Spoiler-Free Q&A on #PoisonBloodSeries Book 4: Apocalypse

In celebration of the release of the final two books in the Poison Blood series, below is a (spoiler-free) Q&A on Book 4: Apocalypse.

Q: This is the final book in the Poison Blood series and Book 3 of your contemporary romance series, the Soulmates Saga, was published in summer 2016. What new projects do you have in the pipeline?

A: Yes, Apocalypse is the conclusion to Ellie’s story. She’s done her thing. While writing Book 3 and 4 however, I really enjoyed writing about Amber. She became a bigger part of the story than I’d expected, and I’m glad she did.

I want to write a spin-off series about her. It won’t be the Poison Blood books from her perspective, but a continuation of Amber’s story.

Or rather, letting her story truly begin.

What does she do after the events of PB4?

I for one want to find out.

Let’s hope there are others that do too!

In my Someone Like You (The Soulmates Saga, Book 3) Q&A, I said that it’s not necessarily the last book in the series – otherwise I would’ve called/renamed the series The Soulmates Trilogy – because I hope to write other books about these characters.

As I write this, I have ideas for at least two new books!

I’m really warming to the idea of writing, not a prequel per se, but continuing on from the events of Someone Like You, but also going back in time to Jamie’s childhood and exploring his life back then. It was in his childhood that he met Sarah, so she will play a big part in this book.

The – potential – instalment after that will be a true continuation of Mukti’s story after Someone Like You finished.

However, I want my mind to work on these ideas and develop them into something brilliant before committing to writing them. I want both these novels to have the same drama, romance and twist-and-turns as their predecessors.

So SLY is the last book in the Soulmates Saga for a while. In the interim, I want to work on something new, letting Mukti and co. have some peace for a while.

Q: Apart from the spin-off to the Poison Blood series, do you have any other new projects to work on?

A: Luckily, I do. I have an unfinished paranormal romance novel to complete (which has the potential to turn into a trilogy, we’ll see) and I have planned a new contemporary romance series too. I don’t want to say too much about this series, but I’m hoping it’ll be a little more light-hearted than the Soulmates Saga, not as dark. I want this series to have a slightly different feel to the Soulmates Saga – just so readers don’t feel like they’re reading about the same characters packaged up in different bodies – so I’ll make a conscious effort to ensure the main characters aren’t as troubled or tormented as Mukti, Jamie and Jonny.

Once I start writing however, who knows what direction the characters will take me? They tend to have a life of their own and usually get their way!

Also, I had this idea years and years ago about a ‘mystery’ novel. I’d like to revisit that and mould into something I can really get my teeth into. Now, just because I read more crime novels than any other genre, doesn’t mean I’m clever enough to write a detective novel. I won’t do that to myself. This old idea I had in my teens has potential though, and I’d like to put it in a format in which I am capable of writing.

Fingers crossed I can complete all my projects in good time. Wish me luck!

Q: Do you have any strange writing rituals?

A: No. Well, I don’t think they’re strange…

But I do believe in sticking to tradition when it comes to the first people that get sent my completed manuscripts.

The person that read the earliest, roughest draft of my debut novel Chasing Pavements (The Soulmates Saga, Book 1), was my friend Char. Since then, I’ve made sure to send her the first rough draft of all the books in that series. “As per tradition” is always the subject in the e-mail I send her.

When Poison Blood, Book 1 was ready for someone else’s eyes, my friend was busy and I was on a tight schedule, so I didn’t send it to her. As a result, I’ve refrained from sending her unpublished manuscripts from that series. Strange I know, but that’s me. 

