1. What is your name and where do you call
home?
My name is Kaitlin Bevis, and I live in the
city of Athens, Georgia, where my books are set.
2. Do you have a pen name?
Nope.
3. 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?
The Iron Queen. The Iron Queen concludes
Persephone's arc in the series. Persephone has come to terms with being a
goddess and her new responsibilities.
4. Do you have plans for a new book? Is this
book part of a series?
My next book, Venus and Adonis kicks off
Aphrodite's arc in the Daughters of Zeus series. Aphrodite (in my version) is a
new goddess, and while she doesn't have the same issues Persephone has with
accepting her role and responsibilities, relationships are a mystery to her.
She needs to figure out how to interact with humans in a way that makes people
less inclined to slap her, and she needs to do it while searching for a group
of missing demigods and tracking down a group that has weapons designed to kill
gods.
5. What or who inspired you to start writing?
And how long have you been writing?
I've always wanted to be
a writer. There's not a specific moment I remember. I colored pictures of
stories before I could write and I have this tendency to act out story scenes
that goes back as long as I can remember. I used to be a much more enthusiastic
actress. I'd run around my house acting out scenes like a little psychopath.
Now I just talk to myself while I'm driving in the car.
6. Do you gift books to readers for book
reviews?
Yes, but only for honest reviews. False
flattery does no one any good. Most of the books I've gifted have mostly gone
to established reviewers who've proven they'll be honest.
7. How did you come up with the cover? Who
designed the cover of your book?
My publisher did most of the work. I had a
form I filled out with suggestions that had the key elements (a hand, a
pomegranate, 6 seeds, snow) and David Effaw, my awesome cover artist made it
beautiful. I've got a great cover for the audiobook that I can't wait to show
off that's similar, and equally gorgeous by Kelly Smith.
The cover for the second book (Daughter of
the earth and Sky) came from one of the early scenes of the book, and the third
book was more or less the same as the first.
I knew I wanted Persephone, Zeus' castle, and a vine. It all came
together from there.
8. Which is your favourite cover of all the
books you have written?
The one for Persephone. All my covers are
great, but there's something so breathtaking about that one. I don't know if
it's because it's my first book or if it's just that awesome :)
9. Is there anything you would change about
your book covers?
Aphrodite's head and hand got cut off the top
of the second cover. I'd fix that, lol.
10. Do you have a playlist in mind for any of
your books?
Oh gosh, I am not a music person. I was asked
by another blog to put together a playlist for Persephone and I've been really
stressing over it because I just don't work like that. The whole listening to a
song and being inspired thing just doesn't happen to me. I've never had a story
going along in my head with music or gone "wow! this really applies to
me!" The closest I've ever come to that are Broadway musicals where the song
is literally telling a story (or ballads of course). I've been reading the lyrics to every song I can
think of trying to see what would apply to my books the most. Something tells
me that is a weird way to approach that.
11. Did you listen to any particular songs
whilst writing your books?
I can't, it's too much of a distraction. The
song lyrics get stuck in my head. My husband tends to have the TV on while I'm
writing and that's not typically distracting. Though one time my writers group
noticed Hades had started channeling Dr. Who (David Tenant). I fixed it, but it
kind of works. He's got the whole timeless thing down.
12. Would you have different book covers for
different countries?
As of now, I don't. I don't think that's
really up to me though. I think the publisher determines that. I don't really
understand why different covers would be needed for different countries. I'm
sure there's some reason that has to do with marketing to that particular
audience that's just better left up to the experts.
13. How did you come up with the title for
your book?
For Persephone's arc in the series, the
titles were all her titles. Names are very important in the Persephone myth.
They set the tone for the gods entire persona. Persephone didn't even have a
name until she was abducted. The myth called her Kore, which is Greek for girl.
Ovid referred to her as the Iron Queen in his retelling of the Orpheus myth to
reflect her changed demeanor as this heartless, stone-cold jerk of a queen. A
good chunk of who Persephone was in myths had nothing to do with her, but her
lineage (hence Daughter of the Earth and Sky). In my series, each title has to
do with Persephone's progression and acceptance of who she is, and who she is
becoming.
14. Is there anything you would change about
your book? And why?
