky enough to have a background in graphic design, so when it came time to publish my first book, I took on the task of designing the cover. In some ways, it was an impossible challenge—I knew so much about the book; how would I condense that into a single image?—yet, I also knew my heroine and what side of her I wanted to show on the cover. I’ve designed the covers for all my books, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the publishing process.
What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?
Music is a huge part of my writing process. I have playlists of my favorite mood-setting songs, and I’ve hit major periods of writer’s block when I couldn’t find the right music. Sometimes I’ll listen to a single song on repeat for hours because it’s setting the perfect tone.
Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
I absolutely outline! Back in the early days, I did very loose outlines and that got me into trouble more than once. I’ve since honed my outlining game to the point where I rough out almost every scene before I start the first chapter.
Besides writing, do you have any other passions?
I love anything arts and crafts! Aside from writing, I draw, paint, sculpt, and sew. I have an entire room of art supplies and half-completed pieces, plus a bad habit of starting more projects than I have time to finish.
Some fun facts about you, which do you prefer – dogs or cats? Chocolate or vanilla? Coffee or Tea? Talk or Text? Day or Night?
Cats! I have an adorable gray minion of darkness named Caesar. Chocolate all the way. Neither coffee nor tea—I will take my chocolate in liquid form, please and thank you. Text and email. And night—I’m a huge night owl.
What’s next for you?
I’m continuing down the wild, interweaving roads of the two Guild Codex series, Demonized and Spellbound. Robin, an unlikely demon contractor, and Tori, the feisty human bartender of a magic guild, are delving into deeper and darker adventures with each new book, and I can’t wait to see where they end up next. These two series can be read separately, but they combine into an epic, multi-series saga that’s bigger than anything I’ve written before.
Taming Demons for Beginners
Annette Marie
(The Guild Codex: Demonized #1)
Published by: Dark Owl Fantasy Inc.
Publication date: September 13th 2019
Genres: New Adult, Urban Fantasy
Rule one: Don’t look at the demon.
When I arrived at my uncle’s house, I expected my relatives to be like me—outcast sorcerers who don’t practice magic. I was right about the sorcery, but wrong about everything else.
Rule two: Don’t listen to the demon.
My uncle chose a far deadlier power. He calls creatures of darkness into our world, binds them into service contracts, and sells them to the highest bidder. And I’m supposed to act like I don’t know how illegal and dangerous it is.
Rule three: Don’t talk to the demon.
All I had to do was keep my nose out of it. Pretend I didn’t find the summoning circle in the basement. Pretend I didn’t notice the shadowy being trapped inside it. Pretend I didn’t break the rules.
But I did, and now it’s too late.
—
From the author of The Guild Codex: Spellbound comes a new series that will plunge an unprepared young woman into the darkest magic of the mythic world.
Author Bio:
Annette Marie is the author of Amazon best-selling YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, its prequel trilogy Spell Weaver, and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter. Her first love is fantasy, but fast-paced adventures and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it's not quite that bad) with her husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.
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