Poison Blood, Book 3: Prophecy and Book 4: Apocalypse are available to download via the links below:

PB3:

Amazon US|   Amazon UK|    iBooks US   |   iBooks UK   |   B&N Nook   |   Kobo

PB4:

Amazon US |  Amazon UK|   iBooks US   |   iBooks UK   |   B&N Nook   |   Kobo

Books 1 and 2 are still FREE:

Poison Blood, Book 1: Revelation ~ Free at these retailers:

Amazon US|  Amazon UK|   iBooks US & UK   |   B&N Nook Store   |   Smashwords

 

Poison Blood, Book 2: Absolution ~ Free at these retailers:

Amazon US|   Amazon UK  |   iBooks US & UK   |   B&N Nook Store   |   Smashwords

And the first two books in my teen urban fantasy/YA paranormal romance series, the Poison Blood series, can be downloaded for free via:

Amazon US|  Amazon UK|   iBooks US & UK   |   B&N Nook Store   |   Smashwords

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance / Teen Vampire Romance / Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy / Teen & YA Urban Fantasy / Young Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy

Mood: Dark / Humorous / Coming of age

Content: No violence / No explicit sex scenes / No erotica

Audience: Teen / Young Adult / New Adult / Adult

Recommended for: Readers that love all things vampires, slayers and witches!

Spoiler-Free Q&A on #PoisonBloodSeries Book 3: Prophecy

In celebration of the release of the final two books in the Poison Blood series, below is a (spoiler-free) Q&A on Book 3: Prophecy.

Q: Why did it take you so long to release Poison Blood, Books 3 and 4?

A: I published the first two books in 2012 – it’s the year the series is set in. At this time, I’d written parts of Book 3 and had an outline for Book 4. I knew how the story was going to end and how I was going to get there. I’d planned to publish the third and fourth instalments as and when they were ready.

By the end of 2012 however, my personal life had taken a turn for the worse and continuing my writing journey was the last thing on my mind. I’ve written several blog posts on what led to my 3-4 year hiatus from the publishing industry so you can read about it by clicking these links:

 http://nehayazmin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/when-life-becomes-stranger-than-fiction.html

 http://nehayazmin.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/when-life-imitates-art-authors-tale.html

Q: Since there was such a big gap between writing the first two books and Book 3, did you end up changing a lot of things that you’d initially planned?

A: Plot-wise, nothing changed. Back in 2012 however, I’d expected there to be more romance, and more of Christian. I guess, what was supposed to be a paranormal romance series has turned into more of an urban fantasy series.

Q: Could the Poison Blood Series have been just one novel?

A: Yes, I could have published one big novel instead of splitting the story into smaller books. If I’d done it that way, I would have priced it at $2.99, like my full-length contemporary novels, Chasing Pavements, Make You Feel My Love and Someone Like You. The combined price of the Poison Blood books is less than $2.99, and we get to have a few pretty book covers instead of just the one!

Q: How does Ellie compare to other heroines of paranormal/urban fantasy books?

A: Readers will be able to answer that question better than me.

Usually, the female leads in this genre have one characteristic in common: they have a tendency to get themselves and/or their friends into avoidable danger/trouble by making rash, irrational decisions. Decisions I wouldn’t have made in that situation. Choices that didn’t make sense. Reasoning that didn’t add up and felt a bit forced, presumably to add a bit of drama and action.

As a result, I found the heroines rather annoying and felt like throwing things at them. I hope Ellie isn’t irritating in that way – well, not too often, anyway!

Q: What are the best and worst things about writing about vampires?

A: The best: vampires in this series are really fast, strong and can have special supernatural powers. So when it comes to action sequences, the possibilities are endless. I can get really creative.

The worst: I really love writing dream sequences. All my books – apart from the Poison Blood Series – have dream/nightmare sequences. But if your main characters don’t sleep, they can’t dream. Therefore, I didn’t get to explore what goes on in Ellie and Christian’s unconscious minds.

Q: Which series did you enjoy writing the most, the Soulmates Saga or the Poison Blood series? Which would you enjoy most as a reader?

A: I know this is a boring answer, but I truly enjoyed writing both series, and writing one series helped make the other better. Editing the Soulmates Saga was harder though, and I enjoyed that less, whereas the re-writing process for the Poison Blood books was less laborious.

As a reader, I’m always looking for contemporary romance novels like Chasing Pavements and its sequels, but never succeed in finding anything like them. So I think my favourite series out of the two would be the Soulmates Saga.