I wouldn't have mentioned Hercules in book
one so I could use him later. In my version of the story, though set in modern
day, many of the myths haven't happened yet. Instead of relying on the
Persephone myth to explain winter, this culture used the lesser-known Boreas
and Oreithyia myth. Some gods already existed, played their roles, and died,
and others still haven't been born yet. I lost a ton of potential story in the
next arcs demigod-centric plot line by establishing that Hercules' life, death,
and myths had already occurred.
15. Do you have a book trailer? And what are
your thoughts on book trailers?
Yes, I do! You can check it out here:
http://youtube.com/watch?feature=plcp&v=U5yelWX9BTI
I think they're awesome. I never discovered a
book through a book trailer, but you tube wasn't really a thing when I got into
YA books.
16. Do you have a “Dreamcast” in mind for any
of your books?
Skyler Samuels to play Persephone for sure.
She was awesome in The Nine Lives of Chloe King and everything else I've seen
her in. She definitely has the range to pull off the changes Persephone is
going to go through during the series. Hades is tougher. I picture someone like
David Tenant or the guy from Grimm, but they're quite a bit older than Miss
Samuels. I wouldn't want to cast Hades as a teenager but I don't want him
looking like a creepy old pedophile either. The girl who plays Lydia from Teen
Wolf would be a fantastic Aphrodite. Beyond those three, I haven't really
thought about it. But oh, it would be so exciting for my books to be made into
a movie!
17. What is your opinion of ARCs?
I think they're great. I won an ARC of Kelley
Armstrong's The Reckoning once. Still very excited about that. With my
publisher, I don't often have ARCs in enough time to use them to catch mistakes
that may have slipped past me and the editors, or to build up much of a buzz,
but I can generally contest them out to my readers a week or so before the
release date, which they seem to enjoy. My publisher is working on scaling back
their schedule enough to get ARCS out to advanced readers and reviewers further
in advance, which is really exciting to me.
18. Do you prefer e-books, paperbacks,
hardcovers or audiobooks?
Ebooks. When you've moved as often as I have
the novelty of print becomes a bit of an encumbrance. Plus I like having my
entire library on me at all times. Stuck waiting in the doctors office? No
problem, I have a book. Can't remember something I've read, I can pull it up.
I'm never going back to print!
I do sometimes reflect on the fact that
should I ever find myself in post-apocalyptic conditions, most of my books will
be on a dead phone. But libraries and bookstores should still exist, they just
may not be manned, so I figure I can make due.
19. Are you a self-published / Indie author?
No. I'm published through a small publishing
house called Musa Publishing. But all authors, indie or not, have to do a big
chunk of their own self-promotion, so I have a lot in common with self-published
writers. I just lack the technical know-how to turn my books into an ebook on
my own. I tried, with one of my short stories, Siren Song. I still can't figure
out how to get an excerpt to show up, so I just typed it in the description.
20. Have you ever read a book more than once?
And if so what was it?
I've read almost every book I've ever owned
dozens of times. I read really fast, and I have to read before I can fall asleep. My budget would implode if it
always had to be a new book. The library takes some of that pressure off, but I
can only check out twenty books at a time, and most of those go to my daughter
who is just learning how to read. Plus gas to get to the library is half the
cost of one book, so I can't go too often.
21. Have you ever bought a specific edition
of a book because of it’s cover? (For example a UK, US or Canadian version)
I got the first edition of the So You Want to
be a Wizard series. That series was one of my favorites growing up, and it was
really important to me, for some reason, to have it in the first edition covers
because none of the other covers measured up. Beyond that, no. I'm really not
much of a cover person. I look at them, and occasionally ooh and ah at the
covers for other countries, but unless the book is just really special to me, I
won't seek out a different edition based on covers, especially now that I'm
more into ebooks and the covers update themselves.
22. What is your opinion of novellas?
I like them when they're a free or nearly
free extra the authors provided to give different characters a spot light or to
provide a different perspective. Kelley Armstrong does novellas as promotional
tools best, I think.
Otherwise, they're just too short to be worth
any money (for me). I burn through books. The longer they are, the longer I get
to experience them.
23. Have you ever read a book just based on
it’s cover?
