Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Author Interview: Rebecca Hart

Rebecca Hart has written Call Of The Sea.

1. What is your name and where do you call home?
My real, legal name is Rebecca Hart, but my maiden name is Brennan. I was born and raised in the Albany area of Upstate, NY.

2. What is the name of your most recent book and if you had to sum it up in 20 or less words, what would you say?
Call of the Sea -- A rousing high seas adventure featuring pirates, sea battles and selkies, and peppered with a dash of romance.

3. Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
Call of the Sea was meant to be a stand alone novel, but I’ve had quite a few requests for a sequel from beta readers, so I may just need to check in with Ellie and Daniel again. For now, my sights are set on finishing the first book in a fantasy series I have been working on.

4. What or who inspired you to start writing? And how long have you been writing?
I first started writing seriously after taking a Creative Writing Workshop at the local community college. I absolutely loved it and got an A in the class. That was the first time I really thought I might have something to offer to a reader. I’ve been submitting stories for publication for a little over  a year now.

5. How did you come up with the cover? Who designed the cover of your book?
I had a mental image of the cover when I wrote the book, but the cover was designed by Inkspell’s Cover Designer, Najla Qamber (http://najlaqamberdesigns.blogspot.com/ ) She does amazing work, and actually when I got the first cover mock-up, it was so close to what I had envisioned, I was stunned. The cover is just perfect for the story.

6. Which is your favourite cover of all the books you have written?
Call of the Sea is a debut novel, so my first cover -- making it easily my favorite. Of course, I am addicted to pirates and tall ships, so the fact that it also has a ship on the cover would probably make it a favorite even if I had 10 novels published already.

7. How did you come up with the title for your book?
The original “working” title of the novel was The Pirate and the Selkie, Aside from being rather bland, I realized while writing the story, there was a common thread with the two main characters and that was their tie to the sea - albeit for different reasons. Call of the Sea suited both main characters, and ended up being just the right name. Also, Captain Winter’s ship is called The Siren’s Call, giving Call of the Sea an additional meaning. Fate, right?

8. Is there anything you would change about your book? And why?
I had a friend from the UK mention some small inaccuracies in the story from a historical and English perspective that will always niggle at me, now that I’ve been made aware of them. Things like that always make me cringe because they aren’t necessarily things you’ll be able to find in research material when you’re writing. The history expects, and those actually from the country you set your novels in will get you every time, though.

9. Do you have a book trailer? And what are your thoughts on book trailers?
I thought about creating one for Call of the Sea, but I really wondered what sort of value that would have for a book. For movies, they make sense… I’m not sure if I think it really benefits a book or author to have one. That being said, this is my first novel, so maybe I missed the boat on that one.

10. Do you prefer e-books, paperbacks, hardcovers or audiobooks?
I love the convenience and portability of eBooks, but nothing replaces having a hold in your hand paperback, especially for books I really loved. I never want to be at the complete mercy of technology for my books. If my Nook or Kindle breaks, then what? I have to replace it or no more books. The only way I lose my paperback books is if I sell them or my house burns down.

11. Have you ever read a book more than once? And if so what was it?
I have a few I’ve read multiple times, though it is usually years between readings. Two I can think of off the top of my head are Pirate Royale by Cordia Byers and Love Ever After by Patricia Rice (yes, I’m a somewhat reformed historical romance addict)

12. Have you ever read a book just based on it’s cover?
Absolutely, I do it all the time. While I do read the back blurb, I’ve bought books that didn’t totally grab me with the back of the book purely because the cover rocked.

13. Has the quality of the cover of a book ever put you off of reading it?
Not as often as I’ve selected books to read based on the cover, but there have been some I’ve thought just had to be bad because the cover was just complete bleck.

14. Where can your readers follow you?









Thankyou so much for taking the time to do this interview and allowing us a glimpse into your writing world!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks so much for having me and Call of the Sea on your blog today :)

    ReplyDelete