Interview with Contemporary YA and PNR author Carrigan Richards

Today we’re sharing our interview with Carrigan Richards, author of YA Contemporary Paranormal Romance and Psychological Romance. I just spent several hours getting to know her via Facebook chats and over at the Beach Reads Bonanza, which has been so fun. She is a great human being, and was kind enough to answer some interview questions for me.

Kristi Cramer Books: Thanks for joining me, Carrigan! Tell us about you in a nutshell. What makes you tick as a writer?

Carrigan Richards: I’m a Southern girl who loves to read, write, garden, listen to music, hang out with family, play with my furbabies, and eat, particularly cheese. I love creating worlds, people, events. I watch people (even though I’m sure they think it’s creepy). I read stories and empathize with people and when I try to imagine myself in their shoes, I get stories brewing. I try to take what they experience and put it into words for others. I also use real life experiences. As for my paranormal series, while most of it is fantasy, I do include real-life elements. I try to make the stories as realistic as possible.

KCB: What pets do you have?

CR: 4 dogs: Marley (German Shepherd), Elsa (Collie/Shepherd mix), Eli (lab/boxer mix), Beckett (Pit/lab mix)

KCB: Which is your favorite?

CR: I love them all, but honestly, I have to say Eli, since he was mine before I met my husband. He’s my baby and even though he’s rather skittish, he’s always there to comfort me.

KCB: If you could have any pet on the planet, which would you have? 

CR: Well, since I have dogs, I’d say panda. They’re so cute and cuddly. They’d have to be well trained not to eat me though. Or I’d have a gorilla.

KCB: What inspires you to write strong female characters? 

CR: The fact that I am one, and that I want others to be inspired by a strong female voice. They’re becoming more and more popular, but there could be more. I want women to know their strength and to know it’s okay to be strong and independent.

KCB: What is your favorite season – why? 

CR: Because I’m a weirdo, I love all seasons equally. Winter for some reason makes me reflect and it also means family time for me. I spend more time inside, so I’m writing more. Spring because it’s beautiful. I love the warmth, the fresh flowers, and the sense of renewing. Summer because longer days. Hanging out more outside and enjoying the sunshine. Fall for its beauty, the foliage and the crisp fall air with the gorgeous blue skies.

KCB: How many books have you written? 

CR: I have written a total of twelve books, most of them are YA, but I have a detective series I wrote a while ago.

KCB: How many have you published? In what genres? 

CR: I have published 6 books and 1 novella. All are young adult.

KCB: Do you have any favorite elements you like to put in your books? How do you come up with the ideas? 

CR: I love astronomy and celestial themes. I included these pretty heavily in my paranormal series and a little in my contemporary. I also like to push my characters as far as they’ll go. As for ideas…this is sometimes a hard question for me to answer. Sometimes I really don’t know where they come from. I get a lot of inspiration from reading, music, TV, movies, real life. As for Pieces of Me, my contemporary, psychological romance, the idea came to me after reading several psychological books. I also studied psychology and am fascinated with how humans react to events and what makes them do what they do. As for the Elemental Enchanters Series, I have always been fascinated with witches, magic, super powers, so I combined all of them to make the series. It’s kinda like X-Men meets The Craft..haha.

KCB: If you could take one of your characters with you to a nice night out, say dinner and a movie, which one would it be? Where would you eat, and what movie would you see? 

CR: Gabriel. Hands down. Well, because he’s such a gentleman and takes care of his woman, we would go to a fancy Italian restaurant, since that’s my favorite. He’d have something fancy because he has rich tastes, but I would go with the old standard: chicken parmesan. We would go see an action movie – along the super hero lines. Because those are one of my favorites and I wouldn’t want to torture him through a romance. J

KCB: For someone who is new to your work, where should they start? 

CR: If they want adventure, action, romance, I’d start with Under a Blood Moon. I love the series and I’m so proud of it. If they want something  emotional that will make them cry, Pieces of Me.

Thanks so much for joining us today! Isn't she fun? Be sure to check out her stalker links, and order one or more of her books today. 

Stalker links:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/authorcarriganrichards

TWITTER: @carrigan34

AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Carrigan-Richards/e/B00EDLIKRM

INSTAGRAM: @authorcarriganrichards

WEBSITE: https://carriganrichards.com/

Books by Carrigan Richards:

Elemental Enchanters Series:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012XYQ08G

Pieces of Me: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EDCELY2

January Dreams: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018W2DX7E

Interview with Ellen Whyte, aka AJ Adams & Storm Chase

My first official interview is with Ellen Whyte, who writes as AJ Adams and Storm Chase. She was kind enough to answer all the questions I threw at her, many of which I'm posting here. (The remainder will be posted in my Newsletter. Be sure to SIGN UP so you can read them all.)

Without further ado, the interview follows:

KCBooks: Tell us about you in a nutshell. What makes you tick as a writer?

Ellen Whyte: I start off quite organised, writing a three or four line plot idea.  Then I flesh it out, which takes me a day or so, and it’s all neat and tidy with events and chapter divisions. 

Then the characters begin to breathe.  

I think I’ve got it sussed, because I’ve got that detailed outline, right?  It’s all tidy and it works, right?  But then the characters take over and before I know it my lovely outline is in smithereens and my characters are rampaging all over the place. 

At that point I’m loving it because the story starts to write itself.  Very often I don’t know what will happen next, so it’s an adventure.

That’s what I love about writing. It’s romance and adventure.

KCB: Pets – What do you have? Which is your favorite? If you could have any pet on the planet which would you have, and why?

   

EW: I am ruled by two cats, Target and Guido.  They are kampung kuching, which means village cats in Malay. It means they are street moggies, rescue cats who are now spoilt home kitties.

Target is a drama cat. He’s constantly in trouble, up to trouble or causing trouble.  When he’s not doing something wicked, he’s at my side - clicking the escape key and changing the language on my keyboard.

Guido is relaxed. He’s absolutely huge, more a tiger than a cat, and it’s current ambition to climb the tree in the garden.  He’s not getting very far and he’s hinting that he’d like me to help him up.  I’m not because I don’t want to have to call the fire brigade to get him back down again!

KCB: Describe a typical day in your life.

EW: I get up around 630AM and I start with a coffee and checking my book sales (I know!)  I go through my Facebook private messages, catch up with friends and do my book promos.

By that time it’s usually about 730AM. Then I write for an hour or sometimes two.

Around 9AM or 10AM I start work (day job) writing for newspapers or magazines.  At the moment I’m also starting a new business, as a counselling psychologist, so I’m doing paperwork, writing proposals, seeing clients and so on.

At about 5PM I go downstairs and start dinner.  I love to cook so that’s fun.  Tom comes home around then, so we catch up on the gossip and we hang out for a while - him catching up on news and me writing.

We eat between 6PM and 8PM.  We watch old TV series, binge watching really, because the mindlessness helps us unwind.  We usually talk through it and if Tom’s got a yen to watch sports (he’s got a thing for baseball) I write. (all sport bores me to tears within two seconds)

After 8PM I write.  I stop around 10PM - 11PM and sometimes it’s a bit later. 

We go out twice a week, hitting our local pub around 5PM.  We’re home by 8PM latest and then I go to sleep early, but usually after writing an hour. Sometimes two.

KCB: Describe your ideal vacation—if money were no object and you had no obstacles holding you back...

EW: I would love to spend time in a small walled villa with it’s own pool.  Anywhere really: Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia. I’m looking for peace and tranquility. I want to spend the whole day just being - with Target, Guido and Tom (the non-furry companion).  But at night I’d like to go out and see people. So probably Bali or Siem Reap or somewhere a bit touristy.

KCB: If you could live anywhere on the planet, where would you go and why?

EW: If I had a teleporter, I’d spend most of my time in Malaysia because it’s my home and I love it.  But I’d go to Spain for weekends so I could go see my mum.  Also, I sometimes miss fresh, cold air, Spanish food, Spanish wine and just being in a non-tropical place so probably I’d spend some time in Spain during the spring and autumn too.

Also, I miss Fay, one of my best friends.  We see each other just once a year, so it would be nice to be in the same continent again.

KCB: How do you find balance between work, family, and writing?

EW: Hahahahahaha! Brilliant!  You’ve seen my typical day so you know I spend most of my time working.

I write during the day, when I watch television at night, when I’m in the hairdresser, when I’m waiting for someone to come to a meeting - I work about 14 hours a day, every day.

It’s unsustainable but having spent the last three years studying part time, I have to get back to work so 2016 is just crazy.  Hopefully that balance thing will kick in next year!

Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to see the answers to these questions:

What inspires you to write strong female characters?

If you could lump all your books in a single genre, what would you call it?

What is your favorite food? Describe it so we want to eat it, too.

About the author

AJ Adams is a Scottish-Dutch author currently living in Malaysia. In her regular life she is a columnist and feature writer. She works from home, where she is closely snoopervised by cats, Target and Guido.

Stalker links:

Amazon author page http://www.amazon.com/AJ-Adams/e/B00PTL6BNK

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2883330.A_J_Adams

FB https://www.facebook.com/ewhyte

Twitter https://twitter.com/KatzTalesTweets

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/Author_AJAdams/

Books: 
The Bonus by AJ Adams
My first AJ Adams novel and one of my favourites! It’s unusual but Chloe and Kyle are unusual people.

Beast by AJ Adams
If you like darkish romance, and don’t mind a bit of kidnapping and rape, this is the story for you!

The Degas Girl by AJ Adams
Zachary is not nice and neither is Serenity.  Together though, they are dynamic.

Songbird by AJ Adams
What I love about this is that Arturo is a monster but he’s also thoroughly human. I’d love to meet him for dinner - as long as Solitaire isn’t cooking.