Q: What about your friends and family, which of your books do they prefer?

A: Apart from my 13-year-old niece, I’m the only one in my family that enjoys reading fiction. My siblings are always glued to their SmartPhones and iPads, but not to read books. My husband isn’t into books either – he knows what happens in my novels, but hasn’t read a single line. So, none of my relatives have read my books. Yet. I know that once my niece is old enough, she’ll give my books a go. I’m really nervous as to what she’ll think of my work though. She’s a very talented writer herself and I have great hopes for her writing!

As for my friends, only two of them have read my work. I’m so grateful that they took time out of their incredibly busy lives and careers to do so, and for writing reviews on the books that they read. They were thankfully very honest in their reviews, stating both what they disliked and liked about the novels, so it’s not easy picking out which reviews were left by these two friends and which were written by strangers.

My other friends are very busy with their personal lives and their careers – I remember when my life was like that; I just wanted to sleep if I had a spare few hours – and they don’t have the same passion for reading that I do to squeeze in half-an-hour of reading into every day, which is what I started doing in the last couple of years. And I’m glad I did, because that 30-minute read during my lunch break helped me rediscover my love for reading and went a long way in improving my writing.

Who knows, if I make it big one day, maybe everyone I know will read my books – or at least own a copy – but until then, I’m happy to settle for the show of love from the strangers that were kind enough to message me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and on my blog, telling me how much they enjoyed my work. Thank you, it means so much to me!

Poison Blood, Book 3: Prophecy and Book 4: Apocalypse are available to download via the links below:

PB3:

Amazon US|   Amazon UK|    iBooks US   |   iBooks UK   |   B&N Nook   |   Kobo

PB4:

Amazon US |  Amazon UK|   iBooks US   |   iBooks UK   |   B&N Nook   |   Kobo

Books 1 and 2 are still FREE:

Poison Blood, Book 1: Revelation ~ Free at these retailers:

Amazon US|  Amazon UK|   iBooks US & UK   |   B&N Nook Store   |   Smashwords

 

Poison Blood, Book 2: Absolution ~ Free at these retailers:

Amazon US|   Amazon UK  |   iBooks US & UK   |   B&N Nook Store   |   Smashwords

Spoiler-Free Q&A on #PoisonBloodSeries Book 1

You guys know me by now. I like Twilight. It kinda changed my life. I'm excited about Midnight Sun. I thought I was over it and was just going to buy a copy of the new book for my collection. Then, Stephenie started posting snippets of it on her website and... no, I might not be over it, after all. Guess it's never really over, right, Katy Perry? :)

I also get nostalgic. As such, I've reverted back to the 'original' covers I had for this series back in 2012, with a few minor upgrades. Only for the month of August, though, so it's not a permanent change :)

And while we're at it, let's take a little walk down memory lane and see how my most successful series of books came into existence with a Q&A on the series opener, Vampire Revelation. No spoilers. 

Q: What was the main inspiration behind the Poison Blood series?

A: Short answer: Ellie.

Long answer: I’d wanted to write a vampire romance for a while and I considered the idea of writing a series of short stories about vampires living on the London Underground. These characters wouldn’t necessarily be friends or hang out together, but have their own tale to tell. One of the characters I thought up was Ellie.

However, I didn’t start writing anything until I woke up one morning with Ellie talking me through her life. This was a few days after I listened to the band Linkin Park for the first time in years so I think it was their songs that triggered the instinct to write Ellie’s story.

Quickly, it became clear that Ellie’s story wasn’t as short and sweet as I’d initially planned. She had a lot more potential than I expected, which was great, though it meant I had to put my Vampires on the Underground collection on the backburner. It’s still on the backburner now. Oops, lol.

Q: Why did you publish a paranormal romance so soon after publishing a contemporary romance novel?

A: It’s usually the characters and how strongly they present themselves to me, how clearly I hear their voices in my head, that determine when and what I write. Even if I plan to write something, like a compilation of short stories about vampires making the underground transport system their home, unless I can see that world, hear the characters speak to me, the narrative doesn’t flow as well. I tend not to commit to a project unless I find myself immersed in the story. And when a character beckons to me, lets me into her mind and the world she lives in, keeps talking to me about her life, I try not to ignore her. That’s my process *shrugs*

But why follow-up a contemporary romance with a vampire book? Well, why not? If we enjoy reading an eclectic mix of books, I see no harm in exploring different genres when we write, provided we apply the same level of dedication, effort, and enthusiasm for each story. As authors, we should do that for every book we write.

As a young child, my favourite genre to read was paranormal/fantasy, and as a teen, I was a huge fan of TV shows such as Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unfortunately, like so many others I knew, I stopped reading regularly when I was at college and Uni. Upon rediscovering my love for books, I found myself reading contemporary fiction, lit fic, crime, comedy/satire; the only fantasy novels I’d read in recent years were the Twilight and Harry Potter books. These I loved so much that I wanted to write for this genre, particularly about vampires. But I didn’t venture into this area until Ellie came to me.

Q: The vampires in Poison Blood are extremely similar to the Twilight vampires. Was this intentional?

A: Yes.

There are a range of vampire myths—from those that burn to ashes in sunlight and can be slain by driving a stake through their hearts, to immortals that sleep like the dead during the day and hunt by night—but my favourite is, of course, the one explored in the Twilight Saga. I knew that if I was going to write about vampires, I would conform to most of the rules set out in these books.

I wasn’t going to set my books in the Twilight world, though. So, I invented my own vampire government (The System), one which has modernised over the years and now operates like an institution the humans would be proud of. A few restrictions needed to be in place, though (such as vampires not being able to enter a house without invitation), so that these indestructible creatures didn’t go around slaughtering an entire council estate in one night. And of course, there had to those that would try to stop these demons from doing what they liked.

The other certainty for me was that the stories would be set in contemporary society, specifically London. Although it’s exciting creating a whole new world, one in the future or in another dimension altogether, what appeals to me more is the idea that the world we live in now could be full of magic and mystery, amazing creatures with supernatural abilities. Though, I enjoyed writing my new epic fantasy trilogy (Heir to the Throne), urban fantasy is my favourite type of fantasy to write. 

Q: Did you plan to end Vampire Revelation on a cliff-hanger?

A: Absolutely. Every novel in a series needs almost all of the plot threads tied-up by the end of it, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with leaving the reader with a question right at the end, one which entices them to read the next book for the answer.

It’s also a good idea to have an unresolved issue that continues throughout a book series, or if it’s resolved in book 2 or 3, a new plot thread can be introduced to run into the next few installments.

Cliff-hangers like the one at the end of Vampire Revelation work well if many of the main themes explored in the novel come to a conclusion. Such as Ellie finally realising who she is, making sense of the life she had before she turned into a vampire, and discovering why she became the vampire she is. Basically, almost every question raised in the book was answered by the end of it. 

Q: Why did you write Vampire Absolution—it’s pretty much book 1 from another character's POV?

A: Initially, I hadn't planned on writing this book, but I realised that I did want the readers to be aware of a lot of things that Ellie wasn’t aware of. As Revelation is written entirely from her POV (in the first person), the reader only knows what she knows, and I thought it would be good for them to see things from Christian’s perspective. It would also save long paragraphs where he’d have to tell her everything she needs to know (I always find those info dumps boring to read in novels where it’s from one character’s POV).

Thanks for reading :)

"I don't know what blood tastes like to a human.  I'd never even licked a tiny drop of it from a pricked finger, let alone suck on a bleeding cut. Now it's my only food source."

Ellie is not a typical teenaged vampire.

She still has her humanity and conscience.  

Her human memories and growing pains.  

And the same distaste for blood.

Still reeling from the secrets she uncovered before she was turned into a vampire by the mysterious immortal Christian, Ellie is also finding it hard to come to terms with what she has become.

And the revelations keep coming.