Interview: Jeaniene Frost part 2

NRR: Can you share with us how you got started in writing?

I’ve wanted to be an author since I was twelve and began scribbling down some of my stranger dreams to make little stories out of them. Problem is, I’m a procrastinator with a short attention span. I would start a story, get bored, start something else, get bored with that, etc. I repeated this pattern for almost two decades, always telling myself that I’d actually finish a story and try to publish it “later.” Right before I turned thirty, it hit me that I’d done nothing toward making my dream of being an author become a reality. At about the same time, I dreamt about a half-vampire woman arguing with a Master vampire man about why she’d left him years before. When I woke up, I couldn’t stop thinking about those two people and what had led them to that point (not to mention how a half-vampire and a full vampire even existed in the regular world). Writing their story eventually because the first novel I ever finished – and my first published book – Halfway to the Grave.

NRR: What would you say is the most challenging part of writing a popular and successful series?

Maintaining balance. You don’t want each book to be exactly the same as the last, but on the other hand, deviating too much will have readers crying foul because then you’ve altered what they’ve come to love. It’s helped that I look at each book like a stepping stone to a final destination. I know some of the books will be more romance-heavy because that’s where they fall in the path, and for the same reason, some books will be darker, and some will be more action-based, etc. But they’re all leading to the same place – the series conclusion, and once it arrives, readers will be able to look back and say, “Ah, I see where X was hinted at in the previous books…”  So there is a method to my madness, lol.

NRR: What is your guilty pleasure?

Ha, so many things! I love caffeine and fried fatty foods. My husband jokes that I should dedicate a book to coffee, Pringles, Fritos, and Excedrin because I’ve never written anything without consuming a lot of those four. My other guilty pleasure would be Crumbs red velvet cupcakes. I love them but I don’t have a Crumbs near me, so about twice a year I pay an exorbitant amount of shipping fees to have them sent as a special treat.    

NRR: How many more books can fans expect to the Night Huntress series?

There will be a total of nine books featuring Cat and Bones as the main characters. After their storyline wraps up, they may appear again as side characters in a spinoff novel, but I don’t intend to carry their stories past nine books.

NRR: What is a day in the life of Jeaniene Frost like?

Right now, because I’m trying to finish a book while dealing with upcoming release craziness at the same time, it’s like this: Roll out of bed around eight or nine. Start coffee machine. Get coffee. Sit bleary-eyed in front of laptop cleaning out inbox while waiting for coffee to kick in. Deal with any business issues (there are always several). Reply to reader questions. Do an interview or a blog post. Check Amazon rankings and fret over whether the new book’s rankings are worse than the last book. Answer more incoming emails. Remember that I forgot to eat. Make breakfast (or lunch, depending on how late it is). Realize I haven’t showered. Get showered and dressed. Go to inbox, answer more emails that have come in, deal with more business issues that have come up. Walk the dog. Look at the clock and realize it’s after two already. Start to edit new chapter I wrote last night. Edit, edit, edit. Look at clock and realize it’s almost four and I haven’t written any new words yet. Panic. Start to write new chapter. Write, write, write. Get called to dinner by hubby. Eat dinner. Walk dog. Get back to book. Write, write, write. Look at clock and realize it’s after nine. Save new work (always back up!), walk the dog one last time, get ready for bed, and watch TV with hubby for an hour or so until I pass out.

*wink* Glamorous, no?

NRR: Can you share with us the storyline to One Grave At A Time?

(Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn’t read the previous book, This Side of the Grave!) The story opens with Cat still dealing with the repercussions of her new connection to ghosts and her uncle suddenly being one when her friend, Fabian, asks for a favor: Help a ghost he’s smitten with kill an evil former witch hunter who’s continued his murderous ways as a phantom. But how do you kill someone who’s already dead? To complicate matters, a new “operations consultant” is sniffing around Cat’s old team and seems particularly interested in her. 

For the back cover description, book trailer, and to read the first 20%, go here: http://jeanienefrost.com/books/one-grave-at-a-time/

NRR: What can fans expect to see from you next?

After One Grave at a Time is my novella in The Bite Before Christmas anthology with author Lynsay Sands. It’s almost half a book and features Cat and Bones trying to have a normal Christmas at home, but then an unexpected guest drops a bombshell about Bones’s history that even Bones didn’t know about. Once that happens, expect more mayhem and surprising revelations. On a personal note, I’ve been itching to reveal these things about Bones’s history but haven’t found a way to in the Night Huntress series, so I can’t wait until The Bite Before Christmas comes out and I can finally let readers in on the secret. After that, in spring 2012 is the first book in the new Night Prince series called Once Burned. It features Night Huntress side character Vlad – yes, the Vlad - as the hero and a new character named Leila as the heroine. When I first started writing about vampires, I swore that I would never, ever touch the Dracula mythology. Then while I was writing the third Night Huntress book, Vlad popped into my head (and a scene) fully scornful of his fictitious legend and threatening anyone who called him Dracula. Now he’s getting his own series. Just goes to show that you should never say never :). 

Thank you for joining us!

Thanks so much for having me!

For more information on this series or other works by Jeaniene visit here!