Today I am taking part in the blog tour for Malevolent Nevers. I’m sharing my Q&A with the author with thanks to Zoe O’Farrell for inviting me on the tour and to Tom Rimer for answering my questions!

Have you always wanted to write?

Yes, I think so. Pretty early on, I realized how much I enjoyed getting lost in others’ stories and I realized that I wanted to have that sort of impact on readers. In fact, many of the stories floating around in my brain now have been marinating there since I was a kid. I’m only just now at a point where I’m able to bring many of them to life.

What were your previous jobs? Have they helped you with your writing process?

I’m a lifelong educator, but I’m not sure that experience really shows itself in my writing. I mean, I have taught the Writing Process, but I’m pretty certain I’d be trying to write books whether or not I’d ever ended up in my chosen profession. 

What was your inspiration for Malevolent Nevers?

We were hearing of bunch of strange screaming noises behind our house at night and eventually started finding “scraps” left behind in the morning. A wing here, a tail there. It was a massacre. Every day for quite some time, we found these little presents. We actually had a professional come out to see what creatures might have been making the noises and leaving us all those offerings. This is how Malevolent Nevers was born, though my author brain, of course, took it a lot further. 

How do you construct your characters? Do they have traits of people you know?

Though I’d assume it’s hard not to find pieces of your life’s experiences in your own writing, my characters never intentionally are mirrored after any actual humans. They are themselves. The places they haunt may exist in the real world, but the characters themselves only ever live and breathe between the pages.

What does your writing process look like? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m 100% a plotter. Chapter by chapter. I know every last thing that will happen, down to the smallest of details before I begin writing. As a result, my writing process feels more like the filling in of a coloring book. I can spend more time picking from my palette of colors and less time staring at a blinking cursor.

How did you research Malevolent Nevers? Did you enjoy it?

Most of the research I did for this book involved the names of my main characters. None of them were chosen accidentally. I enjoy the hidden meaning I’m able to add and, for readers who decide to investigate why one character or another has the name they do, there’s a bit of a bonus treasure hunt they might discover themselves on.

Who are your favourite writers? Are you influenced by them?

Oh, absolutely. I’m guilty of being influenced by some of my favorite authors. Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jack Kerouac, J.D. Salinger, R.L. Stine, Stephen King, and Robert Jordan (to name a few).

If you could invite three people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be and why?

Dinner with Mary Shelley, Stephen King, and R.L. Stine would be a trip. It’d be a contest to see who could creep out the others the fastest. A horror author’s dream.

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?

Probably the band Train. I’ll leave it at that.

Who would play the main character/s in a film version of Malevolent Nevers?

Cool question. Not sure I’ve really thought about this. I kind of like the idea of two totally undiscovered actors playing Abel and Simi. I have such an image of the two in my brain that I can’t actually picture someone famous playing either.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I enjoy going on adventures with my family, reading, writing, and watching horror movies.

What is next for you?

I just wanna keep on writing. Lots more spooky stories I have to share, as long as I can figure out which one comes next. Hopefully it’s the most terrifying one yet.

Favourites:

Book? The Hobbit (Tolkien), The Eye of the World (Jordan), The Stand (King), The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger), and One Day at Horrorland (Stine)

Film? The Goonies, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, Halloween

Band/Singer? Guster, Styx

TV show? Survivor

Colour? yellow

Place? Sometimes it’s the mountains. Often it’s the ocean.

Biscuit? No, thank you.

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Malevolent Nevers is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: