Monday, July 25, 2016

Promo Post and Author Interview: We Awaken by Calista Lynne

Book info:
Title:  Awaken  
Author:  Calista Lynne
Publisher:  Harmony Ink Press
Cover Artist:  Aaron  Anderson
Published:  July 14th, 2016
Genre:  YA magical realism, LGBQT protagonist

Synopsis:
Victoria Dinham doesn’t have much left to look forward to. Since her father died in a car accident, she lives only to fulfill her dream of being accepted into the Manhattan Dance Conservatory. But soon she finds another reason to look forward to dreams when she encounters an otherworldly girl named Ashlinn, who bears a message from Victoria’s comatose brother. Ashlinn is tasked with conjuring pleasant dreams for humans, and through the course of their nightly meetings in Victoria’s mind, the two become close. Ashlinn also helps Victoria understand asexuality and realize that she, too, is asexual.

But then Victoria needs Ashlinn’s aid outside the realm of dreams, and Ashlinn assumes human form to help Victoria make it to her dance audition. They take the opportunity to explore New York City, their feelings for each other, and the nature of their shared asexuality. But like any dream, it’s too good to last. Ashlinn must shrug off her human guise and resume her duties creating pleasant nighttime visions—or all of humanity will pay the price.

Buy links:
Harmony Ink Press: https://www.harmonyinkpress.com/books/we-awaken-by-calista-lynne-399-b

 Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/We-Awaken-Calista-Lynne/dp/1634769953/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1466868261&sr=8-1

 
Author Interview:

1.  What does your writing process look like?  Do you know the whole story when you start?  Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)?  If you plan it out, how do you do that?  Outline, note cards, post-it notes, etc.?

I am the outline queen, which is odd because I wasn’t always this way. The most important part of planning is writing up a list of scenes. My theory is that if I plan it all out and make a numbered list of everything that I know happens, I can just move on to the next number if I get stuck. It’s helpful for avoiding procrastination and writer’s block.
 
2.  With your story being about a dancer, are you a dancer yourself?  If not, how did you learn about the dancing world?

I wish I was a dancer! My only trysts into that community are the tap dancing lessons I took for a year in high school and the pathetic moves I break out at weddings. I study Drama & English and have worked in a few theatres. The drama and dancing community are closely intertwined in many ways so I was able to get firsthand experience and hear anecdotes, plus you can learn anything through research these days.
 
3.  What made you want to write about the topic of asexuality?

I wrote the representation I wish I had growing up. So many young people feel broken because they don’t know what asexuality is and my goal was to prove that anyone can have a happy ending regardless of whether or not they feel sexual attraction.
 
4.  Dreams play a big part of your story.  I often have very vivid dreams that I remember.  Do you remember your dreams?  What do you think about dream dictionaries and their "definitions" of different dream topics?

As a child I owned a dream dictionary and while they’re fun, I don’t believe a word of them. They are helpful in thinking up symbolism for novels, though. I tend to remember my nightmares more frequently than other sorts but I don’t have them too frequently. Dreams have just always excited me and I love stories that involve them. My favorite book in elementary school was The BFG and I love the Sandman graphic novels.

5. 
Favorites: 
Books/authors/genres American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Actually, all his books. Also I’m partial to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.
Movies/TV Shows The Princess and the Frog. My favorite TV programmes are Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Fargo.
Music Broadway show-tunes get me going real good.
Food/writing snack Coffee and tea
Social Media Site Tumblr is a lot of fun for book photography. Twitter confuses me but I use it.

Author Bio:
Calista Lynne grew up on the American East Coast and is currently studying  in London. She  is having difficulty adjusting to the lack of Oxford commas across the pond and writes because it always seemed to make more sense than mathematics. Look for her near the caffeinated beverages.  



Author links:
Tumblr: http://calista-lynne.tumblr.com/



If you stop by the author's blog she's got a giveaway for an e-copy of the book open until the end of July.
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