INSANITY!!! Day 3

It's September 1st. That means it's the first day of "Go Hard or Go Home!" That's my new project to get my butt back in gear with my Japanese study, writing and fitness. Wish me luck!

It also means that it's tiem to announce the winner of INSANITY!!! Day 1:

That would be -

Ta-ta-ta-tum-

#2- LOLA SHARP!!!

Lola, mail me at muchlanguage(at)gmail(dot)com, with your address. Congrats.

If you didn't win, Paranormalcy is now available. I'm about halfway through and it's fab!

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Today we welcome New York Times Bestselling author,Sophie Jordan, to Points of Clarification. Thank you for joining us, Sophie!

Your new YA paranormal, Firelight- which has an amazing cover, seriously guys, you need to go see that cover- will be released on September, 7th. Tell us a little bit about the book.

Well, the summary is the best way to do that:

A HIDDEN TRUTH
MORTAL ENEMIES
DOOMED LOVE

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet of her kind, she nearly pays with her life, only to be spared by a beautiful stranger sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki--a descendant of dragons whose ability to shift into human form is her best defense.
Forced to flee into the mortal world, Jacinda struggles to adapt. The one bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irrestibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away - if it dies she will be left a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.
Mythical powers and irresistible passion ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide ...

Beyond this, I’ll let you know that Firelight is book one of a trilogy and all the books are centered around Jacinda and the world of the draki.

YA paranormal is the hot stuff right now, but the same monsters are being recycled. So, dragons? Fierce, beautiful and not overdone: where did the idea come from?

It might sound silly, but once I decided to write a YA, I really did wait for the idea/muse to come to me. I wanted to write a young adult novel with a strong romance (of course!), but the paranormal element was elusive. I wanted the paranormal aspect to be unique and fresh – both for the current market and me, too. I needed to be excited about it. I had lots of ideas flit through my mind that I quickly dismissed, but when I landed on dragons I knew I hit something that wasn’t being done in YA, and I got very excited. When I started thinking about how dragons might have evolved I knew I had the making of a great new paranormal world.

You’re not going to find a dragon-themed YA like mine. I really do believe that I’m breaking new ground. My dragons aren’t your ordinary dragons. They’re not what you typically find in fantasy fiction. My dragons are called draki and they’ve evolved over the millennia from the dragon of common lore. Once I established that, the plot and love story fell easily into place.

This is your first YA novel, even though you’ve seen success in Historical Romance and Paranormal. Has it been a tough switch over to this new genre? Any advice for aspiring writers with ideas in more than one genre?

Writing in three genres keeps things fun and fresh for me. I think it’s challenged me and made a better writer, too.
As for whether an aspiring writer should try her hand at more than one genre, I say go for it! Writing two books a year is very doable. Most importantly, just follow the story you’re passionate about … wherever that may lead you.


You made the NYT Bestsellers list with IN SCANDAL THEY WED. What was the first thing you did when you heard the news?

I think I told my editor to “shut-up” several times in the manner of Mia from Princess Diaries. I was stunned! That night was take-out, but a group of my closest friends celebrated by going out with me and hubby later that week.

So “Sophie,” what made you decide to use a pen name and why do you only use it on some of your books?

Well, I got my start writing historical romances, and “pretty, romancey” names tend to be the thing. My editor and I came up with the name. I use a different name for my paranormal romances to distinguish the genres.

Can you give us a quick run-through of how you came to be published. What’s the one thing you’d like to tell aspiring writers?
Get an agent! A good agent. And write, write, write. Revise, revise, revise. Oh, and read, read, read – especially within your target genre. That’s pretty much what I did.

Finally, plotter or pantser?

A little of both, but I especially plot(ted) for Firelight. Since it’s a three book series, planning was necessary.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us, and best of luck with Firelight!

Thanks, Claire! Thanks for having me here!
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You can win a pre-order of FIRELIGHT today.



Along with Sophie's Reccomended read, The Body Finder by Kimberly Derling


For today's contest, you must be a follower, and you have until 11.59 EST Wednesday night to enter.

Today's random question:

If you were to discover that you were a paranormal creature, whatcreature would you most like to be, or what powers would you most like to have?

Good luck to all.

Oh and by the way, since I've lived in the US only 2 years of my 28, everything I do on this blog is open internationally, unless otherwise stated.