No, I read books despite their covers. You have to understand that I grew up in the 90's
reading mostly young adult and fantasy books. I'm convinced that if those two
genres had a cage match for worst covers of the decade, the audience would die
of boredom before the winner was declared.
Really, the covers were all awful. Especially all the fantasy books with the half-naked women on the cover. Book covers gave my bullies ammunition. My first thought when I downloaded my first ebook was how great it would have been to have an ereader in middle school so no one would ever, ever see my book covers. The phrase "never judge a book by its cover" existed because otherwise people might never read. Book covers are so much better today.
Really, the covers were all awful. Especially all the fantasy books with the half-naked women on the cover. Book covers gave my bullies ammunition. My first thought when I downloaded my first ebook was how great it would have been to have an ereader in middle school so no one would ever, ever see my book covers. The phrase "never judge a book by its cover" existed because otherwise people might never read. Book covers are so much better today.
24. Has the quality of the cover of a book
ever put you off of reading it?
No, I'm long since immune to the terrible
cover. I'm a blurb girl.
25. What is your favourite film based on a
book?
Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter
franchise, oh, and also The Last Unicorn (I'd list that as my absolute
favorite, but I watched the movie before I read the book so my opinion could be
biased). Those are the best book to screen adaptations that managed to actually
be loyal to the books they came from.
26. What is your favourite book genre at the
moment?
Young adult books. All of them, particularly
dystopian YA books. The whole genre has changed so much from when I was the age
of the intended audience. The books are just incredible, and because the
authors can't rely on graphic violence and sex to ramp up the tension, they
have to devote more energy to the characters and plot.
27. What books have made it onto your
wishlist recently? And why?
I'm so far behind on books right now! I need
to read Kelley Armstrong's latest YA novel, but its not at the library yet. I
just discovered the Divergent series, so I can't wait for Allegiant.
28. What book are you reading at the moment?
And in what format?
The Kitchen House in print. It's a book for
my book club, but so far it seems really interesting.
29. If you could invite any four celebrities
(alive or dead) to your dinner party, who would you invite and why?
Hmmm... David Tenant. He was the best Doctor. Though I think if I met
him in person I'd just die, or clam up like I did when I met Peter Beagle.
Kelley Armstrong, Scott Westerfeld (not celebrities, I know, but they are to
me), and Rapunzel (any disneyland cast member will do) to keep my daughter
occupied so I could enjoy dinner :)
30. Do you have any advice for other writers?
And what’s the best advice that you have been given when it comes to writing?
Lucky for me, both of those questions have
the same answer. Join a writers group and listen to what they say. I see so
many writers complain that they tried writers groups but the people just
"didn't get" their story, or their advice was just too off the wall.
Here's the thing about people in the writers group. They are your best gauge of
what your reviews are going to look like should you ever get published. If
they, avid readers and writers, don't understand your work, I guarantee they
are not the problem. My books would not be a fraction as good if I didn't have
them to bounce ideas off of or to say "wow, your character is being really
bitchy right now, do you want us to hate her?" If you can't handle
constructive criticism you're never going to be able to handle your edits, much
less your readers!
People who offer constructive criticism aren't being stupid, and they aren't trying to hurt your feelings, they're working on making your book accessible to other people. Readers don't have the luxury of being in the writers head and getting an instant explanation for something, and as a writer it's hard to get that distance when you know your characters and your world so well. A good writers group makes a huge difference.
31. Do you have any hobbies that aren’t
related to reading & writing?
I run...sometimes. I used to be much more
into running, but then my daughter outgrew her stroller. I'd really like to get
back to it because I think its important to be able to outrun zombies (I'm
actually only half-joking).
32. Where can your readers follow you?
Webpage: www.kaitlinbevis.com
Goodreads Page:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6150699.Kaitlin_Bevis
Authorgraph: http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/KaitlinBevis
Tumblr: http://kaitlinbevis.tumblr.com
Twitter: @kaitlinbevis
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/kbevis1/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Kbevis
Promocave: http://promocave.com/kaitlinbevis/
Romance Reviews:
http://www.theromancereviews.com/mypageprofile.php?location=kbevis
Thankyou so much for taking the time to do this interview and allowing us a glimpse into your writing world!
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