Tourmaline Awakening: Magick Borne Book One by Kismet Scott
1- What do you most enjoy about NaNoWriMo and are you doing it in 2020?
For me, I found that the community involved with Nano is really motivating and supportive. There are however many thousands of people participating and going through the same trials; the comradery is super helpful. I’ve pledged to do an author challenge this year at double the word goal: 100k words in November.
2- Would you please, in 160 characters or less, give a #WriteTip ?
Don’t self-edit while you’re writing or you’ll never make progress. Write first, edit once the manuscript is complete. First drafts needn’t be perfect.
3- What is the best piece of writing advice you've received?
Make yourself a bible that has all the pertinent information for your book/series. I’ve written without one and the back-reading to double-check plot specific points is exhausting.
4- Why did you decide to use the bayou of Louisiana as a setting in your book?
New Orleans has always called to me and held a special place in my heart, so it was very natural for me to want to send my characters to Lousiana, but not in the Crescent City herself. When I first dreamed about my characters, it was that scene - the cypress trees and weeping willows, the swamp - that was really clear.
5- Would you share a picture with us of your book in the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest?
6- Your Goodreads profile shows you've given 75 ratings and written 8 reviews. Do you feel that ratings are more important than reviews?
I think that a lower rating influences potential readers more than a well-written review. If a book only has 1 or 2 stars, most people aren’t going to look at the reviews before concluding they don’t want to read it. I write reviews for books I’m truly passionate about and I feel like that too speaks to the genius of those books.
7- What's your Twitter handle, and do you have two or three writer friends on there to shout-out to for #WriterWednesday ?
On Twitter I’m @JKismet . I absolutely love @melissa_marr to death. A good friend in the dark paranormal romance genre is @kandi_vale . Also, @ArizBrune has been an amazingly supportive writer buddy to have.
8- Do you have a favorite #bookstagram image or account/ profile?
I’m not sure if this counts under bookstagram, but CN Crawford is definitely my favorite. @cn_crawford
9- What most motivates you to read a new book?
That’s a difficult one to answer. I’m pretty consistent on what genres I read, and that’s all cross recommended. I listen to a lot of psychological thrills on audible and read a lot of Urban Fantasy through Kindle Unlimited. So I guess what influences me to read OUTSIDE of those genres is if the fans are passionate. For example, I’m not super into reverse harem, but I’ve come across some excellent ones through fan recommendation.
10- It's our tenth anniversary! How far has your writing come in the past ten years and where do you see your writing career ten years from now?
Congratulations!! That’s such a momentous milestone. For me, I won my first attempted First Line Fiction short story contest in 2010, and then set writing aside for quite a while. I have more life experience behind me and the tools to take an idea, you know, full scale. I still like that short story I did, but I can definitely see that my depth as a writer has changed and my complexity of prose is significantly better. With age comes wisdom I guess. Where do I think I’ll be in ten years? I haven’t thought about it before. I write to get the stories out of my head, and I doubt I’ll ever stop writing. So I’m just hopeful that it’s a field of dreams situation: if I write it, ‘they’ will read it.
11- What is your favorite book by someone else, what's the author's Twitter handle, and what do you love most about that book? #FridayReads book recommendation time!
Author name: Melissa Marr @melissa_marr
Title: The Wicked and the Dead
Love because: What don’t I love about this book? Firstly, it’s set in New Orleans, but of course it’s a not too distant future type setting. It’s the first book in her Faerie Bargains series, which is super exciting for me because I've always loved her Wicked Lovely series and Seven Black Diamonds - which are both YA. So it’s just great to get that passion for the fae and her intricate world building in an adult format.
12- What emotions do you hope your book will evoke for the reader?
All the feels. Not much crying in this first book, but aside from that, there’s just this feeling of “what’s going to happen” the whole book, with people feeling like the characters are real people. I got quite a few happy messages about readers having a massive book hangover.
13- What kind of impact do you hope your book will have?
In 2008 I was reading LA Banks, a black woman who was writing urban fantasy/paranormal fiction, and I got to meet her at a signing. She was hugely inspirational to me, because despite reading those genres as far back as I can remember, there weren’t a lot of characters of color. There wasn’t this wide spread representation of different faiths teaming up together, different people from different backgrounds teaming up together. She let me believe in myself as a writer who is a woman of color. I hope I can do the same.
14- What is the best writing tool, program, or reference book you've ever bought?
I have a copy of the DSM-IV next to me everytime I’m writing and it’s completely worth it to have on hand for creating complex characters.
15- In what ways are the main characters in your book diverse? diversebooks.org #WeNeedDiverseBooks
Oooh I love this one! I wasn’t even trying, and my characters have a bit of everything. The Twins are biracial right off the bat, and some of their reflection on their lives touches on that for some mixed kids, one side of their family will want them to deny their whole identity. So that was really the very first natural thing about them. Then Jazz has a mental illness, which again, is just part of who she is. Mal is pansexual. Um, yeah there's a character from Haiti; there’s paganism, wicca, and voodoo. I was just talking to a writing group recently about how I feel it’s more difficult to NOT be diverse, because life all around us is diverse, and art reflects life.
16- Who is your favorite book review blogger?
I recently got turned on to Willow Writes And Reads, and I like that one.
17- What was the deciding factor in your publication route?
I’ve seen a significant number of authors transition from trad to indie, and Yasmine Galenorn especially was very transparent about why she was choosing to become self-published. I respect her so much and you know it put that bug in my ear. Then I got to know Shayne Silvers and Shannon Mayer, among others, and I realized that self-publishing is perfect for me. I don’t want other people controlling my creative vision, and yes it’s a lot of work, but it’s truly rewarding.
18- Which author, past or present, do you feel most resembles your work?
I’m not sure how to answer this, so I’ll turn it on it’s head and mention my inspirations. I am heavily inspired by Christopher Pike, Anne Rice, and - not to repeat myself - Melissa Marr. I think I incorporate elements of all 3 while still building something new.
19- Would you please ask our audience a question to answer in the comments?
What is your favorite part about discovering a new author or series?
20- Anything else you would care to share about your book and yourself?
I’m Kismet Scott and I’ve been crafting stories my whole life. I was published in a lit magazine at 13, I won First Line Fiction at 24, and recently self published my first novel at 35. This initial series explores the world of the Magick Borne, through the eyes of a set of twins who made it well into adulthood before discovering who and what they were. Tourmaline Awakening (which is also available for Kindle Unlimited) is that first dip into a fantastical world of magick, the bonds between family, and how even when life throws you a curve ball you can find the strength to push through.
I can be found on Twitter @JKismet
Goodreads https://goodreads.com/author_kismetscott
Amazon https://amazon.com/Kismet-Scott/e/B08HKPW9LG/
As well as Facebook https://facebook.com/kismet.scott.3
https://facebook.com/authorkismetscott
https://facebook.com/groups/kismetsreaders
You can also reach out to me through KismetScott AT gmail DOT com
Tourmaline Awakening: Magick Borne Book One by Kismet Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment