Thanks for joining me today. To get us started can you please start by telling us a little about what you are working on or have coming out? I would love to. I have two books out. A thriller called Sealed In Lies and a paranormal entitled Haunted Destiny. I am currently working on a sequel to Sealed In Lies called Captured In Lies and it will be a real Blast!
Could you please tell us a little about yourself?
Not as thrilling as you might think but by day I’m an Insurance Sales Consultant and by night a writer. I’m married with two teenagers. They keep both my husband and I busy. I love to write and to read. What a surprise, right? I live in Florida and really love the weather here. I’m out enjoying it as much as possible.
Why do you write in two different genres?
I like to think of myself as a writer of many genres. I think of an idea for a story and I want to write it. I don’t let a particular genre dictate what I write. I like a well thought out plot and characters that have depth and come to life on the pages. If they happen to talk to ghosts, then so be it! I think that helps expand my reader base and give people more of what they like to read.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Don’t stop believing! Writing is a craft and like any craft it takes practice and exercise. Keep writing for the pure joy of it. As you begin your journey down the LONG road to publishing make sure your work is the best it can be in structure, plot, characterization, and spelling and grammar. Don’t submit something that is half way complete. Give yourself the time to do the work right, but don’t edit it to death either. There will be plenty of time for that once it gets to the publisher. Don’t let rejections bother you. You never know when you will submit your novel and it will hit that particular publisher or editor the right way on a particular day. It took me over ten years to get a publisher but it is worth the wait when you get that contract offer! I danced in my kitchen for days!
Where do your ideas for your books come from?
Sealed In Lies was actually based on a true news story that was on the news when I lived in Virginia. A burglar broke into a house not realizing it belonged to a prominent U.S. Senator. The senator’s wife discovered the burglar and he ended up kidnapping her. As they say Truth is stranger than Fiction. I always ask myself, I wonder what would happen if… Then the brain takes off and my fingers can’t keep up! (laughs)
The idea for Haunted Destiny came from a different source. My teenage daughter is not much of a reader. I asked her one day what she would read if I wrote something for her. She told me she wanted a “clique” ghost story. Then Haunted Destiny was born. It is geared f or all audiences but it does have some scary parts that might have you looking over your shoulder and asking questions of yourself like – Are spirits really all around us??? What would I do if I could see them?
Can you give us a sneak peek at your latest book?
Sure… You can get a free excerpt of both of my books on my website – http://www.kellyabellbooks.com/ but here is a sneak peak at Haunted Destiny.
Destiny Dove is the only survivor of a tragic car crash that killed her parents and baby brother. A teen uprooted from her home, she is forced to live with her eccentric grandmother whom Destiny has been taught her whole life to fear. She must start her life over living with an old woman who is not only a stranger to her, but just strange. All Destiny wants is to fit in with kids like her and begin to pull her life back together.
But Destiny soon discovers she is not like the other teens at all. She has developed the family gift of being able to see and talk to ghosts and her estranged grandmother will be the one person who can help her understand what the fates have dealt her…a haunted destiny. Being the town freak does not put Destiny high on the potential friends list, but Jake Turner sees something in her that the other teens from Blake High don’t. Destiny is actually able to put her unique talent to use and help Jake communicate with his recently deceased sister forming a bond between them that no one else can share or know about. In an extraordinary twist of events, Jake’s girlfriend Amy receives some furniture with some frightening ghostly spirits attached to it, and Jake turns to Destiny for help.
Now Destiny must struggle with a force she is unprepared to handle. When a party at Amy’s becomes a showdown between good and evil will Destiny have what it takes to save Amy and the others? Will the help of her grandmother, two resident ghosts and a surprise visitor be enough to rid the Morgan family of the evil possessing them and allow Destiny to finally gain the acceptance she so desperately wants? Or will the ancient evil destroy them all?
Thank you so much for joining me today, Kelly. We look forward to reading your books. Kelly’s books can be found on the following websites:
Great interview. I love hearing how stories are born. I do the 'what if' thing a lot, too, which is how my first novel, The Stranger She Married was born -- what if the phantom of the opera were the hero she fell in love with? Anyway, your novels sound great. I often wonder if there really are spirits all around us, too. I look forward to reading your books!
ReplyDeleteLove this. What a wonderful was to get stories and these sound fabulous.
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