Hi all,
Hope you’ve all had a good week, and are getting that Friday feeling 😉 I’m excited to have the lovely Katherine McIntyre visting to share some gossip and chat about her new release, Hunting for Spring.
Thanks for being here Kat! So, let’s start with you telling us a bit about yourself.
I’m an Aries-Taurus cusp, an ENFJ in the Meyers Briggs test, and I pretty much survive on writing, coffee, and cat pictures.
Hehe, don’t we all? 😉 Was there a specific moment where you first knew that you wanted to be a writer?
Not a moment, just an always present ‘thing’ in my life. My brain’s always had a creative bent, and even when I was little, I was drawing my own kid’s books in crayon and creating stories. With the invaluable escape reading brought me as a shy, awkward kid, it’s no wonder I was drawn to the medium. And the problem with being a belligerent Aries is that whenever I read a story which didn’t end the way I wanted to, the first thought in my head would always be—well, I would handle a situation like this—and of course, that led to stories of my own.
Yeah, I’m with you on the awkward kid phase, it was always wonderful to have a book to escape away into! Do you have a particular writing routine, or any special rituals?
I’ve gotten disciplined with my writing as of late. Monday through Friday I try to get a thousand words written, although if heavy editing needs to be done on a different piece, I may substitute that time-wise. When I sit down to write, I always need two things to get started: a cup of something warm, whether it be coffee or tea, and music. Most recently, I’ve discovered Spotify, and so for the last couple novels I’ve written, I’ve cobbled together playlists for each one.
Hmm, people keep telling me they have playlists for their writing and I’ve quite managed it. I think it distracts me too much lol! Tell us about the genre you write in, and what drew you to it.
Well, that’s a tricky one to pin down. First and foremost, my love is fantasy, however, I’m also a huge fan of romance in fantasies, and my snappy dialogue and penchant for grit leads me down the urban fantasy and paranormal romance path more often than not. Realistically, I like to write what I like to read, so the two correlate. If I had to choose one genre to write for the rest of my life, it’d be urban fantasy, but since I’m not bound to any, I’ve enjoyed hopping into young adult stories as well as adult dystopian.
It’s nice to have the options, and I’m with you – a joint love of romance and fantasy eventually led me to PNR. Are there any particular authors or books that have really inspired you?
While I could list hundreds of authors and books that I’ve found inspiring, I think I’ll take a leaf from a recent conversation I had about role models. Which leads to one specific author—Tamora Pierce. If I had to pinpoint one character who really affected me as a kid, it’d be Alanna from the Lioness Quartet. She was the first character I really read who showed me that women could do anything a man could. She pursued her dreams with dogged relentlessness and while she ended up finding love along the way, they were companions on the journey. She didn’t stay with the men who tried to pin her down into what they wanted. One theme you’ll see consistently through my books are complex female characters who aren’t afraid to take charge, and I’d credit that to my earlier reading experiences.
Ooh, don’t think I’ve ever read that series, might need to have a look for it. What five things could you never do without?
Notebook and writing instrument, preferably pen—those are for the obvious reasons. I’ve had a couple instances where we’ve lost power, and even though I do most of my writing by laptop, I definitely wrote by candlelight during those times. I also carry a notebook and pen in my purse too, because if I ever have an idea hit, or happen to have some spare time, I’ll continue writing whatever manuscript I’m working on. My current notebook has random paragraphs from five different stories at this point.
Another thing I need is coffee and or tea—some sort of hot beverage in the morning. I pretty much drink a combination of coffee, tea, and water, with the rare juice interspersed in.
This is a tougher list than I anticipated—I’m not horribly attached to things, but I suppose my laptop is essential. I do most of my writing and marketing on it, so having access to one is pretty important for getting my work done.
My Kindle or a library card! As long as I have access to books as well, I’m pretty happy. I was one of those stubborn curmudgeons about e-readers until about five years ago when my husband got me one for Christmas. Since I already had it, I figured I may as well use it to read, and once I realized how easily I could fit a whole cavalcade of books into my purse a one time—well, the rest is history.
