Indy Book Fairy: A.K. Michaels Interview~Giveaway

A.K. MICHAELS

Describe your books in 3 words?

Paranormal, Exciting, HOT

If you could be any character from one of your books who would it be?

Oh gosh I don't even need to think twice bout this - PERI!!!! Who the heck wouldn't want to be her! Pant!!

What is your greatest fear about being an author/publishing your book(s)?

Probably the same as every writer who put's their stories out into the world - that nobody will like them - or worse - that they will hate them! I had cold sweats when I first published, dreading the thought that folks would hate my stories.

Would the 10 year-old version of yourself kick your butt or praise you for what you've accomplished in life?

A bit of both to be honest, that wasn't a fabulous time for me, so probably praise and a wee kick that I took so blinkin' long to do it!

What do you do when you finish your book and turn it in to the editor?

Worry! Whenever I hand over my stories I think they'll say - 'this is rubbish' or 'you expect me to fix this?' - luckily that hasn't happened - so far anyway.

What is your favorite Genre and why?

My favorite to write is Paranormal and mainly because using all those supernatural beings means I can truly let my imagination run wild. After all, nothing is impossible, my characters can do whatever the heck they like. Including my Vampires walking in daylight and not needing a magic ring to do it lol.

To read, I read just about all genres, from erotica to sci fi, crime and thrillers, paranormal to fantasy - it depends on my mood what I read.

What is one thing that would surprise us to know about you?

There's prob quite a lot lol, I don't hide the fact that I'm OCD, but I also don't go out on my own very often. I'm working on that though, as my dream would be to go to something like the Edinburgh book/author event that's happening. Just now that would be impossible for me to do but my therapist and I are working on things, so hopefully, one day soon, I can.

Was there an Author who inspired you to write?

Hmm not really, my first books that got me hooked on words and escaping reality were Enid Blyton's The Famous Five series. That was when I realized I could truly 'escape' inside my own head and did so regularly from there on in! In fact, in my younger years, I probably spent more time inside my head than anywhere else.

How did you come up with the characters in your books?

I know it sounds really lame, but they usually just pop into my head, when I'm doing mundane things like the laundry lol. Once I've got one, I then start thinking about others that would 'fit' with them and then things just spiral from there.

Do you prefer to write alone or do you like to collaborate with other authors?

Alone, I've never collaborated on anything and wouldn't know how to do that, OCD thing again lol.

Everyone uses computers, tablets, phones and no one uses handwritten form or typewriters, what do you prefer to use?

I couldn't use pen 'n paper even if I wanted to, I've got joint problems and couldn't even hold a pen to write more than a few lines, so I use my trusty, old, battered, Lenovo laptop.

Is there a ritual you do before you begin your book?

Not really, apart from sitting down in a nice quiet room, then going over and over the story in my head, once I feel I've got it the way I want it, I then sit down and start typing.

What was you're greatest moment since publishing?

I was a little surprised and totally elated that my very first book, Defender's Blood Alex's Destiny won it's category in the SpaSpa Book Awards last week. I knew it was shortlisted but it was up against some very stiff opposition, so when I got the email saying the winners would be announced at midday I didn't even go check. It was a couple of hours later that another author friend pm'd me to say 'why haven't you got this on your FB page?' and I'm like, 'why?' and they told me to go check it out. I was stunned to see it had won and I was all emotional and goosebumply, mainly because the award is voted on by readers and they had voted for my story!

When writing your characters, do you picture someone specific that you take their features from (eg. actor/actresses) or do you pull looks from the air?

I don't use actor/actresses - I usually have the persona first and then their looks just seem to come to me. I would find it hard trying to fit my characters to known actors so don't ever do that.

Fast Fairy Questions

Apple or Windows?

Both

Dog or Cat?

Dog

Pepsi or Coke?

Coke

Facebook or Twitter?

Facebook

Summer or Winter?

Summer

Fairies or Angels?