Yeah, I must admit that given the choice I usually still prefer a paper book, but I’ll grudgingly admit to the convenience of ebooks 🙂 Speaking of which, tell us a bit about your new release.
Conor’s part of the hunter bloodline, which means he gets the wonderful duty of tromping through the nasty part of town to slay supernatural creatures trying to stir up trouble. However, on one of those excursions, he runs into Brenna, a mystery girl who’s trying to track down the same caster he is. Without giving too much away, they both get dragged into deadlier machinations going on around Chinatown in Philly, involving some big nasties who’ve got plans of their own for the city.
Ooh, sounds interesting. Where did your inspiration for it come from?
So, the latest release was inspired by an Irish fairytale, Connla and the Fairy Maiden. I loved the themes in it, especially that forbidden love and torn allegiances sort of concept, and thus Hunting for Spring was born. Urban fantasy is my favorite genre, and I’ve lived in the suburbs of Philadelphia my whole life, so I found the idea of monsters and fae rampaging through the streets utterly fascinating.
I love myths and fairytales 🙂 What did you find most enjoyable about writing it?
This was one of the easiest writing sessions I’ve ever had. It all just flowed, so much so that I wrote the entire thing in a month without a lot of extra push. I was just so possessed by this story. With my other stories, this would be sprawled out to six months or so because I’d hit a snag, or a section I was stalling on, or something I’d have to figure out, but with Hunting for Spring I had an odd sort of serendipity.
It’s nice when that happens (if only it was more often lol). What was the hardest part about writing it?
Editing. There was a lot of fleshing out I had to do after such madcap writing sessions. When I race through a story like that, I’m in the grips of this frenzy and tend to leave details, or certain essential descriptions. My beta-readers and my editor really helped point out the holes though and through their advice and critiques, the manuscript shaped into a story I’m quite proud of.
They are just invaluable, aren’t they? Who’s your favourite character in it? (I know, I know, favouritism!)
So, this is an odd one. While I adore the main characters Conor and Brenna, my favorite in the book happens to be Jev. She’s a bucket of sass and probably the character I relate the most to, as the sort of alternative night clubs she hits up happen to derive from the ones I used to go to. Here’s a little secret too—I *may* have started the concept for a follow-up romance with her as the lead.
Hehe, I do love it when your secondary characters insist on taking over. So, just in case anyone isn’t already convinced, why should we run out and buy it right now?
Because not only is witty urban fantasy dialogue one of my strong points, but I have to say, this is probably one of my steamiest books.
Plus, there’s a super adorable beagle in the beginning who gets injured by one of the rampaging wights—you want to make sure the puppy’s okay, don’t you?
Oh, now that’s mean *runs off to check the puppy lives* So, I’ve already got on my TBR list for this week – for the rest of you, here’s the details 🙂
Blurb
Hunters are a lonely breed, and Conor’s no exception–until he meets Brenna. Even though she slinks in unannounced and kills the wight he’s hunting down, and he should be backing carefully away, he can’t get her blinding smile or gorgeous curves off his mind. The girl’s a mystery he can’t resist, so since they’re both after the same caster who’s unleashing these monsters, he suggests teaming up. Despite her initial reluctance, Brenna joins Conor’s quest and soon the wights aren’t the only thing the lusty lady is hunting down.
He’s happy enough to satisfy her hungers, though he wishes she’d give him a few answers with her kisses. Soon enough he learns her secrets have repercussions. Faster than Conor can lift his Glock, he’s drawn into a web of kidnappings and Unseelie mischief, and it’s all concealing the machinations of a darker foe–one determined to bring Philly and the two hunters to ruin.
Buy Links
Loose ID – http://www.loose-id.com/hunting-for-spring.html
And don’t forget to follow Katherine on social media 🙂
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/kmcintyreauthor
Twitter – https://twitter.com/PixieRants?lang=en-gb
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